A Simple Practice For Finding And Knowing Peace
Every single answer is inside of you if you just listen.
Prostock-studio People ask me all the time, "What is enlightenment and how can I achieve it?"
Enlightenment seems like a hustle to me. It seems to be an idea that makes a lot of people unhappy.
How can I become enlightened? It appears to me to be an achievement that no one fully realizes. I think a more interesting concept to explore is peace.
How can we come to a place of peace in our lives?
What can we do to show the world what peace looks like? I think to do this we have to investigate the root of struggle.
To me, the struggle is quite simply when you want to do something but you feel like you shouldn’t — or you don’t want to do something and you feel like you should.
At one point in my life, I realized that if we just removed the last part of each of our statements we could bring ourselves to a place of peace.
I think it is important to note that to truly reside in a place of peace we must be acting out of love in all instances. Once this criteria is met, we can apply our struggle statement:
- I want to do something, so I do it.
- I don’t want to do something, so I don’t.
By eliminating the “Feel like I shouldn’t” or “Feel like I should” we can come to a place of peace.
And peace is what we all long for. It is the panacea that everyone strives to achieve.
But can you achieve peace or is peace inherently our natural state of mind?
You can tell a true master by the look in his or her eye. There is a peace that embodies those eyes, and it is a peace that we rarely see in our day-to-day lives. Most of us have eyes that are filled with fear.
The fear of not being good enough. The fear of not having enough. The fear of not being loved. The fear of being separated from the pack. All these things create conflicted eyes.
"The master doesn’t embody these thoughts so therefore they have eyes that resonate peace."
The master knows they are good enough. How do they know they are worthy of being here on Earth? Easy. They are breathing. This is the only requirement for worthiness.
Are you breathing? If you answered yes, you are worthy. If you answered “No” you need to see a doctor because you only have a moment left in your body.
How does the master know that he or she has enough? The reality is that most of us do have enough.
There are very few of those among us who may not have enough but the largest percentage of us do. Everyone reading this does.
Do you have clothes on your back? Have you eaten in the last few days? Did you get a drink of water this morning? We are all, most likely, sitting in a comfortable room right now.
The reality is we have enough, and the master knows this.
There is nothing to achieve in the eyes of a master.
How do love and fear fit into peace?
Love. The fear of not being loved. Can this even be? Is there anyone reading this that cannot think of one person who loves them? Anyone? It simply isn’t possible. How do I know this?
Because I love each and every one of you reading this. I was filled with love knowing that you took the time to read this. Thank you!
But how does the master know she is loved?
What does the master know that we don’t know? She knows that love starts with her.
The master loves themselves before they even consider loving someone else first. This may appear controversial because we are taught that we must be selfless.
We are taught that we must love others before ourselves, we must give to others before we give to ourselves. How can we give that which we don’t have?
How could I possibly give love to you if I haven’t given love to myself?
It is simply an impossibility. If you come to my house for dinner and I have no food, how am I going to feed you? I must first fill my kitchen with all the necessary ingredients so that I can prepare the meal that I will serve you. The master fills her kitchen with love to serve love to you.
This master with the peaceful eyes — how does she know that she can never be separate from the pack?
Look around you. You are in a pack right now.
You are part of something bigger than you every moment of your life, and when we release the need to be the most important person in the room, we become part of something bigger than ourselves. The master wants no students.
The true master wants you to watch and learn and one day fulfill your mastery.
So we look into the eyes of this master and we wonder: how could I become like them? What do I have to do to have those calming, peaceful eyes?
Many of us may wonder, what can I buy to help me get that “peaceful, easy feeling” (for all you Eagles fans out there)? Where can I buy it? How much does it cost? Does it come in pill form, or do you drink it from a bottle? Do I have to travel to some remote Ashram and sit like a pretzel to get that look in my eye?
The funny thing is that we all know the answer, but we simply don’t listen to our inner voice.
The answer is no—we can’t buy it, drink it, pop it, travel to it, or make our knees hurt to have the look of a master. We don’t have to do anything. There is nothing to achieve.
We simply realize a couple of elegant truths:
- We are breathing.
- We are worthy.
Love begins and ends with us. We never have to search for it because it is always with us.
It resides in our hearts every day, but we put up walls to prevent it from shining — and then we blame others for not loving us. It is a cycle with no end.
A meditation practice for finding peace
We have the power to change the way we live and find peace, starting with meditation.
Each day when I do my meditation practice, I always use my breath to help me remember my mastery.
I sit on my floor (this is very good each day to keep you grounded), I fold my legs like a pretzel (you can hear the creaking), I sit in an easy pose and begin my morning breathing practice.
- I inhale acceptance of what has happened.
- I hold my breath while silently saying “thank you” for all that is currently happening in my life (whether I like it or not I know this is for my Greatest Good because this is my prayer each morning: Bring me today whatever is for my Greatest Good and the Greatest Good of All.)
- I exhale and surrender to all that is to come.
- I continue this for eleven minutes and in those eleven minutes comes the silence — the all-important silence.
By submitting to the mastery of this Universe, I discover my mastery.
By understanding everything that is currently in my life — I have attracted all of it, for better or worse. It was always my thoughts that created my reality. This was scary until it wasn’t.
Once I understood this, it was a very short road to knowing that everything can be changed for the better (whatever that means).
We always have the choice to change our thoughts and by doing so, our very reality. And this is what the masters with the peaceful eyes have always known. It is, and always will be, inside of you.
Every single answer is inside of you. We have to take the time to sit and listen…and then…the answers will come.
David Ahearn is the author of the book "Happy Accidents: The Transformative Power of 'Yes, and' at Work and in Life." He teaches organizations the secrets of 'Yes, And', which helps improve group performance, and is a sought-after speaker and host for corporate functions who lives in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.