Feelings Plan

Before:

• Think about the types of feelings that you might encounter during a stressful situation. Use our Feelings List to help get you started.
• While you are calm, make a plan for how to react. Your natural reaction may cause you to respond in a not-so-helpful way to a situation. Think about doing the opposite for a better result. Use our Feelings Plan to think through/write out your plan.
• Practice. Imagine or role play what this would look like.

During:

• When you feel a strong emotion growing, take a moment and reflect on the plan you made.
• Take a deep breath.
• Follow through with your plan of using the new way/opposite reaction.

After:

• Re-evaluate. Determine what worked and what didn't work. Did you feel better?  Did the situation get better or worse?
• Adjust your plan if needed.

Bonus Step:

• Journal the feelings that you had and how you reacted. Think about what you learned about yourself and others in this the situation.