There’s never a good day to have a bad day; being a ball of negative emotion doesn’t really make life for you or those around you any easier. Yet it’s also not easy to snap out of such a state when it seems that everything is going downhill. Fast.

Be that as it may, it’s worth giving certain calming techniques a go, as they can help us deal with certain unfavorable situations more easily.

“Once you become emotionally overwhelmed, your prefrontal lobes, the rational part of your brain goes offline, and your thoughts tend to go down rabbit holes, lose perspective, only making your mood worse. Your goal is to take the time to calm yourself so you can get your rational brain back online, and begin to see the situation more clearly and realistically and come up with a plan to solve the problem,” Robert Taibbi told Bored Panda, expanding on why it is important to try to control your emotions when something unforeseen happens.

When discussing the best ways to get a grip on your emotions, Taibbi suggested that it’s best to look at it as a two-part process. “Part one is trying to calm down. Start by simply acknowledging how you are feeling—saying to yourself that you’re feeling anxious can help you feel less anxious.

“Obviously, getting support, talking to someone who cares about you can help,” he added. “Deep breathing helps calm your mind. Becoming mindful and focusing on something intently—your surroundings, what you’re doing—can get you out of your head.

“Write down how you’re feeling or exercise—doing 10 minutes of vigorous exercise increases your endorphins,” the expert suggested, adding that self care—like taking a hot bath—or listening to music you like can help, too.

“Part two is coming up with a plan,” Taibbi continued. “The plan may be to wait and tackle the problem when you’re more calm and clear-headed, or think of the worst-case scenario and plan for that to help stop the obsessing, or talk to someone to get better ideas.”

Keeping your emotions in check is crucial not only for your relationships with others—which are likely to be affected if one is led by their emotions too much—but your health, too. Take anger, for instance; the American Psychological Association (APA) emphasized that such an emotion can lead to coronary heart disease and stress-related problems, including insomnia, digestive problems and headaches, in addition to a tendency to violent and risky behavior and damaged relationships.

APA suggested that keeping anger at bay can be done with the help of a few steps. First and foremost, it’s important to try not to let anger flourish, which calls for being aware of certain warning signs, signaling that you might be close to the anger zone. Upon recognizing such signs, it’s necessary to either step away from the situation or turn to certain techniques that can help you control the emotions that are building up.

Another important step to take in order to manage such negative emotions as anger more easily is focusing on your mindset. Firstly, while it’s not always easy, it’s important not to dwell on certain aggravating situations, especially if the issue has already been resolved. Clinging on to an infuriating event in the past is unproductive at best.

Secondly, when you’re angry, it’s best to try and focus on the positive, instead of the negative that can make you feel like things are worse than they actually are. According to APA, using a technique known as cognitive restructuring can help get rid of the negative “everything is bad” thoughts and replace them with a more favorable “this is frustrating, but it’s not the end of the world”.

APA also emphasized the importance of taking deep breaths and exercising, among other things, both of which were accentuated by Robert Taibbi, too. And while knowing and using such techniques in order not to let emotions overwhelm you can have a positive influence on your well-being, feeling a bit down sometimes is just part of being human, and can even have a silver lining.

“Negative emotions are simply a part of life, which not only help us appreciate the positive, but—often embedded in difficult situations—are also lessons to be learned and carried forward that help us make running our lives easier,” Taibbi suggested.