Consciously Change the Channel

Each of us has certain thought patterns or behaviours that we fall into when we are feeling stressed.  These patterns/behaviours have generally been with us for a long time - they are a familiar space to return to when we are feeling ungrounded.  
Unfortunately though these patterns/behaviours can contribute further to our stress load because they usually aren't truly helpful for us (common patterns can include:   procrastinating/worst case scenario worrying/being unkind to our selves or others etc).  
Most of us are aware of these patterns/behaviours within our selves, but it is really difficult to shift them even with this awareness.  We have very well worn channels or tracts in our brains that carry us into these patterns/behaviours, channels that have been formed over many many years and are the easiest direction for us to go when stressed.   
One of the ways that we can start to slowly shift our ingrained patterns/behaviours is to change the channel, not TV wise, but landscape wise.  Create a new channel, a new tract for our brain to default to in times of stress, one that serves us and supports us more fully.  This requires daily practice - bringing our awareness to how we respond when we are stressed, aiming to pull our selves out of the pattern as soon as we can, and consciously creating and building a new way to respond instead.  
The more we travel down a new channel, a new tract in our brain, the more familiar it becomes and the easier it becomes over time for it to be our conscious 'default' when we are feeling stressed.  It isn't easy and it doesn't happen quickly (and we never become 'perfect' at it), but it is possible if we are engaged in the process and do the work around it.