In the last months of Second World War one journalist asked Garry Truman, why is he taking all the difficulties and tensions of his presidential duties easier than all of his predecessors. How is it possible that he stayed so young and energetic during such hard times? Truman’s secret was simple in its geniality. He explained that he had created a peaceful place in his imagination, where he would retire every time he needed to relax and regain strength. It was a place, where he could get away from all the worries and problems.

Every one of us needs that kind of place and it isn’t always possible to find it in real life. You can’t just storm out of the room in the middle of workday. You can’t always find time for a vacation. But you can always afford to take ten fifteen minutes off and find that shelter, that change of scenery in your imagination. It’s like a depth of an ocean that stays unmoved and undisturbed even by the strongest storms.

Here is an example on how to create your refuge place. Imagine a nice cosy room. Paint the walls in serene colours (blue, green, yellow or golden). A room should be clean and organized. That will give you a sense of clarity and help you clear your head. Big comfortable inviting chair is a must! Imagine looking out of the window. What do you see? I like to imagine a sandy beach out of my window. Waves slowly caressing warm sand, sea gulls flying high in the air. It is peaceful and quiet there.

This was my room. It doesn’t mean that yours has to be the same. The key here is to make it look as realistic as possible. When you are creating you safe place, you should pay a great attention to the details. You should love spending time there. If you spend as little as 5-10 minutes in your inner sanctuary, that won’t be a waste of time. Scientists have proved that exactly images (especially if they have a symbolic meaning to us) and not words have a greater influence on our nervous system.

Now let’s sum up the first aid remedies that will help you keep your inner peace and effectively fight everyday stress. You have to remember that worries, anger and anxiety is almost always a cause of overreaction on alarm “signals”.

First by learning how to ignore a phone ring you are creating a constant working internal tranquilizer. You create a psychological barrier between an irritant and yourself.

By practising to delay your habitual response you are protecting yourself from overreaction and erasing your conditioned reflexes.

Stop fighting “wind mills”. In reality most of our emotional problems come from inability to accept things as they are. It is impossible to control everything. The thing in life, which you can successfully change and control, is yourself. So react emotionally only on a problem that exists here and now, leaving everything else out. Concentrate on one simple thing at a time. That will help you to solve your problem a lot easier, step-by-step.