Why travel a thousand miles in search of inner peace

(Please note that the views mentioned in this article as well as all other articles are entirely my personal)

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The journey of search of inner peace is that of a thousand miles. But only when one has suffered the mileage under burning sun, one embarks upon the awakening that peace was always hidden inside.

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Search of inner peace is the biggest quest one undergoes in one’s life and the same is true for the leaders as well. It is the restlessness that keeps leaders going and paying the costs of leadership. The traits such as sense of urgency, dissatisfaction with the status quo, inner desire to better things, discomfort in ease etc. are basic leadership traits and these are all exhibited in search of peace.

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We all try to find peace with professional success. But the more success we have, the more restless we get. The quest for success is an example of searching peace outside and the time suffered in efforts and struggle represents mileage suffered in that search. This quest is rigorous and sometimes the mileage does reflect on the faces of the people who are struggling. In continuation of the article I published on March 12, 2022, in which we discussed the void and the importance of setting our inner self right, this article proposes that once the void is created and you have put your inner core on the right positive path to fill that void, the real struggle begins. Driven by the power of the vacuum of the void, we will do whatever we can to fill that void and generally our energies look at the outside world.

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The quest to right the world, or to achieve something meaningful, or to earn glory etc. are all examples of these energies. To this extent, this void is a great thing as this void makes us become an active agent of change. But my experience is that this void never gets filled by searching for something outside. The reason being that these struggles are driven by our emotions linked to external impact. On this path, our emotions are vulnerable to an external force, and that is exactly why we are never able to achieve inner peace. Because the basic element of achieving inner peace is when we don’t allow an external event to control our emotions. The fact that we want to fill void from an outside source makes void deeper and wilder and makes us vulnerable.

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Now the easiest and relatable reference for the above is that of falling in love (just as an easy reference so that most of us can relate to). The wisest amongst us say that only those worthy of it are made to fall in love. In that path, the void is created in you that makes you fall in deep dark well of love. This darkness is extremely torturous, painful, and full of emotional vulnerability. And the only thing a person craves for is the one s/he loves. This craving on dependence is the seed of pain as the person becomes vulnerable to the actions of the beloved. And that is why being in love is a torturous phenomenon. The saints say that love is a blessing despite the torture. I believe it is because only after undergoing extreme lengths of mental and emotional torture, the one in love is given the light that peace cannot be had this way and one has oneself to conquer. Now take a pause here and try to see your love (to a much less degree, of course) for career, progress, impact etc., in this context.

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Our love for development, impact, life improvement, professional success, and other positive energies makes us suffer miles and put our ease aside to achieve something that is more meaningful to us. It is important to mention that our lust for greed (as compared to development), power (as compared to impact), vanity (as compared to life improvement), superiority (as compared to professional success), etc. are negative energies and I don’t foresee anyone getting peace while they pursue such energies. The pursuit of development, impact (and other positive intents) is a pursuit of peace because we believe that having achieved what we wish to achieve, we will have a content life.

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But rarely we find peace in that journey. I am sure we can all see hundreds of such examples every day. It is also true that after a long journey of suffering emotionally, a few amongst us do achieve peace though many lose heart along the way. You can see this through the nostalgia when you talk to some of the great performers of their time who always remember their achievements with a sigh and not with content. So why have the journey when the peace is not guaranteed at the end of the tunnel. Is the pursuit of filling the void a useless one?

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Someone told me that the recipe for success is 99% hard work with positive energy and I agree with that. I am still testing the hypothesis as to what the traits are of the people who keep on their struggle till the time they are able to fill their void internally. But I am told that it is patience (some call it perseverance). Religions have talked about the merits and goods of patience. Perseverance is just an add-on to patience when one has positive energy and hard work to rely upon while being patient.

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In this long quest, the moment when a leader realizes that one has to be patient is a goal scored in a football game (refer to articles of March 12, 2022, and December 12, 2021). With this goal, the score in our hypothetical game between peace and void is now 1-1. In summary, post the void and the righting of inner core, it is the matter of patience and perseverance for the remaining half of our football game. During that time, the game is even, and it is only the patience and perseverance that will define who scores the next goal.

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Writing this article makes me believe that Void, Positive Core (positive energy) and then Perseverance are the logical chronological events in the life of exceptional people who may now choose to become a leader.???