Having A Quiet Life Today Is Not Easy. How To Find Peace?

Nothing is more important than peace. Without it, it becomes difficult to live. But at the same time, how fragile and uncertain it presents itself. It can vanish when violence, hatred or ignorance invade the territory of coexistence. Even defining it is not easy. It derives from the word pax , which for the Romans indicated a period without warlike conflicts.

But peace is much more than the absence of war, in the same way that freedom goes beyond the fact of not being imprisoned.

Within the meaning of peace we find different levels. There is first a dimension that we could call physics, in which the absence of noise or hustle and bustle in a given place or time stands out.

We need from time to time, or for longer periods, to find an environment where calm prevails so that our body can rest and renew itself. There is also a psychological appeasement, a state that avoids or keeps mental agitation at bay that ultimately prevents clear thinking.

Finally, there is a spiritual dimension, a serene peace that reigns in the deepest part of our being, a flame that does not go out despite the winds and storms that may appear outside.

A quiet life?

Having a quiet life today is not easy. If any of our ancestors appeared in the middle of any contemporary city, the experience would be for him a mixture of surprise and horror.

Buildings where people live crowded together, pedestrians hurrying through streets full of the noise of roaring cars … What would the American writer Henry David Thoreau say to that same spectacle, who, in the non-technological 19th century, went to live in the forest because he was fed up with the contrived and unfair city life?

We have become accustomed to noise and haste, but that does not mean that our body has completely adapted. That is why we need weekends or a long vacation to escape exhausting work or the tedium of permanent dissatisfaction.

The necessary moments of peace

It is therefore convenient that at least at home we find a little peace every day, a quiet environment where we can rest and interact with family and friends. The walk on the outskirts of the town or through the quiet neighborhoods of the city, preferably with green areas, is also a way to regain a more human rhythm marked by our steps.

Regular contact with nature is essential to regain calm. New technologies force us, increasingly, on pain of becoming obsolete and marginalized, to participate in virtual activities – that is, far from our immediate reality – whose speed of execution makes us believe that we are buying time, when in reality It is not like this.

It is surprising how we indiscriminately open our consciousness to so many stimuli, images and sounds that somehow make a peaceful life difficult. Something more serious even if it is about children and adolescents who stay connected many hours a day to mobile phones, tablets or video games.

The brain needs relaxation, sleeping enough hours each day to renew and detoxify itself. Also moments of contemplative placidity so that the beta waves of ordinary activity give way to the alpha waves (8-13 Hz), with a relaxed but at the same time attentive state.

Lose fear to live in the present

Fear is one of the obstacles that prevent you from living in peace. It is a difficult drive to control. It arises from atavistic feelings that connect us with the dawn of humanity: the fear of the dark, suffering or death. The feeling of feeling vulnerable.

It is difficult for us to learn the lesson that after night dawn comes and we cling to fear of the unknown, of what the future may hold. And that restlessness precisely prevents living and enjoying the present.

As the great writer of haunting short stories Edgar Allan Poe knew, fear resides in the imagination. Like when we were children and in the darkness of the room we thought we heard mysterious noises or glimpsed ghostly shadows in the window.

You may feel fear of the past in the form of regrets, of what was done wrong. Also of the future, when we anticipate possible misfortunes. And there is the fear that an unpleasant present situation will drag on for too long.

You cannot control everything ; We intend it, because that is how we believe to eliminate the random from life, but it is impossible: it is a lesson that we must learn. That is why we live in a house that protects us from inclement weather, without thinking that some hurricane or earthquake can destroy it.

It is necessary to prevent possible events, but at the same time live with a certain unconcern. You just have to fear fear.

Every night, before we go into a good night’s sleep, we can look back on the good times we spent during the day, ask to be forgiven for what we may have done wrong with other people, and wish that tomorrow is a good day for everyone.

It is a way of keeping in mind the good of each day, not getting carried away by the negative and extending good wishes to others.

Looking for inner peace

Being happy is usually understood as a state of healthy joy. But it also means being content, staying calm even if life’s circumstances change.

If the fear mentioned above arises from the fear of not achieving what we want or of losing what we have, being happy is the best antidote to the inevitable frustrations. It consists in thinking that what happens to us now is what we have to experience.

It is not a kind of fatalism to believe that we cannot improve the situation. It is an existential pragmatism that allows us to go lighter, enjoying what we find along the way.

Know what can and cannot be changed

Wisdom consists in changing what can be changed, resigning oneself to what is hopeless and knowing how to distinguish one thing from the other. It is the conventional way of defining it.

And contentment is part of that knowing how to live without unnecessary fear. It consists of valuing what you have instead of always yearning for what you don’t have. To love and respect those that destiny has placed near us. Also appreciate the simple and free things, such as the air you breathe, the rays of the sun or a beautiful landscape.

As the poet Antonio Machado said, only “fools confuse value with price.” Another bad habit that prevents contentment is comparing ourselves with others, not being less than the other. When the truth is that each person is different and may have different tastes and values.

The Envy is the enemy of peace.

We need inner peace, and the mind is the place where a feeling of calm or restlessness is forged. As Buddha taught, “acts follow thoughts like the ox cart.” Whether we are more or less happy depends on the nature of our thoughts and desires.

Spirituality and peace

All religions seek peace, harmony between people and with oneself. Which does not mean that certain people throughout history have committed violence in his name.

If we all like peace, it is because we sense that it is the natural state of things if we stop trying to drive away its presence with our fears and negative emotions.

If we make a synthesis of the various spiritual doctrines that have existed, we distinguish three levels of being: body, soul and spirit. Material base, mental and emotional psychic individuality, and transpersonal spirit ( tamas, rajas and sattva ).

As in a spinning record, in which the speed slows down as we get closer to the central part, the soul finds peace if it orients itself or gets closer to its essence. Every spiritual path should lead to a state of greater peace and happiness. Praying or meditating are means to get away from the noise and confusion that often reigns in our periphery and thus to get closer to the inner center.

True peace is a reflection of essential unity, beyond the apparent oppositions and contradictions of multiplicity. It is unity in all things and all things in unity. As Mahatma Gandhi said: “There are no ways to peace, peace is the way.”