“Inside you, there’s a stillness and a sanctuary to which you’ll retreat at any time and be your self.” ~Hermann Hesse
Once I work with people who find themselves affected by anxiousness, concern, grief, or different difficult points, I prefer to take them by way of a easy train I name “The Noticing Train.”
It’s my first port of name when serving to folks break away from mind-created struggling.
It’s wonderful how shortly, and effortlessly, folks can transfer from struggling to peace, merely by way of shifting their focus to being aware of the present moment—noticing the feeling of the physique touching the chair, the ribs increasing on the in breath, or the sounds within the room.
Even deeply troubled people can expertise peace the very first time they do that easy meditation.
How is that this attainable?
It’s as a result of peace is already there inside all of us. It’s an integral a part of who we’re. When the thoughts’s exercise subsides, even for a second, peace is what stays.
The ocean offers an excellent analogy.
On the floor, the water is consistently in movement. It by no means stops, even for a second. However whenever you drop down into the depths, there’s stillness and peace.
It’s precisely the identical with the thoughts.
On the floor degree, the thoughts is all the time lively however, within the depths of our being, there’s a pure peace and stillness that’s unchanging… all the time current, all the time obtainable. Being a part of our important nature, it will possibly by no means depart us.
Though this inherent peace is all the time there, it goes unnoticed in most individuals by way of the deep-seated behavior of giving our unique consideration to the floor actions of the thoughts.
We’re so pre-occupied with what’s occurring on the floor that we merely miss out on what’s taking place within the depths of our expertise.
And, in fact, there’s nothing ‘incorrect’ with any of this.
Spending our days misplaced in considering is the human situation. It’s what all of us do.
Being swept away by the stressed waters of the thoughts is completely regular, notably once we are confronted with intense patterns akin to anxiousness, trauma, or grief. And but, the very fact stays that, regardless of appearances, there’s a peace inside each considered one of us that’s untouched by what’s occurring on the floor, nonetheless intense it could be.
Withdraw your consideration from the thoughts, even for a second, and it’s there.
You don’t need to create it; simply acknowledge what has all the time been there.
Peace doesn’t depart you. You permit peace.
Stress, anxiousness, and unhappiness exist primarily within the type of ideas.
If you’ll be able to turn into absolutely current within the second, ideas subside, and stress and anxiousness are changed by peace and stillness.
In fact, most individuals will decide up their painful tales once more as quickly because the meditation involves an finish, however the reality they had been in a position to be freed from their struggling, even quickly, offers us with clues for locating a extra everlasting answer.
With observe, anybody can be taught to withdraw their consideration from the thoughts for longer durations of time and thereby prolong the durations of peace.
Have You Been Barking Up the Incorrect Tree?
Most individuals are searching for peace the place it will possibly by no means be discovered—not lasting peace anyway.
It’s a bit like shedding your keys in the home and searching for them within the backyard.
You’re by no means going to search out them… as a result of they aren’t there.
Most individuals I assist have been trying to find peace by way of the trail of self-improvement, typically for years.
And it makes complete sense.
If my thoughts is inflicting me hassle, then the plain answer is to attempt to repair it—to ‘work on myself’ and attempt to convert all my anxious and sad ideas and emotions into nice, blissful ones. Attempt to create a brand new, improved model of myself.
However, in case you’ve been down this path for any size of time, as I’ve, you’ll know that essentially altering the thoughts is just not really easy.
The issue with this strategy is encapsulated within the following quote from the Indian religious instructor, Nisargadatta:
“There isn’t a such factor as peace of thoughts. Thoughts means disturbance; restlessness itself is thoughts.”
Just like the floor of the ocean, the thoughts is consistently in movement. It’s stressed by nature.
And, though there might be fleeting moments of peace right here and there, they may inevitably be adopted by moments of agitation and disturbance.
Restlessness is the character of the thoughts. Making an attempt to make it calm and peaceable is like making an attempt to iron the floor of the ocean. It’s merely by no means going to occur.
Making Peace with The Thoughts Simply as It Is
To discover a answer that really works, we should first perceive the true reason behind struggling. It’s not what most people assume.
Individuals imagine, as I did for years, that the anxious, worrying, or fearful ideas themselves are the first reason behind struggling.
They imagine that:
- the thoughts is damaged and must be mounted.
- anxiousness, concern, confusion, and so forth. are inherently dangerous or incorrect.
- there’s one thing incorrect with them for having these ideas.
- they will’t expertise peace or happiness till they’re gone.
These beliefs are the principle purpose folks undergo.
Because the Jesuit priest Anthony de Mello mentioned:
“There’s just one reason behind unhappiness; the false beliefs you may have in your head, beliefs so widespread, so widespread, that it by no means happens to you to query them.”
What if, as a substitute of spending years making an attempt to repair the content material of the thoughts, we targeted as a substitute on making peace with the thoughts, simply as it’s?
What if, somewhat than preventing and resisting concern, disappointment, envy, or confusion, you had been in a position to settle for them as pure expressions of the human situation?
What would occur to your anxiousness in case you didn’t see something ‘incorrect’ with it?
Or your disappointment in case you didn’t thoughts it being there?
They could nonetheless really feel disagreeable however, within the absence of resistance, they’d lose their energy to have an effect on your peace.
We will wrap our non-peace within the peace of acceptance.
You Don’t Must Have a Peaceable Thoughts to Expertise Peace
On the trail of self-improvement, the aim is to search out peace of mind.
However this strategy is unlikely to succeed just because the thoughts is stressed by nature.
Right here’s the reality:
You may’t cease bothersome ideas from arising, however you’ll be able to cease bothering about them.
One in all my lecturers used to say, “You undergo since you are open for enterprise.”
You entertain your ideas and invite them in for tea—interact with them, ruminate over them, wallow in them, play them again and again in your head—and create struggling for your self in consequence.
You don’t have to have a peaceable thoughts to expertise peace.
It’s essential to cease giving your ideas a lot consideration and significance.
If you’ll be able to settle for no matter seems in your head, whether or not nice or disagreeable, with an angle of non-judgmental acceptance, you’ll all the time be at peace.
Acceptance is like kryptonite to the thoughts. It loses its energy to disturb your peace.
The Two Kinds of Peace
There are two varieties of peace.
There may be the sensation of peace, which is a brief respite from feeling stressed or agitated. Like all emotions, it comes and goes, like clouds passing throughout the sky.
Then there’s the peace that exists within the depths of your being; the backdrop of peace that’s unchanging, ever-present, and has nothing to do with what’s going on in your head.
Even within the midst of probably the most turbulent storm at sea, within the depths, the ocean stays calm and unmoving.
There’s a peace inside each considered one of us that is still untouched by the actions on the floor, irrespective of how intense.
And it’s not tough to search out. How may it’s if it’s already who you’re?
You don’t want to repair or change something about your self to expertise what’s ever-present inside you.
You simply have to dive under the floor and uncover what’s all the time there.
The peace you’re searching for is with you all the time. However you’ll by no means discover it on the extent of the thoughts.