SNAP! From Chaos to Calm by Julie Potiker; Bloomington, Indiana: Archway Publishing; © 2022; ISBN 9781665-731928; 196 pages including index; $14.99.
SAN DIEGO – Sometimes you feel so stressed, you think you are going to SNAP! That, according to author Julie Potiker, is a good thing, assuming you are referring to SNAP as an acronym.
As is reiterated throughout the book, “S” is for giving yourself a “Soothing” touch. Potiker, a member of San Diego’s Jewish community, likes to put a hand on her heart. She writes that such a touch will “release oxytocin and endorphins,” thereby calming your nervous system.
The “N” is for “Naming” the emotion that you feel. Are you angry? Overwhelmed? Frustrated? Scared? Whatever it is, according to Potiker, who is a teacher of Mindful Self Compassion, “labeling the emotion engages the thinking brain and calms your system down.”
The ”A” stands for “Act.” How you act will vary according to the situation. Say you are going to the doctor and you are afraid of needles, or are concerned what the lab tests will show. Potiker recommends using a breathing technique, a short intake of breath followed by exhaling over a longer period. Or, she said, you can keep a stone in your pocket and run your fingers over its familiar texture.
If you are feeling grief, perhaps for a family member who has died, Potiker recommends taking a nature walk. “It can give you a sense that, although life on the planet is fleeting, nature is enduring.” She suggests that the walk be combined with listening to a guided meditation.
Imagine that you are feeling a more generalized grief, say for the children in a school or the celebrants at a Chinese New Year festival who have been killed or wounded by a shooter with an automatic weapon. Sometimes, Potiker said, wading in a swimming pool to a point where you need to tread water can be cleansing. “Allowing tears to fall can leave you feeling lighter.”
These kinds of physical actions can help you restore a sense of balance in your life, Potiker advises. You “don’t need to reach for a cocktail” nor a pill, she declares.
The “P” in SNAP is for “Praise.” Potiker wants us to praise ourselves after taking such actions. She advises comforting ourselves with such phrases as we might use with a loved one. “You did a good job, sweetheart!” “Way to go, honey!” She explains that “when your mind is occupied with sending healing thoughts to your body, it cannot be in a recursive loop of negative thoughts.”
Her book walks us through a variety of opportunities for using the SNAP methodology. The nine chapters focus, in turn, on “anger; anxiety; equanimity; grief; gratitude; inner critic work; parenting, political strife and disaster; and sadness, depression, shame and guilt.
Potiker relates numerous situations in her own life when she utilized a tool from her toolbox of methodologies to deal with stressful situations. Readers are likely to find situations analogous to their own concerns.
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Donald H. Harrison is editor emeritus of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com