You know the joke - if your wife (or husband) left you, the truck won't start, the beer glass is empty and the dog ran away, you have the makings of a good country and western song.

You also have a recipe for stress, unless you have techniques that allow you to move through the sad songs of life.

From time-to-time, everyone has set-backs, things that go wrong, problems which aren't easy to resolve and disharmonious relationships.

Some people are able to quickly bounce back from these set-backs, while others get stuck, like a stylus in the scratch in a record - replaying the same refrain, spinning round, but not making any pleasant sounds. Until...they learn and do things differently.

Soaking in negative thoughts and emotions leads to more negative thoughts and emotions. Just like you have to get up and lift the stylus out of the scratch, you need to do something to move out of those feelings that drain, depress or enrage you.

Here are some suggestions:

1. Get up and do something physical.
2. Pull out your photo album and reminisce.
3. Scan some of those old photos and send them to the people who are the subjects in those pictures. I recently did this. What a laugh we had!
4. Change how you're breathing.
5. Go do something you love, if even for a few minutes.
6. Get out of your head and into your heart. This is where you begin to transform your stress and feel better - emotionally, mentally and physically.