You can’t outsource inner peace
What does inner peace feel like? What doesn’t it feel like? Is this question answerable for you?
Whether you choose to define it or leave it undefined, inner peace is innately within you. It resides in the space between nothing and everything, the midline of the Way, the balance of yin and yang.
Being able to find serenity in chaos teaches one that our own sovereignty is our most powerful asset. There is nothing or no one who controls our internal sense of self more than oneself. Accepting that we are in control of ourselves feels challenging and overwhelming to some, because we are so used to outsourcing control of our bodies. When we are disconnected from ourselves, disconnected from the Source, we search for meaning in external energies. This helps us feel like we are a part of something, included in this transactional circumstance. But it is only that, a transaction that provides a less enjoyable experience because we are not in control. This will only cause more longing, more yearning, more seeking.
There seems to be a continual and ever growing mantra of ‘seeking’. Seeking happiness, seeking joy, seeking enlightenment. The simple notion of seeking is already a loss to the self. In ‘seeking’ we are saying that what I already have is not what I truly desire and what I truly desire is found outside of me. The more we seek for external pleasures and external happiness, the more dependent we will become those things and the less we are able to control our ability to satisfy ourselves. Seeking inner peace is still seeking something we don’t believe to already embody. There is a way to reach peace without seeking.
The man said to his teacher “I want inner peace”
The teacher replied “remove I, remove want, and there you have inner peace”
Allow peace, allow happiness, allow joy in all forms. When met with chaos or burdens, boredom or aggravations, find space for peace. Breathe. The more space is held for these virtues, the more naturally they will flow in the future. Eventually you will become peace, you will become happiness and joy.
Inner peace is not something to be sought, but it can be found.