Stay Off Your Emotions Elevator!

Posted On: October 27, 2020

Do Something Else

Do Something Else is one of the ways to lower your Emotions Elevator. People who have mastered BrainWise know that being prepared makes it easier to manage emotions and problems. They have identified, in advance, choices that will help them get through difficult situations. Being prepared will help you when your Red Flags are warning you that you are in danger of getting out of control.

When you are calm, have a plan in place that you can use when your emotions are rising. What would help you divert those feelings? Make a list of the things you can do that will help jolt you out of your negative feelings. You alone know what helps you best. Give yourself several choices and make them easily accessible. Here are some examples others use, but you can create your own reminders of what helps you get off or lower your Emotions Elevator.

Anger:

Press my hand to my heart.

Punch a pillow.

Sit inside the car and scream.

Use calm down Mobile apps (Test and choose an app with ways to stay in control.)

Sadness:

Hug my pet

Use mobile apps (Test and pick an aps for depression)

Listen to favorite music or watch movies, videos, Tik Tok, Memes, etc. that are uplifting. (Choose

these in advance and have them ready to watch.)

Anxiety:

Breathe. (You can find a breathing app for different techniques.)

Sing

Physical exercise

Listen to music

Go to a safe space/meditate/mindfulness

It is difficult to stop and think when raw emotions start blasting you up your Emotions Elevator. DO SOMETHING ELSE strategies give you concrete activities to fall back on and make it easier for you to slow the emotions that are threatening to propel you out-of-control. They will help you recognize when your sadness is getting heavier, your anger is boiling over, and your fears are immobilizing you. DO SOMETHING ELSE allows you to Stop and Think before you react.

Use your Constellation of Support and identify people, pets, and things (books, meditation, prayer) to include in your choices. Different situations call for different responses and you will be able to choose what you think will help you best.

Recognize your success when you are able to stay off your Emotions Elevator and smile when you have controlled a difficult situation With practice, you will be able to quickly spot when you need to DO SOMETHING ELSE. Preparing and putting your activities into action will help you get through difficult times.

Please follow and like us:

BrainWise Problem Solving Worksheet Helps Students Practice Executive Functions

Difficult school experiences can quickly erode students’ curiosity and interest in learning. When they fear failure, their Lizard Brain takes over—triggering anxiety, confusion, shame, and discouragement. Students rarely say, “I’m afraid I’ll fail.” Instead, they send red flags: avoiding contact, acting out, skipping classes, or eventually dropping out. Across decades of research addressing this problem, […]

Navajo Youth Project: Teaching BrainWise and Technology at Window Rock High

Technology leaders and software engineers identify communication as the strongest predictor of software project success. Studies show that communication breakdowns—not coding errors—cause most IT project failures, reworked cycles, and misaligned expectations. Senior engineers agree communication is the most important survival skill in tech because it requires using multiple cognitive processes at once: clarifying goals, analyzing tradeoffs, […]

BrainWise + Community Service: A Double Dose of Doing Good

What happens when a simple idea —“teach thinking by doing”—is put into practice for 20 straight years? BrainWise has long championed community service as a powerful way to reinforce the 10 Wise Ways, giving youth a “double dose” of critical‑thinking practice that strengthens their skills while benefiting the people they serve. Past newsletters have highlighted […]