Headspace
I enjoy taking long walks in places where there aren’t many people. I find that such places have more mental space. It’s something I’ve become aware of, and I can only compare it to a dog owner letting their dog off the leash to explore the woods! To me, this is a valuable meditative practice. When you allow your thoughts space like this, they can appear outside you rather than staying trapped in your head. When that happens, there are times of peace—times when your mind is not trying to process everything. You can even notice your thoughts in this state, just being the observer. It’s a great state to find. It’s a state where you are not using a lot of energy, but your energy is high. When you find that state, it has a rejuvenating effect on you.
Feeding the beast
Last week, as I walked along the lake shore in such a state, I realized that all these fragmented pieces of thoughts demand energy. They are energy-draining, but we can’t just forget about them. Most of them are things we consider important in our lives. Without even trying too hard, these thoughts become internalized; they become “you.” Suddenly, you find yourself emotionally invested in something so deeply that you’re willing to fight for it. You might not even be aware of it, but something is there demanding your energy, and you keep feeding it. Add in family, a mortgage, and a job, and you might find yourself without enough energy to meet demand. Your body becomes stressed trying to cope, and that’s when things go bad.
Pieces to Peace
So I wondered what I could do. Right at that moment, I didn’t feel stressed. In fact, I was exactly the same. I had all the same problems and opportunities, but I felt at peace. Why? My brain offered me a cheesy thought: “On one hand, you’ve got many pieces, and on the other, you’ve got peace.” Ha, good one. But it wasn’t wrong. The terrible pun aside, there was a truth and a lesson here. We go through cycles—stress being one end of the wave and peace being the other. Without managing this, we cause damage, and not just to ourselves. There’s a profound scalability behind this. If we, as individuals, don’t manage all our pieces, then we—the human race—won’t find peace. Bear with me. I’m aware of the desire to roll your eyes here. I had to debate with myself to even write about this. But I decided it’s worth it—here’s why.
World peace is only achievable through individual peace. We’re taught that it’s through consensus, agreement, and, more recently, through diversity, equality, and inclusion. But it’s not. The reason we know it’s not is war. What we’re taught to believe isn’t working. The fluffy ideas don’t work. What will work is individual peace multiplied. If enough people just look after their individual peace, then the cumulative effect will be world-changing.
So what to do?
Here’s my self talk: This is very easy. You don’t need to be Buddha or Jesus or any other savior spreading the word. In fact, ignore everyone else and just do you. It’s easier to tell everyone else they’re wrong, isn’t it? But doing you is hard. So don’t make it hard, start by noticing. When you feel stressed—in pieces, with lots of fragmented thoughts—that’s your signal to act. You’re at the top of the wave, the stress wave. You’re contributing to it, and it, too, has a cumulative effect that can become a tsunami engulfing the world.
How about this? If you’re feeling stressed, take a walk, a run, a swim, meditate—whatever your thing is. Put your thoughts and beliefs outside yourself for a few minutes. Stop shouting, stop being angry. Put your thing on ice for five minutes. I don’t care if it’s climate change, religion, politics, or whatever you’re shouting about. Just zip it for five minutes. Please—for the world. Ok? Now just calmly take a breath. Manage your peace often, It won’t take many of us to have a large effect, I’m certain the upside will be wonderful.
