Choosing Inner Peace

This is it: a glorious, hot, sunny day; awake but not ready to go anywhere; is this not paradise? Why question such perfection for not fitting the mould of convention and expectation, for to do so surely destroys the joy in the moment, the realisation that everything is perfect if you let it be? Nothing is wrong; there are just temporary distortions and complications that mould our character but beyond that there is no purpose in resisting the inevitable. Just let it happen with curiosity as to what benefits it will bring your future life, if they cannot be seen already.

This natural state of acceptance and surrender allows me to soak up the morning light and take in the peaceful air that surrounds me this Monday morning. When I stop to notice, it is peaceful and the peace pervades me too, no longer wrestling with the thoughts and doubts to which I arose only to be distracted by shallow fantasies to avoid the pain and boredom.

Now I am free to enter whatever state of awareness I choose for my day and I choose eclectic calm, calm drawn from many sources: the early morning air, the sunshine, the trees in the inner courtyard, the birds singing, almost chanting, the slight clatter of dishes as the restaurant next door prepares for the day ahead, hopeful of more custom in these quiet times. As I look around me, becoming present to the many potential sources of peace and calm around me, I see the list is actually unlimited as I extend my awareness to the bright green new leaves on the trees, to the flowers, to the large colourful fish in the pond below, to the many people also beginning their day, their week, uncertain of what it will bring, perhaps wishing for fun and happiness, perhaps anxious and fearful of the challenges ahead. But for me, breathing deeply as I drink up the calm, the anxieties ebb and leave the mental beauty equivalent to the near-perfect smoothness of a white sandy beach as the latest tide withdraws.

This, then, is a lucky state of mind for a Monday morning, one that sets a happy tone for the day and week ahead. The choice is mine as to whether it continues or I let the noises of life break the inner peace like a delicate glass dropped to the floor by careless hands. I now make the obvious choice and patiently wait to see what the day actually brings.