Monday, March 14, 2011

Tiny Wisdom: On Giving Peace Away


“If you wish to experience peace, provide peace for another.” -Dalai Lama
Most of the time when I feel overwhelmed, stressed, frustrated, or angry,
it’s because I’m obsessing about my circumstances–
everything that feels unfair or insurmountable and all the ways I feel powerless
to change them.

In this state of mind, I inevitably stress other people out,
whether I talk about my challenges or not.

It’s there, spoken or unsaid. It gets in the way of my ability to really be present
with the people I love, and it affects their state of mind.

I’ve realized that the surest path to feeling more peace is recognizing
when I’m challenging other people’s–when I’m drowning my interactions
with my personal struggles instead of creating a positive space for myself
and the people I encounter.

We’ll always have problems in life, and if we’re not careful, they can suffocate
our relationships.

Today if you feel burdened by your struggles, realize that stressing
won’t create solutions–it will just create more problems, for you and others.

The alternative is to breathe–
to value collective peace in the present more than individual control over the future.

Ironically, this often makes it a lot easier to identify solutions.

~  Lori Deschene
Buddha under the tree

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