paris/peace

 

By Gerry Ellen

 

I sit here with a heart exploding with love.

I sit here wondering how to put into words what I feel when I remain quiet and full of breath. I sit here in solitude, the birds singing, the sun rising, the teapot warming up and the air so fresh and open. I sit here and realize that none of this has anything to do with me.

Peace is not about me.

Peace is within me. Peace is a practice. Peace is the haven by which we crave every second of each day. Peace thrives in places where conflict is unheard of and understood to be the opposite of where we go as human beings. Peace is nature. Peace is our soul. Peace is a smile unfiltered by the mask of hate. Peace is in each and every one of us.

So what will come of this attainment to forge our fears and become more universal in our quest for inner peace? As of late, there is truly no answer. I have no clue. We each rise to our roles in society and make the best of who we are with the passions that drive us to be pure human beings. It always comes at a cost—a price to pay, so to speak—to live in peace. We can attend workshops and churches and retreats that cater to achieving peace and its purpose, yet can we absorb the teachings and make them our own?

Artists, musicians, diplomats and spiritually enlightened gurus walk the earth with messages of peace and hope. We pay attention and yearn to remain in wonder, similar to a child taking its’ first steps in this world. What has become of our earth is a grave confusion on how vital even five minutes of inner peace and contentment have become. As we bustle around, doing our lives and watching in horror the unfolding of violence in places we can’t imagine, we begin to pray.

We pray and offer and breathe and cry.

Yet why aren’t we doing this all along, every single day, and living in that state of enrichment and bliss? Has too much fear and judgment swayed our thinking to believe that we don’t deserve to experience a solid stance of honoring peace within? I ask because I’m as curious as anyone on how we can allow too much negativity to engulf our beings and not be willing to embrace the love and peace that is our birthright.

The sensitivity and compassion we entrust in ourselves to share with each other is reaching wide corners of this earth. Feeling empathy for the slightest wrongdoing to mankind or our creatures is amplified right now. Tragedy only adds to the spotlight of what we inherently feel every time we open our social media sites, or turn on the news, or in conversation with friends and family.

We are so emotionally human that our hearts get turned upside down and inside out with the very sight and thought of violence.

It’s a beautiful thing to have our bodies respond in ways that drive our actions to do good deeds of service, yet there are those who are uncaring and hurtful and mindfully unaware. They are the souls who are in desperate need of the deep breath and deep understanding of a peaceful state. How can we transcend this exhilarating state of drama and conflict to one of an inner grounded state and contentment of our spirit?

It takes a village it seems.

If we were to rise every morning with the sole intention of having a peaceful heart, we might start an avalanche of collective consciousness that is driven more by this calm sense of being versus a world riddled with fear and hate.

But then again, what do I know? I sit here with hope. I sit here with a solid manifestation of some desperate changes that will take over our evolution. I sit here knowing that on the opposite side of the world, people are in pain and suffering. I sit here grateful for how often we come together in times of need.

I sit here and I am peaceful for many moments, and I extend that as best I can to create some sort of change at a rooted level. Every human has that power within them, and my greatest wish is that we can rise up, stand together, drop all the partisan crap, and be a universally connected world.

It may come at a cost, but one in which I believe we are ready for.

 

Photo: (source)

Editor: Dana Gornall

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