What would you do to live in a world without stress? How much would you give to not feel anxiety or depression? What wouldn’t you try in the hopes of a joyful life? These are questions I’ve asked myself hundreds of times. Unfortunately, the world is often designed to lead us to the wrong answer. Here are the most important things I’ve learned stumbling along the way.
Follow Those With Inner Peace
Never follow the advice of those who don’t have what you are looking for. I guarantee you that deep down, you are looking for peace, love, and joy. But you are not alone if you are distracted by fame, wealth, success, accomplishment, and any number of things that steer you from the path. None of those things lead to peace, but they are all distracting in their own way.
I’ve spent hundreds of hours reading books by people chasing those distractions. I’ve received my fair share of all of them as a result. But not once have those rewards given me a greater amount of peace, love, and joy. Instead, they left me with a continually sinking feeling that nothing was going to resolve the inner fear, anxiety, and stress that was driving me forward. Without knowing another path, I would invent a bigger and better dream to chase hoping that one will be the one to end them all.
But it never did. And it never will. For me, you, or anyone else. No outward reward for a goal achieved will ever lead to inner peace and satisfaction. And if I had paid attention to the right people who showed up in my life, I would have learned that much earlier on. So I offer this simple reminder; if you want peace, follow the peaceful.
Question Everything
But that’s where the next problem begins. Where are they? There is a severe shortage of those living in complete peace and harmony with the universe. Who do you know who is completely at peace in the present moment? Someone who rides the rollercoaster with all of its ups and downs without losing their inner joy for a minute. I had never met one. I had heard of very few.
There are two ways to interpret this. The first is that the world isn’t meant to be peaceful and that it’s difficult or impossible to live that way. The second is that the world doesn’t celebrate those who live peacefully, but that if you seek them, you will find them. You would be forgiven if you’ve spent your entire life believing the first.
It can be all too easy to take it as a sign that you weren’t meant to live in peace. But what if it was instead a sign that you’ve been looking in all the wrong places? The people and lessons fed to you by the material world will not have the answers you need for the spiritual one. You can’t be looking in places built on fear, desire, greed, and accomplishment for the contentment of inner peace.
You don’t have to believe me. Try for yourself. Question everything that society has for sale. Look closely at its offered rewards and its hidden costs. When you’ve seen clearly that it won’t provide the peace you’re looking for? Walk away, and seek a new path.
The Answer Lies Within
If you can’t find the answers from those around you, and you can’t find them from what society puts on display, who do you ask? If there is any one lesson that can save you lifetimes of pain and suffering, it is this reminder. There is no article, no training, no course, no teacher, no accomplishment, no purchase, no certification, no possession, that is going to help you let go. There is no amount of money that can be earned, spent or saved, no validation to be had, no experience to be chased, that will replace the simple willingness to go within.
Only you can let go. You are the only one who can let go of delusion. You are the only one who can question and dismantle your false beliefs. You are the only one who can sit with the fear inside until you’ve uncovered all the layers and released it at its source. You are the only one who can free yourself of all that has been laid upon you by the world to see the beauty beneath.
There will always be practices you can use to assist you. There will always be teachers who can help guide you, and they appear when you are ready to listen. But the practices simply provide you space to go within. And even the best teachers can only provide a mirror. You are the one who must look into it. The choice is always yours. That’s the path I’m following. Will you join me?
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