Here’s how to find inner peace.

“Leave your front door and your back door open.
Allow your thoughts to come and go.
Just don’t serve them tea.” — Shunryu Suzuki

Whenever I offer meditation taster sessions to the public, it never ceases to amaze me how often people who have never meditated before often experience profound peace the first time they try it.

Even people who are deeply unhappy are able to experience peace and inner calm the very first time they meditate.

Why is this?

It is because, whatever your mind may tell you, peace is your true nature.

It is always present within you but most of the time, you are too absorbed in the activity of the mind to notice.

Your peace is hidden in plain view, just like the screen in the movie theatre.

Before the movie begins, the screen is clearly visible. Once the film starts, however, you get caught up in the excitement and drama of the movie and don’t notice the screen any more.

It doesn’t change or go anywhere. You are still looking right at it. You simply don’t notice it while the movie is playing.

And, just like the screen, the backdrop of peace is present within you the whole time but your attention is captivated by the flickering images of the mind—the thoughts, the feelings and the emotions that are constantly coming and going.

Meditation is a technique to help keep your attention anchored in the here and now—to keep your attention on the screen.

You don’t have to look for peace. You don’t have to fix or change anything.

There are only two places your attention can be. You can either be present in the moment or you can be thinking.

Peace is the natural consequence of being present.

Whatever the mind may tell you, there is no distance between you and peace, between you and love, between you and happiness.

Peace is ever-present within you, even if you don’t feel it right now.

Unhappiness exists in the form of thoughts alone. When you are fully attentive to the present moment, thinking ceases. And, in the absence of thinking, what remains is peace.

Of course, most people will pick up their unhappy story again the moment they stop meditating but, nevertheless, it’s quite revealing that they were able to be free of suffering for even a short time.

With practice, anyone can learn to deepen and extend these moments of peace.

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Tired of the mindless chatter in your head wrecking your peace? Work closely with me in a small group, following a simple step-by-step pathway to peace and inner freedom. The peace you seek is already present within you right now… just as you are. I can help you find it. 

Peace As An Emotion vs The Peace That You Are

If you search online for articles and blog posts on finding inner peace, most of them refer to the experience of peace… the feeling of peace that comes and goes— not the eternal state of peace that is inseparable from who you are.

And, by the way, the natural state of peace I’m referring to is not some strange, mystical, ‘woo woo’ altered state that’s only accessible to highly evolved yogis or gurus.

It is not some elevated state of consciousness that is attained only after years of gruelling austerities and spiritual practice.

It’s who you are right now in this very moment, regardless of how screwed up or far removed you believe yourself to be… and I’ll bet you already experience it way more than you realise.

The paradox is that it’s so simple, so intimately familiar, that we overlook it—just like the screen at the cinema.

The peace of your true nature is staring you in the face but you are looking the other way.

We are looking for some big deal when the answer is really simple.

Searching For Inner Peace On The Level Of The Mind

Don’t be a peaceful person. Be peace. — Papaji

I believe that, consciously or unconsciously, we all know that we’re far greater than we are taking ourselves to be.

This intuitive knowingness manifests as a persistent itch that never goes away—a sense of ‘something missing’, a desire to ‘come home.’ It keeps us searching and prevents us from ever being able to rest fully.

I love the above quote from Papaji, “Don’t be a peaceful person. Be peace.”

Of course, there’s a lot we can do to experience more inner peace on the level of the mind, on the level of the person.

Here’s a list from a post I wrote: “Finding Inner Peace: 7 Things You Can Start Doing Today.”

• accept yourself unconditionally
• don’t resist what life brings
• learn how to deal with overthinking
• spend more time in the present moment
• spend more time in nature
• live simple, slowly and mindfully
• look for the good in everything
• engage in a daily spiritual practice

But the truth is, we’ll never be completely at peace until we discover and reconnect with our authentic Self, with the wellspring of peace within.

So how to do that?

You’re Not Your Thoughts, Feelings Or Emotions

“Leave your front door and your back door open.
Allow your thoughts to come and go.
Just don’t serve them tea”. — Shunryu Suzuki

True peace comes, not from having peaceful thoughts, feelings and emotions but from realising that (as the Sufi poet Rumi, so beautifully suggests in his well-known poem, the Guest House) they are simply visitors that enter your awareness, linger for a moment and leave again.

They are not who YOU are. You are the screen, the backdrop, the unchanging awareness.

You are the Guest House. Peace, agitation, happiness, sadness, bliss, despair are all visitors that show up at the door uninvited, looking for a room. You don’t have to entertain them.

If you leave them alone, they have no power to affect your peace.

The key to lasting peace is not to change or fix your thoughts (they are self-arising and beyond your control anyway) but to change how you relate to them.

As Shinryu Suzuki suggests, “Allow them to come and go. Just don’t serve them tea (don’t engage with them).

Or, as Rumi puts it, “The dark thought, the shame, the malice; meet them all at the door laughing and invite them in.

Thoughts, feelings and emotions will only affect your peace if you take them personally— if you identify with them and take them to be who you are.

I’ll end with a quote from my book “Kick The Thinking Habit.”

If you’d like some personal guidance to achieve more inner peace, click on the link below to schedule a FREE coaching session. No strings attached!