A Piece of Peace: Part One
- Amy M. Toney
- Oct 18, 2023
- 6 min read
Updated: Mar 2, 2024
In times when you feel relatively powerless in the world, there are steps you can take to reclaim your personal power, steps you can take to pass through suffering on the path to joy and compassion, and steps you can take to find a piece of peace within. Included are five ways to find inner peace and even cultivate peace in the world. You do not need to adopt all five listed though I recommend practicing the first two and then pairing these with any of the others that resonate with you.
1- Non-peace to Peace
According to Spiritual Teacher and Author, Eckhart Tolle (2001), when you look for peace or any other state other than the one you are in now it will create inner conflict and unconscious resistance: “Don’t look for peace. Don’t look for any state than the one you are in now; otherwise, you will set up inner conflict and unconscious resistance. Forgive yourself for not being at peace. The moment you completely accept your non-peace, your non-peace becomes transmuted into peace. Anything you accept fully will get you there, will take you into peace. This is the miracle of surrender. When you accept what is, every moment is the best moment.”
Does this mean you should accept a life situation that is undesirable or unpleasant should you find yourself in one? Tolle shares: “...recognize fully that you want to get out of [the undesirable or unpleasant life situation]. You then narrow your attention down to the present moment without mentally labeling in any way. This means there is no judgment of the now. Therefore, there is no resistance, no emotional negativity. You accept the ‘isness’ of this moment. Then you take action and do all that you can to get out of the situation…When you say no to a person or a situation, let it come not from reaction but from insight, from a clear realization of what is right or not right for you at that moment. Let it be a nonreactive ‘no’ a high-quality no a no that is free of all negativity and so creates no further suffering.”
2- Release the Need to Be Right and Become the Awareness Outside of Thought
Whether it be personal relationships, marriages, or war there can be an entrenchment and an ongoing need to be right with an inability to: “rise above polarities, and say, here's this perspective which is [mine or] ours, and I can also see the other perspective which is yours (Tolle, n.d.).”
When there is this ongoing need to be right and entrenchment whether by individuals or collectives: “What that really ultimately means is they are identified with the thinking. They have not stepped out of the structure of thought—their mental position, their thought position. The way out of the madness is to recognize thought as just thought. To see your own stream of thinking, to see that no thought can encapsulate the entire truth in any situation. You have to step out of thought to see that. To become the awareness outside of thought (Tolle, n.d.).”
3- Gratitude
This may seem like an overused suggestion in the self-care, personal development space. However, there is a reason for it. Being grateful helps us to weaken negative thoughts and experience greater joy and compassion. When you grow your gratitude, it spreads to others as well. Professor and researcher, Brene Brown (2019), has shared that no matter the trauma someone has experienced and is recovering from, they have said: “When you are grateful for what you have, I understand that you understand the magnitude of what I’ve lost.”
Gratitude begets gratitude and increases growth in joy and compassion and a more peaceful space.
Do what feels best for you when it comes to your own gratitude practice. For some this may look like a daily practice and for others this may look like a weekly practice. Perhaps it’s an in the moment practice throughout the day, week, or month. Keep it fresh and change it up in whatever way is best for you. Either write down, contemplate, or share with someone something for which you are grateful. In my own gratitude practice I like to think of three things I am grateful for when I catch my thoughts and mental state veering into a negative spiral.
It’s also a helpful technique in parenting. When my kiddo is in a state of inner resistance and conflict on a frustration from the day, I listen to and acknowledge the frustration. After a few rounds of listening and acknowledging I ask: “What is something that happened today for which you are grateful?” It can take a bit, but he always comes up with something and it absolutely helps to turn his thoughts and feelings to a more peaceful space.
4- Intercepting: A Present, Focused Mind
In a similar way that gratitude can thwart a negative thought spiral in its tracks, mental intercepting practices can help you to focus the mind in the present moment. The 14th Dalai Lama has shared that a scattered mind equals distraction which equals counterproductive emotions and leads to trouble. He has said: “Improvements are made in the mind by changing how you think, transforming your outlook through analysis and focus.”
Positive Intelligence founder, Shirzad Chamine (n.d.), recommends doing positive intelligence reps as a way to intercept sabotaging thoughts and enter more into your space of wisdom. A positive intelligence rep is a 10-second hyper-focus on one of your senses. For example, your sense of touch. Take two fingers and rub them together. Take your time, go slow. Notice all the sensations from rubbing these two fingers together. Can you feel the temperature being generated? Can you feel the ridges on your fingertips? Now expand to both hands touching with all fingers and palms together noticing the ridges, grooves, and temperature generated from this physical touch rep. You can do this for varying lengths of time from two to twelve minutes. I like two-minutes of reps, personally. This can be a helpful in-the-moment technique to use while in a meeting, in a challenging discussion, or in any situation where stepping away for say a quiet meditation may not be possible. It’s a helpful way to rise above the fray and welcome in some positive mental presence and peace.
5- Extend Peace to Find Peace
As Archbishop Desmond Tutu (2021) said, ask yourself:
“How can I help to spread compassion and love?”
Accept it your mission to extend peace. By manifesting and creating peace you will then witness peace. Perhaps this is in your chosen words free of condemnation. Perhaps this is in helping someone in need. Perhaps this is smiling and smiling towards another. Perhaps this is seeing someone from a new perspective - a perspective you may have never considered before. Perhaps it is forgiving those you have yet to forgive. How can you manifest peace? How can you help spread compassion and love?
Again, start with practicing the first two ways of finding peace: Non-peace to Peace and Release the Need to Be Right and Become the Awareness Outside of Thought. From there, pair with any of these other ways of peace cultivation to cultivate a piece of inner peace and help manifest and spread a piece of peace in the world.
This is the first part of a two-part series on finding a piece of peace.
May you, may all of us, find peace 🕊️
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Step into your personal power, hear your inner wisdom, discover clarity, and live life true to YOU 💖
Harmoniously Herself™ Transformational Coaching by Amy M. Toney International is here to support conscious clarity for women empowering compassion, love, clarity, self-belonging, self-discovery, self-confidence, self-worth, and self-illumination 💖
Caring deeply about supporting YOU in finding clarity, living life true to YOU, shining YOUR one-of-a-kind light, and welcoming positive ripple effects across YOUR life and being, Amy's unique and transformational approach bridges practical life coaching with higher consciousness coaching...
References
Brown, B (Writer). Restrepo, S. (Director). (2019). Brene Brown: The Call to Courage. Netflix.
www.netflix.com
Chamine, S. (n.d.). Positive Intelligence. positiveintelligence.com.
Tolle, E. (2001). Practicing the Power of Now. Novato, CA: New World Library.
Tolle, E. (n.d.). Part 3 of an interview with Eckhart Tolle conducted by Josh Max at the Omega Institute.
Understanding Terrorism. Retrieved October 18, 2023, from https://tolleteachings.com/eckhart-
tolle-interview-part-3-terrorism.html.
Callahan, P., & Psihoyos, L. (Directors). (2021). Mission: Joy - Finding Happiness in Troubled
Times [Film]. Voices4Freedom, The Film Collaborative, John Templeton Foundation,
Artemis Rising Foundation, and Diamond Docs.
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