Happiness is… peace! inner peace! world peace!

larees24
Oct 2, 2021
3 min read

Updated: Oct 3, 2021

On this day, Oct. 2, every year, the world celebrates and honours the beautiful legacy of a soul, who was a true champion and strong advocate of peace and non-violence – Mahatma Gandhi.

Growing up, when I learned about him in school, my own sense of quiet, peace, fairness, integrity, non-violence, was strongly inspired and influenced, by these values that his life represented.

Eleanor Roosevelt said “It isn’t enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn’t enough to believe in it. One must work at it.”

And Gandhiji’s life, truly reflects this quiet fortitude of peace, its power to transform, not just one soul, but, the whole of humanity. He actively preached about it, and lived it, in action. He led by example, and led with love, peace and integrity! Something every leader and influencer, in fact, all of us could learn!

Many of us wonder if global peace can be achieved? Many have declared it unattainable, and have given up on it!

Gandhiji, said "Peace is its own reward. Each one has to find his peace from within. And for peace to be real, it must be unaffected by outside circumstances. The day the power of love overrules the love of power, the world will know peace. If you want real peace in the world, start with children."

So, World Peace is dependent on our Inner Peace!!! How can world peace become a reality, if we as individuals, and as a collective, haven’t got a handle on our own inner peace! Huh…No wonder it is such a Challenge!!!

Volumes have been written about ‘Peace’, simply, because, at a soul level, we all yearn for it. Love and Peace ARE the true nature of the soul! A peaceful soul is capable of profound love, and a loving soul is innately at peace! It’s like the two cannot exist without the other.

Throughout our life, through our experiences, especially the challenging ones, we soul-search for this ‘Inner Peace’, that nudges us on an inner journey of self-discovery, and grows us into who we truly are.

When we experience inner peace, even in fleeting moments, something within us, shifts, and transforms not just our inner world, but, the world around us, as well.

Perhaps, the expectation of world peace may seem overwhelming and daunting, but, in contrast, inner peace, is well within our reach.

That would mean, if each one of us, takes responsibility for our own inner peace, the world stands to automatically transform!

Besides, isn’t our inner peace, our responsibility anyways, so world peace then, would be a happy by-product, along the way!

Such power for change, we hold within us! Happy are those who realise this, and use it wisely, for the greater good of all! Gandhiji definitely realised this, and played his role gracefully! Bless his beautiful soul!

SoulNotes to Self: Happiness is…INNER PEACE!

I have realised, peace begins with me! My outer world is a mere reflection of my inner world. If I can find peace within, my outer world will reflect the same peace, because ‘as within, so without, as above, so below.'

My daily zen reflection…I am at peace with myself, and with everything and everyone around me! I consciously choose love, compassion and peace.

Some of my favourite quotes on peace, that aid my reflections are…

• “Peace is a journey of a thousand miles and it must be taken one step at a time.” —Lyndon B. Johnson

• “Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.” —Albert Einstein

• “When you make peace with yourself, you make peace with the world.” —Maha Ghosananda

• “We don’t realize that, somewhere within us all, there does exist a supreme self who is eternally at peace.” —Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love

• “You find peace not by rearranging the circumstances of your life, but by realizing who you are at the deepest level.” —Eckhart Tolle

• “Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures.” —John F. Kennedy

• “Nobody can bring you peace but yourself.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson

Love, from my soul to yours!

Soulful

Michael Jackson's 'Heal the world' invokes in us, a yearning for peace, within us, that can heal our life and our world.