A few weeks ago I had a writing date with a friend, the author Janette Byrne who wrote the inspiring book If It Were Just Cancer some years ago. As we walked and talked we searched for a subject to write about decided on Peace and how one found it in this noisy, anxious world. It set me thinking and writing, and this is what I found.
Finding peace – that holy of holiest places that we seek. It drops into our lives for moments or days and then disappears again in an instant of upset. But its arrival, even for that short space of time gives us an awareness of its existence and enough hope to allow us to keep seeking. But in seeking I wonder if we send it into hiding. Perhaps if we cease to search it will arrive to us as an unexpected guest, a friend who has been away too long.
Because what is peace? An acceptance that life is not perfect, that it is unfair. An acceptance that this world is cruel and beautiful, two sides of one coin.
Peace, I think is being content with this precious, present moment. The past is gone and no amount of tears or tantrums can change the trials we have endured; no more than we would want to change the hours of happiness we have experienced.
If we could simply live in the moment and not worry about the past or wonder about the future, or tomorrow or next week or next year . . . what a gift that would be. Peace I think, is about being in the company of family, or friends you can trust with your deepest thoughts, fears and joys. It’s taking time to sit and write about finding peace, and realising in that moment, in that act of writing that you’ve found it.
Et 2016
Eithne Reynolds . . . Writing 