I practice staying calm all the time, beginning with situations that aren't tense.

Basic human contact - the meeting of eyes, the exchanging of words - is to the psyche what oxygen is to the brain. If you're feeling abandoned by the world, interact with anyone you can.

Here is the crux of the matter, the distilled essence, the only thing you need to remember: When considering whether to say yes or no, you must choose the response that feels like freedom. Period.

Instead of fretting about getting everything done, why not simply accept that being alive means having things to do? Then drop into full engagement with whatever you're doing, and let the worry go.

You get social pressure from your parents, who teach you to pay attention to certain things and not to others. You get it in school.

The idea is to identify a destructive thought pattern, then simply label it and watch it and let it pass by whenever it appears in your mind.

To know what that true self is without social pressure is to know your true nature.