What if Inner Peace isn't actually a “project”?
It just occurred to me. Maybe this Inner Peace thing is the opposite of a project. In fact, it's feeling more and more like a
revelation.
An opening.
A letting go.
As I venture through Project: Inner Peace this summer, I realize that I actually have access to Inner Peace immediately, anytime I need it. It is just there, underneath a noisy, messy layer of thinking and doing. I'm amazed at its consistency and availability.
It only takes one move, one shift in my heart and mind.
One peeling back of a layer.
The process of accessing it feels like a parting of velvet curtains, an opening… into an ease and calm that is as solid as any personal state I have ever known. More solid and certain than any level of anxiety I have ever experienced, even during my three day panic attack.
And the move that brings forth this grounded, centered peacefulness?
Presence. Pure, focused presence.
Try it right now. Right this instant, shift your focus from reading and analyzing this post to simply noticing something beautiful in your environment – the curve of your coffee cup and the colors that mix on its exterior (we can make anything beautiful with presence)… the quivering leaves on the branch that brushes against your window… the sound of that brushing branch in the space of the room in which you sit… Feel the bottoms of your feet on the floor and the place where your shoulders rest onto your back.
Inner Peace. It's just there waiting.
For me, it's still fleeting. I lose my focus regularly and quickly, but I'm learning how to bring it back when I need it.
Simple Presence.
Now you – tell me how you cultivate presence? Do you have ways you stay present, when distractions begin to pull you away?
