Do You Want a Bit of Peace?

Advice from Twigseeds, Mrs Large and Tolle

Photo of the cover of a Twigseeds Notebook given to me by my sister Christine.

Although this is supposed to be a season of peace and goodwill, the Christmas rush makes us feel that peace is as far away as it’s ever been in human history.

Peace can be like Father Christmas: something we’ve been taught to believe exists but have never actually seen or experienced for ourselves.

Peace may be one of the things we’re planning to put on the top of our list of New Year’s Resolutions:

Be More Peaceful in 2025.

Or it may be what we pray for as we sit in a pew and bow our heads:

May there be peace on earth.

But it probably won’t happen.

Why not?

Because peace only emerges in moments when we consciously choose to be present.

If we want peace, we must be present.

Advice from Mrs Large

Mrs Large is an elephant and the main character in the children’s picture book, Five Minutes’ Peace, by Jill Murphy. Mrs Large tries to grab five minutes of peace in the morning while sipping a cup of tea in a warm bubbly bath. Of course it doesn’t happen the way she’d planned because her numerous boisterous elephant children end up in the bath with her.

The funny thing is that by the end of the book she is peaceful in the bathtub – because she has chosen to be present with what life has brought her – offspring who want to be with her in the bathtub.

How to Be Present So We Can Be Peaceful

In his videoclip ‘From Turmoil to Presence’, Eckhart Tolle recommends I observe my breath – pay attention to my breathing – from time to time throughout the day.

This simple spiritual practice of paying attention to my breathing will bring me to a state of conscious presence, which is where things I long to experience – like peace – reside.

As you follow the breath with your attention, your attention moves out of your mind into the body. And as the breath enters the body, you become aware, almost inevitably, of the inner energy field of the body . . .  you feel that the body is alive . . . [you sense] the animating presence in the body [which] opens a portal into something deeper.

Become aware of the presence that pervades the inner body. And then you can sense that the world around you is becoming more alive – there is an alive presence in which you live. Presence is both within and without.

Mrs Large hasn’t read or listened to Tolle, but she has learned that the best way to be peaceful is to take a deep breath, accept what comes her way and work with it, not try to run away from it, or fight it with angry or frustrated thoughts.

Advice from Twigseeds

Which leads me to advice from Twigseeds, pictured at the beginning of this article.

Quiet your mind and peace will bloom.

Here it is again as a reminder.

Photo of the cover of a Twigseeds Notebook given to me by my sister Christine.

In his videoclip, Tolle also quotes the 19th century spiritual teacher, Ralph Waldo Emerson:

We live in the lap of immense intelligence.

Breathing consciously allows us to sense this immense intelligence. When we become conscious of our breath, the state of being we long for – peace – is waiting there for us to embrace and express.

Where Can You Find a Bit of Peace?

Peace can’t be bought in a shopping mall.

You can’t order a box of it from Amazon to be delivered to your address.

Nor can peace be gift-wrapped for you and placed under a Christmas tree by a thoughtful friend.

Why not?

Because you already have it.

You already live in the lap of immense intelligence where peace dwells.  

Peace is ineffable, ever-present, unquenchable, available to every one of us through the simple act of conscious breathing, which leads to presence.

We may find presents in boxes under the Christmas tree – but even better, we can find presence through the act of conscious breathing.

And that’s where peace is.

With love, Marlane