Peace

Let there be peace on earth,
And let it begin with me.

Let there be peace on earth
The peace that was meant to be.

With God as our father

Brothers all are we. 
Let me walk with my brother

In perfect harmony.
~Vince Gill~

As I considered writing this post, this song began to run through my head, and I realized that it encapsulated a lot of my beliefs about peace.  Peace with God, peace within ourselves, and peace with each other and our planet are three lofty goals worth seeking daily.  I find it hard to be at peace with anybody or anything when I am not at peace inside, so I will spend this post considering the idea of internal peace.

"We can work on inner peace and world peace at the same time. On one hand, people have found inner peace by losing themselves in a cause larger than themselves, like the cause of world peace, because finding inner peace means coming from the self-centered life into the life centered in the good of the whole. On the other hand, one of the ways of working for world peace is to work for more inner peace, because world peace will never be stable until enough of us find inner peace to stabilize it." ~ Peace Pilgrim

While people have different approaches based on personality differences, I'll go ahead and share my experiences with a search for peace.

Selfishness is one of the biggest obstacles to my inner peace.  I know that when I am focused on my own needs and especially wants, I become a person I would rather not be.  I make decisions that I regret, and I become cross and irritable.  When I remove my focus from myself, I feel better and live better.

I also have been learning about how consumerism affects internal peace.  While we have an abundance, it is in fact not things that gives us peace.  I have found that by using less and giving things away, I increase my ability to be at peace because I feel satisfied with what I have.  I don't think that there can be inner peace when so much time is spent thinking about money and material possessions.  I also feel at peace by being more in rhythm with our planet.

An important part of my peace is listening to the quiet inner voice that questions what I do.  When I continue harmful actions because they are convenient to me even when I know that I should work to change, I don't feel at peace.

I also find peace when I accept others the way they are.  I tend to get frustrated when people do things in a way that bothers me even when it is a relatively small thing like throwing litter on the ground or a big thing like saying hateful things.  This past year I have been working to control my anxiety by looking for the good in people and realizing that we are all in a state of flux.  I'm not always the best at this, but as I get better I do feel more peace.

What brings peace is gratefulness.  When I am thankful for my family, friends, food, life, and all of the other daily blessings, my soul fills with satisfaction.

What brings peace is attention and appreciation of daily routine.  Instead of hurrying through life, I'm trying to appreciate the details.

What brings peace is avoiding worry and trusting that the future will provide for future needs.

What brings me peace is also taking time away from the frantic pace of life that it is easy to get swept away in.  I find that I need to shut off my computer and return to the here and now.  While technology is supposed to be a time-saver, it also has the tendency to absorb people.

When I am at peace internally, I am able to focus on God and others.  I feel more productive, energetic, and happy.

Where there is faith, there is love.
Where there is love, there is peace.

Where there is peace, there is God.

And where there is God, there is no need.
~Leo Tolstoy~