Ever have one of those days where it seems every thing is going wrong?

Take a few moments to step back from every challenging situation, catch your breath and calm yourself down. Remaining calm helps reduce stress from building into an unmanageable monster.

Here are  7 Tips to Calm Yourself Down and Reduce Stress …

1.  Breathe

Take 10 long deep breaths. You have probably heard this all of your life – the trick is to breather properly. You want to take a long slow deep breath in so that your stomach rises, not your chest. Next, breathe out just as slowly while your stomach descends. As you breathe in, gradually count from 1 to 10. As you breathe out, count down from 10 to 1 at the same pace. Concentrate on your breaths as you count, releasing any thoughts as they come. This is an excellent method to calm yourself down and reduce stress, regardless of where you are. It can be done sitting or standing and in front of anyone. People around you will probably not even realize what you are doing.

2.  Reframe

Reframing is the mental act of stepping back and looking at the situation from a different point of view. We all have had times where we see a person loose it at a restaurant, grocery store or other public place. I once witnessed a man having a full melt-down because the waitress served him peas instead of corn. Yet, we all have times where we become just as stressed over something trivial. Is it the end of the world if your husband is late for dinner, little Johnny puts treats in your grocery basket, if you make a mistake in your checkbook or if your boss disciplines you? Put yourself in the situation as an observer and see how it looks different. Ask yourself “On a scale of 1 to 10, how does this matter in the bigger picture of my life and my well-being?” Looking at things differently opens you up to see opportunities instead of challenges, compassion in place of anger and strengths instead of weaknesses.  To quote Wayne Dyer “When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”

3.  Self Talk

Be aware of what you are telling yourself and change what you are saying. Instead of telling yourself “I’m going to be fired” after your boss reprimands you, say “That was a good lesson for me to learn, and I will do better next time.” Instead of saying my husband is late because he doesn’t like being around me or he wants a divorce, remind yourself what a great guy he is and think of all the ways he shows you he loves you. Tell yourself that you are loving, worthy and capable and are ok just the way you are. Self talk can go a long way to help calm yourself down and reduce stress, because your self talk is what created the stress in the first place.

4.  Anchor

To be able to use this method to calm yourself down and reduce stress – you need to be prepared. When you feel calm and happy choose a physical action to “anchor” the peaceful emotion. This can be as something as simple as touching your ear, placing your hand over your heart or on your knee. Practice this anchoring technique as often as possible when things are going well. When you begin to feel yourself becoming stressed, use the anchoring action to help yourself calm down.

5.  Get Away

If possible take a walk, go to they gym, ride your bicycle or take in a movie. It is especially important to take breaks and get away if you are becoming stressed at work. A quick walk around the building coupled with breathing in fresh air can do wonders for your mental state. Sunlight is a natural mood booster and can be a great way to lift your spirits. The same applies at home if you feel a heated argument with your spouse on the horizon or if your children are fighting and not listening to you.

6.  Indulge

If you are at work or a public place, listen to some soothing music. Put a couple soothing songs on your phone or mp3 player that have a calming affect on you. Other ways to indulge to calm yourself down and reduce stress includes reading a book, taking a bubble bath, getting a massage or having a glass of wine.

7.  Meditate

When you begin to feel overwhelmed take a few minutes to go to a quiet place and meditate – even 2 or 3 minutes can do wonders to reduce stress! When meditating focus on clearing your thoughts, by focusing on your breathing, an object or a certain word, like wellbeing or calm. You can also use guided tapes or music designed for meditation. To remain calm and prevent stress, meditate every day.

You may be wondering exactly what an obstacle is. It’s a barrier – something that interferes or prevents the required action needed for us to progress. When we let our emotions and feelings control our reasoning.

You may not realize that you can control your feelings. It won’t come easy, it will take time, but the results are definitely worth it. The first step is realizing that most of our emotions are learned habits.

As young children we see how our parents and other around us respond to various situations. We note their emotions and feelings and link those emotions and feelings with the situation. For example we will often see people respond to anger with anger and resentment, thus we believe this is the correct response.

Many people are taught to hide their emotions – such as “Boys don’t cry”. Even though the emotions are buried; the thoughts and feelings still come into play when making decisions – even the most logical ones.

Emotions and feelings become large obstacles when we focus on them, and let them control our every move. Especially negative emotions like anger, depression, disappointment, discouragement, doubt, envy, fear, guilt, depression, resentment, shame, stress and worry.

Negative emotions zap us of energy. We can become entrapped in a sea of negativity. One complaint leads to another to another to yet another …

Negative feelings often lead to negative actions – how often have you said something you shouldn’t have out of anger? When you’re feeling negative your subconscious actually looks for other things to be negative about.

A good example of this a woman might say “My husband never takes out the trash”. Her friend will say “Yeah, I know the feeling, my husband never takes out the trash either and to top it off he will leave trash lying all over the house.” This can often become a competition of whom has the worst husband. Then when the husband gets home the wife is mad at him and he has no idea why.

If a person consistently thinks, imagines and talks negative, it destroys any positive work they may be trying to accomplish. The person will eventually become negative in all areas of life. Their energy will be drained. They will be unable to see the good in anything. They will believe they are doomed for failure. They will literally be drowning with negative feelings.

Just about any excuse we make for not doing something usually is based on negative emotions and feelings. You may be fearful of failing – or even succeeding. How would your family and friends treat you differently if you actually succeeded?

You may not want to disappoint the people you love. You may be discouraged because of things so called meaningful people have told you.

To live a happier and fuller life you need to let go of the negative emotions you’re carrying around and replace them with happy positive feelings.

If you’re ready to say good-bye to negative emotions that are blocking you from taking action to achieve what you truly desire …. Open your mind to Dr. Wayne Dyer’s new way of thinking — the “Excuses Begone“ in which he shows you a step by step process to align your thoughts and feelings to a higher place.

If you have any self-sabotaging thoughts at all, I urge you to put Dr. Wayne Dyer’s “Excuses Begone“ program to work for you today and start attracting and fulfilling your most challenging desires.

Our feelings in themselves are not good or bad. They just are. You shouldn’t ever let anyone tell you how you should feel about any given circumstance.

Each person reacts to any given situation based on their past experiences. Our emotions are directly related to adaptive behavior and are designed to increase our survival instinct.

According to American psychologist Robert Plutchik every feeling we have is derived from the following eight primary emotions …

Acceptance – the feeling of being liked/loved just as you are. Giving credence to your thoughts, actions and beliefs.

Anger – a feeling that is oriented toward some real or supposed grievance

Anticipation – a feeling of pleasure (and sometimes anxiety) in considering some expected or longed-for good event, or irritation at having to wait.

Disgust – typically associated with things that are perceived as unclean, inedible or infectious.

Fear – a powerful, unpleasant feeling of risk or danger, either real or imagined.

Joy – a feeling of pleasure; a source of happiness.

Sadness – a state of unhappiness and hopelessness.

Surprise – a feeling of shock due to something perceived as unexpected. (Can be pleasant or unpleasant).

You may note that the eight primary emotions are four pairs of opposites;

Acceptance / Disgust; Fear / Anger; Joy / Sadness; Surprise / Anticipation

These eight emotions can be blended in numerous ways for instance blending joy and acceptance gives us the feeling of love.

Even though we cannot experience opposite emotions at the same time, positive and negative emotions can be blended. Acceptance and Fear leads to submissiveness.