Recently I met a friend for an early morning walk, and she texted me, “What a morning I’ve already had!…….. before we met.

When we were walking, I asked, “what happened today?”

Apparently she dropped a bottle of apple juice on the kitchen floor, and the bottle broke. Shards of glass and apple juice spread out all over the floor. She still managed to clean it up and meet up for our walk, arriving on time.

I asked her, “what helped you cope?” Here’s the outline of what she came up with:

• Saying curse words to herself. Then breathing into the situation and her feelings.
• Non judgmentally looking at the situation and assessing, “what can I do now?”
• Remembering past spills and how she cleaned them up. She said this gave her a plan to put into use.
• Doing her action plan of cleaning up.

We all have stuff happen in life that upsets our balance. Sometimes it’s small stuff & small feelings, and sometimes it’s bigger stuff and bigger feelings.

If we don’t have a plan to deal with these upsets, we are just coasting through dealing with them, white knuckling it and barely hanging on.

But……..if we have a go to plan, a list of possible ways of coping……we now have strategies to help us get through these activated moments much easier.

This blog, Tools for Tough Times, is my vehicle to share with you many different approaches to try during emotionally trying times.

Once you learn about each approach………try them out, see which ones you like best. Then start to build your own go to plan of action.  With these new strategies, you’re not in a white knuckle situation any longer. You have a superpower action plan, with super hero tools, which can help you cope and can build confidence.

Of course, later that same day as I walked and talked with my friend, I spilled water  and soil from the basil package all over my kitchen counter! Oh my goodness! So these things happen to all of us, including me. I too, need an action plan of good tools to use. That’s why I’m confident in these tools. I have tested them out , and put them to good use also.

In Tools for Tough Times, I will be sharing the “psychological education” I present to my clients in our sessions.

The blog will start with the connection between thoughts & feelings, & how we can use that to our advantage in managing our moods. Then it’ll move into Breathing 101, the how to for novices. Branching out next into how anxiety works, with various ways to respond to it. Along the way, I’ll be sharing referrals for books, podcasts, CDs, etc by others that I have found helpful on these topics.

I’m hoping that you’ll be interested in being on this journey along with me, and that you’ll try these approaches for yourself.  I look forward to having you join me, and having you build your personal action plan that will help you in handling new life stresses coming your way.