Leak-Proof the Reservoir of Inner Peace
The word 'preserve' reminds me of my childhood days in India. We were taught to not waste many things like food, water, or money. The moment I would leave the tap running for an extra minute, someone would promptly remind or lecture me about the importance of conserving water. Surprisingly, I don't remember anyone talking about preserving peace. Infact people would even start yelling (loose their peace) if any of the other commodities were wasted. Now I wonder, why was I never reminded to preserve and protect peace. Are food, water, or money more valuable than peace? The most sorted out treasure in today's world is peace. Many conferences, unions, and committees have been established all over the globe for world peace. After so much effort, is the world a more peaceful place than before? I have heard many stories from my grand mother about their time and from those stories it feels like there was more peace few decades back. World has become peaceless because it is filled with people who are unable to experience peace on their own and are seeking it outside. Lets investigate why the owners of peace are deprived and yearning for it.
Why are we yearning peace when it is within us?
In the 'Instill Peace' topic it was noted that we have forgotten, not fully understood, or are clueless that we are the creators of peace. We also are not fully aware that power of peace is the key to solving all problems in life. I started focusing a lot on these two important points to ensure that peace stayed within me. In Raja Yoga meditation, I kept reminding the self that peace is powerful, and my biggest responsibility is to not give away that power to anyone or anything. Inspite of this effort, I lost my peace repeatedly. I learnt at Brahma Kumaris that I need to be aware about the various loop holes through which my inner peace is draining. Many of our day to day habits, behaviors, or activities empty our reservoir of peace. We have to be knowledgeable about these peace busters so that we can avoid them in our life. Knowledge indeed is light, and ignorance is darkness. I had no clue that unknowingly I was doing many things that were causing my inner peace to leak slowly and steadily.
Why are we yearning peace when it is within us?
In the 'Instill Peace' topic it was noted that we have forgotten, not fully understood, or are clueless that we are the creators of peace. We also are not fully aware that power of peace is the key to solving all problems in life. I started focusing a lot on these two important points to ensure that peace stayed within me. In Raja Yoga meditation, I kept reminding the self that peace is powerful, and my biggest responsibility is to not give away that power to anyone or anything. Inspite of this effort, I lost my peace repeatedly. I learnt at Brahma Kumaris that I need to be aware about the various loop holes through which my inner peace is draining. Many of our day to day habits, behaviors, or activities empty our reservoir of peace. We have to be knowledgeable about these peace busters so that we can avoid them in our life. Knowledge indeed is light, and ignorance is darkness. I had no clue that unknowingly I was doing many things that were causing my inner peace to leak slowly and steadily.
What are few activities that lead to a 'loss' in our peace balance?
- Focusing heavily on the outside world, materialism, or extroversion make the inner being dependent on everything outside. It is like exposing the self to ever changing, perishable, and unstable environment. It is the number one reason for looking outside to attain peace within. Outside (body, relations, work, finances, etc) are perishable, constantly changing, and limited in nature. Can they ever give us unlimited peace that we desire?
- Starting the day with TV, reading or listening to news, social media, or emails is like inviting the devil to take away our peace first thing in the morning. Our mind and intellect are like a sponge at that time. Whatever we absorb early in the morning stays with us through out the day. Mostly negative, meaningless, and chatter exists in the media sources. Its very hard to stay positive and calm after consuming negativity first thing in the morning.
- Over use (abuse) of devices ensures a peaceless state. It is strange that people find it so hard to be with themselves or with other people, and devices have become the best friend. The self is hard to be with as it is in constant agony, guilt, or stress. People are difficult to deal with as they are demanding, or not meeting our expectation. Device is the only thing that seems most obedient unless the network or charging issues arises. We are constantly feeding information to our mind through devices so that it is engaged in something. Is the information helping us grow, making us peaceful, or helping the world in anyway? Nowadays we see people on their devices even when they are taking a walk in the park, biking, or having a family dinner (every member of the family is on a device).
- Exposing ourselves to lot of noise before going to bed ensures that we remain in a peaceless state even during our sleep. It is the main reason for waking up tired even after sleeping for 8 hours. It is not physical noise that disturbs our ears, but the negative or useless information (noise) we feed our mind before going to bed. This noise could be office work, TV, social media, or chatting with someone.
- Focusing heavily on the outside world, materialism, or extroversion make the inner being dependent on everything outside. It is like exposing the self to ever changing, perishable, and unstable environment. It is the number one reason for looking outside to attain peace within. Outside (body, relations, work, finances, etc) are perishable, constantly changing, and limited in nature. Can they ever give us unlimited peace that we desire?
- Starting the day with TV, reading or listening to news, social media, or emails is like inviting the devil to take away our peace first thing in the morning. Our mind and intellect are like a sponge at that time. Whatever we absorb early in the morning stays with us through out the day. Mostly negative, meaningless, and chatter exists in the media sources. Its very hard to stay positive and calm after consuming negativity first thing in the morning.
- Over use (abuse) of devices ensures a peaceless state. It is strange that people find it so hard to be with themselves or with other people, and devices have become the best friend. The self is hard to be with as it is in constant agony, guilt, or stress. People are difficult to deal with as they are demanding, or not meeting our expectation. Device is the only thing that seems most obedient unless the network or charging issues arises. We are constantly feeding information to our mind through devices so that it is engaged in something. Is the information helping us grow, making us peaceful, or helping the world in anyway? Nowadays we see people on their devices even when they are taking a walk in the park, biking, or having a family dinner (every member of the family is on a device).
- Exposing ourselves to lot of noise before going to bed ensures that we remain in a peaceless state even during our sleep. It is the main reason for waking up tired even after sleeping for 8 hours. It is not physical noise that disturbs our ears, but the negative or useless information (noise) we feed our mind before going to bed. This noise could be office work, TV, social media, or chatting with someone.
What are few thinking patterns (personality traits) that cause a 'loss' in our peace account?
- Assumptions about others, future, or the self makes us become very inflexible and unaccommodating towards others. It's our ego that makes us think (assume) we know other people's thought patterns and our future. We are unable to listen fully to others point of view because we have already made conclusions about them. Life might actually have better plans for us, but we are unable to see those plans because we are caught up in the assumption that life is unfair to us. Can a person who is rigid or stern be peaceful?
- Incorrect programming of having too many desires from the external world causes us to lose peace rapidly. Desires themselves are not the problem, but we need to check if these desires will bring 'profit' or 'loss' in our peace account. Lets check if we lose our inner stability when a desire is not fulfilled. Do we become frustrated when we don't get enough sleep, good food, or the best job? If so, what is more important, peace or the other desires? Its okay to wish for good food, rest, and a good job. The question is that many times in life these wishes cannot be met. When we know life's unpredictability, is it wise to program ourselves in a way that we fluctuate (become emotionally unstable) when life fluctuates?
- A personality that wants to control the outside world of people, situations, finances, or work is bound to see a huge loss in their peace account. The more we try to control the outside world, the more our inner world will go out of control. It is our responsibility to take care of relationships, finances, work, and home. We do need an understanding though that inspite of accurately taking care of everything, life can throw surprises at us. A teenager might decide to go against parent's desires, a manager might promote someone less deserving, or physical health can suddenly deteriorate. At that time, should we control our emotional state to keep it stable or should we frantically try to control the outside world to not change? Are we ever able to control the outside world? Is it easier to control one (the self) or is easier to control many (outside world)?
- An attitude that 'I am perfect' and deserve everything 'perfect' is like signing the self for lot of disappointments and frustration. It is a way of telling the world that 'I don't need to change', but 'you need to change'. In essence, we are waiting, demanding, or requesting the world to become perfect so that we can be peaceful. Most people end-up waiting forever to be peaceful. Who is losing out in the end, self or others?
- Sharing our misery, problems, and challenges with others can also lead to draining our peace at a fast speed. Our ego wants others to agree that unfair things have happened to us, that we have every right to be mad or sad, that our way of thinking is right, or that only our decisions are right. Most people tend to agree with us because they want to be in our good books. Our problems or misery is now in other people's mind and as a result they have also become peaceless. Unknowingly didn't we make others peaceless? Did others affirmations that we are right in being mad o sad help us is becoming more peaceful or peaceless?
- Incorrect attachment to ideas, opinion, believes can also lead to frustration. In a way we are stuck and not open to others way of thinking. It is okay to respect and follow our values and beliefs, but imposing it on others happens when we think ours is the only right way. Ego is playing a big part in keeping us stuck to our ideas. It is again important to ask ourselves, what is more important to us, ego or peace? Many might say we are protecting our self respect by putting a firm stand. Can we or others respect someone that is 'stuck' stubbornly to their ideas? Ego makes us lose respect of others, and that is bound to make us peaceless.
In the last few years of self introspection, I have noticed that first thing I gave away easily was peace. A slight body change, conflict in relationship, or lot of work is expected and the reality of life. Indeed these are challenges, but do we need to give away our most valuable power to deal with these challenges? Is that a wise thing to do? Don't we need power to face adversity? Crisis is outside, its job is to come and go. Peace is our most valuable treasure, our birthright, and it is what makes us comfortable. Shouldn't we be doing everything to preserve it?
- Assumptions about others, future, or the self makes us become very inflexible and unaccommodating towards others. It's our ego that makes us think (assume) we know other people's thought patterns and our future. We are unable to listen fully to others point of view because we have already made conclusions about them. Life might actually have better plans for us, but we are unable to see those plans because we are caught up in the assumption that life is unfair to us. Can a person who is rigid or stern be peaceful?
- Incorrect programming of having too many desires from the external world causes us to lose peace rapidly. Desires themselves are not the problem, but we need to check if these desires will bring 'profit' or 'loss' in our peace account. Lets check if we lose our inner stability when a desire is not fulfilled. Do we become frustrated when we don't get enough sleep, good food, or the best job? If so, what is more important, peace or the other desires? Its okay to wish for good food, rest, and a good job. The question is that many times in life these wishes cannot be met. When we know life's unpredictability, is it wise to program ourselves in a way that we fluctuate (become emotionally unstable) when life fluctuates?
- A personality that wants to control the outside world of people, situations, finances, or work is bound to see a huge loss in their peace account. The more we try to control the outside world, the more our inner world will go out of control. It is our responsibility to take care of relationships, finances, work, and home. We do need an understanding though that inspite of accurately taking care of everything, life can throw surprises at us. A teenager might decide to go against parent's desires, a manager might promote someone less deserving, or physical health can suddenly deteriorate. At that time, should we control our emotional state to keep it stable or should we frantically try to control the outside world to not change? Are we ever able to control the outside world? Is it easier to control one (the self) or is easier to control many (outside world)?
- An attitude that 'I am perfect' and deserve everything 'perfect' is like signing the self for lot of disappointments and frustration. It is a way of telling the world that 'I don't need to change', but 'you need to change'. In essence, we are waiting, demanding, or requesting the world to become perfect so that we can be peaceful. Most people end-up waiting forever to be peaceful. Who is losing out in the end, self or others?
- Sharing our misery, problems, and challenges with others can also lead to draining our peace at a fast speed. Our ego wants others to agree that unfair things have happened to us, that we have every right to be mad or sad, that our way of thinking is right, or that only our decisions are right. Most people tend to agree with us because they want to be in our good books. Our problems or misery is now in other people's mind and as a result they have also become peaceless. Unknowingly didn't we make others peaceless? Did others affirmations that we are right in being mad o sad help us is becoming more peaceful or peaceless?
- Incorrect attachment to ideas, opinion, believes can also lead to frustration. In a way we are stuck and not open to others way of thinking. It is okay to respect and follow our values and beliefs, but imposing it on others happens when we think ours is the only right way. Ego is playing a big part in keeping us stuck to our ideas. It is again important to ask ourselves, what is more important to us, ego or peace? Many might say we are protecting our self respect by putting a firm stand. Can we or others respect someone that is 'stuck' stubbornly to their ideas? Ego makes us lose respect of others, and that is bound to make us peaceless.
In the last few years of self introspection, I have noticed that first thing I gave away easily was peace. A slight body change, conflict in relationship, or lot of work is expected and the reality of life. Indeed these are challenges, but do we need to give away our most valuable power to deal with these challenges? Is that a wise thing to do? Don't we need power to face adversity? Crisis is outside, its job is to come and go. Peace is our most valuable treasure, our birthright, and it is what makes us comfortable. Shouldn't we be doing everything to preserve it?
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