Finding Inner Peace | School of Shamanic Initiation
So much of our lives are taken up with outer things. We go to work, come home, have dinner, watch TV, or surf the Internet. It's difficult just to find time for ourselves and reflect on inner peace without being distracted by life itself. What do you think about stillness? How would you describe it? Is stillness something you have experienced?
Inner peace is a condition in which the world around you does not irritate you to the same extent as it would otherwise. To achieve inner peace, many ancient traditions talked about focusing on the Now, as opposed to thinking about what might be happening in an hour or a day from now. Inner peace is usually seen for example, in the Zen tradition as a common practice that people use to find themselves once again through sitting down and concentrating on breathing.
Powerful allies to find inner peace
Breathing helps you concentrate on the moment, rather than worrying about what might happen later or what has happened yesterday. Taking time to relax and not think about anything that has to do with the outside world. Put order in the chaos of the mind and catch up with your own thoughts to enjoy the present moment. Be still.
Imagine stillness as being akin to a deep, still lake. If you throw a pebble into the still lake or stir it with your hand, the stillness is disturbed and ripples appear on the surface of the water. This analogy can be easily related to our lives because when we are still, we are like the calm lake.
However, our day-to-day doesn't remain still, does it? If you glance away from the lake for just a moment, then look back at it again, when you look closely, you'll notice that it hasn't vanished entirely. However, all of those ripples have now moved to the edges and formed patterns on the edge of the water. Life is like this too; when you depart from the stillness by attending to your outer needs or desires, small ripples form around the edges. The more activities you involve yourself in throughout your day, the bigger these ripples become until finally they break free from their confines and create much larger waves that occupy your whole awareness.
You may say that even though the "pebble" has been removed from stillness and the calm lake is not still anymore. The lake may be full of ripples and peace remains within it. Inner peace does remain in life as a constant emotion or feeling rather is a state of consciousness. Even though the water is rippling around it, the swan remains still within itself. It is critical to make time for ourselves to connect with our inner peace.
Many ancient cultures have their own understanding of stillness, for example:
Stillness being seen as a state of tranquility,
Stillness being something to be achieved through mediation,
Stillness as a state of being of "absence of striving. "
Stillness isn't about achieving peace or attaining a magical enlightenment; it's about not doing, not acting in any way at all, not reacting with your emotions. Indeed, stillness can seem extremely paradoxical but that's only because our minds aren't used to encountering this particular gift. It may be helpful for you to think of this stillness as the state in which thoughts drop away from your mind with no effort whatsoever on your part they're just allowed to slip on out of stillness and fade away – give them order - as stillness itself remains.
This is something we can learn; because it's just there. Stillness may sometimes come naturally and other times it doesn't, owing to our reliance on our thoughts, speech, feelings and actions without considering why we're retaining them after they no longer serve us.
If you want inner peace then let go of the things that keep you from it. Rather than trying to directly create peace by forcing yourself into a certain state, allow your mind to be free and look forward to whatever stillness may come your way. There's no perfect formula for finding inner peace
The concept of peace cannot be attained or be precisely defined, this depends on you, inner peace varies for each individual. Something that's been discovered by Initiation cultures over millennia, stillness isn't just about emptying your mind of thoughts. Instead it's about drawing attention and intention away from whatever has gripped hold of your mind so even if it's only for a moment everything except you fades into nothingness.
Bring order out of chaos, the point of inner peace isn't to block out any and all thoughts because once you've done that then peace is no longer there. It's about allowing thoughts to pass by without engaging with them in any way at all; focusing on your breath, think of your mind as an empty space waiting to be filled with anything but stillness.
Practice
To begin stop what you are doing for five minutes.
Close your eyes and just sit. If your mind wanders - which will most likely be the case - then simply bring yourself back to your breathing without any judgment of yourself whatsoever.
Listen to your surroundings, hearing birds singing or feel a cool breeze on your skin. These experiences can make you feel more connected to nature or more aware of daily sensory input.
Experience also with silence, detach from your difficulties, observe them and focus on the present moment.
Give shape and form to your feeling of stillness likely that feelings of inner peace will start to occur afterward.
There is no need to worry about things that have happened in the past or worrying about future plans.
Inner peace comes when you realize that most things in life cannot be controlled, and instead can be accepted as they are.