I’ve started to write a blog for the school. It is a weekly thing with a short reflection on the thought for the week. I was writing it this morning, and the theme was peace. As I was looking for quotes about peace, there was one which really struck me, but not in a good way. And it is something which has been on my mind all day. The quote is

“Learning to ignore things is one of the great paths to inner peace” 

I couldn’t quite believe what I was reading. I had to read it a few times, to make sure I had understood it. And I came to the conclusion that I didn’t agree with it.

“If you ignore it, it will go away”

No it won’t! I ignored my weight issues, health issues, lifestyle issues, work habit issues, relationship issues for a VERY long time. They did not go away, I didn’t necessarily notice them, but they remained. It wasn’t until I took notice and made changes that my health, my weight, my lifestyle, my work, my relationships, my life improved.

The suggestion that ignoring things is a skill we should learn to make our lives more peaceful horrifies me.

Peace is being calm in your heart in the midst of trouble. It is not about pretending that the trouble does not exist in the first place.

We live in a scary world where there is a lot of conflict. We may not be able to bring world peace by ourselves – even if we were going for the Miss World title. But we can bring peace in our own communities, families and relationships. We can only bring peace if we know what issues there are in the first place.

Inner peace, or peace in the world are not going to come easily. But they won’t come at all if we bury our heads in the sand.