On Protecting Your Peace
Peace is yours - treasure it, honour it.
Over the last several years, I have experienced many challenges that have greatly disturbed my peace of mind. Nothing really terrible happened, but I have not been at peace. Life became more and more difficult, and there didn’t seem to be an end in sight. This year, I believed it had all been worth it, because I thought I had met the love of my life. It turned out that what I thought was the best thing that had ever happened to me quickly became the worst. And then again, the best — because although I went through a special kind of hell, it made me realise what peace was, how important it was, and how ferociously I will work to protect my peace from now on.
Peace of mind is something we all deserve. A calm, a quiet, a solitude. Life is complicated as it is, and we do not need any further complexity added to it. The people in your life should add to your calm. They should be simple and easy. If they’re not, life will not flow as it should. That’s when we start doubting ourselves, trying to change ourselves and change situations to fit into what we (think we) want- and create a great deal of pain and suffering for ourselves in the process.
What happened this year made me realise that no one can protect my peace except me. It is my duty to protect my peace. It doesn’t matter what the details are, if something is causing you more worry and stress than anything else, stop. Maybe you’re not ready. Maybe it’s just not for you. Maybe it’s your sixth sense screaming “don’t do it!” It doesn’t matter whether it makes sense to other people. It doesn’t matter if it’s not the most obvious or rational course of action. Your mind and body are precious, and it is up to you to protect them.
For me, this is a learning curve. I now finally understand what peace is, after allowing it to be so brutally stomped on for so long. The truth is, I let it be compromised and relegated it to the shadows. We were strangers, and now we are becoming friends. Peace feels like coming up for air, like blood rushing to my brain. There is something unique, precious, and special about each and every one of us. Only when we recognise it in ourselves, become best friends with it, and honour it can we be at peace.
Plenty of people and circumstances in life will disturb our peace- not purposefully, but because that’s just life. That’s where you come in- you recognise the incongruence between what is presented to you and what is within you.
You listen to it. You respect it. You don’t question it, try to change it, or negotiate. It is what it is. It doesn’t matter if people think you are being silly, irrational, ungrateful, selfish, or complicated. You are what you are. You feel how you feel. When you stand up for who you are, others will automatically see you, hear you and respect you.
When we start to honour our peace, we naturally know our boundaries and respect them. As we become more familiar with ourselves, we will recognise the drawbridges we have created and allow them to melt away. We will be more comfortable looking within and being honest about what we see. Only then can we accept and love the parts of us that need to be loved the most. None of this can happen without peace. Peace comes first.
I am only just stepping into peace. It tastes like salt on a sea breeze. A ring of fire surrounds me wherever I go. I am still learning to feel and listen, to honour and protect it. I am so glad that I finally know what it is. Trust me, once you know, you won’t go back.
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