MY THURSDAY THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK - there are negative and positive stressors – a divorce or a wedding, going broke or winning the lottery, getting fired or getting a promotion. So – everything in life is a potential stressor. In essence, there are good and bad stressors, but in the end, they all have the same effect on your health and mentally driven behaviors. And why? Because the mind doesn’t judge – it treats all stressors – both positive and negative the same – in the end, all stressors contribute negatively to mental, emotional and physical health. Think of life’s stressors as if it was like getting news from someone. Some people might interpret the news as if it were negative – bad news while others could interpret the same news as good news. We all interpret everything in life personally and uniquely but in the end, truth is the truth - whether we like it or agree with it – it’s still the truth. So - what is stress – it is what is happening outside of you – circumstances, situations, people you meet, what you are doing, etc. and then how you choose to interpret what is happening and how you decide to respond internally to any or all of these.  In other words - stress is your inside-out reactions and responses to outside-in circumstances, people and events. So, if you are stressed in a negative way changing your environment – a new spouse, a new job, a new car, etc. is not the answer is to learn to control your inside-out responses to things you can’t control.