Every day, each of us do so many exercises. We exercise our brain when we think and work, we may exercise our bodies for physical fitness, we exercise our jaw when we speak and eat. But how many of us take the time to exercise our peace muscle?
But what is your “peace muscle”?
I believe the tranquility, acceptance and equanimity that we each have within our being, is a place of peace.
But not all of us take time every day to exercise this muscle. And I do believe that it is very much like a muscle. The more we practice and exercise it, the stronger we become in our peace. And as this is developed over time, we also have muscle memory. For those times when life seems to get away from us and becomes hectic or stressful, one can see that all the previous exercise has paid off in peace muscle memory.
So what should we do to exercise and develop this muscle?
Well, of course, daily meditation is a powerful key to this. Even if you can only find ten or fifteen minutes each day to sit quietly and breathe. If you can meditate longer, you will see that peace only becoming more powerful and present in your daily life.
But even if you can only get in ten minutes each day, you can feel good that you are exercising and developing these positive qualities. Qualities that benefit the self and all other beings.
And here’s a tip that can help you increase this even more, and very easily.
Perhaps you can try this today and see how it affects you.
Every time you see that a new hour has begun, take one minute to stop yourself, focus on the breath and calm your mind. Breathe in to a count of five, the exhale to a count of five. Allow your mind to relax and find peace, if only for one minute.
So at Noon today, give yourself a one minute mini-meditation. Then at 1 p.m. give your self another one minute. Etc, etc.
And remember that you can do this even at work, because there is no need to close your eyes or go sit in a quite place. You can do this wherever you are and in whatever circumstances you find yourself.
Trying doing this on-the-hour as many times as you can today, and let me know how your day was.
I think you will find that you are stronger in peace, love, acceptance and equanimity.
May you be well, happy and peaceful.
