Although frequently misquoted, Bruce Lee continues to be a source of knowledge and inspiration to many people, martial artists or not. In my opinion, one of the best quotes he’s ever come up with is, “Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one.” The lesson there is pretty simple; life isn’t MEANT to be easy. Humans, as a species, would not have evolved if life was all comfort and ease.
Finding your inner peace in the midst of modern life isn’t easy. It’s made all the more difficult through recent developments that see most families isolated inside their homes together for extended periods of time. It probably SHOULDN’T be like that, but the reality is that everyone needs a bot of time alone, sometimes. Letting your head cool and finding time to be alone and to mediate can be challenging, even frustrating. This leads to an endless cycle of frustration feeds lack of peace, lack of peace increases frustration and so on and so forth…
I’m sure you’ve heard people say that life is what you make of it. And while this is true, you need to acknowledge that your life is YOUR life and that one often needs to adapt in order to find that inner peace that is so needed to make life work. That’s why there should always be a bit of time in every day that you take for yourself. It doesn’t have to be long or measured in hours, but every member of the household should be able to enjoy a bit of solitude in order to centre themselves.
For my 5-year old son, this means sprawling in his bed with his iPad and watching Paw Patrol or Hello Ninja on repeat until he decides to go outside and try to reenact what he sees on screen. For my wife, it involves doing digital puzzles. For me, it involves finding time/space to meditate or go out on a bike ride. The bike rides have won over the most in recent weeks, especially since I’m trying to build my tolerance for long distances.
Wayne Dyer once said, “Peace is the result of retraining your mind to process life as it is, rather than what you think it should be.” If you wait until life is exactly how you want it in order to find peace, you may be surprised at how empty and shorter your life will be. Accept what is and make a point to find your own peace within your daily life. You and the people in your environment will be all the better for it. ☯
The Blogging Buddhist 