Meeting Critical Deadlines while at Total Inner Peace

When Adam was cast out of the Garden of Eden he was told “by the sweat of thy face shalt thou make thy bread all the days of thy life.”

From that day forward man has had to meet the economic demands of this material world in order to sustain the life of himself and his family.  The challenge associated with this isn’t necessarily in providing the essentials of life; it’s in meeting these demands while recognizing that we’re really spiritual beings in the midst of a material world.

We become so identified with hungry children, impatient bosses, and rush-hour traffic that we fail to connect with God, the source of everlasting life who can empower us to meet these demands with joy and total inner peace.  This is the secret of finding joy here on earth:  to embrace 100% of our duel nature; giving all our energy to both meeting the physical demands of life and remaining in conscious contact with God.  To live in such a way that from the moment we wake in the morning until our head hits the pillow at night we work our butts off to accomplish our tasks while all the while remaining in a state of complete joy and bliss.  Now wouldn’t that be nice?

Here are 3 Ideas or Remaining in a State of Inner Peace while accomplishing the Tasks of Life

1.  Life vs Life Situation

It helps to recognize that there’s a difference between our life and our life situation.  Our life is the essence of who we are, the part of us that God created, the part that is unchangeable and unaffected by our surroundings.  Our life is priceless, eternal, and divine.  Our life situation, however, is in perpetual transition.  It is our surroundings and the circumstances we find ourselves in at any given moment.  When we confuse our life with our life situation we become identified with our surroundings and believe that they can either add or detract from what God intended us to become.

I’ve used this analogy before, but we are like a deep lake where the entire disturbance occurs on the surface.  Peace and serenity are found below the surface in the depths of the water.  The lake is not defined by what happens on the surface, and we are not defined by the constant chaos and commotion of our life situation.

2.  Play the Game

Once we understand that our life situation cannot add or detract from who we are, we can look at life as somewhat of a game.  Imagine playing a video game.  While in the game your focus is on winning, otherwise you wouldn’t be playing, but you know that whether you win or lose makes no difference because the game will end and you’ll move on to something else.  We can look at this life the same way.  When you’re under pressure to accomplish a certain task, give everything you have to accomplishing it, but remember that life is just a game.  Sometimes we see it as a sucky game, but a game none-the-less.  This empowers you to see the world from an eternal perspective and to dis-identify with your life situation, allowing you to connect with God regardless of the circumstances.

3.  Squash your Ego

Our ego is a thought we have about who we are, nothing more.  It only lives in our mind, but it is the single greatest deterrent to connecting with God and having inner peace in our daily lives.  It tries to convince us that we are separate from others, that we are defined by the stuff we have and what we have accomplished, and that we are separate from God.  It is the 3 year old kid inside us that screams “MINE!!!!”  It is the part of us that becomes offended.  It is the part of us that tries to convince us that we are superior or inferior to others.  It is also the part of us that is worried about what others may think.

Becoming identified with our ego will absolutely guarantee inner turmoil regardless of how ‘good or bad’ our life situation may really be.  We’ve all met people who seem to have everything but are utterly miserable, as well as people whose situation may really stink but are completely happy…..these are the opposite ends of the ego spectrum.  How entrenched we are with ego will determine our level of inner peace while working to accomplish our goals.

The key to shedding layers of ego is to recognize it when it rears its ugly head.  Say to yourself “Here’s my ego at work again.”  Because the ego is nothing more than a thought, shedding light on it in this way will diminish its presence in your life.  Just as shining a light in a dark room eliminates darkness, shedding the light of your consciousness on the ego will cause it to shrink allowing us to be at peace regardless of our circumstances or what tasks may await us.

What practices have you found that help you meet the demands placed upon you in a state of inner peace?