is the "wear and tear" our bodies experience as we adjust to our continually changing environment; it has physical and emotional effects on us and can create positive or negative feelings. As a positive influence, can help compel us to action; it can result in a new awareness and an exciting new perspective. As a negative influence, it can result in feelings of distrust, rejection, anger, and depression, which in turn can lead to health problems such as headaches, upset stomach, rashes, insomnia, ulcers, high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke. With the death of a loved one, the birth of a child, a job promotion, or a new relationship, we experience as we readjust our lives. In so adjusting to different circumstances, will help or hinder us depending on how we react to it.

As we have seen, positive adds anticipation and excitement to life, and we all thrive under a certain amount of stress. Deadlines, competitions, confrontations, and even our frustrations and sorrows add depth and enrichment to our lives.

Our goal is not to eliminate but to learn how to manage it and how to use it to help us. Insufficient acts as a depressant and may leave us feeling

bored or dejected; on the other hand, excessive may leave us feeling "tied up in knots." What we need to do is find the optimal level of which will individually motivate but not overwhelm each of us.

There is no single level of that is optimal for all people. We are all individual creatures with unique requirements. As such, what is distressing to one may be a joy to another. And even when we agree that a particular event is distressing, we are likely to differ in our physiological and psychological responses to it. Also, our personal requirements and the amount which we can tolerate before we become distressed changes with our ages.

It has been found that most illness is related to unrelieved stress. If you are experiencing symptoms, you have gone beyond your optimal level; you need to reduce the in your life and/or improve your ability to manage it.

Identifying unrelieved and being aware of its effect on our lives is not sufficient for reducing its harmful effects.

Just as there are many sources of stress, there are many possibilities for its management. However, all require work toward change: changing the source of and/or changing your reaction to it. How do you proceed?

One method of changing your response to it is to learn how to systematically switch off the brains producing centers when you want and experience a state of the deepest and most profound relaxation youve ever known.