FINDING INNER PEACE

Love and peace of mind do protect us. They allow us to overcome the problems that life hands us. They teach us to survive …to live now…to have the courage to confront each day – Bernie Siegel

More than anything in the world, peace of mind is the greatest euphoria a human being can experience. Having peace of mind is a chief accomplishment in personal realization. Peace of mind is a deep-seated comfort or serenity even in spite of external chaos. It is an unexplainable sense of calm in the midst of external storm.

A search through Wikipedia reveals inner peace is “a deliberate state of psychological or spiritual calm despite the potential presence of stressors”

Peace of mind is a resolve that in spite of unpleasant events or situation occurring in your life per time, your inner core is protected. Your soul is uncorrupted. Peace of mind is reflected in as simple as not allowing the loss of your designer wallet along with money make you irritable and affect your overall mood. With peace of mind you are in control of your emotions. You are on top of every situation. You are less stressed because you view occurrences as just a snag which time or decisive action will deal with so that the episode or call it stressful situation is done and dusted. Then you move unto the next challenge!

Having peace of mind is priceless. Peace of mind will make you transit from one unpleasant situation to another with ease and less negative vibes. It is simply saying breathe, this too shall pass.

You may want to ask me how I know what peace of mind represents. I will try to explain. I have also always been in a state of flutter over every little occurrence. I was stressed-out a lot. By mid-morning on a work day strain is written all over me because everything gets to me. This is the way I lived for many years until recently. I stressed over my inability to reach an interviewee or presenter, low turnout at meetings, stage fright as I need to chair meetings, my brother’s reported poor health, family issues, my relationship and the list is endless. I was always restless. My brain was actively playing scenarios of each issue even in my sleep. I was unable to switch off and live every moment rather I was living 5 or 6 moments all at once. It felt like all of the burden of the world rested on my shoulders. Except that they didn’t. I wasn’t seeing those things as mere situations. I viewed them as my life – which was not true. I would say to myself or anyone who cared to listen that “I am very emotional. I get attached to things. That’s how I’m wired.” That was my life for too long.

How did that change? I found myself in what I call “an off-season” situation. I had plenty of free time. Consequently, I was forced to have quiet time. In my alone time, I was able to dig deep into myself and discover certain things about me and life in general – I am still discovering. Then I realized that I am being flung every way because I let everything get to my core. It was during this time – invaluable moments of my life - that I decided to find my peace and protect it jealously.

This state of inner peace is very desirable. It is better experienced than described. However, it cannot be handed over to you. Peace of mind is a personal frequency you have to tune your mind to. It is a personal journey. Only you can find it.  Linda Evans summarizes my opinion thus “If there’s no inner peace, people can’t give it to you. The husband can’t give it to you. Your children can’t give it to you”

You owe it to yourself to go deep into yourself and locate that frequency. It usually takes quiet to find it. You need a lot of quiet in your soul to reach that far and connect with your threshold of peace. It is a brand of inner serenity that is can only be yours because when it clicks only you can explain it. Everyone around you will only marvel at how you carry on in the face of stressing situations.

I reckon that as an adult female – be it daughter, wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother there are numerous things competing for your attention. Quite true. But one thing is worthy of note, if you lose yourself in the midst of life’s vicissitudes, you will be of no value to anyone. If you function in a state of constant flutter as the winds toss you up and down, side to side, you will never make an impact. You will attend to situations as the mood dictates. This is a sign of less than optimal living. You should not be flummoxed as challenges come your way – they always do. Take charge of situations. Do not let them control you.

Peace of mind does not say you are unfeeling. It doesn’t mean you care less of happenings. It only says “when life throws you lemons, you make lemonade of it.”

When you begin to operate on the frequency of deep inner peace the noise from your neighbour’s generating set will stress you less, your colleague’s supposed insensitivity will stress you less, your fellow road user’s incessant blaring of car honks will irritate you less. You will feel less perturbed not because those situations are not annoying but because you made deliberate effort, by tuning to your peace frequency, to shut out the “noise”. 

When you forget your baby’s water container and meal plate while rushing to pack for her and get ready for work, it is your peace of mind that kicks in after the initial few seconds panic. In place of the panic, your mind gets to work to analyze the situation, as logically as possible, and find a solution. In this case, just buy a unit of table water, improvise his actual eating plate with his drinking cup or hot water flask cover and your child is fine for the day. It is obvious in this scenario that irritability will not bring the water from your kitchen magically. Therefore, peace of mind saves you from negativity. It stops any unpleasant situation from ruining your otherwise great day.

Your peace of mind is worth fighting for. When you find it you will be content in the fact that no matter what life throws at you, your mind is settled. I liken peace of mind to an assurance that the storm can only rock the boat if I can find a way to ensure water does not flood the boat. 

In all honesty finding and living in a perpetual state of inner peace isn’t as easy as spreading butter on bread. Neither is it as leisurely as having tea in bed on a Saturday morning. It is a lot of work to find it but it’s worth every effort you put into establishing it. I assure you, when you find it life, for you, becomes blissful.

 “The life of inner peace, being harmonious and without stress, is the easiest type of existence.” – Norman Vincent Peale