Powerful peace practices

The ‘mover’ will always choose to get up and do something about a problem; the ‘thinker’ will prefer to ponder and analyse it. Over the years, the ‘mover’ becomes increasingly restless; the ‘thinker’ becomes increasingly cautious and fearful. Both need the anchor of spirituality to achieve the beautiful balance of well-being. Both need to light an inner candle of healing peace.

The ‘mover’ then rushes to get different kinds of candles while the ‘thinker’ wonders, ‘What can one little flickering candle do?’

You can create your own luminous oasis of peace right here, within yourself. While the candle is only a flickering beginning, wait for it to become a steady, radiant lamp.

In order to combat restlessness and fear, one must seek:

*Control
*Progress
*Connectedness with others
* To become a part of something larger than themselves
This can be achieved with four powerful practices:

* Cycling and weight-training: The positive effects of exercise are significant and stimulating. One woman stopped constantly spraining her ankle as she subconsciously synchronised her body movements through exercise. Another, who had asthma, reported that exercise provided her with ‘a safety shield over her chest’. She said her wheezing had reduced considerably, after regular exercise.

* Meditate deeply every day: Become a ‘blissaholic’ through this beautiful practice. Carry the feeling of being high long after a rejuvenating meditation session. Every time you get a creative idea, work willingly and untiringly on it. Every time you falter, meditate to calm your nerves. Progress, a wise man said, is not about perfecting things; it’s actually the flowering of oneself.

* Make healing connections: Send healing thoughts to all. St. Francis of Assisi’s beautiful invocation can be adapted for this purpose. He said, ‘May I be an instrument of divine peace, divine love, divine strength. Where there is hatred, let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is doubt, show faith. Deal with despair by being optimistic. Deal with darkness through light. Cope with sadness through joy’. 

Visualise the rays of love, hope, faith and joy spreading within you, and send these healing thoughts to those around you.

*Tell yourself this, every morning: “I am  aware and in bliss (sat-chit-ananda). Sorrow and worry can never affect me. Fear can never enter me. I am content. I am serene, stable and pure.” 

By combining positive affirmations with meditation, you may experience a moment of illumination. This implies that an inner door has opened and an inner candle has been lit.
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(The writers are authors of FItness for Life and teachers of the ‘Fitness for Life’ programme)