Personal Peace Part 3 of 4: Stability in the Storm

True stability rests on issues more enduring than current matters.  Peace can be found in the storm, calmness can be felt during the fight, and security can be achieved in the heat of battle.  Fear, however, defeats peace because it rises out of feelings of isolation and scarcity; it destroys our perspective of security.  Anger also opposes peace as it manifests itself in a series of in-communicated fears generated internally.  Hostility, wrath, and revenge are responses to this perceived fear.  When adrenaline does the thinking, our emotions will flow with the chemical tide.  Frenzied feelings of paranoia, anxiety, and trauma are easily imagined during such times.  This agitated feeling seems to be more the norm today rather than the exception.  Sometimes we become so extreme and fearful that we are offended or threatened over everything and anything.  We feel so insecure that we lash out in defense before even attempting to understand a situation.  All of this opposes personal feelings of peace.

As I reflect upon private moments of intellectual stalemate and emotional anarchy, the solution to personal peace surfaces.  In my case, a simple touch appears to be the only interaction of merit:  a hug without words even when not warranted, a pat on the shoulder instead of a shove, an unexpected soft response instead of harshness.  This sensitive contact is definitely not mathematical because in matters of the soul, negative for negative does not produce a positive.  Acceptance is most needed when least deserved.  Be it an animal or a friend, touch seems to provide immediate feelings of safety and security in our scary, lonely, uncertain, and peace-starved world.  Human touch, hand to hand, embrace to embrace, and soul to soul is the only universal valuator.
Can I find peace and stability in the storms of life?  YES!  It is found through a tender touch or a soft word.  Storms do pass and personal peace can last, even in troubled times.

Originally posted on September 24, 2011 on www.childofvirtue.blogspot.com