breathe.

ok, so you are in the coffee shop and a woman that you notice has looked at you a couple of times in the past few minutes and your heart rate has jumped and you can barely breathe now that you are imagining trying to talk to her.

what is going on?

the basic fight-or-flight response inate in all of us is working perfectly.

unfortunately you can`t run, even though your nervous system is on red-alert and ready for action.

so all you can do is breathe.

in.

deeply.

until you can`t take in any more air.

now slowly let the air out and imagine an elevator ride down into the depths of the earth......

breathe in again and ride the elevator down as you do.

over and over breathing slowly in and out until you feel calm and focused.

and hopefully she will still be sitting there waiting for you to access a smile for her.