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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.
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