Thought for the day twenty one

The most common use of the word peace is as the opposite of war. This is understandable but unfortunate.  Peace is not just the opposite of violence or turmoil but has a whole register of meanings all its own.

The peace of a quiet landscape nurtures us.  A calm moment to ourselves renews our energies. Interior peace energizes us; exterior peace gives us direction.
A gentle sun, a calm ocean, the loving smile of a friend--all of these give us peace. We are sustained in a sweet aerie of calm.
The opposite of peace is war, but so are agitation, anxiety, and violence.

Edward J. Lavin, S.J.

War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy’s very famous novel talks about the repercussions of War and what we lose by losing peace.

But as Edward says, peace is not the opposite of violence. For violence it is non-violence. We can check the methods used by Mahatma Gandhi regarding this!

Even the turmoil in our minds and hearts is churning of feelings. It has nothing to do with peace.

Peace has its own meanings. Sitting in a corner, doing nothing is also peace. Staying in a big place with lot of commotion, and still being cool is also being peaceful.

Imagine going into forest and sitting below a tree and listening to the sounds made by birds and insects. The sound is so peaceful and heartfelt.

The ocean makes noise. But if we observe correctly there is a rhythm in its noise. The waves banging against the beach, the ebbs and tides are fascinating to watch. We can watch them continuously without getting bored. Slowly the mind becomes peaceful by watching the waves. If one goes in the night and sits to watch, the white waves are a treat to watch.

Many people find solace when they speak to their close friends. The friend need not give any solution for the problem. All he has to do is to listen to this person and give a pat on the shoulder or a hug. The heart’s heaviness just vanishes like a feather.

A moment with ourselves also gives us a lot of peace. We can do introspection of the situation which led the loss of peace. If thought in an unbiased manner probably the inner turmoil will get vanished and we find peace in ourselves. We need to sit alone at least for sometimes to get into that mood.

As mentioned earlier somewhere else, music is one lovelier medium to keep peace with ourselves.

When we don’t find something what we want and on time, we get agitated. The agitation leads to anxiety, anger and tension. When the thing what we want appears ultimately, the delay seem to have done the damage. We will even be violent.

These things lead us nowhere but giving us a bad name in our circles. Because we would have shown our frustration outward and that would have been witnessed by our colleagues who are going to be with us for a long time to time. This should be borne in mind when we shout or make a lot of fuss. People won’t like it. Especially when they are disturbed by our outbursts!

On the other hand, if they are at the sending end, they don’t feel bad at all. They think that it is their birth right.

The best example would be the parking of a vehicle slightly into the road. When someone else parks the vehicle, we curse and try to go in the available space; but still we would like to give a piece of our mind to the wrong parker.

Suppose we are in a hurry and park the vehicle wrongly and walk into the store nearby, we want the others to understand that we did it because we are in a hurry, there is an emergency.... is that right?

A rule is a rule... good for us and bad for others?

Really needs a serious thinking...

Whatever we do, we do it right... and regain our peace and live without any agitation.

An effort is needed... can we try?