You know the feeling — the spiral is building, everything is tightening, and you can sense a meltdown approaching. In that moment, the last thing you need is a complicated strategy. You need something immediate. In this She Short, Rachel Russell of Quiet Frankly Coaching shares one of the simplest tools in her toolkit: just look up. It’s grounded in what’s known in NLP as a pattern interrupt, and it works with something your body already does naturally. When we’re about to fall asleep, our eyes roll upward — it’s a calming signal our nervous system already recognises. Rachel explains how you can use that same motion to interrupt a spiral, calm your system, and give yourself a moment of steadiness. And it works for your children too.

In This Short

Rachel shares:

•       A one-second technique for moments of overwhelm, anxiety, or when you feel yourself spiralling: simply look up

•       Why it works: the upward eye movement mirrors what happens when we fall asleep, sending a natural calming signal to the nervous system and interrupting the pattern of escalation

•       How this works for children as well — when they’re on the verge of a meltdown, gently getting them to look up can have the same calming, interrupting effect

Quotable Moment

“When we are about to go to sleep, our eyes roll back in our head — it’s a calming motion already for our body. All you need to do is just look up. It’s going to calm your nervous system and it’s going to distract you.” — Rachel Russell

Something to Try

Keep this one in your back pocket for the moment you need it most. When you feel the spiral building — the tightness in your chest, the racing thoughts, the sense that things are about to overflow — pause and look up. That’s it. Hold your gaze upward for a few seconds and let your nervous system do what it already knows how to do. You might still feel on edge afterwards, but you’ll feel calmer. And calmer is enough to take the next step from.