Peace In Each Step

In England there is an old story of a son who was handsome, rich, smart, loved by the parents, admired by his friends and the teacher as well. The child's name was Peter. But since he already had almost everything needed by a happy child, Peter got bored and went to the woods to meet a witch.

After telling the witch about the very disturbing boredom, Peter then asked for something from the witch to heal his boredom. For that reason, he was given a time machine by the witch. But he was reminded clearly and explicitly, that the time machine can only move forward, it can not be played back to the past.

First of all he turned the time machine into teenagers. He was very happy finding himself growing in high school and having a girlfriend. But this happiness lasted only a day. On the following day he turned the time machine to the age 55 years, this time he was happy again for a day as the father of a pair of sons and daughters. Since the boredom did not disappear, he played again with the time machine to the age of 80. Suddenly he found himself as a lonely old person in nursing homes. Suddenly he  realized that the time machine can not be reversed.

The story of Peter is the story of a lot of people who always run into the future. School children want to quickly pass their exams. Workers want to be quickly promoted. Managers want to be quickly appointed as a director. In summary, many people think that the light is only available in the future. As soon as they have old age, finally they realize there are a lot of beautiful present moments which were lost, simply because they are busily racing into the future.

Being inspired by the last finding, no one prohibit you to study hard, no one prohibit you to work smart, but learning to always be well-connected to the beauty of the present moment. Whether you are at work, praying, walking, driving a car, always look at things that are worthy to be grateful for in the present moment.

It can be a healthy body, happy family, nice food, cloudless sky, the blooming flowers, the singing birds, the delighted children, good friends, and many other things that are worth being grateful for. The direct result of such a deep spiritual practice is the inner tension is much less. There is far less energy which is wasted because of the conflict within.

Consequently, there is far more energy that is available to grow and to heal the inner soul. For a practical reason, breath is the closest friend in this case. As it is often shared in meditation sessions, an important reason why humans suffer is because the mind is like a boat which is dictated by the waves of life. And breath is the anchor that makes the boat of the mind always rest on the beach of peace.

For that reason, whether in the middle of busy work or family responsibilities , always remind yourself to connect for a few moments with the anchor of breath. Whenever there are things that are out of your usual routine - from car alarms, a door which is closed too hard, a noisy motorcycle - always take time to re-connect briefly to the anchor of breath.

At the same time, keep reminding yourself to always land at the beach of peace. Success is a high wave, failure is a low wave. Blame is a low wave, praise is a high wave. But whatever the wave forms, quickly reconnect with the anchor of breath. Then beautifully land at the coast of peace.

Anyone who diligently and sincerely practices like this, one day they will understand that the light is also available in every present moment. There is light behind smile, there is light behind deep gratitude, there is light hidden in thankfulness. This is why this article is called peace in every step. Always keep in the heart beautiful souls, those who do the best thing in the present moment is also preparing the best preparation for the future.

Author: Guruji Gede Prama.

Photo Courtesy: outfrontlp.

Proofread By: Kirsty Spence.