Today is a rather “sad” day for me because I am watching my almost 15-year old daughter work her way through yet another loss of her friends.

When I was 15 I had to deal with parents or teachers that upset me and perhaps the pimples in my face. Never in my life would I have thought that my own 15 year old child at this stage in life would be forced to deal with so many losses.

One of her friends went to visit his cousin this past weekend when he was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time – he was killed in a drive-by shooting.

A few months ago another one of her friends went to a family reunion where she laid down on a pillow in one of the rooms. A gun underneath the pillow went off and killed her instantly.

The tragedies go on for my daughter, they have been simply too numerous over the past few years, yet I don’t want to depress you.

So today is a day I spend in silence and reflection, going over the losses my daughter has experienced to date, learning from this, reflecting, meditating, finding and eminating peace.

I know she is not the exception to losses, many people lose friends all the time. The older we get the more friends and family members we lose, and soon we know for certain that we indeed are anything but invincible.

The world is so stressed out that we have forgotten what it means to be at peace. We lost electricity a couple of times this winter season and it was such a blessing to me. There was no humming in the house anywhere, everything was off and quiet. My teenager, however, was without a cell phone, without TV or computer or telephone, and the world seemed to have fallen apart for her after a couple of days without access to the outside world. Those used to be my most blessed days when I was a teenager. Besides, we didn’t have cell phones or laptops and TV watching was monitored heavily.

How many of adults today can’t go anywhere without their cell phones on? How many of adults today can’t go a week without watching TV or reading the newspaper without feeling like you’re losing it? Yet how many of you remember the last time you spent an entire day in absolute silence, without talking to anyone all day long, simply listening to Mother Nature and your inner Self?

Today, take a breather. It’s Friday – go home early. Relax. Spend your time alone out in nature with the peace only nature can bring out from within you. Let her whisper to you the wisdom of the olden days; Mother Nature hasn’t forgotten; she talks of it all the time in the gentle swaying of the wind ruffling through the many flowers, trers and bushes around you. Listen to her and find peace today and know that you are the most special Being of all.

Peace and love don’t come to you, they come from within you and spread out towards your horizon.