From the past many months I have been constantly looking for ways to help me seek peace. From eating healthy to regular exercise, from going out to concentrating on my future, from indulging in hobbies to trying to meditate and many others, I have tried most of the tips and tricks offered.
Though they did help me, but I would soon rebound back to my original self as soon as I got used to the new regimen. I think this is one of those issues that affects each one of us in one form or the other.
A few days back, I stumbled upon an article that helped me gain insight about this whole issue. When I first read it, initially I felt it was yet another piece of advise that would deal with the time tested tricks, for all it said was something you and I already know. Yet, we suffer from unrest and lack of peace in our lives.
But somewhere in my heart I wanted to go ahead and read the full article. Maybe it was my desperation to find an end to my unrest and stressed out state that pushed me to read further. It highlighted an important aspect of human behavior that gave me food for thought.
We all tend to look at every event, every emotion in our life to have two bearings. One good and one bad. We always, whether knowingly or habitually tend to divide everything into two. Success and failure, gain and loss, good and bad, peace and unrest and the like. This is the real trap.
Whenever we are faced with anything we are advised to accept the good and let go of the bad. In an attempt to divide and trying to forget the bad, we unknowingly stop accepting the goodness the good part had to offer.The same is the case with peace of mind.
The unrest in our minds tends to rule and we are endlessly trying to seek one half (peace) and let go of the bad (unrest). The article suggested, we need to learn to accept the whole and face it. The minute we will strengthen ourselves to face whatever may come, to stay content whether stress or peace comes in our share, we will be peaceful.
If you are wondering how, then here is the answer.
Peace begins with being content in life. The minute our greed, our desires will be in our control, we will be able to attain solace. It is possible and very much attainable in our current life without having to decide to give up everything and making the Himalayas our abode. Just accept life as it is, by doing so you’ll be content in whatever comes your way and with contentment, peace shall follow.
The bottom-line being, we need to accept whatever comes our way without trying to segregate it into good and bad. Though this doesn’t imply we should stop striving for improvement and neither does it mean that not reacting to the wrong is the way of life.
It simply means, accepting the not-so-good as part of life will make our lives peaceful in general. For it is usually the fear of the bad that harms us more than the bad itself. Don’t live in fear and don’t keep cribbing about the bad and you’ll be peaceful in no time.
Rather than fighting against your current situation, be with it, move with it, and adapt to it. Struggle will tire you; learn to float.
To help us experience the truth behind this philosophy, the article had a simple exercise that can be done by everyone of us.
From this minute till exactly the same time tomorrow, try to accept everything that comes your way as a part of life without trying to divide it into good and bad parts. If you feel peaceful at the end, the exercise holds good and can be practiced on a daily basis till it becomes our way of life.
I have been working on this and am glad to see positive results. Do give it a try for our peace of mind is actually in our own hands.
The song on my mind: Uthe sabke kadam rum pum pum ~ Baton Baton Mein
The Era I Lived In 
Dear Era,
I agree with you. Acceptance is one of the profound things which we all must come to realize. Especially when bad things happen to us.
Many people mistake ‘forgetting and forgiving’ for ‘acceptance’. So long as you make the demarcation between these two, life becomes a little more peaceful and simpler for you to move on.
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Dear Jo,
I totally agree with you.
Acceptance is infact the first step towards healing, moving on and off-course beginning of a content life.
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Thanks ME for sharing the article. Your post made me to think. I too needed that advice for myself. I need to convince myself that everything is balanced in the Universe; it is just we who perceive and act as per our “unreal” mental beliefs and expectations.
I read somewhere that “we are too much busy in struggling over petty powers, while the true beauty of life lies around us unobserved and unappreciated”.
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I am kashlife that this article can help you think over and work in the direction of a more peaceful you. As I mentioned, the teaching is pretty simple. something we all know but it’s just a reminder as to what we can start doing to make our lives easier and peaceful.
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Glad to see you at peace Era. God bless.
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Thank you PK 🙂
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Peace begins with being content in life – So so true …I totally agree!
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me too 🙂 🙂
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tara rum pum pum
kabhi khushi kabhi gam
HASO AUR HASAIYA KARO
M.E. the good -bad-ugly is part of life, the sooner we accept it that better we will be .. thats how it is .. they are inter-related , life will be boring without any of them ..
What we need to learn is that when bad-ugly times come HOW we stand and take them head on.. and during the GOOD time we dont forget the bad times .. and forget people who were with us , standing with us .. and everyone …
Life .. Haso aur hasaiya karo ..
Take care
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I agree Bikram, with a little introspection we can seek answers to all our doubts and questions. It is just a matter of looking for answers and staying strong.
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This is a good perspective ME, thanks for sharing 🙂
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you are welcome Visha 🙂
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Lovely , inspiring and motivating lines…. and yes perhaps you have found the golden mantra for survival:
Just accept life as it is, by doing so you’ll be content in whatever comes your way and with contentment, peace shall follow.
BTW, one of favourite songs 🙂
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It is helping me big time PT because my current stressed out state is only partly cause of the mess in my marriage but because of a variety of other people and causes whom I can never (even imagine to) leave and move out.
I am able to breath easier ever since I have started accepting life as it is and have stopped resisting changes. Nevertheless, am still working on all the problem areas 🙂
Thank you for being there PT 😀
HUGS!
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//The bottom-line being, we need to accept whatever comes our way without trying to segregate it into good and bad.// agreed.. i think the monk who sold his Ferrari also talks about this.. but it is really difficult.. at times i feel, we are humans and we need to express our feeling, sad,joy and every kind. if we dont, we become non-living thing na.. :).. just my opinion..
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Ashreyamom acceptance doesn’t mean not reacting. It simply implies, staying content with everything happening as being part of life and focusing our energy on bringing about the change rather cribbing about the occurance of bad/ evil/ injustice, etc.
Having normal emotional outbursts is in fact necessary to let go off the steam.
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True. But easier said than done. Also, I am not so sure about this. Should we always accept our situation? Then how will we try to change it? Unless, we categorize it into bad/ugly, how will we strive for the “good” ?
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Don’t strive for good, go for better. It’ll keep you grounded with acceptance of the current situation at the same time will help you focus on the area you want to change/ improve, without giving solely thinking about the bad part of the issue.
Give it a shot MoRS, it’s not all that tough, just needs a conscious effort,
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When you begin any yoga class, this is what they say- accept the situation and you’ll be able to control your reaction to it. In addition, once you start being more aware of your self, surrounding and situation, you start appreciating and living in the smaller moments of life. As simple as it sounds, it needs a lot of practice to imbibe it as a matter-of-fact routine in life :-)))
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Totally agree Uma… it does need a lot of practice and patience but is definitely worth the effort 🙂
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