Stress is reaction: it's the outside circumstances "doing it to you". Oddly enough, you don't really become unstressed by reacting to stress! It's just another loop through the vicious circle. The vicious circle is about control. Or rather, the lack of control or fear of lack of control. The driving force is the circumstances, and you are the driven object. To really reverse that, you have to become the driving force instead of a mere reactor. That means, for example, having your actions be consistent with your goals, and your goals consistent with your values, so that you are steering your life intentionally in a way which expresses who you are, rather than reacting in a survival mode to circumstances that seem bigger than you. I think a good way to think of this is in terms of 'cause and effect' -- specifically, are you the cause or are you the effect? Werner Erhard used to use the phrase 'being at effect' to talk about someone who is being bounced around by external forces, like a ping-pong ball on turbulent water. Typically when we're in that mode, we lack any real rudder and engine: we're not going anywhere specific. This lack of purposefulness about our lives leaves a vacuum, and what almost always fills that vacuum is "survive". So a lot of people are living most of their lives in this mode where they have no real goals, no real purpose, and whatever wave happens to break on their bow is what determines their daily activities. That can be very stressful, and the cure is to develop some purpose and have goals so you're steering the ship rather than just trying to not get killed by the waves.