I have a friend who has a very successful professional life. This person is a serious and studious individual who is widely regarded as a thought leader in his field. People come from far and wide and pay considerable sums for his advice and counsel. As I said, this person is a serious and sober professional.

This person is also a psychic.

Yep, a real life bonafide tarot-card carrying paranormal. He sees, feels, and hears things that most of us do not. It has been this way for him for a long time and although he did not understand it at first, he has come to accept it as a part of who he is. He keeps this part of himself private and as he is concerned that his "day job" would suffer if his clients found out.

As for me, I was fascinated!

My friend offered me a reading, to which I said, "HECK YEA!"

Over the next hour I watched and listened carefully as he spoke of things and people in my past, present, and future. As we began to wrap up our session I asked if there was anything else I should know.

He paused, not as if he was unsure of what needed to be said, but how to best say it. He then said, “You need to quiet your mind. The cards I read and the voices I hear all say the same thing. Shut up! Stop talking. Stop thinking. Quiet your mind. STOP and BE QUIET!

This was not the first time I had heard this. “SCOTT, STOP & BE QUIET!” was the mantra of my childhood.

But I could tell he meant something different.

He followed it up with, “You need to take a breath, take a moment, and just be still. Still in your thoughts. Be still in your words and still in your actions. Be still.

Sometimes, in order to allow your better self to come out, you have to sit still and say nothing. But it's hard for you because but you fill every second of every day with something… The voices I hear and the people who love you are all shouting, Scott, be still and be quiet."

I must admit, his words gave me pause.

Being still and silent is uncomfortable for me. When not fully occupied my mind races and I am filled with anxiousness over things left undone and tasks left incomplete. I suspect I am not the only one who feels this way. In fact I know it.

Anxiety is now the most common illness in the US. And the stakes for our physical, mental, and emotional health couldn’t be higher. A recent study by Harvard concluded that stress either exacerbates or increases the risk of health issues like heart disease, obesity, depression, gastrointestinal problems, asthma, and more. In fact they further stated that health issues from job stress alone cause more deaths than diabetes, Alzheimer's, or influenza.

Their statement, be still or be sick. Their prescription for getting healthy? Music!

A study was conducted on participants who attempted to solve difficult puzzles as quickly as possible while connected to sensors. The puzzles induced a certain level of stress and participants listening to music produced a greater state of relaxation than any other thing tested to date.

They found that listening to certain music resulted in a striking 65 percent reduction in participants' overall anxiety, and a 35 percent reduction in their usual physiological resting rates.

In this age of constant bombardment, the science is clear: If you want your mind and body to last, you've got to prioritize giving them a rest and music is one of the best ways to do that.

So let’s put away the fidget spinners and adult coloring books and do something that can actually quiet our anxious minds. Let's listen to my psychic and pick up our "psy-sticks" and make music!