Finding Peace in the Modern Age
Hi and Welcome to the A & J PEI Treasures E Jean Simpson Author Blog Post and Podcast. I’m your host, Jean coming to you from the beautiful Province of Prince Edward Island, Canada!! The blog post and podcast is an opinion piece and only reflects this author’s opinion and not that of any other entity. I hold no designations in politics, economics or medicine. I am retired from the mental health field. I am a humanitarian and speak from that viewpoint only. Whether you agree with me or not, at least I hope it makes you think. This week I look at how I find peace in the modern age. If you want to find out more, then stay tuned…!
First, we need to define what peace I am talking about. Merriam-Webster has several different definitions of peace which encompasses everything from absence of war to a state of tranquility or calmness to legal and even harmony in personal relations (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dicti...). The one I intend to deal with is “in a state of concord or tranquility”. It is the state of calmness that one can achieve. This sort of quietness can allow one to think and to deal with things in a better way. I think often we react with our ‘gut’ rather than reacting with forethought. There are of course times and place for both kind of thinking. No solution is perfect for all situations. When I am in a situation where I find myself wondering if my reaction will do more harm than good, I find myself sometimes having to step away and think about what I want to say. This is neither good nor bad in and of itself. I have found that most of the time, most especially when my anger is triggered, when I just want to react, I tend to mess up what I intend to say. It’s seldom what I mean to say that comes out with just reacting. I’ve tried to become more cognizant of it. When unsure what to say at the time, I sometimes just step away for a time and think about what it is I want to say. I find it makes me better able to make the point. Sometimes I also think of something I would have been happier to say…and tend to add on to statements. I’m not talking about joking around stuff or being funny. I’m talking about the stuff that hits you where you live. For me, that has become intolerance and hate of all sorts. I also know that my path is not meant to be walked in anything other than love. Any time I fall from the path or stumble on it, I feel it. I’ve never been one to put on an act and was never any good at it. I’m much happier when I don’t try to be anything other than who I am.
Knowing those things makes me more mindful of my path and that I tend to react to certain triggers. Sometimes they do take over. I also observe those around me. Often people get caught in the net of anger. They respond to situations in the very same way that others on the other side of the argument are using. It doesn’t finish the argument. In fact, it complicates it. Slinging mud only ends up making everything dirty. I think since having to retire and with COVID, I’ve had more time to consider philosophical ideals and to play with concepts. Worse, I find I quite enjoy it and am always happy to see ideas that I can play with. I find that I can fine tune what it is I believe.
I’m going to be honest about this. On a regular basis, things become too chaotic. I am affected by things in the everyday world. I have never been amazing at filtering out stuff. Auditory is worse for me. I tend to hear everything and anything or it becomes a steady hum when I’m out. My illnesses, if anything have made me less well-prepared to filter out things. In general, it seems people tend to filter out some things and not others. It is not a talent I am particularly in possession of. The world is full of so much information. It is a continual place of input and output. The technical marvels that allow more information into our lives tend to be the ever changing panoply that confronts us on a daily basis. I’ve narrowed my input by choosing various things to bookmark and this does narrow my interactions somewhat. On the other hand, it is one way that I keep from flying off the earth in all directions. I keep a loose schedule which gives some routine.
Now when it comes to finding peace, there are so many different suggestions online and in the world in general. This article gives some ideas. https://psychcentral.com/blog/how-to-.... Of course you can all guess that my favourite one is the ‘get back to nature’ suggestion from the article. Not to say that the other ideas don’t have merit, just that I have always favoured this when given the choice. I’ve always been drawn to the sea, water, ocean, rivers, flowers and nature in general. My top draw is anything that smells like the sea. This does explain my location. When I am starting to fray around the edges, the best cure for me is a trip to anywhere that I can smell sea air. It clears my head, fills me back up, and grounds me. I can breathe in the sea air, hear or watch water birds, watch the aquatic life. Of course I can get the same benefits sitting outside at home, it just takes longer. We’re off the main road a little so there isn’t a lot of steady traffic. However, the ocean or the river near our home (salt based) is the heavy duty clearing of negativity for me and can bring me peace. I don’t need it specifically, but I do prefer it.
I sometimes forget the healing properties of ocean and nature. We all have that kind of issue, we forget that we need to take time for ourselves and just breathe. We forget that we need to find things that will heal us from the day to day chaos. It is so easy to forget with all the many distractions in day to day life. People often forget their path, forget themselves, who they want to be and forget what heals them. It is all part of being human. The world seems to encourage the quick fix. It also encourages people to communicate in superficial ways. We hear a lot about wanting people to be real. Some people think it is how you react at a certain specific time and decide that people don’t really want that. It is not exactly that and it is thinking so that makes for a lot of confusion about the merits or demerits associated with being real. If you have a bad day, you don’t suddenly stop being who you are. I think an important part of finding peace is being real. It doesn’t always mean everything you think popping out of your mouth. Sometimes it is having some self-discipline in how you reply. You need to be real, If not with others, at least with yourself. Real does not mean rude, nor does it mean getting to do harm. In my path, harming none is one of the highest ideals. I found an article that encompasses what I think it means to be real. It isn’t a daily change in how you act based on mood. That would be the easy and fast fix and not a fix at all. The quote is as follows: “So, what does it mean to be real? Being real means knowing yourself and being comfortable in your own skin. Being real means being honest about your marvelousness and sharing it, as well as being honest about your flaws and working hard to overcome them. Being real means owning and accepting who you are and who you can be.” https://www.rachelbeohm.com/what-does.... It’s also important that you be honest about what you can and can’t accept and owning that as well. It does no good to blame other groups for what you do or don’t like. I see that happen too. I see it revert to blame and often toward minority groups because there is something they don’t like. It is OK to dislike something, it’s not OK to blame others, put down others or try to harm others based on something you do not like. This is where giving away ownership of your issues can be disastrous or at the very least harmful. One of my favourite saying is something to do with it being a ‘me thing’ when I don’t like something. I’m clear I don’t like it, it’s my issue and I don’t necessarily expect other people to have the same issue. I just follow what fits for me. Just because I don’t like something doesn’t mean someone else shouldn’t. Each person must follow their own path. I will make some modifications to what I will say if I am concerned about danger to another. Otherwise, there are things I do and don’t do, but it isn’t the fault of anyone. It is just my way.
I think part of finding peace is taking a little time to learn who you are. Sometimes there are so many people who think they know who you are that it gets hard to separate things out. You cannot live your life based on the opinions of others. One would be afraid to move. People only see what is presented to them and it isn’t always perfect. It can be difficult to look inside oneself and look and see who you are. It can be difficult to admit your faults and to see your positives too and the hardest to do so within yourself. Try it sometime. Try to think about yourself, both your faults and your positives…you don’t have to have a huge list...even just a few things will prove the point. If you don’t feel a bit of discomfort, you’ve reached a higher level than most. We are taught that to be humble means to ignore yourself, but this is not part of the package either. We need to better define who we are and that might be slightly different with different people. Our needs can differ from day to day. Who we are and what we can do can have some fluidity. Sometimes we don’t feel strong and other days we feel we can conquer the world. It is a bit of an overstatement, but I’m just pointing out that some days we don’t feel we know who we are and other days we feel more solid. It is normal human emotion and we’re not always perfectly attuned within ourselves nor with each other. Eventually things will work out. We have to believe this.
I think it is also important to understand that there are various levels to life and to relationships. The main purpose, at least in my world view, is as the Dali Lama is quoted with saying, “Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them.” I think sometimes the most important skill one can develop is forgiveness, but not forgiveness arbitrarily. It is, of course, not just with regard to people, but also with regard to nature and our environment. Sometimes people make mistakes and the hardest thing is to forgive themselves for them. With this kind of forgiveness, we can, over time, find some degree of peace within ourselves and with others.
Can you imagine if there were committed groups of people who believed that “If you have a common purpose and an environment in which people want to help others succeed, the problems will be fixed quickly.” By Alan Mulally. I think the word quickly might have to be qualified because there are problems that will take time to solve, but overall the statement has a great deal of validity. We might all move a little closer to finding inner and outer peace if we had support for ourselves and each other and the world in general. I will end this blog post with a quote credited to River Phoenix “Run to the rescue with love, and peace will follow.” There is always magic in love and in peace. Magic or miracles can be found everywhere in the natural world. We just have to open our eyes to see them. Whether you agree with me or not, I hope it makes you think. Thanks for listening to my podcast and/or reading my blog post and thanks for your interest in A & J PEI Treasures! Keep watching because we’re always working on something. Thank you!
The podcast that matches this blog post can be found on Anchor FM: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/sh...
Blog Posts are available on
WordPress: https://aandjpeitreasures.wordpress.com/ and
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Podcast are available on:
Anchor FM in a variety of formats: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/sh...
iHeart Radio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-e-...
Podchaser: https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/e-... name a few
All my e-books can be found on:
Smashwords (my Affiliate link): https://www.smashwords.com/profile/vi...
You can also find us on:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/EJS08026749
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5zp...
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.ca/ej2466
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/e-j-s-151a...
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AndrewAandJP...
First, we need to define what peace I am talking about. Merriam-Webster has several different definitions of peace which encompasses everything from absence of war to a state of tranquility or calmness to legal and even harmony in personal relations (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dicti...). The one I intend to deal with is “in a state of concord or tranquility”. It is the state of calmness that one can achieve. This sort of quietness can allow one to think and to deal with things in a better way. I think often we react with our ‘gut’ rather than reacting with forethought. There are of course times and place for both kind of thinking. No solution is perfect for all situations. When I am in a situation where I find myself wondering if my reaction will do more harm than good, I find myself sometimes having to step away and think about what I want to say. This is neither good nor bad in and of itself. I have found that most of the time, most especially when my anger is triggered, when I just want to react, I tend to mess up what I intend to say. It’s seldom what I mean to say that comes out with just reacting. I’ve tried to become more cognizant of it. When unsure what to say at the time, I sometimes just step away for a time and think about what it is I want to say. I find it makes me better able to make the point. Sometimes I also think of something I would have been happier to say…and tend to add on to statements. I’m not talking about joking around stuff or being funny. I’m talking about the stuff that hits you where you live. For me, that has become intolerance and hate of all sorts. I also know that my path is not meant to be walked in anything other than love. Any time I fall from the path or stumble on it, I feel it. I’ve never been one to put on an act and was never any good at it. I’m much happier when I don’t try to be anything other than who I am.
Knowing those things makes me more mindful of my path and that I tend to react to certain triggers. Sometimes they do take over. I also observe those around me. Often people get caught in the net of anger. They respond to situations in the very same way that others on the other side of the argument are using. It doesn’t finish the argument. In fact, it complicates it. Slinging mud only ends up making everything dirty. I think since having to retire and with COVID, I’ve had more time to consider philosophical ideals and to play with concepts. Worse, I find I quite enjoy it and am always happy to see ideas that I can play with. I find that I can fine tune what it is I believe.
I’m going to be honest about this. On a regular basis, things become too chaotic. I am affected by things in the everyday world. I have never been amazing at filtering out stuff. Auditory is worse for me. I tend to hear everything and anything or it becomes a steady hum when I’m out. My illnesses, if anything have made me less well-prepared to filter out things. In general, it seems people tend to filter out some things and not others. It is not a talent I am particularly in possession of. The world is full of so much information. It is a continual place of input and output. The technical marvels that allow more information into our lives tend to be the ever changing panoply that confronts us on a daily basis. I’ve narrowed my input by choosing various things to bookmark and this does narrow my interactions somewhat. On the other hand, it is one way that I keep from flying off the earth in all directions. I keep a loose schedule which gives some routine.
Now when it comes to finding peace, there are so many different suggestions online and in the world in general. This article gives some ideas. https://psychcentral.com/blog/how-to-.... Of course you can all guess that my favourite one is the ‘get back to nature’ suggestion from the article. Not to say that the other ideas don’t have merit, just that I have always favoured this when given the choice. I’ve always been drawn to the sea, water, ocean, rivers, flowers and nature in general. My top draw is anything that smells like the sea. This does explain my location. When I am starting to fray around the edges, the best cure for me is a trip to anywhere that I can smell sea air. It clears my head, fills me back up, and grounds me. I can breathe in the sea air, hear or watch water birds, watch the aquatic life. Of course I can get the same benefits sitting outside at home, it just takes longer. We’re off the main road a little so there isn’t a lot of steady traffic. However, the ocean or the river near our home (salt based) is the heavy duty clearing of negativity for me and can bring me peace. I don’t need it specifically, but I do prefer it.
I sometimes forget the healing properties of ocean and nature. We all have that kind of issue, we forget that we need to take time for ourselves and just breathe. We forget that we need to find things that will heal us from the day to day chaos. It is so easy to forget with all the many distractions in day to day life. People often forget their path, forget themselves, who they want to be and forget what heals them. It is all part of being human. The world seems to encourage the quick fix. It also encourages people to communicate in superficial ways. We hear a lot about wanting people to be real. Some people think it is how you react at a certain specific time and decide that people don’t really want that. It is not exactly that and it is thinking so that makes for a lot of confusion about the merits or demerits associated with being real. If you have a bad day, you don’t suddenly stop being who you are. I think an important part of finding peace is being real. It doesn’t always mean everything you think popping out of your mouth. Sometimes it is having some self-discipline in how you reply. You need to be real, If not with others, at least with yourself. Real does not mean rude, nor does it mean getting to do harm. In my path, harming none is one of the highest ideals. I found an article that encompasses what I think it means to be real. It isn’t a daily change in how you act based on mood. That would be the easy and fast fix and not a fix at all. The quote is as follows: “So, what does it mean to be real? Being real means knowing yourself and being comfortable in your own skin. Being real means being honest about your marvelousness and sharing it, as well as being honest about your flaws and working hard to overcome them. Being real means owning and accepting who you are and who you can be.” https://www.rachelbeohm.com/what-does.... It’s also important that you be honest about what you can and can’t accept and owning that as well. It does no good to blame other groups for what you do or don’t like. I see that happen too. I see it revert to blame and often toward minority groups because there is something they don’t like. It is OK to dislike something, it’s not OK to blame others, put down others or try to harm others based on something you do not like. This is where giving away ownership of your issues can be disastrous or at the very least harmful. One of my favourite saying is something to do with it being a ‘me thing’ when I don’t like something. I’m clear I don’t like it, it’s my issue and I don’t necessarily expect other people to have the same issue. I just follow what fits for me. Just because I don’t like something doesn’t mean someone else shouldn’t. Each person must follow their own path. I will make some modifications to what I will say if I am concerned about danger to another. Otherwise, there are things I do and don’t do, but it isn’t the fault of anyone. It is just my way.
I think part of finding peace is taking a little time to learn who you are. Sometimes there are so many people who think they know who you are that it gets hard to separate things out. You cannot live your life based on the opinions of others. One would be afraid to move. People only see what is presented to them and it isn’t always perfect. It can be difficult to look inside oneself and look and see who you are. It can be difficult to admit your faults and to see your positives too and the hardest to do so within yourself. Try it sometime. Try to think about yourself, both your faults and your positives…you don’t have to have a huge list...even just a few things will prove the point. If you don’t feel a bit of discomfort, you’ve reached a higher level than most. We are taught that to be humble means to ignore yourself, but this is not part of the package either. We need to better define who we are and that might be slightly different with different people. Our needs can differ from day to day. Who we are and what we can do can have some fluidity. Sometimes we don’t feel strong and other days we feel we can conquer the world. It is a bit of an overstatement, but I’m just pointing out that some days we don’t feel we know who we are and other days we feel more solid. It is normal human emotion and we’re not always perfectly attuned within ourselves nor with each other. Eventually things will work out. We have to believe this.
I think it is also important to understand that there are various levels to life and to relationships. The main purpose, at least in my world view, is as the Dali Lama is quoted with saying, “Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them.” I think sometimes the most important skill one can develop is forgiveness, but not forgiveness arbitrarily. It is, of course, not just with regard to people, but also with regard to nature and our environment. Sometimes people make mistakes and the hardest thing is to forgive themselves for them. With this kind of forgiveness, we can, over time, find some degree of peace within ourselves and with others.
Can you imagine if there were committed groups of people who believed that “If you have a common purpose and an environment in which people want to help others succeed, the problems will be fixed quickly.” By Alan Mulally. I think the word quickly might have to be qualified because there are problems that will take time to solve, but overall the statement has a great deal of validity. We might all move a little closer to finding inner and outer peace if we had support for ourselves and each other and the world in general. I will end this blog post with a quote credited to River Phoenix “Run to the rescue with love, and peace will follow.” There is always magic in love and in peace. Magic or miracles can be found everywhere in the natural world. We just have to open our eyes to see them. Whether you agree with me or not, I hope it makes you think. Thanks for listening to my podcast and/or reading my blog post and thanks for your interest in A & J PEI Treasures! Keep watching because we’re always working on something. Thank you!
The podcast that matches this blog post can be found on Anchor FM: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/sh...
Blog Posts are available on
WordPress: https://aandjpeitreasures.wordpress.com/ and
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Podcast are available on:
Anchor FM in a variety of formats: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/sh...
iHeart Radio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-e-...
Podchaser: https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/e-... name a few
All my e-books can be found on:
Smashwords (my Affiliate link): https://www.smashwords.com/profile/vi...
You can also find us on:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/EJS08026749
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5zp...
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.ca/ej2466
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/e-j-s-151a...
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AndrewAandJP...
No comments have been added yet.
A & J PEI Treasures/E Jean Simpson, BEd, BA, MA
A & J PEI Treasures is located on Prince Edward Island, Canada. We are a husband and wife team and our companion animals. There are a number of things that drew us to the Island…one of which was the n
...more
- E. Jean Simpson's profile
- 2 followers
