Stop stress in seconds

Experts reveal the cause of out- of-nowhere negativity and the thought-shifts that quickly restore calm

You’re busily plowing through your day as usual—going to work, popping in to visit Aunt Rhonda in the hospital, running into the supermarket—when you encounter a rude shopper or get cut off by an angry driver, and suddenly you’re trapped in a bad mood for hours.

The reason? Though neuroscientists have determined that the natural life span of an emotion is a mere 90 seconds, we end up replaying mental scripts that literally hijack our brain and keep us locked into painful states like anxiety, anger and sadness, explains Ronald Siegel, an assistant clinical professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School and author of The Mindfulness Solution. “Our minds have a very strong tendency to focus on the negative—to remember bad experiences and anticipate that bad things will happen in the future,” he notes. “Without realizing it, we get caught up in ‘thought loops’ that initiate negative emotions and keep them rolling, robbing us of the happiness we deserve.”

Fortunately, simple mindfulness practices that switch our focus to the present moment have a powerful ability to free us from these damaging mental scripts and restore joy. “They allow us to step back and witness these scripts so we can see them for the traps they are,” says Siegel. “And once you recognize how they operate, you can defuse their effects rather than being hijacked by them,” he promises. Read on for four easy mindfulness techniques that can restore peace and positivity—instantly.