You can’t steal my peace

These days I’m choosing peace over chaos. I am choosing laughter over yelling. I am choosing silence over arguing. I am choosing me and my well being.

My peaceful state of mind is important to me and I work hard to reside there as often as possible. This world however has decided to try and disrupt peace and tranquility and harmony from all of our lives.

As I grow older and I hope wiser and kinder I have realized that I do not have a need for people to understand my opinions, thoughts and values. I do not care what other people think of me, or even say about me, true or otherwise. And it is pure freedom. Silence is a tool when used wisely, that produces great results, at least for me it is. If you do not show me respect, there is no room in my life for you to reside. I will quietly walk away and not look back.

I will only engage in conversations with people I truly care about. I am interested in discussing similar opinions as well as dissenting opinions, but I am not going to engage in a battle to change anyone’s mind, even those I love. Because you can’t change someone else’s mind, they must arrive there on their own in their own way in their own time… or not at all.

I understand that I am the only one responsible for my peace. Only I have the power to to put in the work it takes to achieve it. At first, it seems like a lot of work, but the truth is once you figure out your path and put it into practice, it does become like second nature. Emotions will bubble up, and sometimes there is no stopping that eruption, believe me I can still blow a gasket. But often lately I have found a few moments of silence, a wicked smile, a deep breath, an inappropriate burst of laughter and I am able to reposition a situation, reframe my thinking and save myself a lot of wasted energy recovering from deep anger and frustration.

And when all else fails, I climb high upon that mountain top and give it up to God.