Parvati Magazine is delighted to bring you a new column by our Editor-in-Chief to help you live and work in peaceful presence. Living peacefully is the greatest key to abundant productivity, healthy relationships and personal happiness. As each of us experiences cool minds and warm hearts, we bring beauty and meaning to all we do, and support the wellbeing of the entire world.
Since I was a little girl, I have been interested in the power of peace and its ability to transform the world in the most unexpected ways. Thanks to caring parents, I was fortunate enough to be brought to volunteer in food banks and hospitals from an early age. I have also had the privilege of being exposed to multiple spiritual traditions and peace practices for most of my life. My commitment to peace has since grown even deeper through my dedicated work to realize MAPS, the Marine Arctic Peace Sanctuary, for the good of all.
Peace in the world means an end to violence, both within and without. When we live in peace, we live with the awareness that we are inherently interconnected. From this understanding, a courage is born to choose compassionate action towards ourselves, each other and the world, moment to moment.
This is why, as a devoted meditator, I find my centre and cultivate peace by starting every day sitting in presence with the silence of dawn. When people ask me what meditation is, I answer that it is a way to develop intimacy with the moment. This may seem like a contradiction when there are so many things about ourselves and our environment that may bother us. But to find peace, we need to first see that we tend to attack the moment by trying to control how we think it should be. When we let go of this painful tendency, we enter into a peaceful relationship with the here and now, and open to a field of possibility.
I encourage everyone at Parvati.org to approach tasks from this vantage point. When we do so, work not only becomes more enjoyable, but is more efficient and effective. We are no longer in resistance to what is. Instead, we are working maximally with all that is available to us. In presence, we have a greater capacity to see opportunities and make clear decisions for the highest good.
In order to begin a life of potent peace, look beyond your personal tendencies, towards your deeper, eternal self—the part of you that implicitly knows that unconditional love is who you really are. That place has been patiently waiting for you to connect with it all along. It is fearless, compassionate and awake, ready to meet the moment exactly as it is. This place knows that you are an integral part of an intelligent, loving whole, no more or less important than anything in existence. You are literally one with the fabric of the universe.
When you realize that you do not need to deny your most natural self, you end your war on the moment. You discover a peaceful, effortless state, and support that same awakening in everyone.
In a quiet and relaxed environment, ask yourself the following questions, and answer as honestly as you can:
- What does peace mean to me?
- How do I wage war on myself, others and the world?
- How do I resist the moment?
- Am I willing to see a more peaceful way?
- What could I choose to perceive and therefore do differently?
We know that global peace begins within. Here are some simple practices you can start today to deepen your experience of peace.
- Take a few minutes, morning and night, to find a quiet place where you can be calm and alone, and present with yourself. For example, make it a habit when you first wake up to sit quietly at the side of your bed before beginning your day. Take long deep breaths, and feel grateful for being alive. Consider how you are alive thanks to Nature and all of existence within an interconnected whole. Breathe in this reality, and exhale in gratitude, a few times. Feel the gratitude for interconnection permeate your entire being. Do the same before going to sleep at night.
- Throughout each day, pause often and tune in to how you are feeling. Remember the sense you had of sitting and breathing in the morning, and allow that feeling of gratitude and interconnection to be with you at all times. Do this at your desk, while on the bus, or waiting in line at the supermarket. Include these self-awareness checkpoints throughout each day. Consider putting reminders in your phone to help you establish this habit, like a mindfulness chime every hour. Let it be a gift to yourself and the world.
Wishing you peace and centred presence, today and every day.
Parvati is an award-winning musician (“I Am Light”, “Electro Yog”, “Yoga In The Nightclub”), yogini (YEM: Yoga as Energy Medicine), author (“The Grace Mindset”, “Aonani of Avalon”, “The Three Supreme Secrets for Lasting Happiness”) and founder and CEO of the nonprofit Parvati.org. All her work is dedicated to protecting all life on Earth by establishing the Marine Arctic Peace Sanctuary (MAPS). More info: parvati.tv; parvati.org.