Recently I’ve been giving a lot of thought to the idea of living in a state of happiness and peace. The world is a hectic and stressful place and if we don’t allow ourselves time to cultivate our inner calm we set ourselves up for conflict and pain. When there is too much anger and unhappiness things fall out of balance. In order to restore the balance we need to start by looking inward.
How do we do this?
Imagine a door. This door is deep within us. Behind that door lies the potentiality of perfection. It is based in love and formed out of joy and happiness for all things. When the door is open we glimpse the vistas of unending possibilities based on living in the present moment. Sadly, for many people this door is often locked. The weight of obligations, stresses of life and a lack of care for personal wellbeing conspire to keep it sealed tight. We find ourselves banging on the door with no way to open it.
Now, imagine a key. This key is also within us. It is the key that fits the lock on the door. This key is the vital energy of the universe. We can use this key to unlock the door. Unfortunately, access to the key can be a problem. As with real life, keys can be lost or misplaced. Sometimes the key becomes so rusty that it won’t even fit into the lock. Maybe we have too many keys and spend all our time trying to figure out which one fits the lock. In frustration, as a last resort, we might use a paperclip to try and pick the lock.
What we really need to do is to take better care of our key. If we can put the key in a safe place and keep it free of rust and grime we can then use it whenever we need it to open the door and reach that place of happiness and joy.
How do we do this?
As with most things, it starts with breathing. (You really didn’t think I was talking about anything else, did you?) Every so often we need to slow down and take a deep breath. Not a big puff into the chest, but a deep abdominal breath that fills the body up from the belly. The breath is our connection to the energy. It brings us into the present moment and aligns our mind with our body. From there we can begin to explore the other things we need to do to connect with our selves.
Remember to Breathe!
