When you ask, “How do you find inner peace?” and hear the old sage’s answer, “All you need is inside of you;” doesn’t that make you want to just scream--because if it was in there, you certainly wouldn’t be still asking that question–right?
Given today’s circumstances, the economy, unemployment, the costs to just survive, the broken marriages and relationships, the health catastrophes, the world situation, and personal disasters, is it any wonder why we feel anxious, scared, overwhelmed, hopeless, helpless, and stressed to the max? A far cry from the inner peace we seek.
So, again, how do you find inner peace?
I must admit that, yes, just like that old sage, I am going to tell you, “All you need is inside of you.” However, what I wish to share is uniquely DIFFERENT—in that I intend to address the HOW and WHY of finding that elusive sense of inner peacefulness that does indeed reside within our very core. So, though it may seem like I am meandering, I ask you to open your mind, relax and just read. Then see if this information triggers your own inner knowing or remembering as we go on a little journey together, as fellow seekers. If you truly want the answer to this powerful question, I promise your patience will be worth the read.
Let’s begin. First, it is useful to take stock of the things we want out of life and why we want them. Either we have so many desires that have us running to and fro with lots of adrenaline pumping or we’ve given up wanting anything at all, having decided we’ll never get any of it anyway, as we stagnate in the stuck-ness of depression and despair. In either case, I ask you to think about those things you want, or would want if you could even want things anymore. And then do a little exercise, preferably on paper but in your head will work. Write down the items, five or ten big ones, or even lots and lots of little ones. (Actually, stop and take a few moments to do this-at least a little bit.)
Next, take each one, or at least one of them for now and ask yourself, “Why do I want this?” Note your answer, then, ask yourself, “OK, so why do I want that?” Note your answer and ask, again, “Why do I want that?” Keep this cycle going, asking each time, “Why do I want this new thing that was under that other thing?” Or even other derivatives of this question, like, “So, what will that bring me?” or, “How will that benefit me?”
As you go through this exercise you will inevitably discover that underneath it all–even those things you seem to want for others, like your kids– you find the desire for one or more of only these few things for yourself—-Knowledge, Freedom, Peace, Love, and Joy. That’s all we ever really want. Even the Knowledge and Freedom tend to be means to achieve the feelings of Peace, Love, and Joy.
Why is that important to know? Well, what we truly seek are feelings. Specifically feelings of peace, love, and joy. This desire is why you asked the, “How do you find inner peace?” question in the first place. This is important to our quest, because feelings happen inside of us. Yes, inside of us, not outside of us. Everything we want to be, do, have, or attain, is because on some level of our being, we think the having of it will bring us feelings of peace, love and joy–this real sense of inner peace and well-being you seek.
Yet, even when people attain all of those wants and desires, and even though they may find life a bit easier, maybe even more fun or fulfilling, something is often, in fact usually, still missing. The having of the desire still has not provided the sense of peace, love, or joy they were really unconsciously seeking all along.
Well, that’s because the having of the desire rarely is what causes the continuing experience of peace, love or joy. That doesn’t come from having or attaining anything from the outside of self. Think a minute here. Has not that been your experience? That, indeed, is why you are still reading this, right?
Those things we desire are great and wonderful to have, do, be, or attain, and do provide a fleeting sense of peace, or love, or a sense of happiness or accomplishment; but that moment is just one more, or at most a few moments, and it passes rather quickly. What we truly want is an ever abiding sense of living MOSTLY from and in those three emotions—inner peace, love, and joy. This often unconscious desire drives us. And that sense of ongoing well-being only comes from within—yes, within.
No, I’m not asking you to stop wanting or going after your desires. That is a big part of why we are here—to desire and manifest things, to solve problems, to build something new that was not before, to bring our dreams into reality. To find joy, inner peace, love, and fulfillment in the process. That is absolutely the essence of life. What I am suggesting is that those things would be easier to attain, if we are already operating out of a mostly continuous sense of well-being, feeling mostly at peace, and filled with love, and joy, regardless of our circumstances, regardless of what others seem to think, say, do, feel, want, or expect of us, and regardless of where we are on our path to attaining those things we are wanting.
There are many things that contribute to attaining this sense of inner peace and I will be addressing them one by one in this blog series.
In the meantime, I wanted to give you a head start on moving positively along your own path towards this feeling place of “peaceful no matter what.”
Once you have these tools, the basic understanding, and have begun to experience a new more peaceful feeling tone throughout your day, it will be difficult for anyone or anything to take your sense of inner peace from you. And believe me, that sense of unshakable well-being will be worth the journey to attain it.
So, with first things first, what contributes to finding your own sense of inner peace?
Remembering Who and What You Are is essential.
In fact, without this piece, nothing much else works for long. This requires some understanding of the layers of what we are. As example, we HAVE a body, we are not our body. We HAVE a mind, we are not our mind. We HAVE emotions, we are not our emotions. We HAVE personality, actually a rich multifaceted multifunctional personality made up of many many sub-parts including ego. Yet, we are none of that; we again are THAT WHICH HAS all of those things. We are That Which Has all these fabulous personality parts. That Which is Us wears our bodies like our bodies wear clothes.
Ponder that for just a moment.
Most of us have been brought up to think that those things, our body, mind, emotions, ARE us.
Living from the place that those things are us is actually the biggest part of the problem of not feeling a continuous sense of inner peacefulness and well-being.
If we are not those things, Who and What are we then?
Everything is energy, right?
If you know a little about quantum physics, you are aware that science tells us that EVERYTHING is ENERGY. — Everything.
Quantum physics scientists tell us that they are discovering something called the unified field, aka the zero point field, which is the energy in the void or space both in and between all the things that are manifested physically. This energy fills the space between the particles in the atoms, it fills the space between the planets in the solar system, it fills the space between the solar systems in the galaxy, and it fills all the space in us.
They are also discovering that everything that exists seems to be made out of little bits of energy, that make up the little bits of particles, that make up the atoms, that make up the cells, that make up, well, everything– including us. In addition, these smallest bits seem to be endlessly popping in and out of existence within this unified field “place.”
We are all not only immersed in it; but that which we are seems to be continually interacting with and actually part of this place, quite literally energy bits of us are continually popping in and out of it. Thus quantum physics science is beginning to explain why the sages say “We are all one.”
OK, this is too a big subject to address here; do feel free to research it more. (I recommend beginning your research with John Hogland, Deepak Chopra, Gregg Bradden, all of whom have short YouTube.com videos on the subject.) In any event, we are energy.
All energy has frequency. Frequency is what makes the difference between how all the different things are manifested—why you look like you, why a desk looks like a desk, and a puppy looks like a puppy. If you are wondering what this has to do with feeling peaceful—please understand emotions have frequency. Peaceful feelings vibrate at specific frequency.
Our bodies work all day long at interpreting frequency. Our eyes, for example, interpret light frequency to duplicate images in our brain that we can interpret as objects. Our ears interpret sound wave frequencies, to duplicate sounds as an experience. Our bodies also interpret emotional frequencies and judge whether those feelings feel good or bad to us. We then ascribe meaning to all these frequency interpretations.
All of this is important because of the attributes of this thing called The Unified Field aka Zero Point Field. Scientists describe it as pretty much “Omni-Everything.” It is everywhere—there is no place where it is not. It is every when—no time when it is not. It is all powerful in that is where all power comes from. It includes all potentiality, all possibility, all energy, all information, all knowing, and they describe it as CONSCIOUS. Please remember, this is leading edge, brain trust, Quantum Physics, not some “far out” airy-fairy delusion. Given the scientific discripters, what else does that remind you of?
Our existence then, lives from and within this vast unlimited capacity of all potentiality. Personally, given those scientific descriptors, I like to think of this field as “Mind of God Stuff,”—-though it is likely I’m not thinking big enough here.
OK, so that which is us, the us that has bodies, minds, emotions et al, floats in the midst of this conscious, powerful stuff—even more so than say fish swimming in the ocean. This stuff is interacting with our very being in every moment. We have access to all of this stuff in every moment. That which we are has access, therefore, to All-That-Is, all energy, all information, all possibility, —all the time.
Just think on that a moment—YOU have total access–to anything–to everything.
What if we realized (made real) the understanding that, that which WE ARE is made up of and has access to everything in the Unified Field aka Zero Point Field, Mind of God Stuff? Just Who and What are we then?
NO, I am not saying nor suggesting that this makes us God. However, it likely qualifies us as “made in the image of…” And like a hologram, where every small piece, when looked at individually looks the same as the whole image—we also, have access to the attributes of the whole. (Don’t you find it interesting that depictions of atoms look like depictions of solar systems, which look like depictions of galaxies?)
OK, so even if that all is real—and I believe it is, what’s that have to do with attaining a sense of inner peace?
Well everything, actually.
We all have trust in something. We trust that things will work out well for us; or we believe (trust) that it will always work out lousy. We trust that that we are OK no matter what, or we fear (a negative way to trust) that we are never OK no matter what. We all have our beliefs in what will bring us a sense of security, joy, happiness, love, freedom, and inner peacefulness. However, if those beliefs (trust) are not set in Truth with a capital T, once the “thing” is attained, we are still left wanting. If we believe (trust) that what will bring us a sense of inner peace is money and lots of it, as example, then we will never have inner peace, because we likely will never have enough—so that it can’t be lost or taken away. And even if we feel we have enough, will that continue to give us inner peace if we lose our health? Not likely. And so that cycle goes.
So where is your sense of trust,faith,belief? Is that trust based in Truth and Love or based in Fear? Where is it most effective and helpful, do you suppose, to place your own sense of trust, belief and faith?
In my experience and the experience of those wise ones I have researched, what provides that sense of inner peaceful, security, and un-flappable-ness in the face of anything is knowing (believing and trusting) that we are energy beings having a physical experience. Knowing that what we are is made out of this Unified Field or Mind of God Stuff. That, as such, we have access to anything and everything, if we but learn to use that access. And as energy—that part of us that is energy—is indestructible. (That’s another universal law. That law says you can’t destroy energy, only transform it.) That, yes, the body dies, but that which WE ARE is energy and even when our body dies, we are still existing and perfectly OK and moving on to whatever is next. With that as the underlying knowing, and even actual personal experience—inner peacefulness is then where we live-every day. I suggest it is highly useful to identify with that as YOU and to place your sense of trust in that.
OK, so I said a mouthful.
Once again, the question is HOW on earth—because that is where we are currently focused—do you learn, or remember, how to feel like THAT? Because, certainly it is one thing to say that and quite another to feel it and know the truth of that concept. First, believe me when I say, that it is worth everything to attain that level of sense of well-being and inner peacefulness.
Well, you begin just by wanting that (like attracts like)—that knowledge, that feeling, wanting that “know in your core to be the truth,” knowing that you be that spiritual, energy being having a physical experience. (And, no, I am not asking you to change your religion. Truth is truth, and you will discover these very same concepts within your own sacred texts, should you choose to research them. This is not new information. It is simply time now to live that truth. Don’t believe me because I say it. do your own research, I absolutely support that.)
From this place of wanting, then ask (“Ask and it is given.”) that you “experience” this for yourself. Because, though I can influence, suggest, and point in a direction, I cannot teach this to you. You will only learn, remember or know it when you personally “experience” this state. What I can tell you is that this state of well-being is possible, attainable, and well more than worth any effort you may expend to reach it.
And finally, the next “very important head start” thing you can do to move along your path to experience this inner peaceful state is to meditate.
Meditation helps you attain the brain frequencies necessary for you to begin accessing the higher frequency energy states of your being. As you begin to experience that level of your being, you begin to access energy, information, ideas, understandings, and pretty much all-things-good and in alignment with ongoing well-being and inner peacefulness including manifesting your desires. You also align with and begin to actually experience in a very REAL way what I’ve been describing as to Who and What You really Are.
So, that is what I am recommending here, in this head start first step–meditation.
Most types will eventually work if you do them, regularly, consistently, and with life-long dedication. (life long dedication?!! OMG!—I hear you, there is an easier way, really there is.)
In our instant gratification world, people are no longer inclined to spend the discipline and time required to make this happen “the hard way.” So, I have been seeking a means for people to attain the brain wave “frequencies” of meditation without all the years of discipline and effort usually required and expended to have the outcomes I am describing to you. And, yes, I have found something very effective and useful for this very thing!
It is a set of graduated brain wave training CD’s that rather quickly entrain your brain into the frequencies that enable you to attain and sustain a good, effective meditative state. Though I have effectively meditated regularly for thirty plus years, I currently use this to enhance my own experience. It works. I recommend this highly. Just sit or lay down, get comfortable, put on your head phones, and listen. It is that easy. Please remember, this meditative state, attained on a regular basis, preferably daily, is essential if you want to attain a sense of inner peacefulness—no matter what circumstances you encounter.
So, here you go–a beginning, a head start. I’m here to accompany you on this journey. And, take it from your spiritual life coach, there is no time like the present to begin!
Find out more about this meditation system and whether it is just right for you here: click here to link to meditation CD’s. (With intention of full and transparent disclosure, yes, I do receive a small commission if you purchase through this link; however, I only recommend things I truly believe work.)
Also, I want to thank you for your willingness to stick with me and read this all the way through. In addition, I welcome feedback and interaction with you, so feel free to email me with your questions or comments at alice@YourSpiritualLifeCoach.com or visit me at //www.lifeforcenatural.com As always I tend to want to know if you have found this to be at all helpful to you.
Be looking for my blog posts on this site for additional steps to help you on your path to answer your question, “How do you find inner peace?”
Sending you Blessings
Alice Buehring
Your Spiritual Life Coach
Integrative Therapist
Certified Counselor