I have fortunately happened upon a effective self help anxiety technique. Its easy and best of all successful! Life is full of stress for this parent of a teen - actually if you look up stress in the dictionary I am sure you will see a picture of a teenager. So any healthy ways of relieving stress are hugely beneficial.

One of my favorite stress reducing techniques is getting centered. What is 'getting centered'? That is for you to figure out. Everyone has their own individual way to do this. Some even have more than one. But let me tell you once you figure it out, you will be able to start using it immediately.

Where does stress come from?

In my opinion, our lives are spinning so quickly and are so intricate, that we quickly become out-of-control. It is in that place out-of-controlness that we become stressed. It doesn't mean our whole life is off kilter, maybe just an area or two, like kids, health, money. But those areas can be just as if not more stressful than you can believe!

So how to we reduce our stress?

I do solemnly believe that stress cannot be actually reduce just handled. And the way I do this is to get centered.

What does it mean to get centered?

Getting centered means figuring out something that you can do that will give you a sense of control in your life, even if it's in a tiny way. It might not even be anything that needs controlling, but it has to be something you can control. So even if you can't control any or all of the big things, if you can control something small, it can do wonders for your overall stress level.

Where do I start?

Figure out something that's relaxing or soothing for you, and that gives you a sense of accomplishment when you get done. I have a couple of things I do to get centered - the main one is to mow the lawn. Now I know, most guys my age can hardly wait for their kids to get old enough to hand that job over to them, but as far as I'm concerned, they'll never learn how to do it! Believe me, they're not too bummed - they don't get centered the same way I do. Anyway, I just love the feeling and the satisfaction of seeing that freshly mowed and edged lawn, with hardly a blade of grass out of place. It gets me centered.

Like I said you can have more than one stress reducing way and I do. I love making the bed! Military tight corners, smooth sheets and blankets. And the spouse gets centered here too as it is one less chore on her list.

My wife's method of how to prevent stress? To clean the sliding glass door. When she's feeling out-of-control, she almost runs for the Windex and paper towels, and gets that baby so clean you could eat off of it. It's her way of getting centered.

Paper Clips Piles!

I heard about a CEO of a major corporation that get's centered by separating small paper clips from large ones. When his assistant told him they could have someone else to that, he almost ripped the container of mixed-up paper clips out of his hand! Nope, that was his job, thank-you very much!

That's it! Told you it was simple. So the next time you can't get a handle on things, figure out what you can do to get centered. And before you know it, you have your own ways of reducing stress.