How to find your peace of mind

Peace is not merely the absence of war but the true human condition when aggressiveness, fear and envy have been removed from society and especially from the hearts of the people. What is desirable is to be able to resolve antagonisms in a non-violent way, through dialogue or peaceful opposition. Even if someone is attacked and must respond forcefully in order to defend himself, he should – in the spirit of martial arts – do so. without hate and compassionately.

How to achieve that inner peace? Contemplation, the spiritual path and the search for harmony can lead us to it.

Find moments of contemplation

Peace can be assessed from various levels. A basic level of its presence refers to the body, it is the need for rest that we have. We cannot be in constant activity, we need moments of rest during the day and a restful night’s sleep. If we move to the field of mind and emotions, peace translates in the first instance as a search for moments of tranquility.

We know that a certain degree of stress can even be a positive stimulus, but if it is too intense or lasts too long, it can damage your health and prevent you from enjoying life.

The spiritual path is the one that leads from moments of unstable tranquility to permanent serenity.

that’s why we usually look for moments of disconnection from work and the obligations, to simply relax or cultivate a sport or hobby. The rest of the weekend or the holidays respond to that need. “Get away from the madding crowd” is still good advice, even more so in our hectic days of overabundance of sights and sounds.

As the architect Le Corbusier said: “I work for what men need most today: silence and peace“. It is convenient that the necessary action is compensated by moments of contemplation in which to appreciate things and people in a less materialistic and egocentric way. The excess of information that we suffer from exhausts us.

Let us remember, in this sense, the advice of the buddha: “More than a thousand useless words, one that grants peace is worth it.” It is curious that people with an active temperament, but who unconsciously seek stillness, set out to conquer snowy peaks where silence reigns or submerge into the depths of the sea, where movement is slower and weightless and sounds are barely perceived.

make peace with others

There are people, even family members, with whom we may have argued or hardly talked to each other. It may be okay to visualize this person in front of us and mentally reconcile with them., outlining a smile. Then there will be the possibility of doing it by phone or directly. We will have prepared the way and we will feel better.

If it’s someone we live with, don’t let too much time pass without reconciling mentally forgive first and then verbally helps settle differences. If it is the couple, Better not let a day go by without making up so that situations of lack of understanding do not become chronic.

The union of opposites

“If we are not at peace with ourselves, we cannot guide others in the search for peace,” he reminds us. Confucius. The importance of inner peace responds to two facts. The first is that we cannot fully control external circumstances and may they always be kind and peaceful. That is why it is important to have an interior space where calm reigns whatever the surrounding situation.

The second reason is that, as J. Krishnamurti said, “individual peace is the peace of the world”. Indeed, if people with a calm nature predominated, society as a whole would be more peaceful. Hence, it is recommended, as Buddhism does, that meditation or other spiritual practices be done “for the good of all beings” and not selfishly. Inner peace does not therefore have a merely personal value, but contributes to a social good.

In a metaphysical and symbolic sense, true peace is a reflection of unity in multiplicity.

And it responds to a law of order and balance: union of opposites and harmonization of opposites. That is why when we move away from the turmoil that reigns on the periphery of ourselves and get closer to the center of our being, the feeling of peace and fulfillment increases.

The objective of meditation, already stated in the Yogasutra of Patanjali, is “still the waves of the mind”. Well, as happens in the waters of a lake, if they are not agitated we can see its bottom clearly. When thoughts and emotions are of sattvik nature or harmonious, inner calm manifests more easily. The spiritual path is the one that leads from moments of unstable tranquility to permanent serenity.

Ajhan Chah was asked: “What does deep serenity look like?”. The answer was another question: “What is confusion? Well, deep serenity is the end of confusion.” He also said: “Anyone can build a house of wood and bricks, but the Buddha taught us that such a home is not our true home, for it is a house in the world and as such follows the ways of the world. Our true home is interior peace”.

the path of the heart

There is a beautiful word: concord. It literally means union of hearts and is usually used when, after discussions, A peaceful solution is reached by mutual agreement.. The heart, which symbolizes the center of the person and from where life expands, is also the place of peace in a psychological and spiritual sense.

As the aviation pilot and writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry wrote: “If we want a world of peace and justice, we must put intelligence at the service of love”. To avoid wars, its causes must be eliminated: injustice, hatred, lack of freedom.

For peace to reign you have to cultivate harmony between people. On the world stage and also within us, good and evil, light and darkness seem to fight. This is basically due to a desire to harmonize the opposites.

We see an irreconcilable duality, but light and dark are not actually opposites, for darkness is merely the absence of light. That is to say, we are forced to seek peace, but although we do not find it fully, its secret presence accompanies us. How else would it be possible that in the middle of a war soldiers have moments of calm, children want to play or couples fall in love?

Everything that exists, even in situations of hardship and conflict, participates in universal and eternal principles. That is why peace is always possible and, as Mother Teresa said, “begins with a smile”.