Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (March 18, 2020)
14 Wednesday, March 18, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon Scottie Wisdom&Faith Jean Russell Nave Scotties and inner peace It was a beautiful cool, crisp and sunny day; per- fect Scottie-dog weather. We were just back from a long off-leash hike in a gorgeous section of giant old-growth ponderosa pines. I walked three miles. The Scotties ran six miles as they gave every- thing they had to exploring each rock, fallen tree, and old stump in the surround- ing forest. Now they slept. Feeling safe and loved, they were the picture of peace and contentment. My post-cancer spiritual journey is largely about find- ing inner peace. I9ve met a few people who demonstrate that quality in their every- day lives: it seems to be rare. Inner peace is probably the most precious thing anyone can gain in one lifetime. I9m making progress. I know there is a lot of work ahead. In past Psychology 101 classes instructors often pre- sented a perception exercise in which the lecturer drew a circle on the board that had a small section missing. Students immediately looked at the missing section. They wanted it completed, con- nected to the rest of the circle. We are almost hard-wired to focus on incompleteness in things and people. Few would be content with the fact that only 98 percent of the circle was there. We are also impatient with people who don9t live up to our standards. In other words, we are quick to judge things and people. Sometimes as a hiring manager I would point to my water glass and ask an applicant the question: <Is the glass half full or half empty?= One9s life perspec- tive became instantly evident with a quick answer. Some people fervently argued for half empty. Inner peace exists when a person reaches true whole- ness in spirit. They have learned how to accept the imperfections of this world and they have mastered the ability to always find the beauty in those imperfec- tions. That is to say they have learned how to stop judging everything and everyone as either <good= or <bad.= Inner peace means you don9t get upset when your car won9t start and you have an important appointment. You simply accept the situ- ation and look for an alter- native solution. You dem- onstrate inner peace when everyone is running away from the sound of a gunshot and you look around to see if someone needs your help. Inner peace means you are truly glad for your neighbor with his beautiful new car even though you couldn9t afford one like it. Wise instructors of the world9s great religions have been teaching us for eons that inner peace is available to everyone and in fact is already right inside us. All we have to do is become whole; easily said but not easily done. How do we get there? Prayer and meditation are two of the most important steps. Through prayer we ask for wisdom, guidance and forgiveness so that we can find the road which leads to inner peace. We must learn to forgive. Forgiveness is actually the most important condition. We need to forgive our- selves for being less than perfect and we must forgive others for being the same. Put another way, the road to inner peace is a road of let- ting go: letting go of artifi- cial limitations, letting go of negative thinking, letting go of selfishness, letting go of judging others, letting go of hate. The road to inner peace is also a road to gain- ing: gaining self-awareness, gaining unlimited love for others and ourselves, gain- ing a caring and helping attitude. Inner peace is a habit. Many of us have become conditioned to panic when things don9t go right. We9re accustomed to getting mad when things don9t go our way. We build these habits upon a lack of wholeness. The reactionary habits rein- force our emptiness. Fear is the fundamental problem. We are afraid we won9t get what we want or we9ll be seen as not good enough in some- one9s eyes. Often that fear is completely unfounded. This is where self-awareness helps. Once we accept that we are not perfect 4 nor is anyone else 4 we learn to strive to always do our best and know that tomorrow we can be ever better. God loves us and accepts us with our imperfections. Jesus said that we could reach His level of spiritual- ity. That gives us our goal. Now we can begin accept- ing and pursuing that goal knowing we can get better every day as we work at it. We begin gaining whole- ness and peace as we walk the Road-of-Getting-Better- Every-Day. <Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.= John 14:27. We, The Nugget Newspaper, take our responsibility as a leader in the community seriously, and we will continue to deliver accurate and verifi able information in a timely fashion through our newspaper, website, Facebook and other online resources as appropriate. In an eff ort to help protect our staff and community from the spread of COVID-19, The Nugget encourages you to contact our offi ce by email or phone in the coming weeks. A drop box is located to the right of our front door if you need to drop off payments or other printed items. The Nugget Office: 541-549-9941 News & Letters to the editor: Jim Cornelius, editor@nuggetnews.com Classifi eds & Subscriptions: Kema Clark, kema@nuggetnews.com Announcements & Events: Lisa May, lisa@nuggetnews.com Community Marketing Partners (Display Advertisting) Vicki Curlett, 541-699-7530 (cell) Patti Jo Beal, 541-408-7264 (cell) vicki@nuggetnews.com pattijo@nuggetnews.com The Nugget Newspaper Read online at NuggetNews.com • Facebook.com/NuggetNews Stay current with the latest verified news on COVID-19