Finding Peace in the Great Circus of Life
If you want to be the conductor of your own symphony, you must learn to be the ringmaster of your own circus.
I think we are all looking to have more inner peace and more harmony in our lives and relationships. A little more calm and clarity, and the feelings of well-being that accompany them.
Yet when we look around our global society, our immediate surroundings, or within our internal environment, calm and clarity is not often plentiful. Kinda feels like a three-ring circus sometimes.
While it may feel overwhelming or frustrating or downright despairing at times, there is a certain charm and intrigue to the circus that I think we must not forget…
We go to the circus to be entertained. To see the unusual and the extraordinary. To experience something beyond the mundane that we may feel in our day-to-day lives. It is a place of freedom and fun where we can re-imagine the world.
So, could we bring that perspective to our own personal circus?
Can we admire the feats of the acrobats? Can we honor the times we have swallowed the fire and the swords? When we have been the magician that made something out of nothing…
Can we acknowledge the little people inside of us? Those inner child parts of ourselves that may feel small and overlooked. The ways that we feel like we have disappeared or wished we could…
Can we look at the masks and costumes we have worn? Whether we are hiding or dressing up. The times that we have made people laugh when we wanted to cry…
Can we honor the animals, too? The lions, the tigers, the bears. The cheeky monkeys. The wild parts of ourselves that we have tamed. Are there any elephants in the room?
Rather than getting caught up in the drama and overwhelmed by the chaos, could we take a step back and admire the spectacle? Could we marvel at the incredible gifts and talents of the performers? Could we appreciate the colors and the beauty of each performance? Could we look at it all with wonder and awe, and laugh a little more?
Even when we feel like we have so many balls in the air and are riding a unicycle on a tightrope…
There are certainly serious things that happen in life. Things that are very real and painful. But I think if we are honest with ourselves, a lot of the drama we play out does have a flavor of ridiculousness that we can appreciate with a bit of detachment.
While some days may feel like we went to go watch the circus and rather unknowingly wound up joining it, we always have choice…
We can choose what chaos we engage with in our external environment — or at least the extent to which we engage with it. And we can choose how we perceive it.
As for our internal environment, can we choose to embrace the chaos? Even as the ringmaster, there will always be things beyond our control — and the degree of acceptance that we bring to that fact is a large part of the success of the show. That is where we can let go of the ‘performance’ and set ourselves free.
The circus is often characterized as being full of misfits. Something of a freak show. Somewhere that those who feel they don’t fit in run away to join.
While we each have our own extraordinary talents, sharing them requires us to take off the masks. To have compassion for the misfit within. Learning to embrace all sides of our character and to belong to ourselves.
That is where the symphony emerges. The harmony amongst the chaos. Where the days of being shot out of a cannon or juggling flaming batons become fewer — or at least more fun!
Maybe we don’t actually have to be the ringmaster. Maybe we just have to believe that there is one — by whatever name you choose to call it. That there is something else at work (or at play!) in our lives, and that what we perceive as chaos is actually perfectly orchestrated. That any of the trials or strife that we face is actually for our highest good, and finding the lessons and the wisdom and the growth within it all is where the peace is truly found.
Whatever your beliefs about that, we only get so much time under this big top, so we might as well find as much joy and laughter wherever we possibly can. That is where we can appreciate that nothing is mundane. It’s all extraordinary.
