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Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Inner Peace Verses Peace of Mind - Is There a Difference?

 By Gregory Hebb

Photo: life-balance.s3.amazonaws.com

Although having inner peace has the same flavor as having piece of mind they are quite different. Having piece of mind is being free of thoughts that direct your emotions one way or another creating a push and pull that invokes creative instability in our perception of reality. Inner peace then is the place we rest when we embrace the idea that everything is always as it should be and the only thing that need be dealt with is that which is in this moment currently, to which you are the perfect emotional balance.
When a loved one is out driving on the roads in a snowstorm and you may feel worried for their safety. You will go through every possible scenario that would steal them away from you, always negative and always at a loss to you. The dead care not if they are alive, and even injury, physical or emotional, is formulated based on a personal best guess or past experience as we can only imagine within the boundaries of the totality of our awareness (conscious or sub-conscious).
Piece of mind is being free of directional thought, free of the feeling that you have no control of your thoughts or your life, that life isn't pushing you around. Having piece of mind has a context to it that suggests an increase in activity, whereas you are neutralizing the increase in thoughts as they arise (even if it is subconsciously).
Inner peace on the other hand is a decrease in activity, the absence of thoughts outside of the moment. There is nothing to resolve or neutralize as there is no conflict to bear witness to. If an emotional insurrection arises then it is met in the moment with an emotional reaction that always comes from a place of love and balance and flows in and out of you like a river over polished stones.
With inner peace there is no need to attain piece of mind for there is nothing that can be grasped, love and balance are always already the case prior to thought.
Having piece of mind often leads us to keep ourselves away from environments or activities that otherwise cause conflict in our minds but this limits our growth and actually creates another type of conflict that starts with "what if" followed by regret.
Inner peace means embracing everything in life as it arises and meeting it in the heart, this doesn't mean that you should go skydiving every time someone asks but if you feel instinctively in the moment that it will enrich your life then do not let fear stop you! It becomes effortless movement when you live in choiceless awareness, there is only the way and either resistance or openness arises as your vehicle in the going.
The Tsin Tsin Ming says "The great way is effortless for those who live in choiceless awareness, to choose without preference is to be clear"
We always know the way to go, why do we resist?
Gregory Hebb has dedicated his life to helping people pursue the only question worth asking, "who am I"
With an extensive background in Psychology as well as many forms of spiritual practice he has made groundbreaking advances in self improvement through his unique perception and practices that find their roots in Emotional Intelligence.
He is the author of such books as Io Pan, Awakening through the wisdom of the Heart, and The Science of Happiness.
Find out more at http://gregoryphoenix.info

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