Last night, I met a man whose daughter was at the Jason Aldean concert in Las Vegas. She had gone with a girlfriend for an evening of fun and celebration. During the melee, her girlfriend was struck by two bullets in the hip and knee. As they tried to flee, she called her dad, and after listening to shots ring out and people scream, the line went dead. He later learned that his daughter was OK but her friend will likely lose her leg.

            We live in a time of terror and instantaneous replay of that terror. The stress it generates in both us and our children can be immense and overwhelming. During World War II, for example, thyroid issues in Americans (mostly stress-induced) more than quadrupled. At the end of the war, those statistics returned to where they had been before the war broke out. 

            But here’s the thing, it isn’t just World Wars or terrorism that cause stress. Living itself can do the job whether it’s anxiety over exams, job performance, marital issues, or merely one’s health. Life, by definition, means destruction ultimately. Aging only adds one more wrinkle to that demise for a blooming rose does not last forever.

            So, while we are here we must learn to keep ourselves peaceful and still in the midst of what is often sheer madness. Yes, we can eat calcium-rich foods, exercise daily, not drink caffeine after 4 PM, go to bed at the same time every night, sprinkle lavender on our pillows and turn off the Internet an hour before bed. But it goes deeper. It means surrounding yourself with people who are joyful and uplifting and avoiding the bitter, negative naysayers. It means ‘unfriending’ those who aren’t really ‘friends,’ or fill their posts with only vengeance and venom. Perhaps true bliss is simply knowing when to, “block sender.” Peace to you, dear readers.