Peaceful

 

Song:  Peaceful

Artist:  Helen Reddy

I pedaled out to another sunset just a short while ago.

My younger sister followed me in the car...

as she had just come back from triking with my elder sister.

--------------

I am speaking from many decades of life experience.

There is a world of difference between merely existing for decades...

and from actively living life with all of its problems...

temptations...

dealing first hand with difficult people...

overcoming challenges...

and seeing people under immense stress and how the true nature 

of the human condition unmasks itself.

Again...

I am not speaking from on high.

I have made many missteps in life myself...

but, I learned from those experiences.

The concept of peace is so often misunderstood.

What too many people do is to simply put out of their minds...

all the things they should be worried about so as to feel comfortable in the here and now.

Others will attempt to medicate themselves to relieve themselves of anxiety 

for any number of reasons.

Worry is the smoke alarm.

Merely ignoring the alarm does nothing to make any changes.

Ignore the warning signs in life...

and your whole house may burn down.

An absence of anxiety does not equate to peace.

It is ignoring the warning device engineered to effect action on your part.

Positive action is actually putting out the fire...

so you will not have anything to worry about.

I see worrisome attitudes among the youth.

They attempt to numb themselves to worry to feel "peace" in the present.

Youth is the time to build your life so that your future is secure

so you may have true peace in the secure future.

This is not to say that one may not feel peace until one has secured one's future.

So long as you are walking the path to a secure future...

you may also feel true peace.

These are the only ways to have true serenity.

Anything else is an illusion you have accepted.

I cannot stress this enough...

there are only so many hours in a day...

and only so many days in life.

You must simplify life so you may maximize

the quantity of quality in it.

Once again...

never let your inner child die.

He or she is the playful and adventurous side of you.

He or she is curious and creative...

and it is he or she who loves deeply and with a pure heart.

The mature you is the one who makes life possible.

Your inner child is the one who makes life worthwhile.

If you don't have at least one creative passion in life...

one which gives you such serenity that you feel the depth of colors...

and your inner core reverberates with music...

yes...

there is something wrong.

This is something that you must work on...

for it means your inner child is asleep.

However...

this also means you have a great awakening in store for you...

and just in this...

you should be happy.

Do not be the one who tells himself that watching TV for endless hours a day...

is living life.

It isn't...

and you know it isn't.

If life is boring for you...

it means that you are boring.

If you are unhappy...

fix it.

It is never someone else's responsibility to make you happy...

it is ALWAYS your's.

To know what makes us deeply happy...

and to pursue that happiness...

is one of our most sacred of missions in life.

Doing this...

and leaving behind a legacy...

is the only way to conquer death.

We only have one shot at it...

do not waste it.

The Three Wheeled Philosopher