Finding Peace

Finding Peace

If peace is your destination, you’ll need a map to help get you there.  Holding grudges, being angry, thinking negatively about yourself/the world, using drugs/alcohol, hating/hurting yourself/others, and isolating are conspicuously missing from that map, unless you want to include hazards and roadblocks.

Merriam Webster’s Full Definition of peace:
1     :  a state of tranquillity or quiet: as         a :  freedom from civil disturbance         b :  a state of security or order within a community provided for by law or custom <a breach of the peace> 
2     :  freedom from disquieting or oppressive thoughts or emotions
3     :  harmony in personal relations
4     a :  a state or period of mutual concord between governments     b :  a pact or agreement to end hostilities between those who have been at war or in a         state of enmity
5     —used interjectionally to ask for silence or calm or as a greeting or farewell
at peace
        :  in a state of concord or tranquillity

Notice the words,: a state of tranquility or quiet, harmony in personal relations, mutual accord, agreements, calm.  These words illustrate the direction and eventual arrival point on our map.  Come with me on this journey, as we discover which roads to take, and where we need to make turns.

Imagine yourself taking a slow deep breath and exhaling while closing your eyes and having a slight smile on your face.  It’s not that your life is perfect, but in this moment you’ve found some peace.  The more I work and learn, the more it seems that peace comes through interpersonal relationships; other people.  Part of the journey includes the courage to surround yourself with positive, supportive people and break off or limit contact with those negative, dangerous, and unhealthy people in your life.  It’s important to realize that you are not responsible for the feelings of those you cut off, just responsible for the relationship choices that you make.

Seek insight and get nonjudgemental feedback from a trusted source, like a therapist, so that you can improve self-esteem and be kind, forgiving, and loving to yourself.  Increase forgiveness, understanding, and empathy in your relationships.  Help other people and do things that matter according to your values.  Be more optimistic.  Since the future isn’t real (it hasn’t happened yet, right?), why not think more positively about it?  Take care of your body with a proper diet, regular exercise, sufficient sleep, and good hydration.  Be more productive and active so that you feel accomplished and fulfilled. 

When you add wonderment into your life, you are getting closer to peace.  Take a closer look at the beauty that’s all around you.  Feel humbled by the night sky, the ocean’s waves, the majestic peak of a mountain.  Ask questions, learn things, and be curious about others and the world. 

For me, love is the icing on the cake.  I feel at peace in the arms of the person I love.  If you are willing to let someone in, a healthy someone, even though it could end painfully, you give yourself the opportunity to eventually find love and be loved. 

Finally, learn and practice meditation, mindfulness, yoga, and relaxation breathing, and you’ll be ready to find your peace. It may take a few minutes, hours, days, years, or decades, but finding peace is worth the effort.  So take out your map and, like every journey, begin with the first step.  I wish you all peace in your lives.