Leading a sunrise meditation in the middle of the African wilderness

How Developing Inner Peace Will Make You Happy, Healthy, and Wealthy

Finding a sense of inner peace has been the greatest blessing of my life thus far. For someone who’s experienced so many depressive episodes, debilitating states of anxiety, and harboured a lot of suppressed anger — this is a feeling I was not used to, and one I think I unconsciously feared. I feared the concept because I misunderstood it, and certainly didn’t even think it was attainable for someone like me. But now I drive in traffic and see people shouting at each other, blood boiling, and I think “hmm I used to waste so much energy on the stupidest most meaningless crap”.

I’ve come to realise, that much of the Western world is in an angry state, people shouting at each other, either on the inside, the outside, or the internet — and it’s hectic. I mean there’s probably someone reading this right now getting angry thinking “What a naive, aloof hippie prick! Doesn’t he know what’s going on in the world!? There’s so much to be angry about??!!” All I can say is — no one made the world a better place through anger. I may not read the news or participate on Twitter, but I’m well aware of the suffering and injustices of the world. Like, I live in Africa. I see it every single day with my own eyes.

The Language Trap

I also used to think of people who spoke like this and pursued this in a very black-and-white way. “Oh they’re hippies living in a fantasy world, not understanding the realities, requirements, and stresses of modern-day life”. But now I see that a) the pursuit of money and inner peace are not mutually exclusive, and b) It actually makes the pursuit of money much easier and makes life a whole lot less stressful. So you will still stress, but less of it. You can still make money, and more of it (if that’s what you desire). But the attachment to its accumulation is less intense and most importantly, your happiness and contentment are not dependent on it. This is a very freeing realisation.

I also realized that it’s very f*cking hard to achieve sustained inner peace, so one may as well try your best to get there and even by falling short your life will STILL be immensely better.

I think perhaps, like me, people got caught up in the verbiage that they associate with hippie or Buddhist typecasts and thus they conclude it’s not for them. So let’s try this angle; everyone’s in agreement that stress, anxiety and disconnectedness are not good things right? So why not pursue proven antidotes to them? Forget about the language. Don’t meditate — take time out to chill and breathe without thought. Don’t chase inner peace — chase mental fortitude. It’s crazy to me how language and association can block millions of people from true fulfilment.

Sorry Dude, we still don’t understand what inner peace even is?

The only way to describe inner peace is to, well, feel it. You can’t really describe it — it doesn’t do it justice. It’s a combined spiritual, physical and emotional state which is best experienced through experience. I know these explanations are not helping.

It’s not like an event that you can initiate on-demand, nor is it something you can buy or rent. (Perhaps temporarily through certain psychedelic substances but we aren’t going there.) It’s one of those few things in life that you don’t know when it will arrive and you have to blindly believe it will come after doing the work day in and day out.

When you’re at peace on the inside only then can you experience true peace on the outside, and it’s an amazing and fascinating thing. I now experience my senses and nature like never before because the war inside has ended or is at least on an extended ceasefire. I’m not proclaiming to be a saint here at all — I still get angry and get urges to strangle certain people, like the ones who shout on planes or take Zoom calls in libraries — but I don’t strangle them, and that’s progress. I don’t engage with people who would threaten it, and I try my best to protect it at all costs — that’s how precious it is to me. And please note, you can still feel sad and even slightly depressed whilst sustaining inner peace. This blew my mind for real. I think they can co-exist because inner peace is the utter acceptance of self, and depression could be triggered through external circumstances out of our control — thus allowing for a convergence of welcomed sadness.

I genuinely believe inner peace truly is life’s most crucial pursuit, with it, we are less reactive, we are kinder, more compassionate and more fulfilled. Just imagine if everyone put half as much time and energy as they did into this as they did into the pursuit of money! I reckon the world would be well-chilled mate.

I think the pursuit of internal calm should especially be the prerogative of those who experience mental health challenges. After all inner peace is the opposite state of inner conflict, the essence of mental health conditions. Conflict of thought, conflict of action, inauthentic living — the cause of most of our troubles.

Okay, I’m nearly convinced, how do I go about this thing?

It seems daunting because the concept of inner peace is so foreign and unattainable at first. How could one attain or even chase inner peace when there are bills to pay, jobs to be done, and family issues to address? Okay, let me ask you this, “Why can’t you pay bills, do jobs, and address family issues with (more) ease than currently? Why make life more difficult than it already is?

For the newly enlightened (myself of course included tsk tsk), these states are still impermanent and can be disrupted by external triggers quicker than I’d like to admit. I hear that for the more experienced meditators, it can sustain external triggers and exist as a continuous state. This is the goal.

As with all hard things though, there are also some difficult choices to make that come with the commitment to attaining this beautiful lightness of being. One of them is cutting people out of your life and/or setting hard and uncomfortable boundaries. As much as one meditates, we’re not zen monks over here living in the calm of the mountains. We have a lot of external variables and stimuli to manage, and if we can remove some of the more toxic ones — again, why not make life a little easier? I get it, it’s not always possible to cut out people in your life entirely, even though it is if you love and respect yourself enough. Ask yourself truly, who in your life disrupts your emotional sobriety and disrespects your boundaries?

I realize I still haven’t given much practical advice here, and perhaps for good reason — perhaps I am not qualified to yet. However since I am too pragmatic to leave ya’ll hanging, here are some suggestions that may help:

1. Develop a daily meditation practice (my recommended app)
2. Write 5 things you are grateful for every morning (my shpiel on that)
3. Read books on overcoming ego/spirituality/consciousness
4. Journal out the dark thoughts
5. Pray to God/The Divine
6. Go to therapy & coaching (read the difference here)

To end off with one of my favourite quotes; “we either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves happy, the amount of work is the same”.

You decide.

💙