Can I Get a Moment's Peace?

How many of us have uttered that thought throughout the course of our lifetimes? Entire business sectors bank on our need for peace. The truth is this. You will only know peace when you find sanctuary within yourself.

Can I get a moment’s peace? How many of us have uttered that thought throughout the course of our lifetimes? I’ll bet…pretty much everyone reading this article right now.

Entire business sectors bank on your need for peace, hawking it nonstop like a carnival attraction. “Looking for peace? Well boy, do we have the most amazing, the most wondrous, the world’s finest [insert name of spa, tourist destination, or experience here].” Ok, granted, they hire better marketing firms that showcase nature, gentle music, and a person with their hair blowing in the wind, serene face achieved. True to form and as promised, the marketed options do actually provide a moment’s peace.

But it doesn’t last. It never lasts. Regardless of budget size, length of time, or who accompanies you, the peace is always fleeting and limited in scope. Our daily lives take center stage again, and before long we begin planning another escape, blaming our rising need for serenity on work, family, or a general lack of me-time. Like an ouroboros, we continue the cycle, oblivious to the truth.

The truth is this.

You will only know peace when you find sanctuary within yourself.

When inner peace is dependent on a location, experience or other person it is never true peace, simply for the fact that you are dependent on another source. Collecting experiences like trinkets is great for Instagram and a modicum of calm, but you are no closer to finding and centering yourself around the true refuge.

All of us carry a light within ourselves, like a flame rising steady and true. Real and lasting peace requires navigating towards that internal beacon, and dedicating time and attention so the flame does not diminish, does not flicker.

Tranquility does not come easy. The calm requires nothing less than the most intense internal assessment and self-reflection. And no, this cannot be outsourced to a consultant or company. The guides of humility, atonement and candor accept time as their only form of payment. Humility will give you the vision to see your shortcomings, atonement will heal the errors of the past and present, and candor will lead you to self-actualization.

Being at peace with yourself does not mean you are perfect; it means you never stop striving for understanding and betterment.

Any flame that is lit long enough will sway, flicker, and pop. If you attune yourself to it, you will know when the light is threatened and how to shore up the defenses. A retreat from the man-made, a change of scenery, a less blustery wind, comfort in solitude—all these things and more will ensure its stability, your stability.

The sanctuary you seek, only you can build. Build it strong, build it true. Let it hold the flame that is uniquely yours.