If you take a look at any social media feed, you will most likely be met with an abundance of posts detailing daily successes and photos of smiling faces. There's nothing wrong with sharing good times and happy moments, but social media has allowed us to portray our lives devoid of nearly any negativity -- almost as if we are afraid of acknowledging the normal human condition of suffering.

Even the default vocabulary for dealing with hardship searches for an instant-fix. If you're feeling down, you are often instantly met with responses like: "It will get better," "Keep calm and carry on," or "Just brush it off your shoulder." These pacifiers perpetuate the idea that what you are feeling is wrong or misplaced. Even if these condolences help you find some temporary solace, they are just that -- quick and temporary. They focus on the future rather than acknowledging the issue at hand. While it's true that everything is impermanent, sometimes to really move on, we need to take the time and space to be fully present with our suffering.

When we chase money, fame and power as our life goals, it does not take long before we realize that these goals are constantly changing. How much is enough? In our capitalistic, materialistic and status-driven society, it is very difficult for us to declare that we have made enough money, or that we are satisfied with reaching a certain level of power and fame. If we use external comparisons to judge our success, our goals will constantly shift. There is always someone who is richer, more powerful and more influential.

Checking your overflowing Gmail inbox -- or sending out a message to an important business contact -- is a pretty surefire way to make your pulse quicken and your mind start racing with worries about deadlines and obligations. In fact, one study actually found that checking and sending email at work can increase your blood pressure and heart rate, and cause levels of the stress hormone cortisol in the body to spike.

"People expect us to respond within 24 hours ... just handling the amount of email we get can be stressful," Dr. Lillian Cheung, mindfulness expert and editorial director of The Nutrition Source at Harvard, tells the Huffington Post. "But instead of getting stressed and overwhelmed with emails, I think it's an opportunity for us to refresh and restore ourselves."

The food industry understands our eating habits, aesthetic preferences and pleasure points better than we do. They spend millions of dollars on intricate research to create products that target our "bliss points." In exchange for that perfect crunch and flavor, we offer up mobility, quality of life or even life itself. Obesity may soon surpass tobacco as the leading cause of preventable death in America.

Let's close Stress Awareness Month by reclaiming our food bliss -- and therefore our health. It's clear that we must intentionally defend ourselves from the unhealthy choices that surround us in order to find peace and satisfaction.

What Is the "Bliss Point"?