Peace Is Your Nature

What if peace was your nature? What if you didn't have to do, have, or be something in order to feel peaceful? This recording will help you discover your innate peacefulness. Peace is who you are no matter what is happening in your life.

Transcript

Hi,

This is Brooks and thank you for joining me.

It's good to be here with you.

Today's talk is called Peace is Your Nature.

I like considering peace as our nature.

It simplifies the process of feeling peaceful.

Oftentimes we're told if we do this we'll feel peace,

If we are this,

If we have this we'll feel peaceful.

I mean advertising is constantly telling us once you get this thing or this product or this service basically what they're saying is you're gonna feel peaceful.

So we tend to think of in order for me to feel peaceful I have to get something or I have to do something even spiritually.

We're told sometimes you know if we meditate we'll feel peaceful or if we read a particular spiritual book we'll feel peaceful or do a particular spiritual practice then we'll feel that peace.

But what if peace was actually our nature?

What if what we truly are is peace itself?

So let's take a little deeper look at that.

So generally the idea of feeling peaceful is to have either no thoughts or just our very like relaxing thoughts.

There's an ease,

There's a comfort in how we are and how we think.

Maybe we take a nap makes us feel more peaceful.

I would do some activity afterwards we feel I feel so much more at peace.

So that means before that time we weren't feeling peaceful and then we had the experience of relaxation or having good thoughts having ease or comfort in our mind and in our body.

But as we know from having those experiences at some point that goes away and then the unpeacefulness comes in.

You know the discord,

Feeling out of sorts,

Feeling uncomfortable,

Feeling edgy.

So based on that it seems like peace is a transitory thing.

Like I was saying before it's like I need to do fill in the blank and then I'll feel peaceful.

Either from my own experience I've had that or other people tell me that's what will happen.

And that's basically saying that peace is transitory.

It's impermanent.

It's temporarily felt and when we feel it it feels good.

When we don't feel it we feel bad.

It's almost like we're trying to capture it for a moment.

Maybe we try to hold on to it and then eventually it goes away.

But what if again what if peace was actually our nature?

What if it wasn't something that we had to reach out and find or attain or try to hold on to or maintain or develop or nurture?

What if it wasn't temporary transitory?

That would mean we'd have to have a new definition of what peace is.

What peacefulness is.

So let's take a deeper look at that.

First off let's consider our awareness,

Our experience of being aware.

You're aware of my voice right now.

Perhaps you're aware of the room that you're in.

Maybe you're aware of certain sounds beyond my voice outside on the outside or occurring within the room itself.

Maybe you're aware of sensations in your body.

Maybe you're hungry or maybe there's some discomfort or maybe you're aware of a thought that passes through your mind.

A feeling.

There's an awareness of a feeling.

So awareness is really a simple noticing.

It's very clean.

There's something very clean about awareness.

For one thing awareness is always there because we're always experiencing.

Again whether it's a physical or emotional sensation in our bodies.

We're aware of things through our senses.

We're aware of memories.

We're fears.

We're aware of love.

Awareness itself is very basic.

We're aware when we dream.

We're aware of the experiences in our dreams.

We're aware when we're sleepy.

Awareness is a way to describe it.

Having an experience of any kind of experience.

Subtle or gross.

Subtle or large.

I'm saying there's something very clean and simple about awareness itself.

You can even have an awareness that you're here.

Of presence.

I'm aware of my breathing.

I put my hand on my chest.

I'm aware of my heartbeat.

I'm aware that I'm alive.

That I'm here.

This awareness is constant.

We don't think I'm aware of the sound in the room.

There's an awareness of the sound in the room but there is that awareness.

You could say that awareness in its simplicity is peaceful.

There's something very simple about it.

The intellect isn't involved in pure awareness.

There's an awareness of the intellect even.

So it goes beyond the intellect.

We can even have an awareness that we're not having any thoughts.

We can even have an awareness of feeling peaceful.

So it's interesting to notice,

You know,

It's very curious to notice the existence of the awareness.

Because we can be aware of agitation.

We can be aware of feeling discomfort.

We can be aware of feeling out of sorts.

We can be aware of feeling overwhelmed.

So all those things that we would consider non-peaceful,

We're aware of them.

So awareness must be a very simple and quiet place to be able to notice discord amongst the multitude of things that awareness could can be aware of.

It can be aware of the opposite of peace.

It would have to be silent and peaceful in order to notice non-peaceful feelings,

Non-peaceful experiences.

Because awareness is always there.

Perhaps what we really are is that awareness,

Is that pure,

That simple awareness.

You really can't even describe what it is because what it is is an experience of anything.

It's like the eye not being able to see itself or the tongue not being able to taste itself.

Awareness can't even see itself.

But we know it's there because we're aware.

So there is peacefulness.

There's pure peacefulness in awareness itself.

And as long as we're alive the awareness exists.

It's there.

So that's why I feel comfortable in saying that peace is your nature.

It's worth considering.

It's not a concept that you could go,

Okay,

Peace is my nature,

And then you go from there.

It takes this noticing.

It takes this deeper looking,

This simpler looking,

This simple noticing.

Yeah,

I'm always aware.

I'm aware when I'm feeling peaceful.

I'm aware when I'm feeling discord.

And the nice thing about noticing this,

About beginning to consider it,

Is that it creates space between us and what we're experiencing.

Because often what happens is when we experience something,

We get lost in the experience.

So when we're feeling overwhelmed,

It's like we're engulfed by that experience.

And we identify with it.

We feel tremendously overwhelmed,

Tremendously out of sorts.

We feel that's what I am.

I am overwhelmed.

I'm out of sorts.

But that's why we go deeper and we say,

Oh,

I am aware of being overwhelmed.

I can't be what I'm aware of,

Otherwise I wouldn't be able to notice it.

I couldn't be aware of it if I was it.

And that creates a distance between you and the experience of feeling overwhelmed,

Which in itself is peaceful.

The observer,

The simple observer,

The real basic observer itself is peaceful.

Again,

Otherwise it couldn't notice what it's seeing.

So maybe what you are is this simple noticer,

This simple awareness.

It's a word.

Every experience under the Sun.

Again,

Can't be anything that experiences,

Otherwise it couldn't notice it.

There has to be a contrast to notice anything.

Even time,

Even the passing of time we notice.

The experience we all have,

There's a passage of time.

So perhaps we're beyond time itself.

And that which is beyond time could be called peace.

So again I encourage you to consider this perspective.

I'm awareness.

I'm aware.

And see what comes from that.

Again with curiosity,

There's no,

I need to figure this out or you know,

I need to understand this.

It's good to keep it simple,

Real simple.

Just like awareness itself.

So I wish you the best and take care.

Bye.

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