A popular credit card ad asks, “What’s in your wallet?” Perhaps if you are seeking peace and happiness you should forget about looking in your wallet and look inside your heart instead.
“We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves.” – Dalai Lama XIV
“Do not look for happiness outside yourself. The awakened seek happiness inside.” – Peter Deunov
Those two quotes both point to the fact that the answers we seek that lead to a sense of well-being is inside of us. We must make peace with ourselves and then we will be able to find happiness.
I’ve posted here several times about the need to be happy and content with ourselves – to love ourselves so that we can love others. That involves accepting yourself as you are and not beating yourself up for things that are out of your control. And speaking of control, it also involves accepting that God is in control and not you. It springs out of that moment of relief when you finally let go and say, “Not my will, but thy will be done.” It is letting go of the need to fix blame, accepting things as they come and welcoming the help of God to deal with them.
We are about to have another Thanksgiving Day, which unfortunately has become the day before Black Friday for many. While it is nice to have a national day of thanksgiving, one should give thanks every day for the things that God has given us. Today’s post in the blog Jack’s Winning Words has this little Thanksgiving Prayer – “For food, when many walk in hunger, for faith when many walk in fear, for friends in a world where many walk alone…we give you thanks, AMEN.”
Perhaps, if you repeat that little prayer a few times you will start to drift
inward to that place in your heart where peace and happiness reside. Linger there for a while and when you return find someone else to share your peace with and let them see your happiness. Maybe that will help them find out what’s in their heart, too.
Have a peaceful and happy Thanksgiving!
