Have you ever felt impatient in achieving something you desired so earnestly in your life? Do you get easily angry with people who do not behave or act according to your whims and mental state? Do you find it difficult to face the various challenges, such as failures and frustrations, with equanimity, or without being mentally disturbed? Do you struggle to cope with adversities that have befallen you, with no solution seemingly in sight? Are you spontaneously disturbed and irritated by people’s negative comments and unjust slanders about your reputation?

If the answer to all the above questions is affirmative, then you are truly passing through a whirlpool of emotional disturbances and a volcano of psychic tumult. This strongly indicates the absence of what we may call inner peace in your life. At worst, if effective preemptive steps are not undertaken to address these problems, they are bound to eventually bring your life to a calamity.

When we speak about peace in life, the first thought that comes to mind is a life characterized by the absence of confusion, dilemmas, paradoxes, envy, enmity, hatred, revenge, and other grudges. A peaceful life also implies systematic management of all activities that occur amidst the routine of life. It entails remaining stoic amid the commotion of one’s surroundings and avoiding a frantic rush for fame, fortune, or other worldly amenities. Inner peace involves going deep into one’s life, recognizing one’s potential, and patiently harnessing it to achieve what we may call contentment.

Living comfortably amidst the labyrinth of dilemmas and distractions reflects tranquility. Peace also involves focusing on one’s duties and detaching from the blind pursuit of worldly accomplishments that the common masses often seek. If peace embodies these virtues and dispels various vices, an important question arises: how can one master the art of achieving calm and composure in life? And another: where does the aura of peace originate, and how can it be nurtured?

Ralph Waldo Emerson, the famous U.S. philosopher and poet, once said, “Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.” This universal truth implies that peace in human life need not be sought externally—it is inherent within us. Peace is generated in the mind, nurtured by our thinking, and diminished by the ways we act and react to external circumstances. Peace cannot be imposed from outside or established by forces not inherent in us.

They say, “You cannot find peace by avoiding life.” This alludes to the idea that peace must be sought amid life’s confusions, commotion, dilemmas, anxieties, and intense human emotions, not from self-help books or sermons. When we fail to cope with life’s problems and cannot heal our emotional wounds, it is unlikely that peace will be attained from the people we meet, live with, or interact with. Vincent van Gogh, the world-famous painter, also said that there is peace even in the storm. First, we must manage ourselves and learn to control life’s upheavals; only then will the much-sought-after peace take root in our mind. Siddhartha Gautama echoes the same truth when he says that peace comes from within, so do not seek it without.

Peace also comes from forgiving others. Forgiveness plays a vital role in comforting our mind and soul. Sometimes, apologizing to others for our mistakes can also help us attain calmness. But to apologize and let matters go, we need indomitable courage and a heart free from ego, hatred, and envy. Martin Luther King Jr., the famous American political philosopher, also said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”

Our mental peace also substantially depends on the state of our mind—how we condition it, and how we react to life’s vicissitudes. We often live in the past, regretting what has already happened, or worry excessively about events that may occur in the future. Both rob us of peace. Anxiety about tomorrow depresses and angers us, causing us to lose peace. Living in the present moment alone can help us achieve harmony with time. As the American musician Randy Armstrong says, worrying does not take away tomorrow’s troubles, but it takes away today’s peace.This underscores a universal truth: we are the masters of our inner peace, and it is futile to search for it outside our own mind and soul. The deeper we understand the futility of mundane achievements, the self-destructive repercussions of carnal desires, and the harder we strive to remain aloof from them, the easier it becomes to move along the path toward inner peace.

(The writer is a principal of PM Shri School Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Garhbanaili, District- Purnea)