By Nancy Rynes, author of Awakenings from the Light
All content copyright Nancy Rynes
This is the first installment of Simply Peace and Joy.
Peace isn’t something we find as if it were a beautiful shell laying on a beach. It is something we choose to create, every moment of every day.
Let’s start off with a short thought exercise. I know, I know, I’m not supposed to be testing you before you even begin to read the series, but please humor me. Taking time to think about these questions will help you begin the process of figuring out how peaceful and joyful your life is right now. It helps to know your starting point and what you want to aim for so that you can evaluate if your efforts are getting you where you want to go.
Take a few moments to contemplate your answers to these questions (I suggest writing down your answers in a journal or a computer file, just to gauge your progress later):
1. What does the word “peace” mean to you?
2. What does the word “joy” mean to you?
3. Do you have either of them in your life now?
4. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the most at peace or the most joyful you have ever felt, rate your level of each right now.
5. What would your life be like if you achieved the peace and joy in your life that you desire?
6. Do you have an idea of how to get there?
OK, now that you've thought through what peace and joy mean for you, let’s try to define both of these words together before we go too much further. I want us to have a similar understanding before we get into the main part of this series.
The dictionary devotes a lot of space to peace being the avoidance of war or conflict with others. But if we keep reading, eventually it leads us to other definitions which include serenity, silence, stillness, and freedom of the mind from negative mental states. It’s these later definitions on which we will focus in this series. Why? In order for our planet to be without wars or conflicts, more of us will need to cultivate that sense of inner serenity and freedom from negative mental and emotional states.
Real, lasting peace is more than simply avoiding acts of violence against others. True peace starts at home, in your heart. It begins as an inside job, something you work toward in your own life, mind, and heart. This is inner peace, and that will be one of the two things on which I will focus in this series.
Let’s consider joy next.
Honestly, the dictionary definition of joy is even more off-the-mark in my opinion. It’s all about pleasure, glad feelings, happiness, and delight. But to me, joy means something much deeper and more lasting. True joy comes as a result of positive choices you make, how you live your life, who you choose to spend time with, your attitude about events that happen, and from focusing on the positive things in your life through practices such as gratitude. It’s not dependent on external influences, but rather is a natural result of taking a more conscious, grateful, and awakened approach to living your life.
By cultivating deep joy, the storms of life may come and go but your essence, your core self, remains calm and unfazed because it is focused on more meaningful, deeper, positive states of being. (I have written about joy previously, here and here.)
I think you can see the connection on which I will focus in this series: both peace and joy are inside jobs. They are not something you acquire from an external source, like you would pick up a shell on a beach. This kind of peace and joy starts with you. No amount of national ambassadors can come together and negotiate this kind of peace on your behalf. Just receiving fun gifts from someone else, buying the latest gadget, or watching comedy movies will not bring you that deep, lasting sense of joy either (even though all can be fun in the moment).
You first have to desire both peace and joy for yourself, then make a choice to create them consciously, and finally start taking steps to cultivate them.
The peace and joy I want to help you cultivate for yourself is a state of inner serenity, strength, knowing and trusting that you can handle anything that comes your way. Real peace and joy bring freedom from worry, fear, regret, anxiety, hatred, anger, and distraction or obsession. Being grounded in the present moment (peaceful presence) is one of the key components to cultivating this more positive state of living.
How do we cultivate them?
That will be our focus in this series.
In this series, I focus on what I have done to create a state of joyful, peaceful presence for myself. There are many paths to achieving joy and inner serenity — mine is but one. My goal for you is to keep the process simple yet effective, but still enjoyable (most of the time). After all, I was raised as a farm girl in the midwestern USA and I’m all about keeping things as simple and straightforward as possible. Simple doesn’t necessarily mean “easy” though, so you may be challenged in a good way by some of the material or practices.
I hope you join me as we explore cultivating peace and joy in our lives.
Blessings,
Nancy
Archive: Past Newsletter Issues
TODAY Show: Nancy's Interview on NBC TV's TODAY
Messages of Hope with Suzanne Giesemann: Exploring NDEs with Nancy Rynes
Article: Seven Lessons That Dying Taught Me About Truly Living (Aspire Magazine)
Article: Lives Changed by NDEs (Boulder Daily Camera)
Article: Awakening to Life(Pages 6-10, Journal of Exceptional Experiences and Psychology, Summer 2016)
Article: The Meaning of Life (Excellence Reporter)
Simply Peace Part 1
Simply Peace Part 2
Downloadable, Audio-only versions of the webinar are available on my SoundCloud site: https://soundcloud.com/nancy-rynes
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