Credit: Robert Lukeman
Do you ever feel like you are missing something in life?
I often do. Sometimes my life feels like it’s missing something: a cool car, a nicer home, or more money. I have this sense of wandering and discontent. I have this feeling of lacking abundance.
When I take enough time to slow down, reflect, or meditate I come to the core of what I’m really looking for: Peace.
I’m looking for peace with myself, peace with others, and peace with the world. I want a feeling of being centered on what’s really important and what brings true value: compassion, love, and acceptance.
Compassion for myself and others
Love for myself and others
Acceptance of myself and others
When I have these three things in place, I have the deepest sense of inner peace I can feel. When I let go of what I don’t have and focus on the abundance I already have, the discontent and anxiety with life melt away.
There is nothing wrong with a cool car, a nicer house, or more money but they don’t bring inner peace and joy. Peace and joy are found within when we learn to have compassion on ourselves and others. When I have inner acceptance of myself without condition, peace is a reality that transcends all understanding.
If it was easy to have compassion, love, and acceptance of myself I wouldn’t be writing this blog. But this is the practice I am working on. I know I have the wrong focus when I am wishing for something I don’t have or comparing myself to someone else. I know my focus in life is out of whack when I am not grateful for what I have and what I am.
When you feel discontent with life and are looking to external things to make you feel better, deep down inside are you looking for peace?
Buddhist wisdom says : “Peace comes within. Do not seek it without.” This is a simple yet hard teaching since I think we are naturally inclined to believe our external world needs to be working well in order to have peace. Can it be possible to have internal peace when you don’t have enough money or if your relationship is falling apart? Can you have internal peace if your career is upended or you or a family member is sick?
Christian wisdom says: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds…”
My encouragement to you (and to myself) is remember and reflect on the fact that peace is an internal experience brought about self-love, self-compassion, and self-acceptance. When we operate from that level we can then offer those same things to those around us.
Another Christian wisdom saying is, “Love your neighbor as you love yourself”. This is one of the most recognizable Christian teachings and we often forget that the hardest part of this teaching is not loving our neighbor, but in loving ourselves.
If we could truly love, accept, and have compassion on ourselves loving our neighbors would be easy. What I find helpful is to tap into my spirituality and realize there is a universal presence of love, compassion, and acceptance that is available to me at all times.
This isn’t to convince you of any particular religion or deity, but it is to share that when I connect deeply to this source and to myself, peace is the outcome.
Join me in the journey to live a life of peace and to share that peace with everything and everyone around us.