A countdown to calm your anxiety: 5-4-3-2-1

If you are feeling your anxiety ramping up, today’s post gives you a tool to count it right back down again. It is in some ways similar to the focal point exercise I discussed in yesterday’s post.

Begin this exercise by taking a deep belly breath, holding it for just a moment, and then exhaling slowly. Then identify and speak aloud the following things:

5 things you can see

Start by looking around the space you are in, and identifying five things that you can see, preferably out loud. Put each item into its own sentence. For example, if you are in your living room, you might say “I see a sofa. I see a coffee table. I see a lamp. I see a recliner. I see a television.” Or you can go a bit further, by adding description “I see a dark brown leather sofa” or “I see a pink and yellow floral area rug.”

4 things you can feel

Tune into your body and identify four different sensations or feelings you can list off. Again, say them out loud in a sentence. For example: “I feel the tightness of my shoes on the tops of my feet" or “I feel the warmth of my sweater against my neck.”

3 things you can hear

Listen for sounds in your area, and describe them out loud. For instance, “I hear my husband typing on his laptop” or “I hear birds making noise outside the window.”

2 things you can smell

This one really requires you to pay attention, because unless you have recently shifted location, you have possibly become “nose blind” to things around you. Take a few sniffs and see if you notice any smells, such as “I smell a vanilla-scented candle” or “I smell my own deodorant.”

If you cannot detect something to smell, and you can’t (or don’t want to) move to sniff something out, just speak aloud two of your favorite smells.

1 thing you can taste

Identify and then say aloud one thing you can taste. If you can actually taste something, such as “I still taste my coffee” or “I taste my toothpaste". If you aren’t currently tasting anything, say aloud what taste you most enjoy.

At the conclusion of this exercise, take another deep breath, pause at the top of the breath, and then exhale slowly.

As you can probably guess, this works well by distracting you and moving your focus to something that is non-threatening.

I have created an e-book for you entitled Lower Your Anxiety, which is available for purchase and immediate download if you prefer to read from the printed page, or have all options available in one place.