Choosing Peace: A Shift in Perspective

Life, especially these days, is constantly presenting us with opportunities to react with frustration, judgement, stress and fear or respond with peace, curiosity, compassion and love. No matter what the situation is – the opportunity for either is always there. As a student (and now teacher) of A Course in Miracles, I have come to realize a powerful truth about peace.

Peace is our natural state of being. 

Think about that for a moment. How often do you tell yourself that you will feel better once something outside of you changes? Once the world calms down. Once people behave the way you think they should. Once the challenge you’re facing is resolved.

Peace isn’t something we can find outside of ourselves – it is within us. Peace is a part of who we are. We were born peace. We have every right to be and feel peaceful – even in the midst of chaos.

We learned to worry, doubt, judge and be bothered by everything in this world. We have all been conditioned to react and respond from a place of fear. Yet…Peace is our natural state; and fear was learned. We were not born anxious, judgmental, or reactive. Those are conditioned responses and learned patterns of behavior.  When we practice releasing & acknowledging those learned patterns, we can then condition ourselves to return to the peace that is always within us.

I am not a prisoner of the world I see.

I am only a prisoner of my own thoughts about any situation I am seeing in the world. That is often a hard truth to accept. But the best part is that; thoughts are only thoughts – they can be changed! Which means I can release myself from my own self-inflicted prison by changing my thoughts and my perception about anything and everything. This takes conscious awareness of course and a desire to get myself out of the prison of fear or pain I’ve built around me – but it is do-able and might I add – absolutely freeing.

Realizing I am not at the mercy of the world I see, has created so much freedom in my life. I can change the way I see the world or any situation I find myself in by shifting how I am perceiving it. This takes me out of my fearful, thinking, conditioned mind and connects me to a broader world where I can feel my way into different ways of seeing any situation. When I take the time to tune inward to that part of me that feels and knows love, joy, peace, understanding and courage – I can look at anything differently.

Some may say this is similar to “sticking my head in the sand” however, when someone tells me that – I know my way of seeing things threatens and challenges their belief systems. It is not my business to change their belief system but it is my business to choose my preferred way of feeling and when I choose to consciously feed peace my whole world shifts. My heart opens, I feel calmer and those around me do too.

When I choose to feed the fear though – those old learned and conditioned patterns of anxiety show up. Anxiety almost destroyed my mind – I don’t want to feed it anymore.

It is my right as a human being to choose my thoughts and what I see around me. I can choose to see the fear or I can choose to see peace. As often as I can, I choose to align in with my natural state of being versus my old conditioned responses. Some days are easier to do this than other and some times I may react to the fear for multiple days – until I remind myself that I can choose to see it differently.

In choosing to see it through the eyes of peace, my thoughts change and the situation seems to transform right before my eyes. Shifting from fear to peace has been a practice of mine for the last few years and it has changed my life. The more I practice it, the more often I naturally choose peace and the less often I unconsciously fall into old conditioned mind patterns of fear and frustration.

If you decide you would like to choose to also see and feed peace & love over fear & frustration then continue reading 😊

When you find yourself feeling anxious or stuck in patterns of judgment, complaining, blaming, negativity, or fear it’s not because the situation you are seeing is necessarily bad or disastrous – it is 100% because of the way you are seeing and thinking about it.

If you were to pause and ask yourself, “Could I looked at this differently?” and you were actually willing to look at it differently – your world would change immensely.

• Instead of seeing conflict, you could see a call for love and a solution of peace.
• Instead of seeing an obstacle, you could see an opportunity for growth.
• Instead of seeing a worst-case scenario, you could see the best-case scenario.
• Instead of seeing and feeling pain, you could see and feel healing.

The power to shift your experience begins in your mind. If you are not willing to change your mind or the thoughts around a person or a situation – then your situation will remain as you are seeing it. A problem will remain a problem. An obstacle will remain an obstacle. Debt will remain debt. Pain will remain pain. A struggling relationship will continue to be a struggle. A person who is hurting you will continue to be able to hurt you.

No matter what is happening, peace is always an option. When you cannot change something outside of you remember that you have complete control of what is happening inside of you. No one can make you feel anything good or bad without your permission. You give up your power by feeding the fear – whether it is silently or outwardly condemning, judging or complaining about them, yourself or a situation.

You can always shift into peace. Always…this is because peace is within you. It is an intricate part of who you are. When you’re triggered, overwhelmed, or caught up in a cycle of guilt, fear, judgement or blame, remind yourself that you don’t have to be a victim of any circumstance. Peace isn’t something you seek; it’s something you choose. By recognizing that your thoughts about any person or any situation shapes your emotional state, you can choose thoughts of peace and reclaim your inner power.

Daily Practice for Peace: Whenever you feel stressed, anxious, or reactive, try this:

1. Pause and breathe. Take a deep breath in, hold it for a moment and exhale slowly. Feel yourself arriving in the now moment.
2. Acknowledge what you’re feeling. Say to yourself: “I am feeling upset because of my thoughts about this situation.” This helps you take ownership of your inner experience.
3. Shift your perspective. Gently remind yourself: “I could see peace instead of this.” (lesson 34 in ACIM) Even if you don’t immediately feel peaceful, this simple thought creates space for a new perception.
4. Ask for a new way of seeing. Say, “What would this situation look like if I viewed it through the eyes of peace?” Be willing to let yourself shift into a new way of seeing.

Choosing peace doesn’t mean ignoring challenges; it means facing them from a place of clarity, inner strength and love rather than keeping yourself in a looped state of fear and conditioned reactivity. The more you practice seeing and choosing peace, the more natural it becomes. Today, in every situation, big or small, remind yourself: There is another way of seeing this. I can choose peace instead.

The next step is of course up to you. Will you choose to align with the peaceful you, that already reside within?

It is a powerful shift.