Three paths that independently lead to peace

When we find ourselves on an inner journey, looking to arrive at a peaceful place, we tend to follow a particular path or teaching or teacher. Now what is remarkable in our space is that we can arrive where we want to be by studying teachings that may not even overlap. It’s as if there were several principally different ways to grow an apple tree. 

If you’ve felt stuck or if you’re simply curious about the different focus of various schools of thought, here are three ways that can be really helpful to know about as well as tips for where you can learn more if one resonates with you. 

Presence

Have you heard that there’s no other time than the present moment? Have you reflected upon the fact that the past doesn’t exist and that the idea of a future is an imagination?

Here’s the thing, if we were not afraid of how we would feel in a different moment, there would be no internal struggles. ​

Whatever we struggle with, panic attacks, OCD, insomnia or anything else, we can see that we are still alive and breathing any given second. But we can become afraid of what will happen in the next. 

We can be afraid of something we think will happen shortly or how we will feel tomorrow or at some other point in the future. 

Seeing this, we can also see that if we live in the present moment, and see that all time is simply the present moment, then we wouldn’t be scared. If we considered the future and the past mere illusions and the present moment the only one that will ever exist, a moment in which we are safe, there would be no inner struggles. 

If you’d like to learn more about this way, then a great place to start would be to read The power of now by Eckhart Tolle.

Effortlessness

Just as inner struggles wouldn’t exist if there wasn’t a sense of future danger, they wouldn’t exist if we weren’t trying to escape this imagined danger. Because it is the attempts to get away from inner threats like our thoughts or our emotions that maintain the illusion that we indeed are in danger. 

In other words, if we were not deploying effort to get away, to escape, then struggles like the ones we mentioned above wouldn’t be sustained.

This is why effortlessness, just like presence, can lead us to a peaceful place. 

If this is something you’d like to learn more about, you can start by reading The effortless sleep method by Sasha Stephens. Although focused on insomnia, her insights can be applied to any inner conflict we can find ourselves engaged in. 

Kindness

We have seen that inner struggles cannot exist without belief in a moment other than the presence and without effort to escape an imagined danger. Now here’s something else that they cannot exist without: self criticism.

Even if we were scared of a future event and exerted effort to escape this fear, we wouldn’t struggle if we weren’t judging ourselves for it. If we were kind to ourselves regardless of what we did, thought or experienced, then there would be no pressure for us to change anything about ourselves.

The friction between how we think of ourselves and the person we “should” be is also required for struggles to keep going. Because if we accept ourselves as we are, no matter what we feel or think, if we deploy self-compassion and self-love regardless of the circumstances, then this would result in inner peace. 

If you’d like to learn more about this way, a wonderful place to learn is the work of Pema Chödrön. Perhaps you want to start with her book Start where you are

Have you read any of these books? Do you find a common denominator that unites these three ways? Let’s discuss in the comments!

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