Is it just me, or has life gotten more complicated? So many variables and tough decisions. So many crossroads.

And it’s all happening at lightning speed. 

Even on days when I don’t tune in to the cable news networks.

The world feels like is spinning faster and faster on its axis. Or so it seems. And that can make life seem like an upended house during a tornado. (We aren’t in Kansas anymore.) 

The storms seem to be all around us. The lightning and thunder are imminent. Threatening. 

We watch our backs. We peek around the corner before stepping forward. We lose sleep. We worry about the past and what will happen next. 

What will happen — if. 

Life seems out of control, or at least beyond our control. It’s scary. Beyond scary. It is overwhelming and all-encompassing. It threatens to take our breath away. 

If only we could make it stop.

But we can’t. 

Or maybe we can. Even if just for a moment. 

Take that moment. Take a breath. 

For yourself and no one else. Just. Take. A. Breath.

Then take another. And other. And stay there. With just yourself and your breath.

Think of a positive thought and put it into a sentence, if you can. 

The world is good. Life is good. I am good. 

Peace, kindness, love are inside me. Right now. Right here.

I love tacos.

You get the idea. 

Don’t worry about bills or the mortgage or your kids or the leaking oil in your car. It will wait until after this moment. Believe me, it will all be there long after this moment. 

So take it. The moment. Take it for you. Take it for all that you love. Take it for all that you hold close to your heart. Just take it.

It isn’t selfish. Not at all. It’s the opposite of that.

Finding your peace and your calm is generosity at its finest. It enables you to escape the storm that threatens to torment your life. Take a break because you deserve it. You need it. You know you need it. 

Oh how you know.

Life can feel like a storm, a tempest, a hurricane. The wind whips with life’s pressures and problems. Your hair may be drenched. Your clothes cling to your wet body. The air is hard and harsh blowing on your skin. Thunder echoes; lightning fills the sky. There are too many close calls to count.

But in the midst of every hurricane, including this one, is the eye of the storm. The calm. Find that. In the midst of chaos of life, find the center — the tranquil peace that is the eye of the storm — and hunker down and keep yourself there. 

And just breathe.

In the quiet, still space where everything just outside your own being is whirling all around you, stay in they eye - in your own calm. Where everything is as it should be. 

Still. Peace-filled. In focus.

Clarity is rampant in the eye of the storm. What a gift that is. Embrace that gift. Accept it as yours. Know that it is yours for the taking. A choice. Your choice. 

The eye — in the calm, your calm can lead to clarity, to sanity in an insane world. 

Chaos is undoubtedly all around us and it can be, and is, overwhelming. Find your calm. Your own calm, in the midst of the chaos. Right there in front of you.

In the eye of the storm.

— Jill Pertler’s column Slices of Life appears regularly in the Times. She can be reached at slicescolumn@gmail.com.