Inner Peace, Outer Peace

In roaming these pages, I have encountered many things, all of them beautiful, but not all of them concerning peace.

There is a yearning for it, but I'm not sure we all understand it, or experience it in our own lives.

In my own spiritual path, we are encouraged to sit, and experience, develop, the inner peace, before we can create the peace in the outer world. I find I always procrastinate, always put off until the day is done, and it is too late, doing this most important of all things.

Have you developed a discipline to find that inner peace?

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Permalink Reply by Sarah on September 19, 2008 at 5:37am

Sarah said:

I am taking a class this semester that is about managing stress. This class has turned into more than just managing stress, it also includes managing anger and other things. It is all things I have thought about on my own but hearing someone else say them really makes me think. One thing that my professor is really focusing on is that all moods start with a thought. You think something and then you feel the emotion. One thing Viktor Frankl said in his book is that the greatest freedom men have is the freedom to choose their reactions.

What does this have to do with compassion?

I guess this all leads me to compassion because thinking this way really gives people the power over all of their moods and these moods not only affect yourself, but can also affect other people. How could we possibly bring peace into the world unless we choose to feel peace inside ourselves at all times?

One thing the Dalai Lama said which has really stuck with me is "take time to be alone every day." Something that simple has made so much of a difference in my life. Sometimes I feel as though I cannot see the forest through the trees. Taking time to be still, calm and to look at things more objectively helps me stay calm, find that peace which is always inside me waiting to be felt and stoked into a real flame and see the world around me completely differently. I realize, at these moments, that things I get so worked up about during hurried moments really do not deserve the kind of strain I choose to feel for them.

One thing I have realized is that it is impossible for me to feel peace inside unless I feel compassion also. If I feel compassion for my neighbor, I will feel compassion for myself. What I do to another, I do to myself. The greatest kindness I can do for myself, is by helping another person that needs it.

I don't know if any of what I said answers anything. I guess I just started on a tangent. I just realized how long this was so I am going to close here...

In peace,

- Sarah