My teenagers' dark and surly moods, my husband's anxiety, my mother's rare show of displeasure, and my father's anger and frugality, all had great power to destroy my peace of mind. That's why years ago when I picked up a sheet of paper at a meeting entitled "Detaching with Love." it spoke to me.

The balance between cutting off our connection to others so we aren't affected by them at all or being so affected by others that we lose ourselves to anxiety, irritability, and muscular tension is a tr...