There are all sorts of ways to become calm about a situation. You might try to rise above it or to put things in perspective or to remind yourself that this too shall pass. You can also try breathing with an emphasis on the outbreath—the way you breathe when you’re asleep. This tricks your mind into thinking everything’s okay, even when you’re feeling topsy-turvy. When you breathe out, feel your heart expanding way beyond the confines of your body, beyond the room. Each time you breathe out, feel yourself becoming bigger and encompassing more of the space around you, until you’re pushing out beyond the outer limits of who and where you thought you were. Let yourself become bigger than you ever imagined you could be. If you can do this even for a moment, you’ll feel saturated by calm.
