So often we find ourselves searching & needing immediate relief when times get rough & uncomfortable. It’s instilled in us from the very beginning that when something’s wrong we must fix it. Fix it fast. In today’s post I want to talk about finding peace in the storm.
I am pretty confident in saying all of us, at least once have gone through an uncomfortable time in our life. It’s part of this experience we call life. It’s how it is. I am also sure many of us find ourselves completely lost & anxious when these moments arise. I know I did. When the storm would hit, my mind & body would go in overdrive. Physically and mentally I would be in pain. My natural reaction? Heal the pain ASAP. I genuinely believed this was the best way, however when I discovered the teachings of Nitya and Mooji, I started to understand that these moments of pain and hardship are here to BE. There’s actually no need to fix straight away… WHAT?! I know, I reacted the same way, but things did change when I just accepted the situation for what it was.
Pain
Healing our pains sounds simply right. Why would anyone want to be in pain? Of course none of us. But sometimes healing can just mean more work the mind is doing. I’ve noticed in myself and my experiences that there was a sense of pressure to find problems so I could heal them, sort of like a cycle. This meant that I was constantly running & pushing my pains away before I could get to accept & know them. Pain and discomfort is part of life, the issue is we perceive it as “wrong” as something we must diminish and we just don’t accept it. We’re lead to believe from get go that life should always be rainbows and butterflies and that life’s aim should be happiness. And as lovely as that sounds, that’s not reality. Life would loose all meaning without balance. Without fear we’d know nothing of joy. Life is built on balance, everywhere. So, if pain & discomfort are part of life the first step we can effortlessly take, is acceptance. Accept the rough and tough. Know that it’s here to be. It’s OK. Here comes the storm, I am with it.
Connecting to our Inner Peace
Finding peace in the storm, aka through difficult times, seems sometimes impossible, but I assure you, it’s closer to home than you think. Peace resides within you at all times, we just forget about it as times goes on and new conditioning is being taught to us. But our peace lies with us always. How do you connect to it? The mind is part of our experience here, and the crazy thoughts that happen are just part of it all. That’s how it is. We aren’t here to STOP them, but we can watch them, observe them like a movie. If you can step aside and observe what your thoughts do, you’re no longer believing you are the thought itself, because if you can watch it, you aren’t it. Like a boat on a river, watch them float by, but don’t jump on the boat. Don’t get in. Just observe on your picnic blanket all those boats go by.
Each boat is just a boat, some are bigger some smaller. Same goes for the thoughts, some seem wilder, some almost forgettable. However all are not real. If you can approach your thoughts with neutrality, and see that a “bad” thought actually doesn’t need to differ to a “good” thought, but is simply just a thought, then the idea of the power of thought diminishes. It’s how we perceive that adds power or weakness to thoughts. Again, watch them float by, each just a thought.
The Storm & the Sea
A beautiful scenario that was told to me by a family friend may help you find peace in a tough situation. Sometimes using our thoughts for gentle visualizations can be so interesting. So, if there is a storm happening at sea, let that storm go ahead, but find yourself below the sea surface. Because below the sea, there is stillness, peace, calmness. The storm does not affect below the sea. There is no storm there. The storm continuous it’s journey above, and we may even see it from below the sea, but we cannot be touched by it. You are that existence below the sea. The storm is your experience. It still happens, but when you connect to your peace that lies beneath the experience, you’re untouched and unfazed, sitting below it all. Always.
Conclusion
What I’m saying here in this post is that, discomfort and pain will come. It does that in the life we experience. Can we make it easier? Maybe, sometimes, sometimes not, but that’s no the aim. We can accept it for what it is, connect to our unfazed inner peace, and realize all this is created by thought, of which it doesn’t really exist. Hope you find your truth in this post on Finding peace in the storm.
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