If we ask what people are looking for in life, we quickly see how widespread the search for happiness is. Looking closer at the idea, we also notice something we’ve learned in our modern society that, when examined carefully, works against our inner harmony: the pursuit of wealth and material possessions, the stimulation of the senses, filling our lives and our time with activities, experiences, and achievements. When we treat these things as an end in themselves, they keep us restless and forever caught up in the search.
If it isn’t found through constant seeking, what do we actually need to be happy? What if it were something different from what we’re used to, in a society built mainly around action and doing? What if it were peace?
The Bhagavad Gita, one of the most important texts in Hindu philosophy, says that there can be no happiness without peace, and no peace when the mind is agitated. It adds that for the mind to be at peace, it must let go of expectations and frustrations. Just this idea alone is a beautiful invitation to look inward and see whether we recognize it as true for ourselves too.
I’d like to introduce something that can help us on the path toward inner peace. What lies at the heart of peace? That was the question that guided my own exploration back in 2014, when I was working through these questions with my teacher at the time. And the answer that came was… acceptance. A deep acceptance, a total acceptance. Arriving at acceptance and starting from it before setting other forces in motion may well be one of the great keys in life. It helps us avoid judging, which creates a great deal of unease and a sense of separation and confrontation. It helps us step out of resistance, which also creates a lack of flow and conflict. As they say in physics: the less resistance, the greater the conductivity — electrical, energetic, and of life itself.
How can I bring acceptance into my life?
Accepting doesn’t mean allowing something unjust to continue, or that which we want to see change. It means starting by accepting that something exists, rather than excluding it from our reality. Let’s remember that expanding personally and in our consciousness means including things rather than excluding them. This puts us in a very special position, because this way we don’t burden our mind with frustrations and expectations. This allows us to be at peace.
What practical things can I accept that will bring me peace?
There are many, once we start exploring, but we can begin with some very close to home. Accepting our emotions. If I accept that I’m angry, sad, or anxious, and stop resisting it, that experience can move through me far more easily and transform it into something new and meaningful. If I accept my life situation and what’s around me, and stop resisting what I don’t like, I can flow much better and begin to change and transform what needs it. If I accept myself just as I am and stop being so hard on myself, I step into a magical place where I can flow much better in my life, and where life can flow much better through me.
We can apply this to others and to the world too. Accepting them, and building from there. Before I can arrive where I want to be, I first need to accept where I am.
If you feel inclined, I’d like to invite you to procure a notebook or any other means of journaling that may be available to you, and start exploring these ideas as you live your life. You can write down your observations as to how you feel about things when they happen and how it feels to exercise acceptance and integration in what life brings and in your relationship with others and yourself. As you do this, you may notice it becomes easier to accept and flow as you become more aware and work with these ideas, step by step. May you be well and blessed,
Mario Tomas Lawrence