The stall is nothing to be afraid of, especially in a simple aircraft such as a 152.
Lots of good advice here, some not-so-good. As pilotDAR says, with an instructor, try a bit of slow flight at a reasonable altitude. Get the feel of the aircraft and recognize the various signs and symptoms. Notably, reduced responsiveness of the controls, yaw and buffet. Try and fly on the 'edge ' of the stall warner and then make some control inputs noting how the stall warner reacts. Finally, do a clean stall and recovery with no power. To start with, you can do this with no control input during recovery other than elevator. Say to yourself "centrally forward" and force yourself not to use aileron. Note how you only need to pitch down to an attitude where the horizon is about half way up the windscreen; there is no need for frantic inputs and death defying dives. Get comfortable with this, lots. If a wing drops during the process, don't worry, just concentrate on getting the right attitude ("centrally forward") and, once the aircraft has gained flying 'speed' then you can sort out any wing drop that may have developed.
Once you are comfortable with this, you should progress on to making the stall recovery more efficient. This is done by introducing power at the appropriate point and, for finesse, using rudder to arrest any wing drop that is developing. However, never forget that the only way you are going to get out of a stall is to get the wings working again. This is done by ensuring they are both at angle angle of attack where they provide lift, ie from your bum up through your head -"centrally forward".
Finally, you are not alone, there are many pilots and instructors who are unnecessarily afraid of the slow speed regime. Yes, treat it with respect but that is all. It is only when you progress on to far more fanciful aircraft that the stall can lead to some interesting things.
Last edited by Cows getting bigger; 4th Aug 2012 at 14:36.