Best brain hack is taking “this too shall pass” and applying it in the micro. The panic you feel from an argument with a friend, wanting to get on your phone when you should be studying, the absolute obsession with someone you’re crushing on, pain from rejection, utter hopelessness at a situation that is not entirely hopeless. Heavy on situations that induce panic and incentivize you to act out of turn, maybe to send a text you shouldn’t be sending or to blow up at someone or whatever it is. The antidote to knee jerk reactions is literally just “this too shall pass” and allowing yourself to feel the physical manifestation of your extreme emotion. Literally just ride it out. Even for things that can’t immediately be resolved, it makes such a big difference and prevents you from reacting in ways that you would undoubtedly regret down the line.
I feel like this goes so hand in hand with “I won’t act in panic” like I truly think this should be a boundary everyone has with themself. Panic isn’t necessarily just synonymous with fear either. I do feel like outbursts of anger can be an indirect manifestation of panic. Anger really is just the easiest emotion to access. Teaching my brain to tap into the “this too shall pass” of it all and just riding out the desire to immediately respond really has done so much for me.
This is not to say that you should force yourself not to think about something — that actually makes the craving to act on it worse. It’s more just allowing yourself to think about it, identifying the physical manifestation of it, letting it palpitate through you, but also recognizing, in the moment, that this is ephemeral and the urgency of it all will pass. My principle lately has been to surrender fully to the belief that a feeling is not forever and will subside no matter how painful.
