Attitudes and Harmony

A fellow told me it was a long time since he felt peace. I asked what kept peace from him. He said: "How can I feel peace with so much strife in the world? Everywhere is violence, famine, and people treating each other terribly. There is no peace in the world." I inquired if his view was somewhat extreme, for how, in a world of billions of people, could there be no peace? I pointed out that "everywhere" is a lot of places.

Surely, somewhere in the world, there were people who found a modicum of happiness in something that happened to them, and maybe they even had some peace of mind. I didn't point out there was nothing terrible or violent happening around us. And the size of the breakfast he was demolishing certainly didn't suggest famine.

He was not convinced, and told me I was fooling myself. He said such attitudes do nothing except blind people to the reality of life and make the journey more difficult. By this time I'd realized whatever I said was being turned around to justify his point of view, and I had better quit before I fell into the same trap. I am sure the fellow believed he was being realistic in his outlook, and the world is the way he saw it.

A Chinese proverb tells us it is easier to move a mountain than change a person’s nature. I wonder how many times during our lives we try to change the way someone else looks at the world? It is more realistic to allow both them and ourselves our individual viewpoints. In other words, let harmony prevail. The dictionary definition of harmony is A pleasing agreement of parts in actions or ideas, a pleasing combination of friendly relations.

Harmony is easier than friction, and is the natural outcome of congruent communication. We are too used to believing might is right, and so do not allow other people their point of view. Mother nature is a wonderful example of harmony, she simply adapts herself to what is happening at the moment and grows around it to create a new environment.

Look at a lawn. It grows, and no matter how much we cut it, we are powerless to stop it growing. Mother nature simply continues to grow and evolve. If we mistreat her enough, the outcome is difficult living conditions, as is apparent with the increasing problems of environmental pollution.

In the scheme of things perhaps it doesn’t matter, because Nature embraces, absorbs and accepts whatever is given to her. She makes it part of the next offering from her womb of bountiful manifestation. Another word for harmony is acceptance.

Accepting the way life is at the moment is your key to positive change and peace of mind. Acceptance doesn’t mean liking something. It means acknowledging the reality of a situation, then the energy otherwise wasted in regret or anger is available for your growth, change and expansion.

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