“We all ultimately wish for peace. The trouble is that we are taught to believe that battles need to be fought and won to earn it.” Maggie Lyon makes this point in her article “6 Simple Steps to Find Peace Within Yourself.”
I am not hard-wired to wait and hope that ‘providence’ will provide. Another word for providence is luck. Luck is defined as “success or failure apparently brought by chance rather than through one’s own actions.” Unfortunately, I don’t believe in luck. I agree with Oprah Winfrey on this one. Ms. Winfrey often says, “I believe luck is preparation meeting opportunity. If you hadn’t been prepared when the opportunity came along, you wouldn’t have been lucky.”
So, let’s look at the other side of inner peace: the ‘dark’ side. I am a type-A personality and I am OCD – I admit it. There are many things I cannot control. Consequently, I spend quite a bit of mental and emotional energy working to steer my life in the ‘right’ direction. If you are like me, I encourage you to read “The Upside of Your Dark Side”.
“The Upside of Your Dark Side” tells us we don’t always need to be mindful and positive:
“…while mindfulness, kindness, and positivity can take us far, they cannot take us all the way. Emotions such as anger, anxiety, guilt, and sadness might feel uncomfortable, but it turns out that they are also incredibly useful. Anger fuels creativity, guilt sparks improvement, and self-doubt enhances performance. In the same vein, we can become wiser and more effective when we harness the darker parts of our personality. Selfishness increases courage and mindlessness leads to better decisions.
I believe our light and dark sides can co-exist and we shouldn’t try to suppress either. I recognize the benefits to my ‘dark side.’ But, I am also willing to listen and try and follow Maggie Lyon’s advice:
- Commit to truly awakening peace and to no longer being in combat with yourself.
- Create a safe space where you can bear witness to your struggles every day.
- Be still with the peace that arises from your bravery and your willingness to look.
- Carry this peace out into your daily life, where it is so easy to get tripped up.
- Spread peace beyond your relationship with you, into your relationship with others.
- Live from and for peace in the world; continually go back to step 1.
Support your creative and ambitious self, along with your calm and peaceful self. Take care of your fabulous self – physically, mentally and spiritually. Be strong!
