For quite a few years now, I have been seeking, studying, and trying to remember what the truth of life is, the meaning and purpose. What am I here for? Even though I am learning more and more each day, how the path that I walk is an internal process and journey, I still seek things outside of myself to satisfy my expectations, to assure me of a certain outcome, or to feel good. I have often been looking for my happiness.

I don’t have anything against being a happy person. For the majority of my life, I have been what someone would describe as a happy, upbeat person. Most of the time, that felt like a genuine experience. And some of the time, I was masking any pain that I was carrying inside. I believed until relatively recently that happiness was indeed the goal. Work hard and do your best to live and maintain a happy life.

However, I have discovered what I believe to be the ultimate truth is: happiness is not it. Happiness relies on the outer world, meaning, anything outside of us, to satisfy us in some way. Get the new car. Buy a house. Get married. Have a family. I have looked to all of these outside circumstances to satisfy me and make me happy. As with all humans in my belief, I have been taught that happiness and life satisfaction comes from what we acquire, whether it be belongings or relationships.

The most recent period of life for me has had me looking at this quite differently. Not only am I more focused on my internal experience, which reminds me of my true nature. It also has taught me each day that my primary goal, in order to feel most balanced and part of all, is Peace. For me, peace is essential, and the days that I don’t remember as often, I suffer deeply. How do I maintain it? I read. I write. I create. I return to breath over and over again, to remind me that the present is all there ever is. I get out in nature.

I also worry, and focus on a deadline, or don’t want to get out of bed, or feel discouraged and overwhelmed. I am human, after all. But I always know how to get back, how to remember who I Am, who you Are, and return to that quiet, still space that is my inherent Beingness and is always waiting for me. And you.

Peace is the goal. Peace is the way. Peace is here for us All.