Get a support system. You'll be able to cope with stress much better if you have a sense of links, or caring attachments to other people, whether those links are with friends, relatives, or both. 

Take reasonable control over your life. You can't control everything around you, but if you've got a good handle on your job and relationships, you'll be better able to deal with stress. 

Have a sense of purpose to your life. Waking up each morning with a good reason to get up and a sense of purpose is crucial to stress management. 

Laugh a little. Humor's important because it helps up to keep things in perspective. A study on 1,200 stress-resistant people over the course of 12 years found that among other attributes, they either had a good sense of humor or chummed around with people who did. Laughing itself also causes chemical changes in your body that elevate your sense of well-being. 

Work out your troubles. Aerobic exercise can do a lot for your body andmind. It can induce a sense of well being andtone down the stress response. So take a break and get out there and walk, swim, bike, jog or aerobicize. Vheck with your doctor first before starting any program if you're not a regular exerciser or if you have any significant health problems. 

Opt for an unstimulating diet. Cut back on caffeine, a dietary stimulant that can make you feel anzious even when you gave no problems. Who needs the extra jitters? Nicotine can do the same, so reduce or gice up the cigarette habit. 

Change the self-talks in you head. We all have silent conversations with ourselves every day, and these "self-talks" can have great power over our stress level. Rational, positive self-talks can give you some choices and allow you to cool off. 

Realize you can't control all stresses. Though we'd like to reduce stress to ground zero, there are some situations we can't do anything about. The wisdom is in learning how to distinquish between the two different stresses (stressed we can and can't control), so you don't waste your time and talent constantly being frustrated by trying to change things you can't influence. 

Take time out to relax. Another common trait among the stress-resistant group mentioned earlier was that they all set aside 10 or 15 minutes each day to do something relaxing. Some benefited form practising relaxation exercises on a daily basis to calm themselves or to reduce their butterflies before certain stressful events. Other options you might want to try include dance, photography, art or music. 

Don't have it all. Society pushes us to attain wealth, power, adn success with a great personal and family life. That's probably the biggest stressful dilemma in life. People are trying to pursue all the material goods and all the personal strivings. The problem is that there aren't enough hours on the week for everybody to do everything. Decide what's most important to you and focus on that. 
 
Get help if you have major stressful problems that you can't deal with. Seek good advice from the best source you can . Often self-help will go so far, but whenyou have major problems with your job, spiritual beliefs or studies, don't be afraid to ask for outside help. 

Breathe deep and slow. Taking steady, slow abdominal breaths can help you cool off in a stressfull situation so that you can think more clearly. There is are breathing techniques based on five-second intervals. For five seconds, you inhale. Hold that breath for five seconds. Exhale for five seconds. Hold it for five seconds and repeat one more time. (Don't go much beyond that, however, because you could start hyperventilating.) Be patient. It may take some practice to get this down; smokers, in particular, may have trouble. 

Don't take your frustrations out on the wrong person. If you're angry at your boss, coming home and being crabby and irritable with your wife and kids won't solve the problem. Instead, you need to clearly identify the problem, figure out some strategies to solve it, and then put them into action. Otherwise, you'll simply be compounding the stress you feel.