Your company's quarterly report is due in two days ... your mechanic can't figure out why the engine light on the car's dashboard is lit ... and your purple-headed teenager announces that "Ds are passing grades."

You're having a floral moment --- pick up fresh flowers on the way home!

Recent behavioral research at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, has confirmed that fresh flowers can ease anxiety, agitation and depression. Flowers trigger an immediate feeling of delight, and they produce a mood uplift that can carry over for several days. In other words, they are nature's little stress busters.

"Now, science shows that not only do flowers make us happier than we know, they have strong positive effects on our emotional well being," says Jeannette Haviland Jones, psychologist and authority in human emotional development. In a world dominated by microchip speed, fresh flowers rekindle a connection with nature. Their color, fragrance and silky smooth petals envelop our senses and replenish the spirit.

Sigmund Freud observed decades ago: "Flowers are restful to look at. They have neither emotions nor conflicts." You can capture the regenerating power of flowers by creating "floral moments" throughout your home. For instance:

• Keep a pitcher on the breakfast table so that, winter or summer, you can start the day with cheerful seasonal blooms.
• Cluster two or three mini-vases in a convenient location in your kitchen so you can enjoy the velvety beauty of flowers up close while working.
• Place a container next to your favorite chair so you can drink in the beauty of your favorites after a long day. (Treat yourself to scented types also.)

Color can be an important ingredient. Color expert Leatrice Eiseman, author of the "Pantone Guide to Communicating with Color," notes that red and yellow are energizing colors while green and blue evoke tranquility. If the dark days of winter get you down, start spring early with a basket of brightly-colored flowers. Switch off life's pressures and focus on the restful tones of champagne, blush and soft pink flowers while luxuriating in a warm bath. It may be dreary outside, but it doesn't have to be that way inside.

Flowers belong in the office, too. Recharge your energy, and that of your employees, with a "nature break." Use a medley of red, purple, and blue blossoms to anchor a stack of reports. Add pebbles to a vase to weight it, then add water and flowers. Use flowers to recognize the effort of your employees.

Have fun with imaginative containers ... a ceramic cat for the kitchen, an antique teapot for the dining room. The possibilities are as varied as your imagination. The sensual joy of flowers presents endless opportunities to step off the carousel of contemporary life, if only for a floral moment."