Give Peace a Chance

We talk a lot about peace, but what is peace exactly? Is it the absence of war or conflict or noise? Is peace thoughtfulness and mindfulness? Is it a form of love or even self-love? Is it about honor and respect? Is peace compassion and understanding? I think peace could be all those things and more.

Whatever we think of when we think of peace, itstarts within and often our "within" is not too peaceful. We have our ever-present 'monkey mind' talking to us and it isn't always peaceful; in fact, our monkey mind could be fearful, judgmental, and downright rude. When we listen and think it is the truth, we are usually not feeling too peaceful. We may feel worried or anxious or less than or better than or scared or fearful or tentative or doubtful. And none of those feelings promote feelings of peace and joy, do they?

The truth is the peace of God is within. And in order for us to experience that peace, we need to tune in and become aware of it. That means no more negative self-talk and no more destruction of our dreams or anyone else's dreams. That means no more shame, blame, or resentment. We need to look at our life, our experiences, and our circumstances and embrace and love and accept all of it.

You see when we are at peace, we accept ourselves and others. We are compassionate, understanding, and kind because we are peaceful within and don't feel the need to change anyone else and we accept all people. We have nothing to prove. We are poised to take the next step. We have the freedom to be ourselves. And what a gift that is.

Be yourself and be amazed at what shows up in your life when you focus on what you have rather than on what you don't have. And we always have enough of God's peace, power, purpose, and possibilities!

A Matter of Principle

Have you ever been in a group and felt like you just didn't belong? Have you felt like you were a fraud or a phoney and if people knew you, they'd realize you weren't good enough? Have you ever felt like you really didn't matter?

Just because we believe something, doesn't mean it's true; it may simply be a habit of thinking. And if we have a habit of thinking we don't matter, we end up diluting our joy, our happiness, our ability to engage fully in life, and our conscious connection with the Divine.

 

Who are you?  Are you simply a collection of memories?  Are you someone's family member?  Are you what you do for a living?  How many different ways do we describe oursevles by using the words, "I am.....?"  For me, I've commonly described myself in the following ways: I am a minister, I am a coach, I am a mother, I am not good at meeting people for the first time, I am a great speaker and story-teller, I am too fat, I am smart, I am not always likeable - - and the list could go on and on.

 

The problem comes when we think we are what we think we are. In his book "The Untethered Soul," Michael Singer tells us we've only ever had one problem and that is the voice in our head.  We believe our voice when it tells us we are less than, we are not good enough, we've been abused, we've lied, we don't deserve love, we have to earn love, we shouldn't trust, and we must never let ourselves be hurt.  When we believe that and we think we are that - it is easy to feel like a fraud or a phoney and to think we don't matter.

 

However, that is never the Truth and it never will be the Truth.  It is just an idea (and a limiting idea at that!)  You are not the experience, you are the one who is experiencing; you are not your thoughts, you are the one doing the thinking.  There is a big differnce.  In the first case, when we think we are what we experience, we can feel powerless and victimized and simply hope for the best. But when we realize we have the choice to change our way of thinking, we can observe our situation(s) and not be defined by them.  This choice leads to freedom.

The Sufi mystic Rumi wrote, "You were born with potential. You were born with goodness and truth. You were born with ideals and dreams. You were born with greatness. You were born with wings. You're not meant for crawling, so don't. You have wings. Learn to use them and fly. Know this truth about you." It's time to change our habits of thinking and realize we are good enough and we do matter!