Lots of good ideas in this thread. I've got a couple more. A) You need a primary purpose for your life that you are actively working on. If you have this to focus on, most other things become small in comparison, and it is harder to feel dramatically about them. Who really cares whether Bob from the office can file paperwork correctly or not, when you are planning to train tonight to save the world, for example. B) Meditation. Of course there's lots of medical literature on the stress reduction effects of meditation, and that's fine. But from an experiential point of view, rather than a clinical one, it can do something much more specific for you. By the time an emotion drives the action of the average person, the process of that emotion developing and instigating action has been going on for a longer than they were conscious of it. If you do not have a practice that develops certain mental skills, it is likely that you are walking through your day mostly unconscious, and cannot be fully in control of yourself. Your environment will work with your subconscious mind to make all of your choices, and you will feel helpless if you're honest with yourself. But if you are conscious of the whole process, you can intervene at an early stage to guide your mental state somewhere more productive before it becomes an emotion too powerful to stop it from controlling you. Or, at the very least, you will see your slave master forging your chains, and you'll be more rebellious against the whip. So here's a basic meditation that can help develop this skill: 1. Sit in a position comfortable enough that your body won't be a distraction, but not so comfortable that you'll fall asleep. I sit without a chairback, and that works for me. 2. Be aware of whatever thoughts come into your mind. A song, the feeling of an itch, remembering a plan for tomorrow, whatever. 3. With each thought, notice it, and then let it go. Don't try to force it out of your mind, just stop feeding it energy with your attention. Your job is to become aware of the next thought or sensation that arises. 4. You will fail at step 3. Over and over again, you will find that a thought has run away with you and become a daydream. Or you will realize that you've been semi-conscious of the song in your head for a while now, never fully recognizing it nor letting it go. This is good. It is an opportunity to become more intentional about your awareness. Recognize the thought, and then go back to letting it go. 5. Eventually, you will feel like you're getting good at this. Thoughts arise and pass quickly, leaving your consciousness mostly silent. If this happens, you must pay more attention. There is more going on in the mind than we can ever fit into our consciousness. The silence will allow you to notice a deeper level of thoughts, feelings, and sensations that were too subtle to notice before. Half-formed words, the difference between the feeling of your small toe vs. the rest of your foot, the background emotional state that you previously couldn't see was connected to your 2nd grade teacher, etc. Rinse and repeat the process. There's always a deeper level of mind that you can develop awareness in. 6. If you've never meditated before, I recommend starting at only 2 minutes a day. Build up to at least 10 minutes per day as you get more comfortable with it, although more can be beneficial. A tip for beginners: wondering how long you've been meditating, feeling bored, and those kind of things are thoughts that you can notice and let go of.