“Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.” -Buddha
- If you had more money, would you be more peaceful?
- If you achieve your dreams, would you experience more peace?
- Do you think that enjoying a state of inner peace is possible only after becoming financially secure?
- Do you believe that inner peace is dependent on external circumstances?
If you believe so, think again.
Inner peace is not dependent on circumstances or external situations. Inner peace comes from within you.
Often, after achieving something, finishing something, or solving a problem, you experience a brief moment of peace but soon forget it, embarking on the next project, goal, task, or problem. This sense of inner peace is of short duration and is unstable.
In these situations, it seems as if inner peace is dependent on the accomplishment of some task or goal and can exist only after you do, get, or achieve this or that. This is a completely erroneous assumption.
This erroneous assumption associates the state of inner peace with certain activities or rather achieving, gaining, or doing something. It seems as if external circumstances and certain actions are the cause of the sense of peace.
Yes, we do have a temporary and short interval of inner peace after an accomplishment, gain, or relief from a problem. I have written about this topic in various articles.
In these situations, the worries and fear levels decline, and the mind, for a short while, stops its constant chatter. This causes the peace within to be experienced.
In these situations, there is also happiness, which wells from within.
At that very moment the mind is relieved, though temporarily, from the compulsion of constant thinking, from planning, worrying or striving, and we experience peace and happiness.
When the mind stops its restless thinking, the peace and happiness that are always within are released.
However, since the mind is not trained to stay in this state, thoughts, desires, and worries soon cover our consciousness, and we are out of this delightful state.
Since inner peace is the result of a calm mind, we can train our mind to be calm. This would lead us to experience inner peace and happiness more often, irrespective of our external conditions.
This peace comes from within, exactly as Buddha said, “Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.”
How Can We Bring Peace into Our Lives?
- Keep looking within and examining yourself in the various situations of your life. Look within to see what happens to you when you are happy.
- Learn to improve your concentration. This will lead to a better control of your mind and relaxing the constant chatter of the mind, which prevents the peace within you to well to the surface.
- Learn meditation.
- Read books about the state of inner peace and practice what they teach.
- Learn from people who attained inner peace.
- A little emotional detachment would bring calmness and less agitation into your life.
This will eventually, prove to you that peace comes from within you.
