Why is it that peace of mind is so hard for us to stay in, to keep as our own? Why is being calm in the middle of a storm virtually the last thing that most of us are able to do? What is the source of real composure? And how do we work to develop it within ourselves? This is why we must have new self-knowledge as follows.
For better or worse, the content and quality of our life experience is determined, moment-by-moment, by what we connect ourselves to. A simple example of this truth is that when we give our attention to -- say a beautiful field of flowers -- in that moment, we've agreed to make that connection for the feeling and the wonderful experience of the beauty that we see. That's easy to understand.
But what about those moments when we feel ourselves becoming agitated or upset? The same principle applies, only in this instance, we are connected to an experience that we don't want. How is that possible?
Let's say that you're driving down the street, and maybe you're thinking about a critical comment someone made to you the day before, and you notice that you're starting to feel depressed or anxious. Being mindful of your interior life in that moment is really the first step. Because what does it mean to be mindful if not agreeing to see yourself as you are in that moment, being fully awake to what's going on within you?
We know (as a rule anyway) how things tend to unfold in unwanted moments. We start to worry or feel stressed, maybe get depressed in some way, and how, in that same moment, we pretty much find ourselves falling into a dark dialog of some kind -- talking to ourselves about our troubles, thinking of a way out of them (whatever it takes), seeking relief from our mounting pain.
What we can't see here is that the more we think, the deeper we sink into a strange kind of certainty that the peace we long for has abandoned us. I want you to know that true peace of mind for which we search is always within us. And, that's where we find it waiting for us once we stop looking for it in all the wrong places.
In other words, any time we find ourselves sinking into some dark mood, getting more and more disturbed over some past unwanted moment, the first thing we need to see is the truth of the following:
The reason we can't drop what's dragging us down is because we're connected -- in that same moment -- to a lower level of consciousness that likes to show us and give us good reasons to feel bad.
I know it's hard to believe, but repeated experience proves what can no longer be denied. This unconscious relationship we have with ourselves is a lot like hanging out with a constantly negative friend who never stops talking about what's gone wrong or that soon will, but who manages to stay in our good graces by telling us what we need to do about the suffering they're creating in us with their stories.
So, let me ask you, how long would you keep that person in your life?
Exactly. They'd be gone. And this is why, in the throes of any unwanted moment, our first objective must be to wake up and see who and what we're listening to, what are we connected to, and then to see -- from within this same awareness -- that what we are connected to (those troubled thoughts and feelings) can no more lead us to peace than a fan can straighten out a stack of papers on our desk.
These parts of us that pop up and promise us peace if we'll do what they say in unwanted moments, never deliver what's promised. Rather, they actually keep us from finding peace because we get caught in that web of misunderstanding that misleads us and takes us away from our connection to peace.
So, with that in mind, we must learn a new kind of seeing. A new kind of seeing is actually the same as freeing ourselves from what we have been unable to see: the parts of us that are stealing from us our right to live in peace with ourselves and in this world, regardless what it brings to our doorstep.
But again, for us to connect ourselves with this indwelling peace often means consciously disconnecting ourselves from that lower level of self that says it comes in the name of peace even as it creates the disturbance that it does so as to make itself seem vital and necessary.
So, where do we go from here? Our best present ideas tell us that we have to do something to get there, to connect ourselves with this special place of peace. But this is an illusion of the most stressful kind. We already know the truth of this. All truly illumined teachers down through the ages are in agreement here. When it comes to true spiritual success, to connecting ourselves to an abiding, unshakeable place of peace within ourselves, there's nothing to do, only something to see.
That's why, starting today in fact, the very next time something or someone rattles you in some unexpected way, before you start that familiar useless struggle to change that unwanted experience, do something completely new that begins with practicing the following action:
Rather than just passively listening to what you're being told is the problem, and of course what you must do to restore that lost peace of mind, choose instead to see the parts of yourself that are doing the talking, for that identification with them is what's keeping you from entering into peace.
To see the truth of this, to quietly witness this unseen condition in your own sleeping consciousness, is the same as effortlessly disconnecting yourself from that level of consciousness. It's an action that instantly reconnects you to the very peace you long to enter into.
