Musings: Finding Peace Of Mind In An Unsettled World

In other words, as humans we have external responsibilities for the material needs of our own bodies: food, health and shelter and similar needs for our children and families. We also have to satisfy our responsibilities in our jobs and work and our responsibilities as members of our community, country and the world. These are all worldly responsibilities that in our incarnation we must endure and fulfill to the best of our given ability. Many of us are mired and consumed by these challenging responsibilities, often in an unsettled world that takes up most of our time and causes much of our stress. As Robert Louis Stevenson taught us: “Life Is not a matter of holding good cards, but of playing a poor hand well.”

It is important to have the correct perspective when we are undergoing serious challenges and negotiating hurdles in our lives. You can look at these challenges as ones that rob your peace of mind. You can get caught up in expending a great deal of psychic, emotional and physical energy reacting to these bumps in your life. This is a victim mentality and leads to increased stress, an unsettled mind and often disease.

A more spiritually evolved view is to have an alternative perspective to the challenges and responsibilities and see them as opportunities for growth, and then use all of your energy and resources to do all you can with whatever is given to you. I believe that we attract all that happens to us.

The Buddhists call these challenging transitions in life as “bardos.” A bardo is made up of two words: “bar” – meaning an in-between situation and “do” meaning feeling suspended or thrown. One experiences many bardos in life as we negotiate from childhood, to adolescents and onward to adulthood. Such bardos include but aren’t limited to:

These can rob us of the peace of mind we all desire. Yet if you look at your bardos – it is often where you experience your greatest growth and life lessons. The Buddhist believe the supreme of all bardos is death, and if one prepares for this eventual bardo during one’s lifetime, then at death it is possible to step out of “samsara” (the cycle of death and rebirth) into nirvana when one is forever united with the Universal Spirit … a place of bliss where one enjoys a perpetual peace of mind.

I believe both the external and internal journeys are equally important. The internal journey is the one each of us must travel by ourselves, and it is a journey with our individual soul that so yearns this unity with the Universal Spirit. This is where there is an unfaltering peace of mind.

We all have this sanctuary deep in our hearts – our soul that we can access in a moment of silence at any time during the day. All it takes is an awareness, a deep breath, maybe the closing of your eyes, and the connection with this special place buried deep within you. This is the place that is always at peace.

In my daily meditating practice – two hours in length, three times per day (CLICK LINK) – I connect with my spirit, which is in a perpetual state of peace and bliss irrespective of the external happenings of life. In other words, peace of mind is an internal and spiritual concept, accessible to all of us in silence, prayer or meditation.

It is also helpful to know and assert that there is a divine order to everything that happens. Here again, the Buddhists have a rich heritage of “detachment.” They suggest you stay present and mindful of the task at hand, stay in the present, and do not be attached to the outcome. Instead develop the faith that the right outcome will always manifest in your life, as spirit never makes a mistake! Remember from Matthew 17:20, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

Spirit is indeed in charge! It always desires what is good for you, for others and for the Universe. I find that developing a strong faith – which essentially is a belief without visible proof – improves one’s quality of life and peace of mind.

Often when you do find this peace of mind internally, your external circumstances will also shift and favorably resolve any outward discord … leaving you with a peaceful mind in an unsettled world.