Crafting Inner Serenity in a Chaotic World
In a world churning chaotically, find the serenity sanctuary inside to create the canvas of your soul calmly. -- ShadowsPub
Serenity originates from the Late Latin “serenitas,” meaning “clearness, tranquillity.” Serenity refers to being calm, peaceful, and untroubled. Serenity is not just an external condition but also an internal state of mind in an inner state of peace and calmness to be cultivated.
Meditation As A Path to Serenity
Meditation can be an effective way to tap into your inner peace and calmness. Many people think meditation is about turning off thoughts. That is not the purpose.
If you attempt to sit with no thoughts, you find it’s impossible to do so. Michael Singer refers to the constant stream of thoughts in our mind as the ‘roommate in the head.’ If you tune into the thoughts, you’ll notice the stream of consciousness is like someone just chattering away.
Meditation is something I’ve only started in the last couple of years. The objective is not to clear all thoughts; it’s to quiet the constant stream of random thought enough to allow other thoughts and ideas to have some space.
It’s not something that happens quickly. It takes time to build up stillness and even more time to settle the thought stream. As the practice developed, I found that my inner sense of calmness extended beyond the meditation time.
Meditation sets the tone to gently create a reflective process of exploring inwardly, allowing thoughts and ideas to be considered, examined, integrated or rejected with a peaceful mindset.
The divine can make itself known during that time of stillness and quiet. The meditative state cultivates a level of mindfulness that opens space for unexpected connectedness to consciousness. Within the space, intuitive energy guides us toward clarity and helps us to build inner peace and resilience. Our creativity finds pathways to our awareness.
Serenity In Wisdom Traditions
In "Wherever You Go, There You Are," the Buddhist writer Jon Kabat-Zinn discusses bridging the Buddhist principles of mindfulness to practical daily use. Mindfulness teaches focus on the present moment, being in the ‘now,’ rather than regretting the past or worrying about the future. He further emphasizes learning to observe the ‘now’ without judgment.
In "Jewish Meditation: A Practical Guide," Aryeh Kaplan shares that meditation within Judaism is valuable for achieving inner peace and spiritual clarity. Kaplan's techniques and purposes of meditation align well with the traditional Jewish emphasis on prayer, study, and personal growth, demonstrating how meditation can deepen one’s spiritual life and provide a sanctuary of serenity and insight.
Within the Christian traditions, a 17th-century monk, Brother Lawrence, discusses in his classic work, "The Practice of the Presence of God," the importance of living in the awareness of God’s presence as a form of prayer and a path to serenity. In cultivating this awareness, Christians can form a deep, personal relationship with God.
Practicing a constant awareness of His presence, not just during prayer, cultivates a greater awareness of the presence of the divine in even the simplest parts of life. Divine presence becomes like the calming effect of a cherished friend.
From the Sufism tradition, Rumi's poetry "The Essential Rumi" focuses on the quest for inner serenity through spiritual practice, mainly through love and the search for the divine. His work suggests that deep within the human heart lies a sanctuary of peace and understanding, accessible through love, mindfulness, and spiritual exploration.
In "The Spell of the Sensuous" by David Abram, we learn about the indigenous perspectives that foster a serene and deep connection with nature. The book emphasizes the importance of sensory engagement, reciprocal relationships, and reverence for nature as pathways to achieving a tranquil and enriched existence.
Eckhart Tolle’s teachings in his book “The Power of Now” provide a framework for finding inner peace and security by focusing on the present moment, allowing the ego to be transcended and a state of inner stillness cultivated.
Viktor Frankl, a man who survived Hitler’s camps, developed a form of psychotherapy called logotherapy that emphasizes the human search for meaning as the primary motivational force in life. Rather than have the patient focus on the past and introspection, it looks to the future to help them find meaning in their experiences and imagine the life they want to lead.
His approach contrasts the teachings to be in the now, not dwelling on the past or worrying about the future. The forward focus Frankl advocated taught that meaning and purpose can be found even amid chaos and suffering.
Serenity is found within the meaning and purpose as the person is encouraged towards better times. Peace is not the absence of conflict but a more profound sense of serenity that comes from living a life aligned with one’s values and purposes, which echoes the quote’s theme.
Equipped For Life’s Storms
Seeking the calm of serenity opens up a space to create a canvas of self-discovery and self-creation of our present and future selves. In building inner resilience, we’re better prepared to weather the inevitable storms life will send us.
Shadowspub writes on various subjects as she pursues her passion for learning. She also writes on other platforms and enjoys creating books you use, like journals, notebooks, colouring books, etc. Her Nicheless Narrative podcast airs on Thursdays each week.
NOTE: unless otherwise stated, all images are the author’s.
Some of the image work may have been done in Midjourney, for which I hold a licence to use the images commercially.
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