PEACEFUL OR BORING?

DISTINCTION #9

PEACEFUL AND BORING

“Nothing can bring you peace but yourself”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

People want to be at peace; with themselves and their past, with their present and their future. They want to be at peace with their bodies, relationships, finances and career. They want to “feel” peace and “be” at peace as they experience life. Somehow, despite this desire, very few individuals would describe their lives as peaceful. Peaceful and boring go hand in hand, as peace comes from the ability to embrace what at first appears, boring. A state of mind that does not indulge in overreaction, drama, victimization or right-fighting; a calmness where pausing and breathing is the first choice. A choice demonstrating respect for self and others and although it can appear boring, it is anything but.

AT PEACE

Acceptance brings peacefulness; the ability to go with the flow, to know what you can affect and what you cannot. It is the absence of resistance and the willingness to be present with your feelings and life. Peace is available at any time. Yes, any time; not just on the so-called good, when all is right with the world, easy peasy, hunky dory, shiny and bright, good as can be days, but at all times. The opposite of a peaceful state is a resistant state, which shows up as struggle in your life, a conflict between who you want to be and what you are doing, what you wish was and what is, and how you want others to behave and how they actually do. Peacefulness is expressed as flexibility and the healthy management of one’s emotions, thoughts and actions and to be peaceful means that you know and understand how to be in your life and with your life, despite external circumstances.

WHAT A BORE...

Society has an issue with peacefulness because it is often is interpreted as boring. There is not a lot of attention or accolades showered on those who behave and live from peace, unless they are exalted saints or Buddha. There are few rewards and little recognition, at least initially, for the peaceful approach, but get worked up, externalize, vocalize and dramatize – now we are getting somewhere, now we have got a story, now people are with us and for us. The peaceful, calm and aware approach requires a shift in perspective and will not often make the water cooler discussion. Peacefulness will not add drama or fuel to your life; you will simply be about your day. This type of boring is the slow down period and may feel new and foreign and can appear to lack all the passion, excitement and energy that most people are accustomed to feeling. This type boring should not be confused with being bored with life. The difference is that true passion, energy and excitement are present with peacefulness. When you are bored with life, adrenaline and drama, exhaustion is often interpreted as passion and energy and excitement. When you choose the so-called boring response you reserve your energy and channel it into empowering thoughts and activities.


PEACE OUT

Peacefulness does not imply passivity or dull or avoiding. It is the gateway to deeper understanding and meaning. Life is always changing, dynamic and fluid and peacefulness is the dance within this movement. It means that you pause before you react, you interpret before you insist, you calm before you confront, you listen before you speak and you breathe before you act. It is within this continual choice to return to your centre, evaluate and determine your course, that the lack of drama and strife is at first felt as boring, however peacefulness is knowing you always have a choice and there is nothing boring about that.

PEACEFULNESS: A choice, a state, an awareness, respect, empowering, always present. 

BORING: A result, a stage, opportunity to reflect, self-management, restoring, ebbing and flowing.