Did you know that to understand and to accept, that calm is a choice and that stress is a choice, can be just one wonderful way of taking back your power? One of the most important decisions we can make in our life is to choose our responses to stress, or anger, or anxiety… We live in the midst of a stress epidemic (it’s called the ‘silent killer’ for a reason) and nothing highlights this more than the lead-up to Christmas. Stress not only reduces kindness and productivity, since we can’t function effectively under duress, but it also impacts our clarity and judgement (people do some questionable things when stressed) then justify it to the hilt.