There is so much going on around us – every second of our lives! We are constantly bombarded with events, new information and fresh challenges while attempting to look after ourselves, our families, our friends and our work. We are continuously being interrupted and pulled in so many directions that often it feels like our circuits are burning out and it is all one big “frazzle”!
Stress is now “normal”!!!
The question is, how much stress can you take and for how long, before it shows up in your physical, emotional and mental bodies and stops you in your tracks?
I was listening to and chanting a very simple mantra today: Om Shanti. Shanti means ‘peace’ in Sanskrit as well as ‘rest, calmness, tranquility, or bliss’. I deeply connected to the simplicity and beauty of consciously intending all of those yummy states of being to be part of my life.
Allow yourself a few minutes of quiet reflection on: How would your life be different if you could find a place of inner peace whenever you want to?
Most of the time we look for peace when we already are overwhelmed by stress, when we feel fragmented and overloaded and want to escape. The horse is already out of the barn, and it can be quite the production to bring it back home!
The challenge that most of us encounter is that we internally are not feeling like we are connected to a solid foundation that we can trust and that provides us with a sense of safety, purpose and worth.
Instead we are often feeling like we stepped into quicksand and only the flailing of arms and other reactive actions will allow us to keep our heads above water. (And we know full well that those actions are ineffective in the short and long run!)
This reflects a state of being where we are at war with ourselves internally: we are overly busy, full of judgments, scattered in our thoughts, needy for love, attention and appreciation and feel empty and unfulfilled. No peace in sight!
Waking up each morning with those internal challenges and bringing them forward into the new day will only add to the load. Your perspective is already focusing on lack, dissatisfaction and overwhelm. Every new thing that comes into your life will first be seen as more of what you don’t want. Your stressful perception of life becomes reinforced and magnified and eventually spirals out of control.
The way I see it, the only way to manage life in a peaceful way is to start by addressing your inner world. Just by allowing yourself to not take everything that is happening in the outer world seriously and directed at you personally, you can completely shift your inner experience. It creates a sense of spaciousness which offers you a choice what to interact with and when and how. Once there is some space, you can then start cultivating some cornerstones of peace like acceptance, trust, letting go of attachments and gratitude.
Peace occurs when you are stepping out of the push and pull of this 3rd dimension and can leave, for a brief moment, the reactivity to events from the past and anticipated future behind you.
In the moment when you experience peace, there is nothing else. Your breath is relaxed and your heart is open. You notice what is beautiful and are nourished by it. You feel expanded and content.
Ahh, how I love that! … and that is my incentive to keep riding the inner “peace train”!