Stress is basically a disconnection from the earth, a forgetting of the breath. Stress is an ignorant state. It believes that everything is an emergency. Nothing is that important. Just lie down.
- Natalie Goldberg

I've tried yoga, but I find stress less boring.
- Anonymous

There are some lucky folk who seem to glide through life, like swans on the water, feathers rarely ruffled. How blissful... For others though, us twitching sparrows, life is a series of stressful events, accompanied by much nail biting, tense shoulders and lots of alcohol. Life is stressful. But can we do anything about it to make it less so?

Terrible things, out of our control, can strike at any time. Unexpected twists and turns can throw us off-kilter. Change is a constant. But how can we develop a more philosophical attitude to life? How do we achieve greater sense of equanimity? How can we beat stress?

• Would you describe yourself as one of life's serene swans? Or are you more of a squawking stress-head?

• If you are a genuinely stress-free zone, could you share some of your life philosophy with us? What is it that keeps you in the chill zone?

• Would you consider yourself a stressful person? What, more than anything else, makes you stressed?

• Do you have any techniques for alleviating stress? Do you do yoga, or tai chi or have massages?

• Do you think stress is actually quite a good thing for keeping you on toes, alive to life's cruel vicissitudes?! Or is it the health killer that all the papers say it is?

• Does this picture of Noel Edmonds do it for you? Or is it starting to make you feel a bit stressed...?