Thank you for your thoughts on that. I usually am able to recall wonderful adventures like that when I am afraid (say, when getting a tooth pulled at the dentist), and it helps me stay calm.

Sometimes it helps me to think about my safe places, the places I go to fully relax and read or nap or talk about meaningful things. If I am not able to be near my safe places, I try to think about the feeling of the couch or chair that are there, the lovely smells in the air, the taste of the peppermint tea I drink. My body relaxes just by thinking of these places and reduces my anxiety.

I feel really thankful to have really great health care providers. I have a team of doctors, each providing his or her specialty that I can call on as needed that I have known for years. Mental health, physical health, dental health, chiropractor, massage therapist, etc. It's so awesome to have that support network in place. I'm thankful for the structure that allows me to have my medical home for all my care, instead of requiring me to see a different doctor each visit. And I feel very fortunate to have a job that provides the insurance so I can get the care I need. I'm very grateful and feel extremely humbled. Which also makes me feel concern for my fellow earthmates who don't have this care. Wow, just re-reading this is powerful to me. My heart is really humbled.

[quote=Dr. Hershey-MH] What are some strategies you can share that has helped you to reduce your everyday stress or worry? [/quote] I think this is something weird but for me, to reduce my stress and worry, I will go out and play with children in our place, it seems when I am with them, I can also be happy and active, good thing they still let me join though there are some cases I am the one who is responsible to stop whenever someone will start to fight and we know it is common and natural for children to have a little fight but after a few moment, they can be friends again. Sometimes, I just need to take a good rest in order to reduce or get rid of stress.

@djesse - If you have ever watched kids play, you can see how totally in the now they are. They are totally focused on the moment. I can see how this activity would help reduce your worry/anxiety. Exercise/activity is also known to reduce anxiety...so you have two great strategies going on at once!

@ruby - safe place visualization is a great technique!