I Find Peace Like This
I know, I know, I went AWOL for a while. Not to worry, Iām back!
Before I proceed, let me take this moment to apologise for not accounting much for time and dates in my Amani Series. I went through a couple of days without comprehending or having a feel of time. I later managed to acquire a watch and small alarm clock and things got better, time-wise.
Simple as it is, how easy is it for you to close all the tabs on your browser?
Do you normally open ten articles to read later, and five more tabs relevant to work that you are not using? Welcome to the club of stressed time wasters who try to position themselves as workaholics.Ā
We are living in a culture entirely hypnotized by the illusion of time, in which the so-called present moment is felt as nothing but an infinitesimal hairline between an all-powerfully causative past and an absorbingly important future. We have no present. Our consciousness is almost completely preoccupied with memory and expectation. We do not realize that there never was, is, nor will be any other experience than present experience. We are therefore out of touch with reality. We confuse the world as talked about, described, and measured with the world which actually is. We are sick with a fascination for the useful tools of names and numbers, of symbols, signs, conceptions and ideas.
Alan Watts
The very first time when I heard about meditation happened many years ago when I was 16. I had been introduced to the world of deeper understanding, although back then I have been too young to comprehend. I remember that I was attracted by this secret power called meditation. People who meditated seemed to be so different. But I wasnāt sure If I was curious or opened enough to learn more.
It was back in the beginning of 2015 when I decided to quit my office job, which has become a routine and stopped boosting my self-development and giving me satisfaction. I realized that more than that I also needed to ‘restart the system’, in the way we restart our computers, with the only exception that the system was my mind. We all are in a constant search for new inspiration, new ideas, new paths. So was I.
The gift of stillness continues to remind me of who I truly am. I appreciate the depth, the teaching, the encouragement and the humor that this retreat has brought me and the people…must not forget this gift.
Our peace architect Alejandra BarbĆ© Sevilla took place in āOne World. One Homeā, the 12th European Youth Summit organized by the international youth movement AYUDH that involved 300 participants from 26 countries, providing a variety of learning experiences which empowered participants to recognize and responds to needs in their respective communities, facilitating intercultural dialogue, engagement in community service and promoted community leadership.
My common path with Peace Revolution started a couple of years ago, at a moment I was feeling fairly lost and undecided about my future. My mind was envisioning a thousand plans, jumping from one to another before even getting halfway through the first one. It was a rather exhausting process, but somehow I was not able to push the break and detach myself from all the uncertainties and worries looming above me.
It is in the human nature to always seek comfort and happiness, to dream and envisage the future with serenity or anxiety as well as always remain attached to the past to assure his or her identity. That nature almost every human being keeps filling out every day makes our mind to being permanently avoiding the present moment, yet the present moment is certainly important as it is the crucible in which our whole life unfolds.
