Finding Peace and Calm in a Chaotic World

Do you ever feel that the world is crowding in on you and stifling your peace and serenity? Do you sometimes feel crushed by the weight of stress and anxiety? Have you ever sat in front of your computer and felt the walls closing in around you? Have you felt a powerful urge to rush out of the door and run as far away as possible? Does your mood reflect the weather? Does the news sometimes fill your heart with despair and darken your thoughts with gloom? It’s surprising to recognise how so many events can intrude upon your senses and disturb your precious peace of mind. And it can happen in so many unexpected ways.

Never be in a hurry; do everything quietly and in a calm spirit. Do not lose your inner peace for anything whatsoever, even if your whole world seems upset.

-?????? Saint Francis de Sales

If you’d like to discover the real value of your inner peace, one of the most effective methods you can develop is to cultivate the subtle art of detachment. It’s a surprisingly effective technique because it helps you to insulate your inner calm from the random events that seek to distract you.

Once we understand that the vast majority of our reactions are a product of early childhood conditioning, it’s easier to appreciate that most of our emotional responses are inappropriate. Does that surprise you? Take a moment to consider how you really feel about the events that are flowing around you right now. We’re programmed to react with anger, fear, judgement, criticism and a whole raft of negatively-biased emotions. It’s part of our learned defensive behaviour and was originally intended to make us aware of all the dangers that lurk in the world. Unfortunately, it usually also instilled a great deal of unnecessary fear and taught us to react with our emotions as if everything somehow threatened us directly.

There is a criterion by which you can judge whether the thoughts you are thinking and the things you are doing are right for you. The criterion is: Have they brought you inner peace???

- Peace Pilgrim

Have you noticed how you always react with some kind of emotion? It’s extraordinary when you pause to think about it. How can the events taking place outside of you gain access to your emotional repertoire and elicit so many powerful responses? The answer’s surprisingly simple. It’s because we’ve all been taught to react in this way. It’s part of our cultural heritage. It makes us more socially acceptable because we demonstrate the same kind of emotional reactions as the rest of the herd. But is it helpful for our inner peace, for our progress and our ability to influence how we think and feel? We, no it isn’t helpful at all. That’s why we need to practise the art of positive detachment.

No man is free who is not master of himself.

-?????? Epictetus

When external events trigger your emotional responses, your state of mind as well as your wellbeing are thoroughly compromised.? Since we cannot control everything that’s happening around us, we cannot entrust our peace of mind to whatever’s going on in the world. There is certainly no peace to be found outside the realm of our mental and emotional domain. And this is a good moment to ask ourselves a pertinent question:

“What difference do our reactions actually make to the situation?”

The fact is that our reactions, which may be very strong, rarely make any positive contribution to the situation. Have you noticed that? We get upset, we feel angry or stressed, and the only changes that take place are the ones inside of ourselves as we degrade the quality of our health and wellbeing and compromise our inner peace.

Indifference and detachment, however, do not involve developing a hard and callous shell.

The reason we call our new state of mind ‘Positive Indifference’ is because we wish to identify where, if possible, we can make a positive contribution. And, if we can’t do anything to help or resolve a particular problem, we need to conserve our power and resist the temptation to pour huge amounts of emotional energy into a black hole. It’s so helpful to learn to pause before reacting. Take a breath. Relax. Consider your emotional state. Are you in a position to help? Or is it more appropriate for you to play the role of detached observer?

This is a very helpful step to take on the pathway towards self-mastery. You’re challenging your conditioned behaviour. You’re reflecting on your emotional habits and this is the first step towards disarming them and choosing how you really wish to feel. This sense of distance between your inner state and the outside world serves to restore better control over your emotional reactions. It enables you to select one set of emotional responses over another. You can opt for a positive mindset and take full responsibility for how you think and feel. This may be one of the most significant steps you can take in your life.

Listen to the inner light; it will guide you. Listen to inner peace; it will feed you. Listen to inner love; it will transform you, it will divinise you, it will immortalise you.

-?????? Sri Chinmoy

Let the power of inner peace fill your heart with joy.

If you enjoy these blogs, you can imagine how much fun it is to have Greg in the room as an inspirational and highly perceptive speaker. If you’d like to invite Greg to talk to your company or organisation or event, either in person or via a live link on the Internet, feel free to get in touch.

You can contact Greg and his Team at:

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