Hold On To Your Inner Peace

One must never allow anyone or anything to steal your peace. However, while it may be easy to agree to this motto in principle, it is not always so simple to implement it. What does it really mean to deeply feel one’s peace and fully exercise your freedom to shield and protect it?

There are so many ways that our peace can be ‘stolen.’ Some causes are external, or appear to be, when outward events and behaviors of others disrupt our peace. But the real steal always happens within. And it only happens when you surrender it to the situation or allow others to take to from you.

It does not matter what the external situation is, or what the words and actions of others may be, giving away or handing over your peace rests solely in your own heart, mind, and personal choices. So, does protecting your peace.

The soul is by nature peaceful. Identifying yourself as the eternal soul or spirit, not the temporary body or mind, anchors you in that peace. When something unsettling in this world arises, reminding yourself who you truly are spiritually will help you reconnect with your inherent state of inner peace.

Our spiritual sense of self-identity can further be strengthened by our daily spiritual practice and by studying the characteristics of the eternal soul. In the Hindu scripture Bhagavad Gita, for example, Krishna describes the soul as indestructible, imperishable, and immeasurable. It is unborn, ever-existing, immutable, unchanging, and everlasting.

Furthermore, the Bhagavad Gita identifies the soul as an infinitesimal spark of energy emanating from the infinite Supreme Person, who is the source of all material and spiritual worlds. Different energies of this Supreme Divine Being are detailed in different categories as internal, external, and marginal.

We don’t realize that, somewhere within us all, there does exist a supreme self who is eternally at peace ~ Elizabeth Gilbert

Krishna notes that the soul is conscious, sentient, eternal, and imbued with wisdom, bliss, and individual personality and thus superior to mere matter. Yet the soul is counted as a marginal potency on account of it being susceptible to come under the influence of either material or spiritual energies. Herein lies your free will to choose which energies you wish to associate and identify with.

Like a spark to a fire, the closer the soul stays to the Supreme Soul, the more ignited it remains with its original qualities – inner peace included.

To choose peace, Krishna offers in the Bhagavad Gita (Chapter 5) this formula:

A person in full consciousness of Me, knowing Me to be the ultimate beneficiary of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all planets and demigods, and the benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities, attains peace from the pangs of material miseries.

This mindfulness of Divinity as the enjoyer of all acts, the controller of everything, and the well-wisher of everyone effectively sustains and quickly restores peace inwardly and interpersonally when needed, as it focuses on one central interest, without conflict or clashing.

He whose peace is not shaken by others, and before whom other people find peace, beyond excitement and anger and fear — he is dear to me ~ Shri Krishna

Cultivating and applying spiritual knowledge as this protects your intelligence from being stolen by illusion and thrust into unpeaceful thoughts and feelings. Whenever such disruption occurs, bring the mind back under the control of the higher self. That is the Divine guidance of the Gita.

When you hold on to your true soul self in relation to the whole spiritual truth, you inherently hold onto your peace, no matter what.