A stress dot is nothing more than a sticker to remind you to keep stress management an active part of your life — whether you're working, planning your return to a familiar school, or preparing to leave home for the much-anticipated adventure of college. Stress dots can be very useful tools in triggering your memory.

You place this dot in a strategic spot, so that it becomes a cue or prompt and signals you to do something stress-relieving. To create a stress dot, look at your local office-supply store for very small circles of brightly colored sticky paper. (About 1/8-inch in diameter should do it.) You can make your own stress dots by cutting small circles out of anything with an adhesive back (a paper punch is a handy tool for this).

Here are some places that may work for you:

• The face of your watch
• Your watchband
• Your steering wheel
• Your refrigerator door
• Your computer monitor
• Your keyboard
• Your pen
• Your coffee cup
• Your telephone
• Your television set
• A light switch