Being at peace

Being At Peace

Just for Today I want to be at Peace. I want to feel that long needed, soothing inner peace inside my soul, inside my bones.

Just for Today I want to be at Peace. Even if it means giving up a few things:
Even if it means giving up those little private conversations I have with myself about other people’s driving behaviour. Even if it means letting go of a ripe opportunity to judge their selfish driving habits, and even if it means passing up the opportunity to remind myself of how just my values are compared to theirs.

Just For Today I want to be at Peace. I guess, even if it means letting go of other opportunities throughout this day to privately judge others for their selfishness, their stupidity, their thoughtlessness. I guess, even if it means passing up a few opportunities to privately speculate and judge the state of the world, and how much better off it would be if people would just do what I know is best for everyone.

I think that I really want to be at Peace today. Even if it means that I must let go of being right, even when I am right. Even if it means that I have to let go of following out my private conversations in my head about how right I am, how logical, how rational. Even if it means that I must let go of my inner debates on my self esteem, my correctness, my self consciousness, what others think of me, how I might be appearing to others. Even if it means that I won’t have the luxury of dwelling in my self consciousness, self pity, or anger.

I really like the way Peace feels. And just for today, I want to feel some peace.

Tomorrow is another day, with plenty of opportunity to renew my judgment of other’s selfishness and thoughtlessness, my criticisms of the world’s ways, my rightness about the inequality in the world, my obsessive private conversations about my ego and what other’s think of me.

Just because I miss a few opportunities for that today, there will still be plenty of opportunity for that tomorrow. I can afford to be at Peace today, because I can always pick up those other habits tomorrow. There will always be other chances to worry, to judge, be angry, self righteous, intolerant.

I don’t need to be afraid of giving up my judgment, criticisms, and anxieties Just For One Little Day now do I ?

Just For Today, I want to be at Peace. Even if it means that I’ll need to give up some opportunities to show people how much I know about everything, and even if I have to give up a day spent watching for chances to impress others, and make sure they know how much I know.

I may have to let go of an opportunity to correct someone’s misinformation, to give them the right facts, or set the record straight.

I heard someone once say, “For peace of mind resign as general manager of the Universe.”

I may have to let go of some worry, or self concern about wearing the right clothes, having the right smile, making sure that I don’t do anything politically incorrect, knowing everything, and having studied everything with more integrity than anyone else possibly could have, else they would have arrived at the same conclusions that I did. I’ll have to give up opportunities to be important, or make sure others know how important I am.

I’ll have to tell my ego to take a hike when it demands that I bow down and spend every waking hour of my day re-framing everything into how perfect I am, how wonderful I am, how anything I am.

I’ll have to let go of anything that doesn’t feel peaceful.
Just For Today.

Unknown
(posted on Serenity & Support 2005)