[Secretum]

Everything is coming at me at once. I am assaulted by noises that I can't filter out. I can't study, I can't think. I'm alone now, and listening to calming music, but at school today...God, that was awful.

Normally I'm okay with this.

Anyone else find that their ability to filter out irrelevant sensory info is worse some days than others?

[CANDC]

Yeah, some days are tougher than others. Glad you have calming music.

Following the breath can be calming even in the middle of cacophony.

If sounds interesting here is an exercise to practice at home morning and night until it becomes second nature. Just helps the calming process the more it becomes part of the daily routine.

The most important thing is to breath naturally - do not try to force it.
Breathing exercise
If you are feeling very anxious or angry or just want to calm down, you can try a breathing exercise that takes the attention away from the trigger of anxiety to a simple tool of counting breaths.

Find a comfortable position seated or laying down or even standing if you are at school or work. Begin to relax your breathing. Silently count 1 on the inhale, and two on the exhale. Then silently count 3 on the inhale and 4 on the exhale. Continue up to 10 or until you lose the count then return to one. No judgement. I sometimes end up at 18 then smile and return to 1. The idea is to focus on the breath and the counting and not get sucked into the anxiety or anger trigger. Also works to quiet the mind.

[aka Bean]

i have that a lot at school people trigger my symptoms and its just a roller coaster and i know i need to fight through it but no one understands what my voices say my mom tries and i lov my mama very much<3