The Benefits of Meditation

Daily stresses and distractions can frazzle your brain. With meditation, you shut the world out and concentrate on calm.

    This is how Kimberly Montgomery, 52, a clinical psychologist from Indianapolis, describes the experience of meditation:

Picture yourself in a room in a huge castle. You find the door that allows you to walk out of the castle, and you do so. As you cross to the other side of the moat and keep walking, the massive castle dwindles in size behind you, and you can now see the forest around it, and then a distant village.

7 Ways to Zap Stress Before it Strikes

Certain everyday situations have huge potential for causing stress. But by being organized and easing up on self-imposed time pressures, you can dodge these situations and skip the stress.

    Sometimes, stressful situations occur because we let them - once you allow stress get to you, tension and anxiety can mount very quickly. Here are some common anxiety-creating everyday events, and ways you can reduce stress and minimize their impact on your life:

The Power of Love Includes Stress Relief

Calling Cupid: Love has a particularly welcome role in stress relief. Loving relationships can help relieve stress and boost your overall health. Find out how to reap the rewards.

    Love does wonderful things for your state of mind, and it also offers natural stress relief. In healthy relationships, the power of love is strong enough to keep your heart happy and your mind and body healthy.

6 Ways to Take a Mental Vacation

Sometimes you need to get away, but you don't have the time or money. Don't despair: A mental vacation can help reduce your stress.

    Small stressors can quickly add up to major stress and one big stressful event can send you reeling, with no idea of how to start addressing it. If you could just get away for a little stress relief, you know you would be okay. But too few of us have the time - or the money - to run off on an impromptu vacation.

Well, you don't have to spend a dime or go anywhere other than a quiet spot nearby to take a mental vacation.