Peace

Why are you so elusive?

Oh, peace, where art thou?

Are you here? No.

Are you over there? No.

Are you under this rock? Nope.

It's using the trees - Photo by Jacek Smoter on Unsplash.

Where the bloody hell are you?! Well, you’re certainly not going to find it shouting like that. Despair, anger, sadness, bitterness, resentment, along with other negative emotions are not helpful for peace, but you know what is less helpful? Telling someone to just don’t feel those things, okay, don’t do it, just snap out of it. Peace, it’s not something you can buy down the store or something your government can supply you (although it’s something they can take away, am I right? haha). Stress is plentiful, peace is in short supply, and human beings can only take so much before they break.

It’s been a while since I wrote specifically about peace – previous articles Inner Peace and Why Can’t People Go About Their Lives in Peace – but on this special day, my mother’s birthday, I thought I’d revisit the topic and bring a peaceful celebration to the moment.

“Should we ask for peace or the ability to overcome difficulty and hardship?”

Is peace just being left alone? Like solitude?

Is peace when being together? Like intimacy, comfort, security?

Is peace found in the silence whether we’re alone or together?

Sometimes it’s how we think about peace that can hinder the very thing that we’re hoping to achieve. Do we think we’re deserving of peace? If we don’t feel we’re worthy of peace or that we haven’t earned it yet, our body will not rest…and the thing about our bodies is that they keep score. All stress and no peace makes Jack a dead boy.

Photo by Sebastien Gabriel on Unsplash.

Stereotypically, a lot of people think that a holiday will fix their stress and give them peace. However, if not dealt with properly, the stress just gets shifted onto the holiday – Where are we going? How long for? How much will it cost? It would be better if we put the money elsewhere? During their stay, they’ll dread the end of the holiday, and upon returning home, they will talk about needing a post-holiday holiday. If you’re not able to find peace without a holiday, you aren’t going to find it with one.

“Anxiety, fear, stress are the antithesis to peace – some people are just more prone than others.”

I largely feel that you cannot achieve peace unless you feel in control of your life because you’ll never be truly at ease until you do. Rather ironically, we can only feel peace when we let go of what we can’t control – which the act of letting go feels counterintuitive to control.  

“Are human beings really built for peace? We’re certainly built to overcome.”

As I’ve said before, peace does not come from ignorance, it comes from knowledge. It is a voluntary and conscious process. Peace also comes from not worrying about not knowing (which isn’t the same as ignorance), letting go, “so be it”, and…well…music, a good book or film, shooting hoops by myself, a lovely homecooked meal by my mum, or a single malt whisky from Scotland on a cold rainy day like today.

Oh, peace, where art thou?

The only thing to get further away the more you try to chase it.

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