How To
find inner peace
We look for peace in changed circumstances, a quieter life, a fixed problem, but it keeps slipping away because peace is not a condition of the world, it is a condition of the mind. The mind can rest even when life is unsettled, and learning that rest is where every path below works.
◆ Rooted in: Everything Happens in the Now3 paths · same lever
Suffering comes from arguing with what is. Fully accepting the present moment, instead of resisting it, is where peace is actually found.
- Pause and notice you are resisting something right now.
- Say inwardly: ‘This is how it is in this moment.’
- Let the resistance soften, even slightly.
- Bring full attention to whatever you are doing or sensing right now.
- Rest in the stillness underneath the activity.
Peace is not produced, it is uncovered when you stop reaching. Sitting with no goal, simply being aware, lets the natural calm beneath the mind reveal itself.
- Sit upright in a comfortable, alert posture.
- Let the eyes rest half-open, gaze soft and low.
- Do not follow thoughts or push them away; just sit and be aware.
- When you notice you have drifted, return to simply sitting.
- Continue for ten minutes, expecting nothing.
Much of our unrest comes from gripping life, trying to force it to be other than it is. Releasing that inner resistance, moment by moment, restores a deep ease.
- Notice the tightening or resistance in your chest or shoulders.
- Take a breath and consciously relax behind that tension.
- Inwardly say: ‘I let this be as it is.’
- Let go of the need to fix or control the situation right now.
- Return to this release each time you feel yourself gripping.
Peace was never in the circumstances; it was always in your relationship to them. Whether you accept the moment, sit in stillness, or surrender your grip, you stop chasing peace and discover it was here all along.