Stop Looking for Reassurance

We need to stop looking for reassurance that things are going to work out the way we want them to. It may initially make us feel better, but it ultimately just leads to discouragement and disillusionment. Reassurance is like throwing a stick for an overly energetic dog – our hairy friend will soon be back for more.

Lasting peace is to be found not in controlling the changing circumstances of our life, but in the knowledge we can be at peace with whatever is going on. It is not about what happens to us but about how we relate to what happens to us. This is the difference between living in paradise or living  in hell.

I remember years ago hearing a quote from the teacher Krishnamurti where he said something like, ‘I don’t care what happens to me’. At the time, his words pissed me off, I suspected he was either lying or terribly depressed. Now I have a much better understanding of his meaning.

Once we realize that peace comes from how we relate to life rather than the circumstances of our life, it doesn’t matter so much what is happening. Once we begin to experience life from the stillness at the core of our being, we realize that this stillness is dependent on nothing.  There is nothing we can do to increase it or decrease it. The peace of stillness is beyond anything we can imagine, and there is nothing we need to do to earn it or maintain it.