What is Peace to Me?

As I sat here wondering what to make this first blog entry about, the first feeling that came to me was "Peace is what your signposts point to, but peace means different things to everyone. What does it mean to you?" But then, my silly thoughts began tossing that around & judging it, ridiculing it, labeling it, all kinds of ridiculous nonsense like that, because, well, that's what thoughts do. There was a time not too long ago when I would've bought into those thoughts & let them rule my behavior. Instead, I watched them. I waited to see what those thoughts told me to do or not to do. I let it pass & then I began writing this. So, here I am now, writing about what peace means to me.

Mostly, peace means staying calm, both inside & outside, no matter what life throws my way. For instance, in the last 24 months, my life has run the gamut of experiences. Close friends and/or family - killed themselves or died, were diagnosed with life-threatening diseases, had surgery, moved in, moved out, cut themselves, ran away, divorced, were unfaithful, had sexual identity crises, relapsed into substance abuse, etc. Some happened within my immediate family & others happened outside of it. A few times, the situation brought me to tears & with that, a lot of fear. But for the most part, I could see the situation was transient, as it always is. I was able to remove my emotions from the situation, maybe not immediately, but shortly thereafter, and regain a feeling of "alright-ness".

So for me, peace means to be able to find stillness or that quiet place in between thoughts, despite the craziness that is life, at times. No matter what, I'm able to still the fear & be okay with whatever is happening. After all, if something is going on it will do so whether I like it or not. To resist it by getting upset, arguing, name-calling, making up stories, is simply making a challenging situation even more challenging. Why do that? It makes no sense. The key is to NOT resist what is. To accept it fully, inside & out, even if it's scary or extremely sad. This also includes other emotions often labeled "positive" by society, such as excitement & anticipation. The point is not to align so closely with an emotional reaction, regardless of what it is, to the extent it becomes who I am or what I do.

Peace means being able to see my thoughts for what they are - ideas & conditioning - & ignore the reaction they want me to give. I don't want to resist the thoughts, but simply to "watch" them. I want to see the reaction they suggest, but not give into it. I want to let those thoughts pass & be able to laugh at what they wanted me to do. I then want to move on, past the thoughts, to a more relaxing, peaceful state.

 

I couldn't agree more. I would add "and mind" to the end of this & then, it would be perfection. This is what peace means to me & it's what this blog's signposts will point to.

What does peace mean to you?