calming down techniques

Well, have you tried sitting down, closing your eyes, and just taking in slow, deep breaths before? Sure, it may sound a tiny bit cliche, but it does work extremely well, especially if you can learn to meditate.

 

Well, that really sucks. That's probably the best way to do it. How about talking a walk? Going to a park? I find forests to be very relaxing.

 

Nothing Asperger about me, but sometimes I feel myself ramping a lot further up than I want to. When that happens, I found it best to pull WAY back. Force everything into a very simple, very straightforward path. For instance, I have a few action figures in my "geekosphere" at work. If I get really angry at work, I'll pick one up and just stare at it for a second. And I'll start saying (usually internally) very basic things about it. So let's say I grab this guy.



Here's some things I might start saying to myself.

"This is the Donatello action figure. He's the original one from the early 90s action figure line. His skin is a sort of olive green color, and his plastron is sort of golden. I can tell him apart from the other turtle action figures by his purple mask and the D on his belt. His mask tapers off into two stiff portions, which isn't really what would happen if he were real - they would lie flat against his head. Maybe they did that so you could see his whole head, or so he could turn his head easier. He has two bo sticks, which are the weapons he carries on TV and in the movies. But he only carries one there. Maybe they gave him a second one so people wouldn't feel cheated, since the other turtles all have two weapons."

Usually by this time, I've calmed down a lot.

Lex

 

I always count or repeat something to myself over n over to get my mind off of whatever I was thinking.

 

I have high-functioning Asperger's on top of an anxiety disorder and temper problems, so this is something I'm really familiar with. And my recommendation is grounding. Grounding is the art of engaging your senses to bring you out of your mind and into your body. There are a lot of ways to do this.

You can run cold water over your hands; clench and unclench your body one muscle group at a time; slowly eat an orange, focusing on the color, odor, taste, and texture; draw, paint, write, or read; eat something unpleasant, like an orange peel or a chile pepper; hold an ice cube against your skin; and so on.

 

This is something I found really worked for me, maybe it could help?

Close your eyes and slowly inhale and as you inhale focus on a muscle and make that muscle super tight (example: clinching your hand). Just keep focusing on make that muscle as tight as possible. Then as you exhale, release the muscle. You move though the different part of your body until you feel better. I know it kinda sounds kinda stupid, but it really helps me when I get all stressed and bothered.

 

I listen to music. I have preset playlists that have music that have opposite tones of the mood I'm in so that it'll mellow me out. If I'm mad, I'll listen to my mellow playlist. If I'm frustrated, I'll play my relaxed playlist, etc.

 

I'm not on the autistic spectrum, but I do have social anxiety, and I've found that meditation doesn't work so well for me. For me, it's just too hard to "turn off" my thoughts, so instead of turning them off, I turn them on by reciting the 30-something digits of pi that I know. Maybe something like that will work for you.

 

I am not on the autism spectrum, but, for a variety of reasons, I face a lot of the same problems as people who are do.

First I wanted to second what Mogget said about grounding. It can work wonders when you find your mind obsessing over something.

Another thing that I've found to be somewhat useful is visualizing putting the problem in a box. I'll pick a memory that I'm unlikely to think of during my daily life and then imagine dropping the box somewhere in the memory. That way it is no longer floating around in my head randomly, allowing me to deal with it on my own terms.

I've also had some success taking a movie, song, video game, etc, and going through it in my head, trying to recall details as vividly as possible. For example, if I find myself in that loop where I can't sleep because I'm worried about not getting enough sleep, I imagine playing Okami and traveling from the southern tip of Ryoshima Coast all the way to the ice temple in Kamui.

Lastly, you may want to try to schedule time to let yourself feel upset. The above techniques can be useful for getting through the day, but for me they inevitably break down. So I try to have them break down on my terms rather than on my emotions'. When I'm feeling upset, I use these techniques to keep myself calm until I am done with classes, homework, and other obligations. I then set aside 15 to 45 minutes to let myself be upset, to cry, and to rage silently about the problems. Note that, depending on your personality, this technique does have the potential to backfire.

 

As someone else on the Autistic Spectrum (mild Asperger's Syndrome), I can definitely relate.

Obviously trying to distance yourself from the problem you've run into in the first place is always a good starting point, regardless of how long it is. I like to think of something positive or something I've enjoyed recently, anything. Even thinking of friends helps bizarrely.

Another few things I definitely like to do are listen to music, go for walks of varying lengths or watch a light hearted sitcom. These might be impractical at places like work, but if you can get a spare few moments, the former two should definitely be suitable.

 

I can speak Italian well enough to express myself, but not well enough for it to be effortless. So when I am pissed or something I explain the situation to myself in Italian. It usually takes a great deal of concentration and mental strain, so it takes the focus off the problems.

 

I had that happen! I had a simple sentence that made me smile no matter what was going on, and I was using it to get through all kinds of rough situations. All I had to do was think the right words. It worked for a few years and it was amazing, until it sort of wore out from being associated with rough situations. Later I learned to recharge that sentence by saying it out loud in a situation that made me smile (when no one was listening). The situations that work best seem to be outdoors in the sun or in a place that I find really beautiful. I've gone back to using that sentence when I'm stressed, and it works better than ever. I don't know whether that would work for you, but I hope it does because for me it's awesome!