The simple secret to inner peace

Living in the moment is not rocket science. It is the most practical thing to do.

We met a young man at a Sai Bhajan the other evening. He said I looked very peaceful.

I replied, “I am peaceful. Not that I don’t have problems. I have far too many of them. But I am peaceful because I cooperate unquestioningly, unresistingly, unconditionally with what is, with the present.”

He said, “That’s great!” He then asked: “Which means you don’t do anything to change your current reality?”

I replied, “Of course, I work hard on changing whatever I wish was different about my present. But I don’t allow frustration to set in because I have tried and have not got the outcomes that I wanted.”

The man seemed convinced with the perspective I shared. But even if he wasn’t, he will soon discover that there is no other way to inner peace. As Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh would say, “Peace is the way.”

I have learnt this from struggling with my Life – and through it – for the longest time. You cannot do anything about the past, it is dead, it is gone. You cannot do anything about the still unborn future, it is yet to arrive. So, all you can do is to simply live in the moment by cooperating unconditionally with whatever is available, whatever is happening. When you live this way, you can only be happy and at peace – no matter what circumstances you are placed in!