Inner Peace

These old photos show a young Graham climbing to the top of Uncle Ben's Wall. When he climbed, his focus was entirely in the present...all worries and anxieties were left behind, at the start of the climb.

When I am totally in the present, in the now, my life is far more peaceful. I forget the fears I have from past experiences that can colour my every move. My actions feel free; I lose interest in other people's movements and behavior.

I feel content with where I find myself in life. Everything and everybody are left to their own devices; I no longer feel the constant need to fix it all.

When I practice living in the moment, I smile more, my blood pressure goes down, and I feel far more connected to Nature and her Beings. My outer Body reflects the Inner peace; frown lines disappear, my body straightens, and there is a lift to my step. I find myself smiling for no reason at all.

Life, I find, takes strategy and battle tactics that are better made from a balanced mind, one that holds no past fears or future anxieties. The "shoulds" and the "what ifs" are better left behind, when a battle looms.

I find I cannot always be present, however. Life's lessons intrude, and before I know it, inevitably I find myself in a maelstrom of project- ions, if onlys, and woe-is-me's...

It takes total awareness of where my thoughts are leading me, at times; where this frame of mind is certainly does not induce Inner Peace.

Can you imagine if Graham faced climbing this wall, with its deadly overhang looming and taunting from above, with any thought other than where he was and what he was doing, at that moment?

He faced the Rock Wall with clear Intent, with Impeccability, with Authority...and above all, he stood fast against any Fear that came knocking. He analyzed the Wall from a balanced position. Anything else may have led to disaster.

And at that moment of total awareness of all things around him, right then, his body would have worked perfectly, in harmony with the messages sent from the Rock surrounding him. It would have worked from a place of Inner Peace.

Judgment, worry, conflict, fear...these traits disappear for me, if I practice living in the moment. It is a relief to know I can let life happen, the way it is meant to...without my thinking that I want to change the way my life has and will evolve. It is a relief to finally find acceptance.

And with it, huge measures of Inner Peace.