Finding an Oasis of Calm…
If you’ve ever closed your eyes and imagined a wonderfully calm and peaceful place where you could recover your composure and tranquility, you’ll know how appealing the thought of escape can be. We daydream of faraway places, of sunlit beaches and the soothing sigh of gentle waves on a tropical strand and yearn for this temporary slice of paradise. It’s perfectly understandable. We live in a very stressful world where the daily pressures conspire to rob us of our inner peace and harmony. It’s entirely natural to search for a much healthier and happier alternative. The problem is that it isn’t always easy to drop everything and seek the refuge of a blissful break from the hustle of everyday life. But there is an alternative that I’d like to share with you.
We are taught from early childhood that our emotional state is shaped by our environment. We believe that our feelings depend on the nature of our circumstances and the behaviour of the people around us. We learn this principle and accept it as the basis for our emotional responses. To put it simply, we are conditioned to seek our emotional equilibrium in the world around us. Yet this is not the only way to find the fabled state of inner peace that is so rare and elusive in our hyper-active culture.
The inner world is the secret to everything we wish to integrate into our lives. As we practise the principles of deeper breathing, relaxing our muscles and releasing our attachment to the constant flow of our thoughts and feelings, we move closer and closer to the inner oasis of calm. In the midst of a busy, chaotic day, we can pause and touch this powerful reservoir of blissful tranquility and free ourselves from the habit of constantly reacting to whatever’s going on around us. This is the key to a world of profound serenity, a powerful state of being where we feel anchored and secure, free from the fears and anguish that corrode our health and happiness. This is the goal of so many ancient traditions that understood the value of exploring the vast domain of our inner ocean of tranquility.
Rather than seeking a temporary break from life’s daily round of pressures, step into the world of your inner peace and adopt this as your place of residence. Your life will change for the better in ways that you cannot imagine.