The Eye of the Storm: Finding Peace in the Midst of Chaos
THE WORLD OF STORMS
You don’t need to turn on the news to realize this world is full of one chaotic moment after the next. If you are around a lot of people, just wait five minutes and something else will roll in to add unnecessary dramatic flair to your life. If you are around kids or you have children, you know exactly what I am talking about. Then, on top of your personal dilemmas, turn on the world of cable news that runs 24/7 and your heart will jump out of your chest at least fifteen times throughout the day. Everything is a breaking news story with one over the top presentation after the next. This is not to say that there aren’t real causes for concern in our world, but every other second you would think the world is literally coming to an end, and many people actually believe it. Like it or not, this world is one big theatrical production. Some moments are filled with elation, joy, and boundless adventure, while the next second your life flips upside down by an unexpected turn of events. The world of duality and chaos is like a roller coaster ride that never seems to let you off where you boarded.
At some point in your life, you come to the realization that this is life. You can have a fabulous mindset, think positive, and stay centered as you live, however, you can’t argue with the ebb and flow, or the good and bad of how life presents itself to all of us. The external events will always unfold. There is no stopping how other people choose to behave, what governments decide to inflict on the population, what personal problems arise, or even what your closest confidants choose to do with themselves. You can never know for certain what is going to happen. That is totally out of your control. This is where the struggle lies. Most people want control. They want to think they are calling all of the shots. And, for a time, it can certainly seem this way, especially when you are rooted in the ego mind and lower consciousness.
If you’ve experienced enough uncontrollable events in your life, eventually you begin to wake up and ask, “What is really going on here?” No matter what I do, no matter how many strides I think I am making, something always comes along to challenge you. Maybe it is an unsettling period in a relationship, your career, your health, in the community you are living in, you name it and it will show up somewhere. It’s inevitable. This is not a perfect world. It is the dual world of opposites. The sooner you can come to terms in accepting that, the better off you will be. However, if you are still trying to control every aspect of your life, stressing out every moment, wondering why everything is blowing up all the time, then maybe it is time to take a step back and observe what is really going on here.
LOOKING THROUGH THE MICROSCOPE
Stepping out of the mind, disconnecting from thought, and watching what is going on around you without judgment or any opinion whatsoever can bring a complete shift in perspective to how you view life. When you lose the attachment to situations having meaning, you free yourself from mental anguish and bondage. It opens a door into the present moment leaving you available to solve a problem efficiently, be there for someone in need, or simply hold the space of energy for whichever environment you are in. When you are lost in thought and cyclical stories, the mind has your undivided attention. It is impossible to find the deeper space within. The mind can be so powerful it is hard to see its very clever manipulation. It always has missile lock on preventing you from seeing the deeper truth within yourself.
When you are willing and able to apply this to your life, when you can step out of mind as you walk through the day to day, you begin to notice how easily you were pulled back into the ego’s mental traps. Just watch yourself for fun. See how quickly your mind wants to react to a story you heard on the news, what your family member has told you, or what drama your next-door neighbor is dealing with. It won’t take long until you notice just how untrained you have been. All it takes is willingness and curiosity to enter this vast new world of re-structuring how you see life. There are many windows to view from. Which window do you choose today? The foggy window with the broken seal which makes it impossible to see? Or do you choose the crystal-clear window where everything is visible? It’s always a choice and it certainly takes practice. After all, we are living in this world, where the day to day can be grueling, stressful, hectic, and miserable that all you want to do is get home, lay on the couch, enjoy your favorite mind-numbing food and beverage, and watch the latest superficial drama from your favorite streaming service.
Actively observing your own thoughts, your life, and everything around you requires work. It takes discipline and a true commitment to wanting a shift in how you experience your life. You realize that the same old way of getting lost in thought is not working. You also understand that life will always present challenges. You’ve probably had your fair share by now, which is why you are craving something deeper, something more meaningful in your life. Whether you are or have been stuck in your life, or you are happy and loving life, there can still be a serious emptiness, a huge sense of lack as if something important is missing. That something isn’t missing at all, it’s simply waiting for you to see it.
GO TO THE EYE OF THE STORM
So, how do you do it? How do you stay calm in the midst of a world gone mad half the time? Everyone has seen the weather images when a hurricane is building with pressure and heading for land. From above the storm, you can see the eye directly in the center while the winds swirl around at raging speeds. The odd thing about the center is it is calm, steady, and without turbulence. It is the silence within the imminent devastation. Picture a place deep within yourself. A place where no thought is allowed, where the essence of spirit sits in peace. This is the eye of the storm in you. During the next anxious moment or a difficult misunderstanding you are lost in, picture the eye of the hurricane. See the calm stillness within and go there. Disconnect from the stressful moment, the moment where everything seems impossible, and join with your higher consciousness.
This doesn’t mean you disconnect from what is happening around you. It simply means you are multi-tasking. While you are dealing with life’s disturbance, you are simultaneously going within to the place of inner stillness. In this there is an emptiness, no thought, no running wild with the mind’s irrational thinking, just total and complete presence with what is happening. When you are able to connect on this deeper level, spirit will guide you calmly through the experience. If you are taking the bait of the mind’s mental stories and judgments, it is impossible to feel spirit communicating with you. Having the discipline to let go of the mind and seek a more sacred understanding takes practice and continued effort until it becomes natural. Being conditioned from birth to think a certain way, act and behave a certain way, and listen to the mind instead of our higher awareness takes time and dedication until one day it’s like a riding a bike.
It’s natural for the conditioned mind to want to run away from the storm. That is what we have been programmed to do. It will pull a masterful escape like a Siberian Husky trapped in a tiny back yard. However, avoiding the storm altogether doesn’t solve anything, and it certainly won’t lead you to the calm still center you truly seek. In order to shift how you navigate chaos, which is the day-to-day in this world, you must walk through the storm. Take it head on. No matter what fear you experience, walk with the fear. Hold hands with it all the way through the dangerous winds until you reach the calm center. When you reach that place of peace within, nothing can interrupt this connection to Truth, not even fear. Fear has no place in peace.
FINDING A NEW WAY
When you connect with the calm center enough it becomes a permanent new way of life. How can you go back to madness when you’ve experienced peace? How could you possibly believe the insanity of the mind when you have discovered the spiritual nature that you are? It is certainly possible you could waiver back and forth, but eventually you’ll only seek peace. Why waste another second worrying about things you can’t control? That’s what the mind believes. The mind thinks it’s the controller of everything. Isn’t that exhausting, thinking you can control every little thing in your life, and for that matter other people’s lives too? Talk about an ego trip!
Using the mind to navigate the world is one thing, but letting it dominate your life and convincing you to put all of your faith in its distractions and delusions only blocks you from discovering the deeper essence of who you really are. When you pull back the curtain, when you go beyond thought, emotion, feelings, experiences, and other events that have shaped you in this life, you’ll begin to see that all of those layers were preventing you from finding the calm stillness in the middle of every predictable storm in your life. There is one certainty in this world of duality, there will always be another obstacle, another hurdle, and another challenge to overcome. That is what the world is. It is imperfect. It is the classroom where you get to decide if you want to continue learning what the world has to offer you, or if you want to unlearn the conditioning and discover your true spiritual nature. It is a choice, yet many of us don’t realize it yet.
When you know you can make the decision to connect on a deeper level of life, everything becomes clear. You are no longer searching around every corner, in every new book that is released, or attending every retreat where some guru has all the answers. You know the answer lies within you. There is no longer a need to search externally for deeper truth, because it is sitting within, waiting for you to unlock the door. Now, you may need to solve physical problems in the world. There will still be necessary external searches to solve those problems, however, the real search for peace and understanding is beyond the physical. It is inside of you. It’s the inner book of life that is coded for all of us. The only one who can discover it is you. Knowing this and living it brings about an entirely new way of life. It doesn’t mean you are free from the problems of the world, but what it does mean is you know the secret to navigating those problems is the inner peace that resides within the calm still center, in the eye of the storm.