We interrupt this blog to report on the war that Hamas is waging against Israel. (Do not be deceived that it is the other way around.)

What other country warns people that they should leave their houses because a bomb will fall? None, except Israel. And what happens? Hamas uses their own people, including women and children, as human shields, prohibiting them from leaving so that they can use photos of the victims as proof that Israel is waging a war against the innocent.

As of now, more than 360 rockets have been fired into Israel in three days. If hundreds of rockets fell on Washington, DC and San Francisco, would the United States not respond?

OK. But this blog is about living and writing our best chapter. So, to keep with that theme, here is the question: How do you live well in the war zone, or in any zone not of your liking?

Here are 5 thoughts to inspire you, calm you down, and make you put your life into perspective:

“The world is not a wish-granting factory,” says the wonderful narrator, Hazel Grace Lancaster in The Fault in Our Stars. Wish it weren’t true, but alas, tis so.

“I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.” E.B. White, author of one of my top-favorite books, Charlotte’s Web.

“There is no situation too difficult to be bettered and no unhappiness to great to be lessened.” We can find something to see, smell, touch or hear to make our day a bit brighter. Or someone else’s day. Is there someone you can visit to sprinkle a little joy?

Keep your head where your feet are. Stay in the present. Don’t jump ahead into that terribly frightening future void.

Worrying about terrible things that might come to pass won’t make it any easier. We can concentrate on feeling strong, centered and grateful so that if those terrible things do come to pass, we will be prayed up and ready.

Ask yourself, if they were making a movie about your life and you are the hero, how would you act? We can remind ourselves that we are each a hero in our own life story, and sometimes we have to slay our own dragons. (That idea is courtesy of Marian McConnell, author of Emergence.)

For further information on Israel, check out debka which has breaking news. Also, if you have been hearing about Israel and apartheid, read this booklet for the truth about who is sponsoring apartheid (gender and religious) around the world. (Spoiler: Islamic countries, not Israel).

And you would think that after all these centuries, humans would have figured out how to resolve conflicts without war. So every time we are in a potential conflict, let’s do our best to bring it down, instead of making things worse.