“Real Peace”

Shakespeare once said, “The eyes are the window to your soul” If you have ever really looked deeply into someone’s eyes you will agree too. This quote encourages us to look into the eyes and deep within, not to look out from our eyes. We live in a very visual way, looking out into our experience and many times naturally and unconsciously use this avenue of experiencing life as the way to make change.

“If I don’t like what I see, I’ll change it”

At times when we are unhappy with our job, our first reaction may be to get a new one. When we’re unhappy with our relationships, our first reaction may be to stop talking to that person. When we feel completely lost, our reaction may be to pick up and move to a new environment. Thinking the change will make it better.

These are all external, temporary and mere physical changes. This path may work for a short time but as the same experiences begin to show up again. We ask our self,

“Why is this happening again, if I have made changes so my life would be different?”

The answer lies in the route we choose to make change in our life. If we take the external route, all of our problems are caused by some outside source. My boss, my significant other, the people in my life. When we take this route it is very easy to to quit, to leave and to completely run away because we don’t see it as anything we have done. Ultimately this path eliminates the need for us to take responsibility for our life and our actions.

“Hey, it’s not me, it’s them”

How do you know if this is the route you took? Simply look at your new life situation and see if you are beginning to feel the same way again. Our (ego)mind wants us to believe we are right, because the ego loves to right. But the ego does not really have our best interest or happiness at heart.

The true answer always lies within us. It is necessary to ask one simple question,

“Why am I unhappy?”

This question is not for the ego, but for our soul. Just by asking ourselves this question, it may bring up all kinds of emotions, the unresolved past, old hurts, new fears… Whatever comes up is beautiful because now we have the opportunity for an all encompassing change, inner change, at the deepest level to occur, not just physical change.

Any external peace must begin with internal peace. Most often we try to change our outer world by changing who or what is in it. We feel something is “wrong and the (ego)mind says, “Let me fix this” The reality is that the same feeling of something being wrong will follow us into that next job, the next relationship and the next town, again and again until we go within and make it right with ourselves.

Meditation and Yoga Nidra are two wonderful ways to make peace with ourselves.

The process of Meditation and Yoga Nidra creates space between our thoughts and it is in this space where the answers lie. The more we meditate the more we also begin to dis-identify with our thoughts. When we realize that we are not our thoughts, we don’t react to them in such extreme ways. Through our meditation practice we observe each thought and let it go. If there is change that needs to take place, we will be able to see it for the truth that it is and not as a reaction to fear and uncertainty.

Just going within and resting in awareness, we feel a peace like no other. The more we rest as who we are, the less we are at the mercy of who we are not. Once we find peace within us, we’ll have the clarity to make conscious decisions on the direction our life is going. Of course there are times when it is necessary to make drastic changes in our lives, we just want to make sure they are coming from a place of clarity and peace, instead of a place of ego and fear.

Peace, Karin xx