In my personal life, I have found the presence of deep and profound pain to be the greatest catalyst for uncovering peace. I know in this day of age when all the talk is about creating a “happy reality that attracts happy outcomes” this idea of pain being the greatest teacher may not be a popular thought. However, my life experience has proved that I become more at peace as I embrace the pain in my life with a passion and a commitment to go deep inside and to emerge beyond it to the other side of life and love.
Pain is most often associated with a loss of someone, something or some idea that we hold dear and that we find a piece of our identity tied to. When we lose that person, job, good health or whatever it is that brings a feeling of connection or importance or belonging, we lose a part of ourselves, unless we move through the loss and beyond it to a deep abiding sense of inner peace and connection to all.
I presently have four children, and a grandchild and I have lost four other children during the course of their pregnancies. The pain of these deaths triggered a deep longing within me to find stillness, to go beyond the veil of life to the inner garden of tranquility. I found that nothing external helped with the pain of loss when the babies died. My only solace was in meditation and crying away the tears of dreams broken and shattered. I instinctively knew in my heart that healing would come if I could just be quiet enough to allow it. To cope with these losses my meditation practice became more important than anything else in my life. It gave me the energy and the comfort to move ahead with faith and hope and peace. It was my lifeline. I discovered that the more I let go and surrendered the more the pain dissolved.
Surrender often comes after one has put up a fight. We sometimes resist what we cannot change. Such as the death of a loved one or the loss of some prized possession or role in life. Pain is frequently how people come to know the grace of letting go. They learn about the sweetness of surrender and the magic of melting resistance. Pain can be the key motivator for looking within to where the peace resides.
Peace waits quietly within each of us calling us home and awaiting our return from our busyness and dreams. It is always there deep in our core. When we slow down and feel what is there and then go past the feeling into the empty space beyond we begin to remember rand know peace. We move into a consciousness of connection and all-ness. We allow our ego selves to disappear and we reclaim our essence of the Divine. The pain was our guardian guiding our way to peace.
“I am no longer trying to change outer things. They are simply a reflection. I change my inner perception and the outer reveals the beauty so long obscured by my own attitude. I concentrate on my inner vision and find my outer view transformed. I find myself attuned to the grandeur of life in unison with the perfect order of the universe." -Daily Word
