PERSONAL PEACE

I do not teach religion, nor do I profess perfection or holiness. But I do like to share conceptual and educational aspects that help us obtain spiritual, economic, professional, or academic progress or that help us obtain personal satisfaction and happiness in whatever circumstances we are living in.

That is why, when I learn something good and worthy of imitation, I like to share it by all possible means. With the intention that the people who receive it can put it into practice for their own benefit and the benefit of all the people with whom they interact.

When a singer promotes a new song and we hear it for the first time, we may not like it enough to want to listen to it often. But with each occasion that we listen to it again, we like it more and more. To the extent that we repeat it constantly and it may become part of our lives without getting bored of hearing it everywhere, until one day it just disappears or is replaced by another popular song.

On the radio, television, social networks, and even through our family and friends, we hear various themes that are constantly repeated. Topics that we don’t mind listening to repeatedly—on the contrary, we like to keep talking about the same thing. Something similar happens with some movies that become part of our way of life, and we watch them whenever we can simply because we love to see them again, even if they spend several years in oblivion, but we don’t care because we know that at the moment, we want to see them because they are there.

Humans are living beings that develop in a repetitive environment. Repetition is a fundamental part of our lives, since it is through repetition that we create good or bad eating, hygiene, sports, family, religious habits, etc. And we may get so used to them that we forget that these good or bad habits exist in us, so we automatically repeat them without realizing that they are there.

How many of us know that the week has seven days? That the working week in some countries has four days and in others it has five, and the weekend can have two or three days. Leaving aside these small details, the truth is that the days of the week have names and that always before Monday is Sunday, that after Monday comes Tuesday, and so on until we arrive at Friday or Saturday to then start again a repetition of the days of the week from Monday to Sunday, an invariable repetition through time and distance that, regardless of what happens in the world, the days of the week will repeat themselves without ceasing to exist in the usual order.

We are so used to the fact that the year has twelve months, beginning with the month of January and ending with the month of December, and that the years are counted in ascending numerical form. It is so common and obvious that the day has twenty-four hours. By logic or learning, we know that during the day we see the sun, and at night we see the moon. We always have birthdays on the same date. In the same way, holidays will always be celebrated on the same usual dates.

At a very early age, we learn that the earth will always rotate on its own axis and that the weather seasons will return each year in due time and give us rain, snow, heat, cold, or hail. And it may be that if we allow ourselves to be wrapped up in this repetitive frequency of life, we begin to live in a hurry, generate anxiety, develop stress, live to please in vicious circles that only satisfy vain aspirations, and lose focus on what is really important in our lives.

And if we allow ourselves to be enveloped by the repetitive rhythm of life, we can forget that human beings are unique and irreplaceable, with the peculiarity that we all have our days of life numbered. So, although it is common to think that tomorrow we will continue living our lives as normal, the truth is that as we grow, our bodies die a little each day; affective relationships end; children grow up and leave home; adults age; friends move to other places; and without realizing it, we share less time with our loved ones.

However, we continue to live in such a way that we lose full awareness that with the invariable passage of time, one day we will wake up with a wrinkled face, without the strength in our legs to walk, without lucidity of thought, or immersed in the solitude and emptiness of our lives and own memories because humans are not eternal. And it may happen that tomorrow our loved ones are no longer by our side.

Aspiring to have material abundance or economic freedom is good as long as it does not require us to enslave ourselves to a job because of debts. Or that we ourselves restrict the opportunity to share unforgettable moments with our loved ones. Learning to have balance in all aspects of life is fundamental to finding happiness, satisfaction, and success in everything we do.

Learning to develop personal peace is essential if we want to feel happy with ourselves. And personal peace is obtained through constant prayer, self-control, planning projects to be carried out, refraining from unnecessary purchases, regular fun, sharing family time, and selfless service to other people. Personal peace comes when we develop self-love and succeed in life, because, after all, success comes down to doing everything we do well.

I would like to invite you to learn the teachings of the greatest leader who has ever existed on this earth, just as we watch a movie or listen to a song countless times, which are written in the Bible. If we read, share, and repetitively practice these teachings, we will find personal peace in a tumultuous world.

Finding peace beyond all understanding in this world is possible through love, faith, and perseverance. “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27.