By and large, you could say that I have spent the last twenty years doing all I can to cultivate inner peace. It’s a big part of what my happiness obsession is really about: living in such a way that I feel good each day (which I aim to write about here). Obviously, feeling good each day will look different for each person. Yet for me, the idea of inner peace seems to closely harmonize with it.
For me, inner peace is about feeling calm. It’s about feeling at harmony with my life. It often involves a lot of down-time, time to myself, time to think, read, write, nap, create, teach or daydream.
The contrast I lived was far from peaceful (surprise surprise). I suppose it had to be, because it helped me get on the “Path to Personal Happiness,” a sort of customized yellow brick road for one. The yellow bricks usually lay buried under leaves and dirt sediment, and I had to stumble, trip, and get side-tracked many a time in my pursuit of my true north.
In fact, it took awhile before I started looking in earnest for what was authentically my path. Many is the time where I found myself in a briar patch, needing to retrace my steps and start over. Many are the counterfeits that glimmered and tempted me, offered up by others trying to persuade me to follow their way.
Inner peace is the result of being true to myself, of doing what I can to feel replenished, calm, and living in a way that works for me. Inner peace is Alignment.
That North Star of Happiness shines on the trail before me. As long as I stay discerning I can detect the next steps in my path, the genuine article that resonates deep inside.
Because I got a journey to take.
My own.