Finding peace whilst living through the wars raging all around you and within you can be hard or seem almost impossible. Yet that is what you somehow need to find in order to survive intact. I have given the image of a peace Garden to help you try to find that peace.

The mind rules lives; when it is agitated, we are agitated; when it is at rest, we are at rest. So it is important that there be awareness of the thoughts and things going through the mind.

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The mind is like a busy railway station, with thoughts and ideas coming along like trains every few seconds and minutes. There is constant activity and as the trains pull into the station, they unload many people, each separate and all going in different directions at different speeds.

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As we watch the trains come and go and watch the people embark and disembark there is not a moment left to be in the moment. We are caught up watching our thoughts as if we were watching the people coming and going and then have no time left to seek out and search for peace and calm. Therefore, first, we need to shut the station for a while and not allow any trains and people to enter. The signals need to be set at red for a while so that within the station there is only peace and calm.

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When there are no trains or people to watch, then one begins to notice the trees and the flowers and the sounds of the birds and the wind in the leaves of the trees. You can begin to get up and wander away from the track and wander behind the station walls and discover amazing gardens just empty and waiting for you to discover.

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You discover that you are alone and yet you feel such calmness and peace and become aware of the beauty that was so near to hand, but which you had never found because you were so busy watching the trains of thoughts and ideas come and go.

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What did those trains and people ever bring you? Did they bring you comfort and joy and peace? Or did they bring noise and confusion and busyness and rush? Were you ever any the richer in your soul or spirit as a result of watching so many trains? Did they not just distract you from the very things that would bring joy and comfort, rest and peace?

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Once in the garden, you need to begin unburdening yourself of the heavy rocks you carry, recognising that something of true worth can come from all our losses. It's only a beginning. But it's somewhere to start and to make a new beginning.

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What is a new beginning? It's a moving forward, leaving behind where we've been and instead daring to move ahead into somewhere we've never been before. We know that means leaving behind the old and embracing the new. And that is a long journey to go on. Yet as we can shed some of the things which no longer bring us life, we can begin to plant new things in their place, flowers which may not have been possible for us to see grow and flourish, unless we had been brave enough to let the old go. In letting go, we need to let go of our wounds, our pasts, our false selves and the injustices done against us. Only then can we begin to truly live again by beginning again.

 

 

The Path of Peace Exercise

 

This is an exercise about walking along a path of peace.

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As you walk upon this path, you will be making a journey from death to life, from hopelessness to hope. This is a journey during which you will think about the deaths in your life and finish with meditating and reflecting upon the new hopes in your life. This will be a walk of faith, for you may not as yet be able to see the physical or mental changes in your life. However, this walk will be the time when you can begin to let go of the past and embrace the future.

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Begin with a bag in which are contained rocks, representing all the worries and fears and burdens you carry. This bag will be heavy. It needs to contain rocks or stones which represent everything that has held you back and which has brought darkness and despair and loss of hope to your life. You need to feel the weights you have been carrying. You need to carry this bag and not take anything out until you feel ready to really let one or two of the things go.

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Choose a safe place outdoors where you can begin to take these rocks out and to plant them in the soil. However, as you leave them and unburden yourself of this weight, you also need to plant something beautiful to convey and commemorate the light that has also come into your heart or life as a result of this darkness and this weight that you have been carrying.

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When you feel ready, you are then to continue your walk until such time as you feel ready to once again unburden yourself of another of the weights and worries.

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You may need to come here for a few moments every day. Or you might choose to unburden yourself over only one or two days. Whatever your choice, there needs to be a progression from the place of death to the place of life and you need to continue on from the place you last laid down a burden. In doing this, you will be better able to truly see your life in perspective.

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Too many believe that we can't revisit or face the pain from the past for it still contains the power to destroy or hurt us further. However, we fail to see that nothing is all bad. For every bad memory or pain or burden, good things too have been conceived and birthed as a direct result. This journey allows us to be with our pain and to release it and let it go, but also to witness that in death new life came forth.

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There is nothing of good in life that did not come from a place of pain for someone. Even the birth of a new child comes at the pain and cost to the mother as she pushes something which appears so large from a place that seems unable to let it go. However, eventually, through that trial and labour, new life is born.

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So it is too, even with the traumas in our lives, some of which were so unbearable that we scarcely know how we survived them. Yet life did not end there, and instead something new and unique was conceived in that place of darkness and desolation.

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Therefore, as you walk, begin to see your life as it has truly been; not as months and years of darkness with only the occasional spark of light, but as a life that has been balanced, with every awful and terrible event birthing something of great worth into the world. Gifts like compassion and tenderness, gentleness and humility are often only born after enduring much pain and loss. And so too are qualities such as gratefulness, thankfulness, wisdom, perspective, understanding, greater hope, courage, determination, endurance and strength of character.

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I hope that with time you will see that the beautiful in yourself is there not in spite of your pain and loss, but because it actually grew out of this time. These things are the fruits that have been born from the plant of suffering and pain.

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As the months pass, you can return time and time again and witness that although the rock or stone still remains, the flowers planted around them have grown and flourished and have many times totally obliterated the site or presence of the rock.

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This is a place of hope and as you take this walk you choose to leave behind what you can. You may choose to bury your rock or stone for you want never to remember it. But very often, you may not be ready to do this. Whatever your desire, act out in the natural what you hope for in the supernatural and it will come to pass.

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The past will have been laid down, the good that came as a result will be honoured and you will finally have reached a place where you feel unburdened, no longer needing to have to carry your past around with you.

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This is a walk of peace, for in every step, you will encounter peace when you can finally recognise that no event or circumstance of your life has been without something good coming forth from it. Rest here and find peace from out of your bags of pain. Look back down the path of peace to see how far you have come and feel the difference in the weight of the bag that you now carry.

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You may be tempted at times to go back and once again pick up some of the rocks which you left behind, for they have become so familiar to you and are almost like friends. However, I encourage you not to, for if you do so, you will be returning to carrying that weight once again. The flowers planted can remain as a constant reminder of the good that came from it but think about what further good or what beautiful things can or might come from carrying this weight once more. If you can see no more good coming as a result of carrying this rock or stone, then ask yourself why you are choosing to pick it back up once more.

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If you cannot bear to leave some of the rocks behind, then maybe you can choose to leave them behind with God. Choose a tree and let this be the final resting place for all the rocks and stones that cannot be let go of further down the path. Let this be a dumping ground for all the hurts and pains that are still too painful or raw simply to be let go of or abandoned.

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I encourage you to leave these rocks because for some there is a great sense of relief in doing so. However, for others, even to leave them here is a step they still feel unable to make. If you are able to leave some of the remaining rocks here, try again to plant one or two things of beauty that came as a result of these heavy burdens. This in itself may be a breakthrough. However, for others, this request might feel like an insult. How could one even begin to suggest that any light came as a result of this period of darkness?

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You must be allowed to do as little or as much letting go of and embracing the new life that came from it as possible. Some will make this journey many times, some only the once or not at all. What matters is that this path exists in order that you can better see your life in perspective and be able to acknowledge and give thanks for the gifts that came into your life from your pain. In doing so, you will be better able and better equipped to accept future pain or suffering in your life.

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This will in effect be a walk to freedom, from the past into the future and from darkness into light. The lightness you will feel will, in many cases, be extraordinary.

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This journey is one that you may want to make on your own, in your own way and in your own time. However, you may choose instead to have someone with you, as a witness to your pain and to stand with you as you endeavour to leave the past behind and embrace the future. It is your choice. Do what feels right for you. You may choose to plant flowers or plants, or leave paintings, murals, balloons, keepsakes-whatever you choose, make a way to use these things. Allow yourself to express what needs saying in your own creative ways.

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