Being at peace is not about being passive. It's about the still centre that helps us know where and how we might best contribute. It's about the inner quiet that helps us be responsive instead of reactive. It's about the balance within that is needed for sustained participation and contribution. It's letting our heart break watching news of violence, and still staying engaged.
Being at peace helps us work with others without the kind of white knuckle attachment that leaves us hopeless and helpless when things don't work out as we'd hoped.
Why would it take courage to be at peace? Because it means we will see and feel it all: the compassion and the cruelty, the hope and the despair. Being at peace is about not being distracted, is about being fully present where the winds of all that is beyond our control- sometimes light breezes and at other times a tsunami- are felt.
And that takes courage. May we have the courage to be at peace. ~Oriah
When I saw this photo from Karen Davis Open Door Dreaming I smiled and felt the stillness of this egret in my own body.
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Love this post. I remember seeing a documentary about queen Elizabeth of the UK. Her 'houndsman' (can't remember the correct title, he was the boss of all her stables, horses and livestock). He said the queen showed equanimity, by taking the highs (such as a horse that won at a race) and the lows (such as the outbreak of a contagious illness amongst her sheep) with EQUAL GRACE.
ReplyDeleteMy intention is to develop that - equal grace in highs and lows.
Love you Oriah,
Elsewhere from Amsterdam
Hi Oriah Ive just heard about you and I already enjoy your refreshing words, giving me strength at a time I desperately need this. Thank you. I am from Kenora in northern Ontario, and I'm very curious where it was in the area you spent time?
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