What Brings Me Peace

Did you know that you can train yourself to be at peace?  Honestly, really you can.  I've found that painting gives me peace and I'll tell you why. 

No matter who you are, I'm know you could use a bit more peace in your life. So many traumatic things are going on in the world today.  It's hard to escape the hubbub. 

I do the best I can by watching minimal news and I try to make my little corner of the world as peaceful as possible. 

But avoidance is not a total solution. The horrible truth is you can't avoid the hair pulling, mind numbing rancor altogether. 

Challenges come along in life. The world just likes to poke you all the time.

That's a stone cold fact.  

​In this context I'm thinking of peace as equanimity (mental calmness, composure, and even temper) and not the opposite of war.  

​Equanimity is one of the The Four Sublime States  in Buddhism. 

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The Four Sublime States are: 

• ​Loving Kindness
• Compassion
• Sympathetic Joy
• ​Equanimity 

​I just think that equanimity is a great concept and a cool word. Once you learn it you'll have trouble getting it out of your mind. 
​
​My brain is so often like a Super Ball bouncing off the walls.  Do you remember Super Balls?  They were really really bouncy. 

When I let my mind run amok the result is not good. 

What are the symptoms of my uneasy mind?

• Important information gets lost in my brain housing group.
• I have problems paying attention.
• Anxiousness starts to creep in.
• Separating the big stuff from the little stuff gets hard.
• My mouth tends to run like a firehose (blah blah blah blah).
• and ... I make less sense and much more noise.

The question becomes how do I bridle the beast in the dusty attic between my ears? 

You can train your mind to be peaceful

Did you know you can train your mind just like you can train a seal or a dog? 

​There's lots of information out there on that inter-web thingy.

It's like playing golf or it's like playing the guitar or it's like painting. You have to train yourself to get better.  The more you train the better you get. 

By the way - Those are three of the things that work really well for me.  Those three things bring me peace and make me centered. 

Why you ask? 

Believe it or not those things have some of the similar attributes.  

You have to engage extreme mental concentration and physical coordination at the same time.  To get in what is called a flow state you have to  quiet your mind and engage your body. 

If you want to read more on "Flow " state try looking up  Mihaly Csíkszentmihályi (pronounced:   me - high - cheek - sent - me - hi).  He's the guy that coined the term Flow with respect to peak performance. 

At first it's pretty hard work but it gets easier over time.  You learn how to quiet the mind. You learn how to coordinate the body.  You learn how to get into the extreme present to maximize your performance. 

I do, in fact, know that those things work for me.  They keep me centered when all around me is falling apart.  

• When my mother died - I went to play golf
• When I lost my job - I went to play golf
• When 9/11 happened - I went to play golf

Art works the very same way for me. 

When I'm painting I am totally involved in the process. It allows me to be centered and helps me train my mind to be peaceful.  It's almost automatic when I pick up a brush. 

I want to make world a better more peaceful place to live but I don't have control over the the whole world so I'll do my best to make my little piece of the world as peaceful as possible. 

Life is so much more agreeable when you have peace in your life. 

What works for you?

Where do you find peace? 

Comment below and let me know where your peace comes from.  I'd love to know. 

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I hope I hear from you.  

I wish you Peace.