Another pillar of the foundation of health is peace. The ability to cultivate peace is crucial to the ongoing maintenance of a healthy mind, body and spirit. The actual cultivation and holding of peace is challenging in our chaotic, frenetic and too often disconnected world. The pace of life in our country and throughout the world seems to be ever increasing. The demands placed on most of us often overwhelms and can even paralyze us. Returning to a state of peace is both necessary for rejuvenation and critical for ongoing clarity and full functioning. Creativity and innovation evolve much more readily out of a peaceful mind and body.
Sleep is our time for rest and rejuvenation. Sleep requires that we be able to let go of the tasks and responsibilities of the day and literally "fall" into a peaceful state. We all realize how important this period of recovery is to our ability to keep functioning in the world. Missing even 2 nights sleep in a row is a rapid reminder of how absolutely crucial peace is to our ability to care for ourselves, our families, and our life responsibilities. But peace goes well beyond our nocturnal rejuvenation time. In the language of the body, peace brings balance to our nervous system. An overly charged sympathetic nervous system may be of benefit during brief times of stress but chronic over-stimulation leads to a multitude of body and mind symptoms and dysfunctions. Peace is the antidote to these states.
Peace like gratitude can be cultivated and nurtured. First, it must be valued and then it can be found. The body has built in mechanisms to create peace. The breath is an ever present opportunity to create peace. Even a brief respite with focus on the say 5 breaths can bring about a dramatic change in the body and mind. Like exercise, higher levels of well-being and further benefits accrue with development of sustained efforts and focus in this regard (ie meditation) but there is significant inroads to peaceful states even with brief ventures into concentrated focus on the breath. Exercise can also help bring peace by several mechanisms one of which is the simple "burning off" of body tension. Combining the cultivation of peace with a focus on gratitude can take the individual to very good places. Indeed, peace and gratitude are great partners in one's quest for health. Also, utilizing forgiveness can help one to let go of chronic agitation in the mind and body allowing peace to come forward.
We all struggle both individually and collectively with finding peace. War is the ultimate manifestation of an absence of peace. Unfortunately, war is way too much a part of both our individual lives and our collective. However, we can all end our individual wars and be a part of ending the collective wars of our cultures, religions and governments. The solution starts within each of us as we learn to cultivate peace. When we can find it in ourselves, we can help others to find it and learn to cultivate it. True health can only come when we know how to access and choose to regularly foster peace.
Sleep is our time for rest and rejuvenation. Sleep requires that we be able to let go of the tasks and responsibilities of the day and literally "fall" into a peaceful state. We all realize how important this period of recovery is to our ability to keep functioning in the world. Missing even 2 nights sleep in a row is a rapid reminder of how absolutely crucial peace is to our ability to care for ourselves, our families, and our life responsibilities. But peace goes well beyond our nocturnal rejuvenation time. In the language of the body, peace brings balance to our nervous system. An overly charged sympathetic nervous system may be of benefit during brief times of stress but chronic over-stimulation leads to a multitude of body and mind symptoms and dysfunctions. Peace is the antidote to these states.
Peace like gratitude can be cultivated and nurtured. First, it must be valued and then it can be found. The body has built in mechanisms to create peace. The breath is an ever present opportunity to create peace. Even a brief respite with focus on the say 5 breaths can bring about a dramatic change in the body and mind. Like exercise, higher levels of well-being and further benefits accrue with development of sustained efforts and focus in this regard (ie meditation) but there is significant inroads to peaceful states even with brief ventures into concentrated focus on the breath. Exercise can also help bring peace by several mechanisms one of which is the simple "burning off" of body tension. Combining the cultivation of peace with a focus on gratitude can take the individual to very good places. Indeed, peace and gratitude are great partners in one's quest for health. Also, utilizing forgiveness can help one to let go of chronic agitation in the mind and body allowing peace to come forward.
We all struggle both individually and collectively with finding peace. War is the ultimate manifestation of an absence of peace. Unfortunately, war is way too much a part of both our individual lives and our collective. However, we can all end our individual wars and be a part of ending the collective wars of our cultures, religions and governments. The solution starts within each of us as we learn to cultivate peace. When we can find it in ourselves, we can help others to find it and learn to cultivate it. True health can only come when we know how to access and choose to regularly foster peace.
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