5 ways to instantly take control of your emotions

1. Dip your head in cold water

Fill a sink, add ice cubes, hold your breath, dip your head in water and hold for 30 seconds. This will instantly calm you down and relieve you of unnecessary worries.

Holding your breath and immersing your face in cold water activates the diver's reflex. This evolutionary mechanism will save your life if you fall through the ice or fall into the water. At a critical moment, the blood vessels constrict, the pulse slows down, oxygen is directed to the most important organs: the heart and brain.

To conserve energy, the body turns off all unnecessary functions and thoughts, including negative emotions.

You can also use a gel cooling pack. At the right time, take it out of the freezer, hold your breath and apply it to your face.

2. Cool down

If you don't want to get your head wet, find ice and squeeze it in your hand until it hurts. This will not activate the diver's reflex, but will allow your body to feel pain and release endorphins in response. When you unclench your hand, you will feel relief or even euphoria.

3. Breathe as if blowing soap bubbles

To calm down, you need to slow down your heart rate. It is always in sync with the breath. When you breathe in, your heart beats faster, when you breathe out, it beats slower. As soon as your emotions start to spiral out of control, try breathing out longer than the inhalation. This trick is called respiratory sinus arrhythmia.

Breathe out longer and more slowly, as if blowing bubbles. Children know that the slower the bubbles are blown out of the tube, the bigger and more beautiful they will be. It's the same here. Blow some bubbles. Then you will feel that your heartbeat has slowed down and you have calmed down.

4. Do the opposite

If you feel like lounging in bed, get up and take a shower. If you're sad, play the song and dance. If you are annoyed, hold the door for the person in the back. Do not what your emotions dictate to you, but exactly the opposite. This will work because mood and behavior are interdependent.

Change the strategy of behavior, then your mood will change.

The reverse is fine if your emotions are irrational. For example, if you are feeling insecure or anxious. Ask if you're afraid of being rejected. Try it if you are sure you will fail. If you are humiliated and insulted at work, do not tolerate it. This is not the case.

5. Meditate

Strong emotions are like waves: they come and go, and they go. Usually we are afraid that we will be covered with waves of anger, pain or sadness, and we try to prevent them before they appear. To get rid of suffering, we drink, overeat, and go all out.

Emotions come from the body: sadness is a paradoxical mixture of heaviness and emptiness, anger is tension and fire in the chest, shame is an intolerable desire to hide. As difficult as it is, learn to recognize emotions at the body level. This will allow you to withstand even the toughest storms.

You can master this skill through meditation or mindfulness. You can meditate while sitting, while walking or cleaning the house, at work, or listening to music. Scan your body and see how you feel in every part of it. Practice directing your attention without judgment. Eventually, you will learn to recognize and control your emotions.