What’s With Wishing Someone Peace?
12_18_2020
What’s With Wishing Someone Peace
Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the concept of Peace. Last week the theme of the second week of Advent was “peace” which was my initial prompt to give more thought to how we use that word so frequently around this time of year. I was again reminded of my interest in the word as I was searching for Christmas cards in Staples when I went to buy more toner. There was a limited supply so I settled on a message that I thought would work for those receiving my card. “Wishing you Peace in the New Year.”
Growing up as I listened to adults in my world, my understanding of Peace came from their associating it with our country not being at war. I realize that I never really gave much additional thought to the meaning of Peace as I stayed with my childhood understanding of it throughout much of my adult years.
As with most any kind of developing interest, once you begin pursuing a path, other offshoots or corollaries begin to surface. Many yoga practices end a class with the shavasana pose. Believe me, it is easy to identify shavasana as the best of all yoga poses. Basically, it is an entirely stress-free pose, in which lying on one’s lying on one’s back on a comfortable mat covered with a blanket and an eye pillow to foster relaxation and quiet. it is easy to fall asleep if sufficient time is allotted to enjoy this pose.
What I learned from this pose beyond how much I enjoyed it was the experience of my mind being quiet. I was in a state of peace and restful awareness. Often yoga teachers described this part of the practice as a meditation. I was drawn to learn more about developing a meditation practice and took several classes before I found a meditation instructor that really helped me find an approach that worked for me.
I was hooked at this point, and over time found some wonderful resources to support my ongoing practice. I highly recommend exploring Deepak Chopra’s website, as he periodically offers a 21-day meditation series online for free. Each day claims about 20 minutes or so of your time, but it is well worth it. If I have found one of his offerings particularly rich for me, I purchase it at the end of the free period. Once purchased, it becomes part of my meditation library and I can repeat the series as often as I like.
One of my initial meditation teachers did a great job explaining how easy it is for us to be subjected to the control of our minds if we don’t learn how to quiet them. She compared the mind to a monkey, claiming that once a thought drifts into our heads, it quickly jumps on any train that is leaving the station. Here’s a recent example that made me think of this analogy.
Every year I send Christmas cards to those in my life that I am particularly grateful for. This year I received a card from a former colleague that I really enjoyed working with and who I came to know and care for. Her card was wonderful, but I found that immediately my mind jumped on the train of remembering what it was like for us to work in this particular environment. Yes, I thought about some of the folks there that I really enjoyed getting to know and to work with. But I quickly found myself thinking about individuals that were difficult to work with, and the ways in which they made reaching our goals and honoring our mission far more challenging than it needed to be.
As soon as I realized what was happening to me, I drew on my toolkit that I have acquired through meditation and all of the supportive endeavors that have helped me enrich that practice. One of the great messages that one learns in mediation is that “YOUR THOUGHTS ARE NOT YOU.” The same thing can be said about your feelings.
When I realized that replaying the movie of past experiences was interfering with my sense of inner peace, my awareness of what was happening allowed me to conclude that I didn’t want to spend time in that space. Just knowing that made it possible for me to get off the moving train, take a moment to be grateful for the gifts of good people and enriching experiences I was fortunate to have in that job.
Being aware that I remembered I have a toolkit that can help me navigate such moments was both empowering and encouraging. I was happy to realize that my pursuit living a more enlightened life was progressing in a positive way.
Why is being able to live in a state of peace such an important pursuit? For me, I am a happier person when I am at peace. I am more open to loving and being loved when I am not harboring feelings of hurt, anger and the host of other thoughts that prevent me from being open and loving, willing to connect with others.
I find this quote from Pema Chodron speaks to me on many levels. “Peace isn’t an experience free of challenges, free of rough and smooth, it’s an experience that’s expansive enough to include all that arises without feeling threatened.”
It’s helpful to remind ourselves that being at Peace isn’t a constant status once it is achieved. We will continue to have challenges to that state of being, we’ll have disturbances that can throw us off kilter. But if we have resources we can turn to in our backpacks or toolkits, we can “expand” the space as needed to utilize the resources we have made available to ourselves to return to a peaceful heart and frame of mind.
I am not my best self – to myself or to others – when I am not at peace. I am a more compassionate, less judgmental, and welcoming person when I am at peace.
It occurs to me that being at peace could be synonymous with being in the state of grace. Let me close acknowledging an author and one of her books that has helped me achieve greater self-awareness and peace this year through her daybook, Simple Abundance: 365 Days to a Balanced and Joyful Life.
Sarah Ban Breathnach
We wish one another Peace in the New Year so that we may all experience our best selves and use the positive energy that results to grow in wisdom and learn how to love better.
