How many of you have said to yourselves time and again that, “when everything falls in place I’ll be at peace”? And, how many of you have ‘made peace your priority and seen the magical moves of everything falling in place one after another?

Peace is within and it is in effect by choice! An undeniable Universal fact – we all want to be at peace, no matter which shape or form of living beings we are! Our reason behind doing everything we do, chasing everything we chase is to find that moment of peace and tranquility where it all becomes worthwhile.

It is like the story of that Musk Deer who is so captivated with the fragrance of Musk that he doesn’t know that he himself carries it within, and instead frisks about, sniffing under trees, going into the thorny bushes, crossing rivers, climbing mountains and searching everywhere for many weeks to find the source of it. Finally when the patience runs out and curiosity takes over, the restless dear who is unable to find the source of the smell, jumps from the high cliffs into the valley, trying to reach the source of the rare fragrance, and thus plunges into the ultimate. If only he had the wisdom to draw his nostrils close to his navel – he there and then would have found what he was searching for all his life.

Isn’t it same for many of us who are trying so hard to find peace and happiness through wealth, power, pleasures, acquisitions, money, entertainment and materialistic achievements? And even if we get the satisfaction of achieving these, which may sometimes give some degree of pleasure to our mind and senses; how often do we notice the expiry date these feelings come with? Let alone the limitations and vulnerabilities it surrounds. These achievements can rarely ever bring fulfilment to the heart. So where is the peace that we all are constantly striving for? Yes, It is with in us but how do we find it?

Well what I have come to realise in recent years is, peace in all honesty is our natural and hence most comfortable state of mind. It remains the most integral part of experiencing anything in its truest form. It’s for some misunderstood beliefs, reasons and conditioning that led us to rely on external sources to find it. All we need to do in order to experience peace within is, to slow down in our fast paced and sometimes robotic lives, and let love, compassion, kindness, willingness to serve, selflessness take over.

This in no way means that we must not strive to have a better life, try something new or aim higher. It means to remember when we do everything to achieve all we want – keeping our peace of mind intact, so that everything we attain really becomes worthwhile, fulfilling and rewarding in it’s truest sense. It is also important that we keep jealousy and ill feelings at bay for any failures and shortcomings in our lives. As the first ones to bear the repercussions of these negative thoughts will be our own minds. What instead will help is, realising that these moments too are important and come into our lives to teach us something very vital which we otherwise may not have learnt. In fact, it will keep coming till we learn from it.

Peace demands never forgetting the reason behind all the races we are trying to compete in. When we understand the meaning of all our needs and wants and learn to be thankful and content with everything we already have, the joy of attaining the smallest of things simply multiplies.

Remember, we take our feelings along everywhere and hence end up sharing those too with everyone around. Wonder what else would a peaceful heart and mind share and radiate to his or her surroundings? Yes! That’s how powerful and important each of us are to the World and it’s collective energy! That really is each of our purpose of life.

Peace and happiness are interdependent where gratitude plays a very vital role.

Today is the perfect day for these realisations and reflections. It makes it even more special as it marks to be both ‘World Gratitude Day’ and ‘International Day of Peace’ – Hope you have a blissful one!

May you succeed in finding your inner peace and become appreciative and thankful for everything that you already have 🙏🏻🕊💚

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