The first principle to handling stress is to know your self. You must be able to monitor your body’s responses to a situation to know when you are becoming stressed and remaining stressed.

The body registers characteristic stress “signatures” such as increased heart rate, sweating, or muscle tension. The exact signatures are individual.

For some people, stress shows up in the body as headache, jaw clenching, or gastrointestinal distress. What are your stress signatures? Noticing when these are happening let’s you know that stress is present. Their presence can also be a reminder to work with the stressful circumstance in a way that can help to reduce the stress.