Stress Beaters.
children somewhere, set an alarm clock. What you are trying to achieve is the relaxation that comes only when you feel there is no need to think about what time it is. I only realized how relaxing this could be when talking to a countryman who had never owned a watch in his life and was now 74 years old. His clock was the country and the changing of the seasons. He got up when it was light and went to bed when it was dark. He was the exact opposite of so many stressed people who know the price of everything and the value of nothing. I once ended a conversation with him by excusing myself to go home for my dinner. He asked if I was hungry and I confessed I was not. 'That's the difference between you and me, lad,' he said, smiling. 'You eat when that watch of yours tells you to, and I eat when I'm hungry.'Although few of us are able to live such a life, the principle is the same. Take a fresh look at how much the clock rules your life, and take every chance to remove this pressure whenever you can.
I often think Groucho Marx should have been a doctor when he said, 'Either he's dead, or my watch has stopped.'

Blitz your finances
Like it or not, money plays a major part in all our lives. There are more arguments between couples about money than about anything else, and financial problems impose a huge amount of stress on some people, who often come to see me in desperation. They have usually hidden the problem from friends and family for many months, and whatever the sums involved - from a hundred pounds to more than a million — the same mistake is made time and again. They try to ignore the problem and hope it will go away by itself.
I once walked into a patient's living room to find his coffee table overflowing with bills and final demands that he could not face opening. He could have avoided the rising debt he was accumulating if he had taken simple action at the start of his money problems, but instead he had chosen to pretend there was nothing wrong until it was almost too late. This is the main thing to remember when dealing with financial stress — do not ignore it. It will only make matters worse. Other key points include:

Most of us get used to the clock ruling our lives. Spend a day not wearing a watch — the weekend may be best initially — to show yourself how much you slavishly follow time. Notice how liberated you feel without it once you have got over the initial shock.

Avoid panicking, especially if you have got yourself into serious trouble. Accept that you have a major problem, but recognize that this may be controllable with careful planning.
Realize you will need to get help. Your bank manager or building society can do nothing if they are unaware of what is going on. Get in touch with them, and remember it is in their interests to help you whenever possible. They have heard your story many times before and are used to it.

Talk to people. Let your family and, if you want, your close friends know what is happening. Sit down with pen and paper and look at

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