Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi asked, “What worries do you need to release right now to enter a place of peace?” It is well to grasp that core to spiritual work is learning how to evolve in lessening fear, stress and drama. Of course, each of us has the tendency to view stress as an expected aspect of life. In understanding this tendency, it is helpful to recognize that as stressful events happen we tend to continue to hold negative energy inside by resisting realities we face. Indeed, we are living in a human predicament; in handling situations of today, we are neither prepared to receive them nor masterfully skilled to integrate them. We continue to struggle with forces they amass.
What then can we call on to manage the vicissitudes of life? This blessing by John O’Donohue provides a portal:
Let there be an opening
into the quiet that lies
beneath the chaos, where you
find peace you did not
think possible and see what
shimmers within the storm.
Conscious Peacefulness: The Course of Miracles states, “I could see peace instead of this.” Consciously keeping watch over our thoughts is an initial step toward experiencing greater peacefulness. If even for fifteen, thirty or sixty minutes you witness the habitual patterns of your thoughts, you may be astonished that what passes through the mind may be far from peaceful. Instead, you may realize your thoughts are more so weighted toward quite the opposite—fear, worry, anxiety or criticism. Our minds are opinionated and tend to sort things as good or bad, right or wrong. Because our thoughts determine our experience, we then fluctuate from hope and happiness to despair and unhappiness.
When you notice a critical, worrisome or anxious thought, pause and take a few deep breaths. Move your attention from the outside world to your inner being with an intention to experience a deeper sense of peace. Make an effort to shift to a positive or serene and calming, or even gently playful thought. It is also helpful to focus deeply on one thing that inspires awe or reverence.
The Yoga Sutras instruct, “The premise is simple. If a thought causes you suffering, change it to the opposite.” While this practice is simply stated, it isn’t always simple. The task is to notice disturbing thoughts before they evolve into protracted stories saturated with negative emotions that become difficult to untangle. In making a daily practice of consciously fostering peacefulness, one will no doubt begin to notice an obvious shift toward over all peacefulness with the emergence of peace in our outer life.
Question: How will I shift my thoughts about challenges to thoughts that will positively support my well-being, and thus promote peace?
Lively Peacefulness. It may be difficult to navigate between inner stillness and one’s outer life without a “bridge” that helps in making the journey. Retaining a state of inner peace while living in uncertainty and perpetual disturbance requires continued effort. Over time, it does become easier to shift to peacefulness when we sense otherwise. We can maintain or rediscover ways that have helped us, or find new ways of nourishing inner stillness as we traverse our inner and outer life.
Being active in the world with a true sense of peacefulness becomes a gift of life-giving means for our families, friends and those we encounter. We help ourselves and others to weather the “rolling seas” of life while remaining strong and capable. When we are centered in our inner peace, we are calm and clear-headed, responsive, attentive and engaged. We do not get emotionally charged, nor withdraw relationally. We remain fully present to others and to tasks at hand. When we live with a sense of peacefulness, we expand creatively, maintain meaningful connections, and deepen our capacity for love and compassion.
The world will always present challenges. As Gandhi taught, it is up to us to be the change we wish for the world. As we transform our inner worlds from disturbance to peacefulness, the way we experience the outer world will change as well. Even one step in this direction will bring noticeable benefits to you and those around you.
Question: In what ways does inner peace influence my view of current dilemmas?
Mystical Peacefulness: When we come to realize that life is giving us a gift, we begin to see that gift is the flow of events that takes place between birth and death. To comfortably handle this flow of life, our heart and mind opens and becomes expansive enough to embrace a deeper capacity for peacefulness. This includes refraining from resisting reality. What once may have rendered us powerless may begin to look more like stepping stones on the path of our personal spiritual journey. We can become better at living in a state of peacefulness by learning to consistently turn our attention to quieting and letting go of emotions that have negative influence. The more we “let go,” the freer we become. Our responsibility then is to willingly let go of whatever is needed in order to acquire peace of heart in the midst of chaos and concern. What an amazing teacher our lives can become when we start mastering mystical peacefulness.
Our thoughts affect the entire web of life. Our opinions, words and actions have impact. When we make choices from our heart’s intuitive guidance, we realize it is within our power to activate a consciousness of peacefulness. Your life and the lives of all with whom you come in contact — whether through direct interaction or through consciousness — can be transformed and contribute to peace in the world.
Question: What will I let go of to achieve a deeper sense of peacefulness in my life?
While we may frequently wonder how we arrived in the crazy circumstances of 2020, our blessing is that we are still here. We are still engaging with one another. We still have the opportunity to love one another and share our gifts in creating a better world. Along our way, may we be a beneficial presence illuminating peacefulness throughout each day.
In closing, please take a moment to light a candle—beholding the light from its flame as representing the wisdom within you, and the wisdom within all of us in the Sage-ing International community. May we call on courage to guide us. May we support each other in love. May we be grounded in peacefulness.
The Executive Circle of Sage-ing International
Marilyn Loy Every, Co-Chair
Jerome Kerner, Co-Chair
Nancy Gray-Hemstock, Secretary
Cindy Siemers, Treasurer
Katia Petersen, Member-at-Large
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