Emotional stress is pressure or tension when one is faced with a situation that is unpleasant or threatening. To suffer stress is to be worried or agitated.  Stress has physical symptoms such as back pain; emotional stress such as forgetfulness; and, behavioral stress such as difficulty concentrating.  It is a type of mental strain that over time can harm our physical and mental health and poor health can lead to more stress. I address stress in two chapters of my book “Are You In or Out of Balance” on page 102, and “Don’t Become Overwhelmed” on page 151.  When we are out of balance and unsettled or scattered, thoughts tend to be obsessive and extreme leading to pressured and stressful thinking.  And being overwhelmed leads to emotional upheavals, lack of focus, and an inability to handle situations that come up in our lives.  It is as if our emotions are spinning out of control.  When we are out of balance and overwhelmed, to keep us from becoming stressed and ultimately anxious, we need to pause when something comes up from the past, something throws us in the present, or we fear the future and ground ourselves so we don’t get confused, tense and anxious.  Then proceed in a more practical and cautious way.  It is important to let emotional ups and downs ‘be’ and try to enter into internal emotional peace, harmony, and evenness by using relaxation tools as discussed in my chapter,”The Art of Relaxation” on page 90. When we don’t relax, unwind, and take breaks, our bodies get physically and mentally tired and we become stressed out. The opposite of stressful living is to strive to manage body, mind, heart, and spirit in a way that we don’t become overwhelmed, out of balance and learn to relax so we do not have a stressful and tense lives.