Hope

What brings you peace?

I’m going to approach this question backwards. (Apologies for my artist brain).

When I think about what the opposite of peace is, for me, I would have to say it’s fear. What brings me the most despair and mental dis-regulation is the fear of bad things happening or hardships worsening or relationships falling apart. Basically the opposite of hope.

Hopefulness. Confident calm hopefulness is the most peace I can imagine. When I feel hopeful, I can keep going, confidently walking all the difficult steps. Life can get pretty hard but if I have hope, I will keep trying.

When I first watched the movie ‘the Biggest Little Farm’, it left me with such hope for the future. I can’t even describe how elated I felt. Balance CAN be restored, even after it looks like all is lost! The earth has a beautiful rhythm and it can come back at any point. Where there is hope, peace of mind can come forward. Where there is hope, fear will fall back. Where there is hope there is potential and possibility.

Hopefulness is my peacefulness. When all is not lost. When a glimmer of hope is alive, life is good. If I lose sight of that glimmer and feel hopeless, all feels lost. Meaning ceases, nothing matters. Fear rushes in.

Fear is the sidekick of a hopeless mind, it’s evil cousin is despair. Paralyzing fear and hopelessness are the opposites of peace.

Peace knows everything is going to be okay. Peace grows confidence. Peace is calm and enduring. Peace is grateful and gracious. Peace is compassionate and seeks to understand. Peace is charitable and kind. A peaceful life is a loving life. True peace to me feels like gentle improvements and confident matter a fact evolution, like nature. No wonder I feel peaceful on a nature hike. I think the earth knows what I’m talking about…