What exactly is inner peace? What does it mean to be at peace? How to find inner peace? People go around using the word ‘peace’ very loosely and in our current world the word peace simply means to be free from war and conflict for many people.
However, peace has a much more profound and much more significant meaning than mere freedom from war. As Sai Baba pointed out to us – inner peace is the very thing that nourishes our spirit.
We all long for it. We all need it at the deepest level.
Although it’s quite hard to define what inner peace really is, we all know what it feels like because we’ve all had times in our life when we experienced it.
For many inner peace shows up in their lives as fleeting moments of bliss and more often than not it is something that they cannot really hold on to. One of the greatest blessings that comes from living a more spiritually conscious life is to cultivate a greater sense of inner peace.
People are born for different tasks, but in
SRI SAI BABA
order to survive every one requires the same
nourishment; inner peace.
Any form of conflict that you experience removes you from that sense of inner peace.
Inner peace is a deep inner sense of ease – a sense of inner comfort and stillness that is both joyful and calming. Inner peace will free you from many of the demands and expectations that drive most people over the edge.
By living your life with a greater sense of self awareness you can start to cultivate a sense of inner peace and live life with a greater sense of clarity and perspective.
A life of turmoil is characterized by immediate demands and shortsighted gains and like a wildfire you can never quite get the best of it.
Living your life with a sense of inner peace is not so much a conscious pursuit as it is the result of living your life in a certain way. It’s not so much in what you do as it is what you don’t do.
Your nature – your own spiritual essence (your soul) comes from a place of peace and it’s ultimate pursuit is to be at peace. The challenge that we are all faced with is that our everyday lives tend to distract us from a sense of inner peace.
1.The Ego
Your ego is that part of you that’s like a veil to your spirit. It’s the external façade that we all wear in order to operate in this world.
Your ego constantly reminds you about your separateness and how you have to proof yourself by being better than, faster than or stronger than everybody else.
Your ego is the source of most of the conflicts in your life. These can be conflicts with other people and even with yourself because the ego is fixated on being the most important person. Much of the anger, resentment and frustration in your life come from the ego’s demands on you
Having a sense of inner peace allows you to be in harmony with everyone and everything.
The effect of inner peace is a sense of unity and you start to see both your environment and your fellow human beings as being connected to you in some invisible way.
Although you cannot rid yourself of your ego, you can go along way in subduing the ego’s demands on you and focusing on living from your higher self instead – making a conscious effort not fall prey to your ego and all the millions of demands it places on you every day.
2.Living In The Future
It’s important to realize that wherever your mind is – there you are. If your attention is in the past or the future, then that is what your experience of life will be.
So many people waste away their precious time living their lives in a time other than now. Wallowing in the past serves no purpose and no matter what you do you cannot change that which is over.
Worrying about what might happen in the future will only cause you to feel an inner sense of turmoil. Worry tends to consume your entire mind, removing you from feeling at peace.
One of the key spiritual realizations is to understand that the only ‘time’ you really have is now.
Where your thoughts are now is where you are. If you think that one day when you have enough money or when the right person comes along or when you are fit and healthy THEN you will be happy – think again!
Divert your thoughts and your energy to the present moment instead and give up everything that’s over and done with and let go of everything that might be.
3.Spiritual Ignorance
There is an aspect to each and everyone of us that is invisible, yet very real. This higher self, your spirit is who you really are. You will continue to feel unfulfilled in life until you recognize and nurture the seeds of divinity deep within you.
It is this spiritual part of you that seeks to be at peace. When you recognize and nurture your own divinity you can start to listen more to your Self and less to the demands and expectations of the world.
Knowing what brings you a sense of inner peace is the essence of living a more peaceful life.
By becoming more aware of these three ‘enemies’ of inner peace you can start to make a more conscious effort to stay connected with your own spirituality and live a more blissful life.
An inner sense of quiet and tranquility is a very important part of being happy in your Self. Make it your goal in life not to achieve or have more, but instead to be at peace and reorganize your priorities to create an environment within yourself where your spirit can thrive.
Without inner peace no person can survive. Almost daily we see headlines of super ‘successful’ people having to turn to drugs or alcohol just to cope with the inner turmoil they are experiencing.
It’s a challenge that we are all faced with and with every experience of life you have the choice: Do you choose peace or do you choose turmoil? Do you choose to win, to be better, to have more, to proof someone else wrong…OR do you choose that which will bring you inner peace?
Prayer for Inner Peace
We tend to think that inner peace is something that we “get” from outside. People of all religions pray for peace as if it is something that will be beamed down to us from some god up in the clouds.
This could not be further from the truth.
Inner peace is soimething that comes from inside you. It is something that you cultivate.
One of the best prayers for inner peace illustartes this idea very powerfully. St. Francis’ prayer for peace is one of the most famous prayers in history and many religious people recite this daily without ever living it.
The Prayer of St. Francis
St. Francis Of Assisi
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy;
O Divine Master,
Grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console;
To be understood as to understand;
To be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
St. Francis does not ask for peace. Instead he asks for the means to create peace. Let this be the lesson for you as you seek a greater sense of peace.
Go out into the world and become an instrument of peace. Be the one who sows joy, love forgiveness and faith.
As you do this you will find the inner peace your soul longs for – not because it comes to you from a judgemental god but because by sowing peace, love and joy your sould conects to that which brings it peace.
