Sunday, November 28, 2010

Finding Peace Amidst Chaos

For over a week now I've been trying to write something about finding peace during this time of year and holding on to it throughout the year.  Everything I have written doesn't have the essence of what I'm really trying to get across.

For me, peace is a matter of finding the beauty in everyone, everything and every situation - finding the silver lining I guess.  It's more than just seeing the good, but a matter of internalizing that beauty into an unbelievable feeling of awe and wonderment of how we can be so blessed to experience such a wonderful thing.  Why limit this feeling to only those big things in life?  Why not find awe and wonderment in the joyful noise of children playing, someone letting you go ahead of them in line at the grocery store, or there simply being a pretty day.

When we don't take the time to find the beauty in things, it's hard to keep sight of what's important.  There are so many moments throughout the day we can be part of this - joining in a child's joyful noise just to see their happiness and what is more important, the fact dinner is 10 minutes later and maybe a little overcooked or that time for shared joy and bonding with your child.  What about letting someone go in front of you at the store just to see them smile.  Then maybe you are a few minutes later getting out to your car, but you made someone else happy.

I started coming to these realizations years ago.  We went through 3 years of having three children in the ICU four times, 2 were not supposed to make it and one was supposed to be in a vegetative state the rest of his life.  Then we lived with our one son being diagnosed with a terminal condition for two years before new research pointed to a different diagnosis.  Those events taught me that no matter how bad things seemed, there was always something good.  Most of all, they taught me that peace has a an equal partner and that is acceptance.  If we accept what is negative in our lives instead of fighting all that is bad, we save our energies to see what is good.  With the clearer realization of what is negative we are able to think more clearly in order to deal with it.

My favorite quote is Peace ~ It does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble or hard work. It means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart.  Please carry peace with you throughout the year and find joy and beauty every step of your life.

No comments:

Post a Comment