My clients often begin working with me when they are experiencing some form of distress and something about their lives is not working. Perhaps they are navigating anxiety, depression, relationship challenges, confusion about what they want to do, a feeling of being stuck, unhappiness of some form, or stress and overwhelm. Equally common, everything in their lives looks good on paper and they have achieved many of their longings, yet they are not feeling the happiness, peace, and fulfillment they thought they would.
Both types of distress are disheartening and can create a lot of confusion and suffering. I incorporate a wide variety of healing and coaching techniques to help my clients gain relief from the distress and tune into deeper insights about the root causes of their suffering. One set of techniques that I often employ are guided journeys. I may guide someone to journey into the past or the future or deep within.
These journeys are very powerful and enlightening, and one of the most common things they reveal is a deep yearning for inner peace. I believe this is a universal longing we all have, yet it can feel so challenging to experience in a lasting way. Worries, stresses, hurts, and longings abound and seem to resurface time and again, so how do we experience lasting inner peace?
This is an important question that I have contemplated many times in my life. Earlier this year, as I was preparing for my annual pilgrimage to the sacred land of the Wixarika people, I had one of those epiphany-like moments of insight that reveals one answer to this age-old inquiry. (If you’d like to learn more about this pilgrimage journey, see the blog posts linked at the bottom of this post.)
As I was standing in my living room, staring out the window, an inner voice of wisdom said, “You have traveled to the ends of the Earth seeking healing wisdom and spiritual truths. You have learned about and practiced many traditions, and you are getting ready for another wonderful journey. But what if all there is is to be with what is?”
To Be With What Is
I laughed at the simplicity and the irony of the realization. It wasn’t exactly a joyous laugh; more a rueful one. How could it be that after all my quests this was the guidance I was receiving? It seemed so simple and all of my previous striving so unnecessary.
Of course, I needed to have all those experiences to get to this insight, and a sudden moment of insight does not automatically lead to living that truth in daily life. Embodying such insights often takes continual practice, but it was a big shift from a seeking orientation to one that focuses on being with what is within and right in front of me.
The wisdom that this insight held, of course, is timeless and has been passed down in many spiritual and secular traditions. The teachings of the Buddha come to mind, for example, and recently I heard the following poem by Dorothy Hunt, which so eloquently speaks to this:
Peace Is This Moment Without Judgment
Do you think peace requires an end to war?
Or tigers eating only vegetables?
Does peace require an absence from
your boss, your spouse, yourself?...
Do you think peace will come some other place than here?
Some other time than Now?
In some other heart than yours?
Peace is this moment without judgment.
That is all. This moment in the Heart-space
where everything that is is welcome.
Peace is this moment without thinking
that it should be some other way,
that you should feel some other thing,
that your life should unfold according to your plans.
Peace is this moment without judgment,
this moment in the Heart-space where
everything that is is welcome.
Friends, perhaps our very concept of peace is the thing that sometimes makes it so impossible to experience. Perhaps peace is not some mythical state of endless bliss in which we are not touched by the normal challenges and sorrows of life.
Perhaps it’s a state of acceptance and allowance of the totality of the human experience. Perhaps embracing change, sorrow, hardship, boredom, grief along with joy, victory, success, excitement, beauty allow for a kind of inner strength and resilience that becomes a foundation for lasting sense of inner security and peace.
This Moment Without Judgement
In a world that continually conditions us to judge and find fault with ourselves, others, and to see our life circumstances as lacking in some way, it can be challenging to embrace this moment without judgement. Thus, it becomes very important to make this a practice, so we can cultivate this skill over time.
One simple technique you might try is to print out Dorothy Hunt’s poem and read it regularly as a kind of personal prayer, meditation, intention, or reminder. This is what I intend to do myself.
If you have any thoughts, questions, or ideas you’d like to share with me, please email me at heal@shamanicsoulcenter.com. Many blessings to you.
*****My Previous Pilgrimage Blog Posts*****
Shamanic Pilgrimage Journey - May 2018
No Salt, No Sex - Preparation for Sacred Pilgrimage - March 2019