Canyon Ranch (Arizona)

You're at the office with deadlines to meet and deals to close. Or you're at home with long to-do lists and loved ones to care for. No matter where you go, it seems you're stressed or anxious about something.

What to do? Here are seven practical recommendations for coping with difficult times.

1. Learn from the innocent.
Live for the moment. Adult human beings are capable of having thoughts about the future, but animals and very young children live in the present. We can benefit by trying to emulate that simplicity.

2. Understand that anxiety is not reality; it's your mind's worst-case scenario.
When you're anxious, you imagine a future and feel as if it's here. But, unlike the plot of an old movie that follows a familiar pattern, there's no way to predict what happens next in life. When you're anxious about life, you're writing the ending to a movie before you experience it. Becoming aware of your thoughts as "script," not reality, can help put some distance between you and your fears.

3. Live happily ever after: Develop a storybook ending.
Once you understand that anxiety is the result of your imagination working overtime, use that knowledge. Instead of trying to stop thoughts about the future, make up alternate endings. No matter how bad one ending is, you can imagine one that is worse - and also many that are better. Developing improbable conclusions - some happy, some tragic - serves as an entertaining distraction and reminds you that none of the scenarios is real.

4. Add more texture to your life.
Comforting textures can be an effective antidote to anxiety and stress: Wear soft clothes; put flannel sheets on your bed. Sleep with a corner of a blanket in your hand as you revisit the comforting sensations you experienced as a child.

5. Heartbeat: Take your pulse.
Put your hand on your neck or wrist and feel your heart beating. Focus in a meditative manner and tell yourself, "This is my heart beating." Then put your hand on your belly and feel the rise and fall of your diaphragm, and say, "This is my body breathing." These comforting, stabilizing thoughts provide calming touchstones that you can access anywhere, from stressful meetings to crowded places.

6. Nurture other living things.
Forging connections with living things has proven health benefits. Pay attention to something that's alive and growing: Care for your children in special ways, spend extra time with your dog or cat or the flowers in your garden.

7. Trouble sleeping? Displace your inner dialogue.
When you can't get to sleep at night, you're listening to a conversation in your head. Put a stop to that endless inner dialogue by listening to someone else talk. Audio books provide, quite literally, another voice, telling a story that's organized and compelling. Try Garrison Keillor, Robert Fulghum or Tom Bodett - readers whose deep, soothing voices offer mellow messages with uplifting humor. For a comforting experience and an effective, reusable form of anxiety management, simply slip on a pair of headphones.

Your life - your terms
Adjusting the way you see the world is the ultimate in stress and anxiety relief. Life may try to keep you continuously running on stress, but you have the power to opt out and get off that treadmill.

The key is to recognize when you're falling into the old pattern of stress and anxiety, then try one or more of these seven steps to combat the issue. Before long, work and home will be relaxing places where you love to be.