Sometimes it’s hard to feel at peace. There might always be a tiny hurricane that resides in the heart that wakes up from time to time and reopens some of the holes that you thought healing had plugged tightly. When that dormant heart hurricane picks up speed and does some damage, the hurt may come again until repairs take place. Time, acceptance, gratitude and love are the best tools to use to plug the holes with the hope of bringing calm winds and relief. Some may call that peace. It often comes and goes dependent on life and if we work hard towards seeking it. Total peace will come when our spirits return home to the giver of all peace. But for now, rely on pockets of peace while you wait. If you’ve loved deeply and had loss, you know all about the search for pockets of peace. Acceptance that peace comes in and out of our lives and it is in our best interest to accept the grace in that moment, is how we harness more peace. When we know what peace feels like, looks like and how to foster it, we’ll have more of it.

Peace begins with acceptance and that may be hard when we’re used to finding answers after a couple taps on our phones. There will always be unexplainable events that defy human understanding where no logical answers are to be found. Acceptance of an experience and accepting that it will never make sense, may lead to pockets of peace. Inevitably, we all experience pain because that’s a part of life and running from that truth won’t work towards healing. In these moments of tragedy we sit in the presence of our pain weeping, cursing and screaming about the unfairness of it all until the storm passes. Sometimes that’s all we can do to help us move towards acceptance. Sitting with our tragedy, letting emotions flood us and stream from our bodies will drain us empty. Here we are left broken and still after the hurricane has left the area. In stillness it becomes evident that to be at peace with anything, we have to acknowledge the event and accept that answers are not always forthcoming. At least in this lifetime. We float in an ocean created by our tears that doesn’t hold all the answers but holds us while we repair from the storm that tore us apart.

The Divine is a constant presence in your pockets of pain and your pockets of peace. Your path to this knowledge is unique to you and your life experiences. How you feel supported by the Divine and how you foster peace, may not look like anyone else’s. Often that’s how you know you’re on the right path. Peace does not come by way of self-harm or tearing down your own temple. Peace comes from learning what it is you need to do to create rooms in your temple where acceptance lives in harmony with the present moment. Self-awareness will help you create these rooms and decorate them to your liking. Your quest towards peace requires that you be ready to note when you have felt present and accepting of what is. Be on the lookout for when you have felt held by the Divine and wallpaper your rooms with that knowledge. So, when you close your eyes and enter your rooms of peace, you’ll feel surrounded by the presence of love, acceptance and peace. Preserve, protect and figure out how to get to these rooms in your temple where no hurricanes exist. In these rooms you start to plug the holes in your heart and you are able to put down your pain for a spell and feel at peace. Even if your visit is a short one, it still counts towards healing.

Focusing on the now, which includes your everyday coming and going, helps foster peace too. That may include putting down the to-do list sometimes so you can be a more active participant throughout the course of your day. If you’re always driven by outcomes and checking things off your list, you miss the details of your journey. We often plow through whatever we feel must be accomplished and lose sight of the things that provide us pockets of peace. Accomplishment feels good, but not at the cost of missing out on your own life. If you’re going to keep a to-do list, then keep a not-to-do list too. Peace is fostered when we actively take the time to notice and accept. And while acceptance of what is may cause pain, acceptance of what is fosters gratitude too. What will you put on your not-to-do list? If it’s more peace you desire, your not-to-do list might include: worrying about what could be and getting caught up in all the “shoulds” and “musts”. Hurricanes will come, go and pass eventually. They may carve deep crevices, cracks and holes in your heart. It is by way of acceptance, self-awareness and self-love that we repair those holes so we can find relief. Do take the time to be present and do let go of all the things that keep you from noticing wonder. Gather those moments in your heart and fill the inner sanctum of your temple with life’s most precious treasures. Only then will you be on your way to building your own temple of peace where the Divine presides and where admission is free.

Questions/activities to ponder or good journal prompts!

1. How do you define peace?
2. How often do you experience peace? What prevents you from having more “pockets of peace” in your life?
3. Have you spent too much time in that space of searching for answers when there are none? If so, why did you stay there? What did you do to leave that space?
4. How does self-awareness play a role in your ability to experience acceptance and peace?
5. What would be included on your not-to-do-list?