We know that when we are physically wounded, there are many kinds of first aid available. Yet have you ever thought of doing first aid when you are emotionally hurt? Emotional pain hurts no less, if not more, than physically pain. So it is essential for anyone of us to have several emotional first aid tips in our mind.
I’m not talking about navigating your thoughts to a positive direction or such things. Those kinds of talks tire me out. We all know that we must think positively to overcome our pain and stress and hurt and sadness etc… Yet it is for the long term, it is not the immediate first aid that we all need. In the very moment that we get hurt, get rejected, get shocked… we need something right away to recover from the current pain that is screaming in our head and our heart. It is just like when you are bleeding, you need to stop the blood right away.
So here is my own emotional first aid tip which really saves me in bad moments:
1. Put a finger right in front of your eyes, move it from the left to the right and back continuously.
2. Keep your head still while your eyes follow the move of your finger.
Just that, and you will feel better. I tested it on myself. It works. It is all I need to calm down in hard times.
Btw if you wonder about the scientific ground of this trick, it is based on a therapy called EMDR (you can read further about the therapy here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_movement_desensitization_and_reprocessing).
alienmeo 