10 Ways to Create Calm

1. Go Slow

When you have to go somewhere, start out 10 minutes early instead of waiting until the last possible moment. You won’t have to rush, and you’ll be less stressed. Also, make an effort to move and talk in a very relaxed manner and see if your stress doesn’t ebb away. Drive within the speed limit; pause before you reply to a question; let the phone ring a few times before answering it. And sit back and do nothing for a few minutes every day.

2. Grab Some Green

Practitioners of feng shui (an Eastern discipline that purportedly helps you fine-tune your environment for comfort and success) believe plants increase vitality, which is the first step toward achieving happiness.

3. Give Yourself a Break

You can’t make everyone in your life happy all the time. And it’s okay to make mistakes now and then.

4. Fit In Time-Outs

To avoid tension buildup, follow this rule: For every 50 minutes you work, take a 5-minute break. Don’t feel guilty: Time-outs are proven to increase productivity.

5. Get a Pet

A dog, cat, bird, or even a fish can play a vital role in stress relief. In a Johns Hopkins Medical Center study, 50 out of 53 pet owners were alive a year after their first heart attacks, while only 17 of 39 people without pets lived that long.

6. Use Your Vacation Time

Austrian researchers recently showed that a two-week vacation does more than just clear the mind and calm the spirit. It also improves health and reduces stress levels for up to five weeks. Both during and after a good vacation, we sleep better and enjoy better moods. For a vacation to be healing, however, it must be restful and not overly structured. People who didn’t have any down time on their vacations didn’t enjoy the same health benefits.

7. Take Up a Hobby

Do something for the sheer pleasure of it, whether it’s knitting, collecting rocks, or bird-watching. Hobbies instill self-confidence and help you connect with others who share your interests. And being engaged in numerous pursuits will help shield you from depression, which has been linked to impaired immune function and increased risk for cancer and other diseases.

In one key study, men and women were asked to rate their happiness on a moment-by-moment basis for six weeks. The results showed that overall happiness depended upon how much time each person spent doing something that made him or her feel good.

8. Learn to Love Lists

Try making daily to-do lists if you tend to forget things or if it makes you feel more organized. Prioritize your goals for the day, then divvy them up into realistic chunks of available time. If something won’t fit onto today’s list, move it to tomorrow’s.

9. Read

Nothing takes your mind off your worries faster than a good book. Since reading is a silent activity, it also lets you escape noise—a known stressor—for a while. For the quietest refuge, head to the library.

10. Play Around

The next time you’re feeling anxious or stressed, take a break and do something childish: Find crayons and draw a picture, rent a favorite childhood movie, blow bubbles, or search the attic for a few of your favorite old toys.