Tools 1
When lizard brain takes over, these are some calm down ideas:
Breathing: Taking slower, longer, deeper breaths can help slow your body down. When your body is calm, your brain is better able to function clearly.
Other calm down ideas are:
Stop, think, act (STA)
Walk away, think, come back (WTC)
Exercise, think of something else, come back (ETC)
What are calm down ideas?
One way we feel anxiety is in our bodies. When I get anxious I get butterflies in my belly, I start to breath really fast and I get tears in my eyes. When you act like a detective and find out more about anxiety, you can start to feel a bit more in charge.
How we know when we are anxious
____ can quickly switch gears and cope with change. They can problem solve quickly without feeling overwhelmed. This means we can change our plan, try a different solution to a problem, change what we are thinking or give up what we want based on the group plan. _____is important for learning how to problem solve and makes accepting change much easier!
What are flexible thinkers?
When I am stuck in quicksand thinking, I can get a _____: I can stop, step back and look around, and I can ask myself, “is this true?” “is there another way of looking at this?” “Is there another solution?”
What is mental ladder?
Problems come in different sizes. Small problems can be taken care of quickly and can be solved on our own or with the help of another person. Kids can help other kids solve small problems. Medium problems take more time to solve and require more help. Usually adults help solve medium problems. However, it’s expected that kids help solve medium problems with the adults. Finally, big problems take a lot of time to take care of and require a lot of help from others. When big problems happen, even adults need help from other adults.
What is size of the poblem?
When big emotions and impulses take over! We might feel afraid, anxious or even out of control. You may do and think things that are irrational and unhelpful. It feels automatic
What is lizard brain?
_____ is being unable to change what we are doing or thinking based on what is happening around us. If we are stuck in our thinking we might have only one way of seeing a problem or situation, or we might follow one rule all the time, no matter where we are or what is happening around us. ______ makes it difficult for us to think about what people need us to do and how that is different from what we are doing.
What is quick sand thinking? Or cement thinking or stuck thinking?
You can use your ____ to help you deal with problems and manage anxiety and to help you feel calm and confident. When unhelpful thoughts start to take over our brain, you can remind yourself about your _____!
How to use inner coach?
When in a thinking trap, _______ -- it helps you get out of the thinking trap. I can ask myself, “is this thought true? Or is it a trap?”
What is use the rope?
You are wise and your brain is better able to solve problems.You slow down and use your mind to solve problems.
What is college student brain?
Change is when something different happens in your life. Many times, the change is something you didn't expect and we may have trouble adjusting.
I know that changes happen to everyone everyday. When changes happen that I don't like, I can ____ by letting go of an old way of doing something to try a new way. I can welcome change and ____!
What is go with the flow?
“does this problem make you a really bad kid?” It can be really hard to _____ sometimes because the “dark side of my brain” might tell me that somebody was hurt. But I know if I walk away and calm down and come back, it will be easier to _____. I can remind myself, “I'm not a bad kid, I just made a mistake.”
What is cutting the red wire
Sometimes we get into unhelpful thinking patterns. These thinking patterns can affect how we feel and what we do. If we can catch our thoughts and spot where they are unhelpful, we can change them into helpful thoughts that work for us! Our anxious thoughts are usually inaccurate and unrealistic because we mistakenly see the situation as threatening or dangerous.
What are thinking traps?
Sometimes when we are anxious or when we are doing hard things, our brains might think unhelpful things like, “I can't do this!”
Your ____ is the voice in your head that helps you think positive thoughts, such as, "it was an accident, I can learn from this next time," "it's not the end of the world," "I'm trying my best!"
What is inner coach?
I can remember that I have a choice when I am angry. I can punch, kick, and scream OR I can work with it and solve it.
Walk away, calm down, and come back
What is how to respond to anger
This is when we make a really big deal out of something small, or making something a little bit bad seem like the worst thing ever.
What is blowing things out of proportion?
Anxiety is helpful for letting us know when there's danger around us. It's our body's own alarm system. But sometimes this alarm system is too sensitive and considers things that aren't really dangerous to be real dangers. This is when anxiety becomes a problem. When you label something "just anxiety", it's a way of saying something is a _____.
What is true and false alarm?