I love Audible! It gives me a chance to listen to books and lectures when I’m driving across the country or around town. I recently listened to a series of lectures about chronic stress. 24 hours worth of lectures by the author of the book, “Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers.”

I learned two things (well, actually I learned a great deal):

1. Chronic stress is bad!
2. Much of the stress we experience is psychological stress – a result of our thinking process.

And third (I guess I did learn some other important things), one remedy for dealing with psychological stress is “Learning to adjust to the things that will not adjust to you.” The Serenity Prayer states it something like this: Help me to accept the things I cannot change, and give me the courage to change the things I can.

I am also learning that meditation and mindfulness help with chronic stress. And I cannot think of a better mantra (something you repeat over and over during meditation) than the Serenity Prayer or your version of it.

Chronic stress is responsible for a lot of issues including excess weight gain, cardiovascular disease, infertility, poor brain functioning, and premature aging, just to mention a few. You may not be able to remove the stressors in your life, but with help, you can learn to change the way you think about them.