Tips for Minimizing Emotional Reactivity

Do you ever feel like you react emotionally before you’ve had time to process the situation? Stressful or challenging situations often lead to impulsive and disproportionate reactions, so here are a few strategies to minimize your emotional reactivity!

• Count to 30 before responding

• Approach your feelings with curiosity, not judgment

• Try to see things objectively and assume positive intent

• Question: why are you feeling this way?

• Write your response out first

• Remember that it is normal to feel big feelings

• Allow yourself to pause and breathe for 1 minute

• Bring your awareness back to your body

• Label the emotion you are feeling

We suggest trying out one or two of these tips at a time to see if they work for you. Be mindful and aware when trying to incorporate these into your life so you can notice how they help you and what the end result is. We hope you can find these tips to be helpful!