{"id":3876,"date":"2015-06-08T23:14:24","date_gmt":"2015-06-09T03:14:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/?p=3876"},"modified":"2015-06-09T00:05:21","modified_gmt":"2015-06-09T04:05:21","slug":"the-prize-inside","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/?p=3876","title":{"rendered":"The prize inside."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"pencils2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Young and carefree.\u00a0 I understand.\u00a0 That is how I was\u2026. when I was younger\u2026 and\u2026\u2026 welll\u2026. a little more carefree.\u00a0 By that I mean,\u00a0 I didn\u2019t have many philosophical beliefs.\u00a0 I really didn\u2019t have spiritual beliefs either.\u00a0 Oh sure, I went to church, but I was just saying the words.\u00a0 I never really thought much about much\u2026. except for being young and having fun.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t keep up with who was running our country, or who was trying to.\u00a0 I had no big aspirations, or any strong convictions.<\/p>\n

And then, we learn.\u00a0 We gain years.\u00a0 Life experiences.\u00a0 Bumps in the road\u2026 and moments in the sun.\u00a0 As a result\u2026. there are a few things I have come to believe, in my life.<\/p>\n

Peace Baby.\u00a0 Striving to find peace within ourselves and to live in peace with others is the most important thing we can do in life. I really don\u2019t think anything else even comes close.<\/p>\n

Here is the thing.\u00a0 Deep down inside each one of us\u2026. is this ultimate wish to live in peace.\u00a0 Whether we realize it or not.\u00a0 Everybody wants to be happy, I think.\u00a0 And\u2026 when we have peace inside our hearts and our souls\u2026\u00a0 this inner peace is where the happiness resides.<\/p>\n

The popular phrase right now.. is \u201cmindfulness\u201d\u2026 but call it what you want.\u00a0\u00a0 Living. Being Awake.\u00a0 Being Aware. Living in the Moment.\u00a0 When we pay attention to life, we can begin.\u00a0 Our beginning\u2026 that first step\u2026 is to strive diligently towards your own inner peace\u2026.\u00a0 and to live with compassion.\u00a0 To love others, and have an understanding of others.\u00a0 When we work toward peace with others.. we begin to know it.<\/p>\n

It just brings me calm to think about it.<\/p>\n

This is not to say that we won\u2019t encounter those \u201cdifficult\u201d people in our lives.\u00a0 Some call them Enemies.\u00a0 I call them Crampy Creatures.<\/p>\n

I do believe we can grow more from these testy people\u2026. than we can from most other experiences. We are sometimes tested…that is for sure.\u00a0 Our compassion, patience, and understanding are all held up to the light in these interactions.<\/p>\n

So we use our good.\u00a0 Our good judgement, and our good hearts.<\/p>\n

When we welcome these Crusty Companions with compassion, love, and understanding\u2026. our real greatness comes shining through.\u00a0 In the end\u2026 we find peace. I believe this to be true.<\/p>\n

I have known great peacekeepers.\u00a0 Not many, but a couple.\u00a0 One can just feel\u00a0 it when they are near.\u00a0 There is and essence of good\u2026 and it is apparent.\u00a0 It brings calm.\u00a0 And\u2026 \u2026. well\u2026. peace.<\/p>\n

Walk in peace.\u00a0 And then we find our way\u2026 to do what we do best in life.<\/p>\n

Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.\u00a0 —\u00a0 Albert Einstein<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.\u00a0 —\u00a0 Buddha<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Young and carefree.\u00a0 I understand.\u00a0 That is how I was\u2026. when I was younger\u2026 and\u2026\u2026 welll\u2026. a little more carefree.\u00a0 By that I mean,\u00a0 I didn\u2019t have many philosophical beliefs.\u00a0 I really didn\u2019t have spiritual beliefs either.\u00a0 Oh sure, I went to church, but I was just saying the words.\u00a0 I never really thought much […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nowyouseeit"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3876"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3876\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3882,"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3876\/revisions\/3882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}