The 3 Calmest Zodiac Signs—and How the Rest of Us Can Copy Their Cool

Why is that while you sweat bullets under pressure, see red in an argument or put your foot in your mouth time and time again, your Aquarius, Libra and Taurus friends remain cool as cucumbers? You would love to have just a sliver of their chill. Well, just because your weren't born under their sun sign doesn't mean you can't learn to copy their calm. Here's how to gain some "serenity now" by copying a few of Aquarius, Libra and Taurus' best-kept tricks for calmness.

Whether it's your kids blindsiding you with a proposal for a puppy or your colleague putting you on the spot to cover her shift, you're typically so quick to respond that you wind up doing something you actually really, really don't want to be doing. (Reminder: It's you, not your kids, who will be taking Daisy the golden retriever out at 5 a.m. every day.) And this inevitably leads to more stress and resentment, aka the opposite of calm. So, instead of jumping to chip in without a thought, do as a Taurus would do and give yourself the opportunity to think before you respond. Steady, deliberate Taurus would never mindlessly commit to something. When they do commit, however, they see through their plans. So before you stretch yourself too thin, take a breath, think and answer with your true intention. 

When the anger starts lapping in, it can feel impossible to let anything go—the sound of your husband's chewing, your daughter's hair in the bathroom sink, the passive aggressive text from your college friend. For so many us, when we're angry, we feel like we're in the worst part of the storm. But what if you could remove yourself from the chaos and change your vantage point for a new perspective? Aquarians famously see the the forest for the trees, and if you find yourself consistently with ruffled feathers, you should try to follow suit and remove the "self" from the situation. Ask yourself: What's the bigger picture? What are other people experiencing? If you slightly shift your reality from participant to witness, you can gain a lot more cool.

Those of us who are hot-headed experience anger like a bolt of fire that needs to be released right this moment, no matter the collateral damage. But what if we take a note from harmonious Libra and use a little thing called logic to think through our emotions? Instead of leaping from A to Z in a fiery spew that burns more bridges than solves anything, move through your thoughts methodically—what's the A that led to the B thought that led to the C thought? If you allow yourself to rationalize and slow down, the anger will dissipate and the calm will rise to the top. 

If you've ever seen a Taurus under pressure, you've probably witnessed them breathing (instead of, ya know, erupting into meaningless chatter). Breath is the end-all-be-all of remaining calm. If you can control your breath, you can harness your chill. One of the easiest ways to do this is through square breathing: Breathe in for four counts, hold for four counts, out for four counts, hold for four counts and continue the cycle. 

One of the biggest culprits of a major freak-out is change. Whether the change is a cross-country move or a rescheduled dentist appointment, outside forces messing with our schedules have the supreme capability to mess with our heads. But what if we exalted change instead of feared it like our fellow Aquarians? Ruled by Uranus, the planet of sudden shifts and innovation, Aquarians are comfortable in the uncomfortable. They are the sign that most easily dispels the past for the inevitable future. The result? A calm attitude in the face of ever-shifting world.