The Key to Solving Stress is All In Your Mindset

— -- Stress is a common response to life’s troubles, with one survey finding one in two Americans reported feeling stressed in the past year.

But what if there was a way to turn life’s stresses intro strengths?

Stanford researcher and author of “The Upside of Stress,” Kelly McGonigal, says you can actually make stress work in your favor, making you stronger, smarter and happier if you learn to think about it the right way.

“You don’t necessarily have to embrace the situation that’s stressful, but you can embrace your capacity to rise to the challenge,” McGonigal told ABC News of the mindset shift.

McGonigal points to a Harvard study finding that subjects who were told stressful feelings were beneficial before being put through a stressful public speaking exercise experienced fewer negative cardiovascular or physical effects. Now she’steaching others how to put that into practice, like wife and mom of two young children Laura Murray, who is no stranger to life’s stresses.

“We start really early in the morning and are constantly running,” Murray, of Highlands, New Jersey, said. “Stress is just always there.”

First, McGonigal advises, look at the symptoms of stress, like a pounding heart, as empowering signs that your body is preparing you for action.

Next, channel your energy by asking yourself what specific actions you can take to respond.

And third, use stress as an opportunity to bond with others, either by sharing your troubles or helping them through theirs.

“Stress is basically a signal that something you care about is at stake,” McGonigal said. “And I want to invite you to sort of rechannel that, to recognize that whatever you’re feeling, even if it doesn’t feel great, it’s your brain and your body trying to help you.”