Inner peace in a modern world (How to have)

[greybeard]

There never is a challenge in the present moment
Its the mind that brings up the past or invents the future,
No worries.
You never get more than you can handle in the moment.
the AA prayer
"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change
courage to change the things I can
and wisdom to know the difference"
Through challenges the peace/serenity is strengthened.

Chris
Ps
There is a silent awareness which is fully focused on the present moment.
If thought is required then that happens with clarity, not contaminated with this and that--superfluous to requirments.
This way life can be enjoyed to the full without fear.

[happyuk]

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)

Posted by AriG (here)
I love what Bill has to say about being in the here and now because “you have to”, when perched precariously on a rock face, where one false step could lead to one’s demise.

I truly don't want to derail this interesting thread in any way! But what you describe isn't quite what I was referring to. There's definitely no inner peace in being all too aware that one might easily fall and be seriously injured in just a few seconds' time, unless one dispels the impending emergency.

But there's a medium ground here, of climbing (or doing any adventure sport, like skiing or kayaking) well within one's zone of comfort and ability.

Then, it's easy — but one still has to focus and get it right. Sewing is like that (as best I understand!). So is painting something that takes a lot of care, or repairing or creating something intricate. You may know exactly what to do, but you still have to Be Here Now and do it perfectly. That requires us to bring our mind's focus right to the present. If one's mind wanders, then mistakes can happen.

So, what I'm referring to is just being in the Now and making sure that every action is impeccably executed. In that sense, there are crossovers with yoga, and maybe many other activities where focusing on exact execution Right Now is what makes the past and the future just disappear from our busy minds. For me, that's where 'peace' lies.

Because 'peace' is often understood by people to be like a vacation on the beach, doing maybe almost nothing — as a palliative contrast to one's hectic, problematic, stressful life back home. That's more like equating peace with stopping hitting one's head on the wall.

That's not 'peace': that's the release from prior stress. I'm not convinced the two are the same.

What I'm trying to describe here isn't a static peace, but a dynamic one... in which something is achieved exactly through that peaceful, grounded, focused, unstressed state of mind, and the result is a deep, nourishing satisfaction.

I think you've eloquently described what it's like to be calmy active and actively calm.

It's something I find hard to adequately describe but I know it when I experience it, the deeper the level of concentration which goes hand in hand with slowness of breathing which leads to a more intense and authentic experience. It does not really matter what the activity but it could be in deep meditation, following a closely knit intellectual argument, a sporting achievement, a Shakespearean play, anything.

[Denise/Dizi]

Sometimes things happen that are extremely chaotic, Bill's description of a hurricane, or tornado is good there..

I tend to try to wait until it dies down, so I have a complete picture of everything that happened.. and try to figure out what it was about the situation, that I was reacting to. The wind? The energy? The debri of the storm itself hitting me? Do I have any obligation to try to rebuild what got knocked down? If the wind is still blowing should I slow it down or try to block it from causing more damage?

And then I try to find ways to let that not happen again, or at least not to get sucked into it. Fully knowing, that the only thing I truly have control over, is my actions, and reactions.. And the rest is merely observation.

"Not my circus, Not my monkeys" is where I tend to go to.. And while this seems like an easy cop out, sometimes it is just best to walk away from anything that disturbs that inner peace.

Easier said than done sometimes... and I think we all sometimes get it right, and sometimes horribly wrong.. To error is human..

To try to get back to that inner peace,

I tend to visualize peaceful things, and try to capture that feeling and deliberately try to keep that feeling going from situation to situation. I imagine myself standing under a beautiful waterfall, with each drop of water that hits me, it washes away everything that isn't "Mine" to carry...

When I am kicked off balance, it then becomes almost an obligation to recognize it, and try in earnest to get back to that peaceful place. In any way that I can... all the while doing my best to remain true to who I wish to be. It's an art I have yet to master.. But I am trying...

I suppose with knowledge comes wisdom, and time helps as well.. Having good people around you to set the example? Well that's priceless...

If anyone CAN do this I would love to know their secrets to this.. Talking about it is a start, Great thread..

[Constance]

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[shaberon]

Most of us are a lot weaker than we would like to admit, and it does not take all that much to agitate a person.

The Jinas do not worry about their own survival, since they know there is no one to survive.

All of the disturbing emotions can be defeated, as well as all mental distraction. This requires strength that could only be described as invincible. Its ingredients are pain. Peace is not the only virtue, but, without protection, it is surrounded by hunger everywhere.

There is no kind of lasting happiness to be had from the world. However there is peace, and virtues such as joy, which are more real, and sort of a sign of conquering or disposing of worldliness. We would say the real person is in the heart. If this is a value, then, the simultaneous duty is to protect it. In order to succeed, you have to be hit by increasingly painful challenges. If you try to quit, you just lose, bound to damnation or something.

The translation from our tradition is Mirror Wisdom, much as moonlight in a calm lake. This has to have unlimited strength to witness the world's horrors. So a lot of effort is spent in trying to cultivate this condition. We ask for our karma to go ahead and happen and try to handle it colorlessly without a reaction from our personality. This is at once very serious, and, as you see, not just for the sake of doing it.

It's not exactly beautiful or horrible because it's just strength. A mirror has no option to care about what's presented to it.

[Valerie Villars]

Shaberon, that is one of the most singular and beautiful posts I have ever seen. Thanks.

[norman]

Inner peace can mean a few different things to different people. I'm not sure I'm up to the task of breaking that subject down properly though.

What I do want to bring to the topic is the notion of an adversary. Short of having a fortress of privilege and protection ( but I doubt even that will do it ), we are going to be messed with by forces that have a different intention from our own.

To add complexity to the issue, some of those external forces are intelligent. Very intelligent. So much so, that they can manipulate us at our core desires level. Like the desire for inner peace.

That complexity is very tricky to deal with.

[petra]

Posted by Constance (here)

Posted by greybeard (here)
The very best advice I ever got was "Stop talking to your self"

My response to that is, what if it is your future self that is talking to you, guiding you and beckoning you on? I think I would want to listen!

That's what I thought too. Then he said about the "judgemental" thoughts, and I considered, am I being judgemental if I refuse to listen to my own thoughts? I've already been over this in my head, and I won't let anything trick me into wishing that I was deaf.

It's not inner peace that I'm looking for though, maybe if it were, I wouldn't talk to myself so much. I recently started a Self Esteem book too and a huge part of it is learning to talk to your self, and like yourself. I've even began to kind of "date myself" (ha ha).

Although I'm not looking for inner peace, there have been times I've felt what I can only describe as "inner peace". It was as if everything was right in the world, and everything was how it was supposed to be. So peaceful. But that image gets instantly shattered the moment I see something wrong. Then I end up feeling guilty, for "falling for it" so to speak. For me, inner peace doesn't really exist - it's only a temporary delusion.

[Denise/Dizi]

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Qyclqo_AV2M

Music always helps...

[greybeard]

If your looking for the peace that passed all understanding, as spoken of by Jesus, the only way that will come is through quietening the mind.
Chris

[Constance]

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[greybeard]

Posted by Constance (here)

Posted by greybeard (here)
... the only way that will come is through quietening the mind.
Chris

Thanks for that Greybeard. What you are saying points to the "WHAT" of it all but what would be most helpful for all those who are not familiar with how to do this, HOW exactly to quieten the mind, have you got any practical, step-by step tips that might be useful for someone when they are struggling to quieten the mind?

Constance if you look at my previous posts its all there.
Just stop talking to yourself.
I did it at a time of maximum stress which caused a bleeding ulcer--Wife and two kids to support, a mortgage and no money coming in.
Not saying its easy --you have to want it--meditation also helps but it can be done without that.

best wishes
Chris

[sunwings]

Normally, I cannot eat before an exam, I cannot relax before a conflictive future situation and I cannot concentrate if I have a future engagemnet in thirty minutes.

Why? Because I don´t trust my future self to get the job done. So to conteract this lack of trust I play out multiple scenarios , in order to help the present self relax about the future problems.

My magical moments of inner peace come when I put trust in my future self to get the job done and that trust is strengethend by acting impeccably in the present moment. It is like a momentum, that is quickly washed away if I start to dwell on my actions.

Act, then move on, peace is in the space between these two moments.

[Forest Denizen]

Posted by sunwings (here)
…My magical moments of inner peace come when I put trust in my future self to get the job done and that trust is strengethend by acting impeccably in the present moment. It is like a momentum, that is quickly washed away if I start to dwell on my actions.
Act, then move on, peace is in the space between these two moments…

This is helpful, thank you, sunwings!

I very much agree; thinking, or the inner chatter, is of no help to me in returning to a serene state, inner peace. It’s as several have mentioned here, maybe even me

In order to be at peace within and without, it is of great assistance to me that I am completely in the present moment, or in other words, as Bill stated above and Ram Dass famously urged, “Be Here Now.”

For me, to achieve this, it requires being engaged completely. Something physically challenging such as rock climbing for Bill or, for me, tennis.. or something entirely sedentary but entailing complete focus, drawing, for instance. All focus with no inner chatter. You’ve probably heard athletes state that when they are “in the groove,” it is very Zen-like. In the now and immersed in the divine flow of energy within and without.

For me, meditation is immensely valuable, whether sitting or walking or running. Every morning that I can, I drive to the ocean well before sunrise, sit on the beach with my coffee, under the stars, and tune into the rhythmic action of the waves coming in and washing back out. I breathe and focus on the now. Waves washing in and out. Breathing in and out.

And if I have time before I have to be at work, I take a walk, barefoot, along the water’s edge. Into the water for a stretch as it’s washing up onto the sand and out of the water. Into the water and out of the water. Connecting with nature and the eternal and the infinite now. It doesn’t have to be the ocean but connecting with nature is absolutely invaluable to me.

Hope this is of help. I struggle just like most people, but having this sort of routine is very grounding for me.
With love

Ken

[Tintin]

I shared this with Constance and the team a few days ago.

I really watch precious little television, yet, there was an accidental landing when I did. BBC Four in England showed a programme actually called 'Inner Peace' and it consisted solely of a couple of Benedictine monks going about a typical day in their monastery. Baking and a little wood turning, being filmed.

Absolute silence; zero narration. Just film of them going about their day. And gloriously lit too. Evening twilight argon captured.

The experience catalysed an introversion, and a critical one, and a reminder too: the subtle and sublime nuance of silence packed full of noise, that reverberates and does create a symphony of 'Hello, there I am! I wondered where I was.And I wondered where you were! There you are!! How are you?'

UPDATE 11:23AM, GMT 05-01-2019 (with a generous helping of kudos to Constance for actually finding this film. I never thought to look!!)

Here it is

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=SzjtJmdw2Os

[johnf]

I have had deep experiences of peace in the midst of extreme physical danger, and in the middle of extreme mental emotional anquish.
I have felt time slow down and dilate in times of danger that took quick thinking and action.
Before I go on with what I consider to be the gems I learned from them I have to admit that I have spent most of my life with strong anxiety.
And more often than not I consider that the above experiences might be symptoms of psychosis or very strong neurosis.


However, all these things have led me to sense that infinitely deep peace is within and all around all moments no matter what surface conflicts
I may be experiencing at the moment. I have recently felt very strong dislikes of where humanity and society are presently, and really I know that there is a deep and unfathomable love for all others behind, within and all around others as well as myself. that presence I believe to be what we all are, and the painful and frightening things we go through to be a way to hold a magnifying glass up to what we all are and to fully express the extent of what is in the never ending unfoldment of the game of time.


I feel that every event and all apparent parts of all events are living expressions of being, and each has a breath. Some points are full of peace and rest, such as the full in breath, and some have at least a touch of anxiety because of the lack of air,(at least percieved), and I follow a breathing technique where I stretch out those sections of breath purposefully in order to deeply relax. The middle section of both the in breath and out breath is where all the action is, and where most of the motion is. So there are two parts of the breath that corespond to the moments in our life that have the most change. I feel remiss in assigning more peace or angst to any of these parts of the universal cycle because I have experienced peace during all of them.

All the motion and noise I have ever experienced I feel, has always been showing up within the medium of complete silence and stillness.


So However clearly I can reference that experience of deep rest in the midst of action and conflict I do and allowing myself to feel as fully as possible whatever sensations are arising, is the basic tool. Fairly easy to describe, but extremely challenging to do persistently from moment to moment. I ain't dead yet as far as I can tell, so here I go again.


Wow, where the hell did all that come from?


Thanks for the excellent topic Constance.

[Constance]

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[johnf]

Posted by Diziblueyez (here)

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Qyclqo_AV2M

Music always helps...

Thanks to Diziblue for this link, I read the first two pages of the thread, and let all the wonderful thoughts from everyones posts echo through
all the beatles songs that showed up after the first song.

[Rich]

Posted by thepainterdoug (here)
all , everything we acquire , we cherish and value, the bonds we make , our things, money , our physicality ,friends and loved ones, will all be lost. knowing the impermanance of this life has to be stressful

If you think loss will happen anyway, why do you think it must be stressful if you believe it cannot be averted?

[Rich]

What helps in my experience is forgetting the past and only focus on what is now, can be done with eyes open or closed.

Here an example from ACIM:

This lesson takes no time. For what is time without a past and future?
It has taken time to misguide you so completely, but it takes no time at all to be what you are.
Begin to practice the Holy Spirit's use of time as a teaching aid to happiness and peace.
Take this very instant, now, and think of it as all there is of time.
Nothing can reach you here out of the past, and it is here that you are completely absolved, completely free and wholly without condemnation.
From this holy instant wherein holiness was born again you will go forth in time without fear, and with no sense of change with time.