Here’s a balm that you can rub onto your mind to stop it from jumping from worry to anger to fear. It’s an easy, old practice that some people do for years at a time.
Even though thousands of meditation practices exist, when you’re sitting in the ER — and aren’t we all sitting there right now? — a simple practice is what works best.  When Holly Brodt and I teach meditation classes in Ely, we always end with a unit entitled “When the Sh*t Hits the Fan.” In these moments, even experienced meditators cannot carry out anything complicated.  We all need practices that work when we are exhausted, confused and terrified.
The name of this meditation is “Elephant with a Stick.” The author was the brilliant meditation teacher, Eknath Easwaran, from South India. He tells of how a young elephant walks through an Indian bazaar, distracted, looking around and constantly reaching out with its trunk to touch everything.  To control this, its trainer hands the elephant a stick. The elephant focuses on holding the stick and walks through the bazaar without getting distracted.  
We can use meditations like this to ease our minds by slowing down and releasing thought. 
Here’s how to do this meditation:
Choose one of the quotations below. Memorize it.
Find a place where you can be alone in complete silence.  Turn off all phone notifications.  Set a timer for five minutes.
Close your eyes and breathe slowly but easily.
Let the quotation run very slowly through your mind — “The… light…shines… in… the …darkness….”  You might want to breathe slowly between each word.
Do not think about the quote at all. Focus on simply allowing the memorized words to pass slowly and easily through your mind. The words are the stick for the elephant. 
Do this for five minutes. Do it every day. If you want to, you can eventually do this longer but start with five minutes. 
What Kind of Quotation?
You can make this completely personal by choosing your own quotation. The quotation you choose should be both positive and personal for you.  We choose positive words because they will be sinking deeply into our awareness. And we choose “goose-bumpy” meaningful words because that is what touches our hearts.  Each of us has our own special meanings and thoughts.  One reason this is such a successful meditation is exactly this — That we choose words that most resonate with us. I have done this meditation for years at a time. It works.
Sample Quotations
•  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. - (John 1:5)
•  Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. - (Martin Luther King, Jr.) 
•  God makes the rivers to flow. They tire not, nor do they cease from flowing.  May the river of my life flow into the sea of love that is the Lord.  - (Rig Veda, ancient Hindu scripture)
•  “My work is loving the world.
Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird—
Equal seekers of sweetness.
Here the quickening yeast, there the blue plums.
Here the clam deep in the speckled sand.”   - ( from “Messenger,” by Mary Oliver)