The S-M-A-R-T model (in Israel, known as עש”ן ד”ק) was developed by the Resilience Center and helps a person regain calm when experiencing emotional deluge. In these trying times, when some of us are emotionally overwhelmed at various points during the day, practice these recommended steps whenever necessary, preferably before bedtime. (The model is not intended for acute anxiety or trauma.)
So what do we do? Be S-M-A-R-T:
✔️ S – Stop – I’m doing time-out. I put the brakes on my current thoughts and command myself to: “Stop.”
✔️ M – Muscles – I go through each muscle in my body, part by part in order, contract each muscle, count to 5 and then release. For example: contract the right fist, count to 5 and release, and so on. If it doesn’t go, I contract the muscles of my entire body at once (as if I’m trying to squeeze myself into a small box) and release.
✔️ A – Ahhh – I breathe in and out. I’m taking deep breaths, preferably a few rounds of breaths, in counts of “5-5-5”: inhale – count to 5, exhale – count to 5 and then I repeat the inhale-exhale cycle 5 times. I fill up my lungs and then exhale slowly until all the air empties out.
✔️ R – Reassurance – I reassure myself with calming, positive inner speech and guided imagery. I say key phrases to myself like: “When I’m in the Safe Room / bomb shelter, I’m safe.” Or, “This is only a temporary situation and it will pass.” I can prepare in advance any sentence that calms or empowers me, such as words of emunah (faith), or verses of Tehillim (Psalms), etc. In addition, I recall a positive image of a good experience I had, or a beautiful scene like the sea shore – something I find relaxing and pleasant, and relive it again in my mind’s eye for a few seconds with all of my senses. If I have not been able to come up with a positive image, I tell myself that it’s worth repeating all the steps from the start.
✔ ️T – Take a step forward – Now I can move forward and cope better with the situation, or let it go and go back and try to deal with it. In addition, now that I’m in a calmer state, or even before I get there, it is important for me to take some physical actions such as tidying up the house, doing exercise or any other physical activity, or choose a mental challenge such as saying my phone number backwards from end to start. This greatly contributes to completing the process of attaining inner-calm.
The model was presented by Shmuel Kessler, a vocational coach and life coach at Bayit Cham’s Tze’adim Center.
May we know good days 🙏❤️
