Finding Your Peace

Guest Post by Chaundra McGill

I was looking at a journal I kept back in college and ran across a poem I’d written called “Where Can I Find My Peace?”

A deeply heart-wrenching plea for personal tranquility, this poem describes me looking toward everyone and everything around me for peace of mind, but it remained elusive.

 

Throughout my twenties, I searched for peace. I was on a mission to find it, capture it, hold on to it, and squeeze it tightly and never let go.

I looked for this peace in the faces of my lovers, the companionship of my friends, different workplaces and the material goods I acquired.

And of course you’re thinking, “You can only find peace in yourself.”

I thought that for a very long time, but now I completely disagree.

Peace is not something to be sought or found. Peace is something you already have, regardless or not, if you know it or feel it.

I’ve learned that my peace was buried under my years of trauma, baggage, and hurt. It was masked by my cripplingly low self-esteem. My self-doubt shielded the view of my peace of mind.

My job was not to find it, but to clear all of that junk out of the way to access it.

I liken it to a hideous green shag carpet covering hardwood floors; you have to remove the carpet and treat the hardwood after years of neglect.

Basking in your peace is a process; it’s not enough to just get to it, but you must also nurture it.

So that is what I am working on now, not only removing strips of rug, but making the beautiful hardwood shine.

 My-Life, how do you find and maintain your peace?

Chaundra McGill is a true lover of words. Though she tried to suppress her affinity for literature by forging through the corporate world for a decade, the written word kept luring her back. After years of denial, she finally surrendered to her calling. By creating Writing Reflections–a company developed to teach people that writing is not only used for crafting literature, but can also be used as emotional outlet through the practice of journaling– Chaundra is now living her dream of creating not only better writers, but better people. Learn how writing can foster emotional well-being and healing by visiting http://writingreflections.com/index.php.