We can never obtain peace in outer world unless we make peace with ‘ourselves’ – Dalai Lama

The whole world today is fighting to obtain the world peace. Observe the paradox (and irony) in last sentence – Fighting and Peace. Yes, both should not stay together in a sentence but yet the irony is that situation is such as this. Achieving world peace individually may very well be an impossible task for a common man. The real challenge for us is to make peace with ourselves i.e. finding the inner peace. As I do in my other posts as well, I am asking you to stop here for a second and think – what is inner peace and why it is so important for my life?

For me, peace is a state of inner stillness (quiet) and inner stability; in peaceful state your mind, intellect, body and soul are in harmony with each other resulting in good concentration and focus. Peace is very important for the well being of a person. It is a positive state for our soul and peaceful people are generally thought to be blissful and happy. A peaceful person can perform even the toughest of task because he is calm inside. Peaceful mind is free of outer hurries and worries and a task done using open and free mind always exhibits quality. One who is at peace within can make a difference outside.

Peace is also one of the greatest qualities of a personality. However, in present times of elevated stress, it is very difficult to attain peace within. One major reason why we have lost the touch with the inner peace is because we have broken our bonds with spiritual ways. The inner peace can never be achieved as long as we are overly fascinated with the outer world. Gautam Buddha has said – ‘Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without’.

I am listing three main spiritual pats to attain the inner peace.

Positive Thinking

If you ask me what is the single largest source of stress and the enemy of inner peace? And my answer will be – our negative emotions. The very first step to attain a peaceful state, even in most difficult of time, is to think positive and get rid of the negative emotions. Persons with negative emotions can never achieve peace because they let every little problem to weigh down the mind. There mind is always cluttered with outer worries; and a cluttered mind can never be peaceful. We need to teach ourselves to think positive.

Yoga

The conventional wisdom is that yoga helps with strength, flexibility and breathing patterns. However, in reality, yoga is a mental and spiritual practice. The foundation of Yoga was written thousands of years back in India in the book “Yoga Sutra” by Sage Patanjali. The sacred text explains the inner working of body and mind and also provides a path to control the restlessness of mind and enjoy peace. Patanjali has said ‘The inner unrest is our own creation and there will be no peace as long as we are influenced by outer events. ‘The yoga is a process of stop focusing on outer events and start analyzing the methods of our own mind. It teaches our mind to concentrate in one direction rather than going out in many directions. When the mind is purified to focus on one direction by yoga practice, then we can achieve the inner peace.

Meditation

Meditation is a subset of yoga and you can simply meditate if yoga is proving to be too difficult. In meditation the focus is on our thoughts and breathing to control the thought process and relaxation of mind.

Work on striking a balance by experiencing the inner peace. Always remember, where there is peace lies love, and where there is love lies happiness and where there s happiness lies energy. You can make a great contribution to the society by finding your inner peace. With the increase in number of people who are calm inside will constitute a society which is happy, trusting and productive.

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