News Flash: Americans live in a polarized society.

Okay, it’s not really polarized … at least not for the great majority of Americans as they work or try to find work, and worship or don’t worship, and spend time with their traditional or nontraditional families. The great majority are just trying to live their lives the best they can.

For that great majority, the world doesn’t become polarized until they launch into a discussion of some religious or political issue … or until they turn on the cable news channels. Then they suddenly find themselves combatants in the so-called “Culture Wars.”

Squirming? Don’t. MoveThatMountain.com isn’t drifting into religion and politics. This is neutral ground. But it’s also a place about overcoming your challenges, conquering your bad habits, coping with your crises, and figuring out how to make your life a little easier. Doing combat in a culture war takes a lot of energy that might be better spent moving the real mountains in your life.

So if you’d like to escape the squabbling and tension all this constant bickering creates and find a little more peace, here are three simple suggestions:

1. Turn it off. Stop watching the talking heads on the cable news channels, and stop listening to the babbling voices on talk radio. Just turn off the cacophony. Afraid you’ll miss something? You won’t. The people on these programs aren’t disseminating information. They’re providing commentary. They’re spouting off their opinions—opinions that are no more or less valuable than your butcher’s, hairdresser’s, or grocery bagger’s. So why spend hours listening to people drone on and on about how right they are and how wrong everyone else is—especially if it only serves to agitate you?

Are you afraid that if you turn off the voices, you’ll be less informed about the world? You won’t. All you have to do to keep up with current events is spend a few moments each day scanning your hard-copy newspaper, clicking on Google News, pulling up any major newspaper online to check the top stories, or watching a half-hour nightly news broadcast. If you want balanced commentary, try the old-school Sunday-morning programs on the broadcast networks where journalists from the left and right, or political representatives from both parties sit together to discuss their differences with quiet civility.

2. Tone it down. Be careful how you approach others when it comes to sensitive issues such as politics and religion. Avoid these touchy subjects during business and social gatherings, and don’t ever assume you know how people feel—even when you share the same views in other areas. Just because you attend the same church, for instance, doesn’t automatically mean you vote the same way … nor does it mean people have to vote the way you do.

I’m a Southerner, which means I grew up eating grits—with salt, pepper, and butter. It’s an absolute mystery to me how people in their right minds could put sugar in grits. But if people want to put sugar and even, um, cinnamon in their grits, that’s their business. I’m not going to make myself and my sweet-toothed friends miserable by pestering them about their grits. They’re adults and I respect that they’re just as capable of making intelligent, well-reasoned decisions about their grits as I am about mine.

3. Tune it out. If people begin pushing your buttons on politics, religion, or any sensitive subject you believe is none of their business, do not engage. Walk away. As much as you may long to verbally smack ’em around, it’s just not worth the effort. You won’t change their minds; they won’t change yours. The debate will only escalate, draining energy you could spend on things that are more important to you and your long-term goals. And arguing about these insoluble issues could wind up damaging relationships that you don’t want to damage.

Don’t worry. While you’re finding your peace, the battle will rage on without you. You can jump back in any time you like. You won’t miss a thing.