How To Find Inner Peace

Inner peace is the tranquility of the soul in the midst of either a disturbing or exciting environment. This peace can be affected in two different ways: one is by arrows which we can control ourselves from, and the other is by those that come and hurt us against our will.

These arrows first appear as ideas; then the mind analyzes and visualizes them as thoughts, only to convert them into disturbing and destructive emotions. Some of these deadly arrows, which first enter the mind, can be so overwhelming that they bypass our volition without our consent. Others we accept and develop in the mind by our own will, until they create harmful emotions that eventually hurt the soul.

The volition of the mind and our actions play a great role in defending our inner peace. Sometimes, we can be so disturbed that the emotional pain causes negative effects on physical organs.

So let’s explore how to weaken these flying arrows of thought.

The primary step to having a strong defense in the mind against such deadly, fiery darts is to strengthen the inner life through a character built on love. This idea of exercising love is so broad that it is not right to leave it unexplained.

Many of us think—or used to think—that love is primarily a state of mind which we expect to put on like a garment in our inner being, in order to live as loving people. While this perspective is not entirely untrue, it is only a half-truth.

The Bible tells us to put on Jesus Christ (Romans 13:14). And in John 14:23, Jesus told His disciples that by keeping His word, they can have both God and Himself dwell in them. These lessons teach us that love is primarily about imitating Jesus Christ in His actions of a loving character.

So, without practical love, there is nothing to "put on"—rather, judgment may await. The targets of love are people, and these people can be categorized into four, like the winds of heaven.

The first targets of love are our siblings and our parents. So, investigate your disposition toward their interactions with you. Are you judgmental, nagging, hot-headed, and disrespectful? Or are you longsuffering, humble, gentle, and compassionate? Or are you somewhere in the middle?

You may argue that you have a reason to be bad-tempered. But this is the place to exercise faith and apply love—because love is contained in faith. You must believe that God will intervene to smooth out the things you are being egotistical about. Hence, by a simple exercise of gentleness and humbleness toward our family members, we can embrace great inner peace.

The second targets of love are our life partners. Sometimes, situations may present temptations to become jealous and possessive, making us led by emotions rather than by knowledge. This, in turn, causes a disruption of oneness, which can make a person vulnerable to misery and darkness.

Proverbs 18:22 tells us that finding a wife leads to obtaining good things and favor from the Lord. In the New Testament, the relationship between a man and his wife is identified with that of Christ and the Church. Hence, it is a divine network to maintain harmony with your life partner—and this network brings a person to a higher level of peace.

But such harmony must be nurtured through love. And we can learn to love more by drawing closer to God. In fact, since God is Love, we must make it our priority to learn from Him how to love—keeping in mind the bigger picture: the divine connection that allows blessings and happiness to flow into our lives as we maintain harmony both with God and with our life partner.

Therefore, be loving with kindness and sacrifice—but never allow idolatry in your heart, which might lead to other evil motives. It is only God whom we are to worship, for we are commanded to love Him with "all our heart."

Emotional attachment is natural, and heartbreak or other wounds may happen in relationships. But to be tempted to respond with vengeance or unfaithfulness is where love is truly tested in life. We must be enlightened and understand that we are expected to be volitionally patient, caring, and forgiving.

The third targets of love are people such as neighbors or similar individuals with whom we engage in a friendly manner. The most common emotional triggers that cause hatred and evil intentions are inferiority complex and superiority complex.

The first causes us to feel timid and low in stature, creating in the inner self a cry of sadness and feelings of misfortune. The latter, superiority complex, is a feeling and belief that one is greater and more important than others. Such a self-image leads to a sudden break and disturbance in the soul when we realize that we are not as favored as we thought.

It is primarily mandatory to build our inner life through the knowledge of God and Christ, through the Holy Spirit. And God has told us clearly to love our neighbors. To put on love, we must live in kindness and empathy. We should allow room in our hearts for others to prosper by celebrating their joy and success—even when it feels difficult.

If there is any dispute, it is always preferable to be wise by letting God handle things, as He said, "Vengeance is Mine." The consequences of not living with neighbors in love, as commanded, are a heavy heart and vulnerability to spiritual imprisonment that can block our success and dreams.

People may have great potential to rise high but lack the grace to move forward energetically—all because of bad relations with neighbors. “Love thy neighbor as yourself” is the second of the two greatest commandments, which implies that we must abide by this rule to allow God to fill our lives with grace and His protection.

The fourth targets of love are people who are set around us in higher ranks and positions of authority. These include spiritual or biological fathers, bosses, and mentors. There may come times in our lives when we feel too puffed up to give the proper reverence to such people.

If and when we do so, the level of our inner peace begins to degrade, leading us to step onto the wrong path, blinded by pride. God brings growth and advancement into our lives by guiding us along a path of light.

Jesus told us in Matthew 7:13–14 that the road to a higher life is narrow and its gate is small, and only a few find it. Keeping a humble and reverential relationship with elders—especially with spiritual mentors—greatly helps us remain on the right path to secure success.

We have discussed that inner peace is maintained by building a strong inner life. One of the ways to strengthen our inner being is by exercising love—not only through emotions but also through the power of our will. Another way is by exercising our faith to please God when opportunities arise.

We have knowledge of what is happening around us right now, but we do not know what might happen later or tomorrow. For this reason, to optimize our days and hours ahead, we ought to be active in recognizing opportunities that please God—opportunities that, in turn, produce safe and joyful times.

Once we recognize such moments, we must apply our faith against ego and selfish ambition to please God. Hebrews 11:6 teaches that without faith it is impossible to please God. There will be times when people around us may need our compassion; in such moments, it is wise to act with kindness, even if doing so means sacrificing our internal urges that resist God’s will.

Such dispositions require faith in the God we trust to give us a more graceful and energized life. So, building inner peace through faith is more than imagination or conviction—it is about decisive actions that put aside emotion-driven behavior and instead respond with gentleness and patience, including God in the midst of our doubts and disputes.

Faith and Love with Actions- To Prosper in Life!