A technique that has helped me personally is what I would call, in layman’s terms, The Chosen Word Strategy.  And what do I mean by that? What is the chosen word?  A chosen word can be a syllable, a word, a sentence that you use to consciously interject into your mind and it is a way of disciplining your mind.  
What sort of word would that be?  Like ‘Love’, ‘Joy’, ‘Peace’ and you could also use words that help you to connect with the highest.  For some it would be Christ, Allah, the name of Krishna, Mahavira, Buddha, Jehova, and so on. 
The important thing is that if I said to you when I am speaking to you, in this moment in time, ‘Don’t think of a monkey’.  Very soon you will find as I am talking that a monkey will pop into your head.  Even a second monkey might pop into your head.  And you might say ‘Rita you are just suggesting this’.  If I said to you ‘Don’t think of the colour blue’ – it would start popping into your head.  Why? Because the mind is such a thing that we are not always in charge of it.  It is more in charge of us, than we are in charge of the mind.  And in such moments of crisis, you do need a mind that is anchored, a mind that is disciplined. 
So the chosen word strategy is a way of interjecting a conscious thought when your mind does its own thing.  And we all know that we are not only creatures of habit, we have patterns and ways of thinking.  So when we sit in meditation and go silent, you would be surprised how soon a thought comes and the thought leads you to another thought, and before you know it… For example, if you think ‘I shouldn’t be thinking of blue’.  And then you remember the time your mother wore a blue sari.  Or you remember the time you had a fight when she wore that blue sari.  And then I didn’t like that other cousin and his response.   And we can go on such a trail, can’t we?
So the importance of being able to discipline yourself with the thought that helps you is really important.  Now does it matter what thought or syllable or sentence we use?  Yes, it does matter.  Why? Because at our core of our being, we are energetic beings. Even when Einstein talked about E=mc squared, apart from saying energy and matter replace each other and are interchangeable, he also said that at the very core we are a vibrating pool of energy.  What does that mean?  If you are a vibrating pool of energy, it means that that vibration and that frequency is what gives name and form to creation.  And so the fact of what makes a table a table is the frequency at which it vibrates.  What makes a thermos flask a thermos flask is the frequency at which it vibrates. And so on.
If I said to you that the Rishis had realized that within our energetic system, within our spiritual system or psychic anatomy, there are energy centres, power centres, that are also vibrating.  And those energy centres are called Chakras. And each of these Chakras have petals and on those petals of the Chakras are solitary vibrational mantras. 
So why am I saying all of this to you?  Because what I am trying to say to you is that we are not only energetic beings, we are vibrational beings, we are sound bodies, we are magnetic beings.   We start to attract whatever we vibrate with.  And so when you choose the word ‘potato’, if you say potato enough times, you will start manifesting potatoes around you because it has a certain vibration. 
I remember if I was ever depressed, I would attract more depressed people to me.  And so it became very clear that if you are going to choose a vibrational tone or word or syllable, then choose something that means the highest, the most positive, the most uplifting for you.  So you can choose a syllable like OM, or you can do the Gayatri Mantra, or you can choose a word like Joy, or Love or Truth.  
So really dear friends, what I have noticed is that when I feel despair or anguish, I go back into the chosen word so that I can interject and discipline the mind, break the patterns of the mind.  Because I am consciously doing it, it doesn’t overwhelm me.  It is me who then choses as to what sort of thoughts and what sort of feelings and what sort of vibrations I attract to myself.   And it has been really important for me.  I have found that often that even in times of turmoil, I find myself chanting inside or affirming inside.  You can also say  “I am ok”, “I am healthy”, “I am joyful”.
So the chosen word strategy is a way of breaking mind patterns consciously to help you to go the direction you want and to attract the things you really want in life.  So think happy thoughts, be happy and I hope that this will help you because we are in so much change and uncertainty that it is great to bring some certainty and positivity in your life through your choices of your words.