1. Stifle your first impulse to react by saying or doing something negative. Instead, stop and either do the opposite to that, or simply respond by doing nothing at all.

2. If you can, remove yourself from the situation. Detach temporarily and choose to walk away. You can talk about what happened, or the issue, later on.

3. Speak calmly to yourself so you don’t over-react. For example, you could tell yourself “Just chill”, or “Just leave it for now”.

4. If you feel as if the person has really pressed your buttons, make yourself count to ten before you think about responding. Also, focus your attention on slowing down your breathing, and doing what you can to make your body relax.

5. To help with this, distract yourself by visualizing something that’s relaxing and calming. For example, it could be a peaceful scene like the mountains or a lake, or it could be something funny that has happened recently.