This angel is on the door of a Russian Orthodox church in my neighborhood. For many cultures, angels (in all their forms), are considered to be invisible protectors. I have passed by this church many times, never noticing the angels on its doors. Then, as divine timing would have it, while on a walk to help clear my head from a sudden dissappointment, I noticed the angels on the church doors. A reminder whispered inside of me – to not forget the importance of protectecting my inner peace no matter what was happening. Protecting our inner peace doesn’t mean we don’t feel. Instead, it means we allow the discomfort to be there without distracting ourselves, without clinging to what is no longer.
As we know, life is filled with trials and tribulations and none of us escapes the experience of suffering. Suffering, just like joy and bliss, is part of being alive as a human being. And this is the gift – to be able to feel. It requires a courageous willingness to see suffering as a gift because it is painful. But when we allow this possiblility, even for a second, we can beging to feel hope, and we can sense that we are going to be okay. For me, this is like seeing a tiny crack of light in deep darkness. It is a tiny spark guiding us toward inner peace. This often takes time and patience, and is not a process to be rushed. It is a conscious decision to turn toward the light and doesn’t happen in one fell swoop.
Regardless of our spiritual or philosophical beliefs, or whether one considers a church, temple, mosque, synagogue, or mother nature to be a sanctuary, inner peace is sacred to us all. It is where we rest in the truth of who we are. Tears may fall when we touch this stillness of being enough, of being safe, belonging, being loved. Thes rears represent the release of all we’ve been holding on to, the expectations, the illusion of permanence, the fantasy of what could have been. When we are clinging, we are stuck, not wanting to face the unknown, not wanting to accept that we do not have control. And even though we may know this on the intellectual level, our hearts and every cell in our body experience it.
Remembering inner peace is always here, in times of deep despair, shock, and fear, can seem unreachable. But just like the sun behind a cloud, it is there, buried beneath layers of our emotions. Learning to notice the mind’s tendency to evade inner peace with distractions or clinging, is a first step back towards ease, back toward our true nature. Choose to gently interrupt the spinning with simple, accessible awareness practices, while the tears flow, is a potent way to reclaim true power of our own inner world.
Like the angel guarding the door of the church, be the gatekeeper of your inner peace, for this is what will carry you – always.