1. Recognize and realize that stress is a response you have to things that occur in your life. This may seem less than powerful, but in fact, if you convince yourself that you control your response to stress, you gain hope and belief that you can really make changes to lower your stress response in your life.

3. Exercise. Its not necessary to instantly become an exercise fanatic. Too many of us think in terms of all or nothing. Start by committing to a morning, lunch hour or evening walk 3 times a week for at least 40-minutes. If you prefer a gym, then start slow and build up an exercise regime. Not only will this benefit you in terms of personal image, weight loss, energy gain, but it has been scientifically proven that exercise produces chemicals in your brain that help you overcome stress.

Yoga and meditation will take some up-front committment, but within a few weeks of consistently practicing these principles, you can experience some very dramatic changes in your ability to handle stress.

At an individual level, you have the ability to change your level of stress dramatically, but that change must come from within and it must start with your own belief that indeed, you can control your response to stress. Following the four principles outlined above will certainly allow you to quickly overcome the limitations of stress and anxiety in your life.