"Words to Thrive By" by Mary Anne Dorward

I wondered in this hectic time of The Holidays if a blog on PEACE would be helpful for my readers. I would also be really interested in your point of view on the subject of PEACE as well, so feel free to comment.

The concept of peace has been debated, fought over and meditated on all around the world for centuries. In fact, if you were to ask me right now what I most longed for, I would answer without hesitation: peace. I would suspect that my relentless pursuit of perfection has something to do with why I don’t feel peaceful a lot of the time. But I really think there is much more to a lack of peace than just a self-sabotaging pursuit of perfection. So why is peace so difficult for most of us to achieve, on a moment-to-moment basis?

Our world has become increasingly complex. Information in the world now is doubling, estimated right now at the rate of doubling every two to three years years. And it is speeding up. Estimates now place that rate of information doubling soon to be every one year. Just the fact that all this information is at our fingertips, through our computers and phones at any time, day or night, and our access is only limited to how fast we can type, it’s no wonder we are stressed out.

In a political sense, peace is complex. The American rock guitarist, composer and singer Jimi Hendrix said, “When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.” The Indian philosopher Mahatma Ghandi, well-known and respected for his doctrine of non-violent protest suggested, “Each one has to find peace from within. And peace, to be real, must be unaffected by outside circumstances.” Sometimes I find it hard to love and at times, outside circumstances really get to me. Then my peace within is totally shot.

So where is peace hidden in all of this chaos and politics?

One of my favorite poets, Rumi, described peace in this way, “Out beyond ideas of wrong doing and right doing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there.” Many times I have wished that the people of this world could just figure out how to meet in that field Rumi speaks of. Perhaps if we did, together we could all find peace and just get along. In the meantime, I’m working on trying to find that non-violent, peaceful field, right here in my own mind and heart.

Where do you find peace in your life?