Coping strategies

You can't tell people not to eat oranges any more than you can demand they don't fiddle with their faces. But if you're stuck on public transport or even at home with a person whose actions are driving you mad, you've got to do something.

Sabbir Muslim, an NLP (neuro linguistic programming) practitioner, recommends the Swish Pattern: Make a vivid representation of the problem in your mind. Place that mental image on a glass pane. Then picture a relaxed, calm and confident you. Put the two together in your mind with an imagined elastic link between them and catapult the image of you quickly towards your pet hate on the glass, smashing the latter into a million pieces. Do that 20 times every morning and evening for about two weeks, and it should help alleviate the problem.