Peace.

5.36 am.

I woke. I left my eyes closed on the world. On the external reality that is so needy of my time and attention.

I nestled deeper under the covers, sensing the coldness in the room.

Silence.

I noticed how peaceful the world was — no cars, birds, no sounds at all.

Stillness.

That’s when I noticed. My thoughts were the only thing disturbing the quiet, peaceful waters of the morning.

The never-ending narration. The voice inside that is full of ideas and opinions.

Thoughts ripple across the lake of peace within me, disturbing the waters.

The voice constantly speaks to me, comforting me, protecting me, annoying me a little.

What would it be like if the voice went quiet? If you could lay in absolute silence?

Bliss….freedom.

And I notice the voice narrating all of this to me. And I smile. There is no escape.

I settle and relax back into the warmth of the moment. I bring my attention to the quiet behind my eyes. A doorway opens. A corridor to a higher level of consciousness. A universe beyond the voice.

The voice is quieter, distant. It’s in the background now. Peace fills me from deep within. I relax. I open the door further to a place beyond comprehension. I settle there for a while.

My mind expanded.

Open.

And then my attention drifts back to the voice.

Thoughts draw me away from the stillness, pulling me back to its reality.

When I open my eyes and engage in the world, I know the doorway will feel distant and closed. The illusion of life will consume me. Drawn into its busyness. My thoughts are already beating its drum of tasks and rituals.

It wants me up, doing.

Not being.

But doing.

I resist and savor the moment a little longer.

“You wander from room to room

Hunting for the diamond necklace

That is already around your neck!”

- Rumi

We look for fulfillment, happiness, and peace in our external reality, but it’s a world of duality.

• Good and bad.
• Happiness and sadness.
• Ups and downs.

The world of thought continuously narrates and further creates that duality for us — judging what it perceives in binary terms. It disturbs our internal waters.

But there is a place of oneness deep within your mind. What you are looking for is there.

Many are scared to look within for fear of what they might find.

We fill our time with work, managing our world and our lives.

We ride life’s inevitable ups and downs, not realizing that’s the nature of the game.

When we go down, we worry, what went wrong? We innocently believe the downs are avoidable. We don’t realize that low moods are as natural as the leaves falling off the trees in the fall. It comes in cycles. Instead, we analyze and try to figure out why. Our analysis creates chops, waves of doubt, worry, and fear on the water.

It’s innocent.

If we realized our suffering was created by the voice in our heads if we recognized that was the only thing that stood between us and peace, trust, and confidence, we would learn that we don’t need to manage our lives so fastidiously. Instead, when we notice a disturbance in our inner waters, we remember to drop the narrative that is creating it, relax, and bring our attention back inside to stand in the doorway that opens our minds.

As we settle there for a while, our open minds receive the inevitable peace, love, tranquility, and completeness that flows from that space. Those qualities cleanse our minds of their troubles and restore a sense of clarity and perspective.

Stillness.

Peace.

Ease.

melanie@therestorativecoach.com