{"id":70,"date":"2011-05-18T09:00:43","date_gmt":"2011-05-18T13:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/awakeintheworld\/?p=70"},"modified":"2011-05-17T11:14:20","modified_gmt":"2011-05-17T15:14:20","slug":"from-pieces-to-peace-a-simple-daily-practice-for-serenity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/awakeintheworld\/2011\/05\/from-pieces-to-peace-a-simple-daily-practice-for-serenity.html","title":{"rendered":"From Pieces to Peace: A Simple Daily Practice for Serenity"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/~\/media\/9B309FD553F14A9284DB5191CE841F65.ashx?w=333&amp;h=250\" alt=\"\" width=\"333\" height=\"250\" \/>Everyone says, \u201cI want peace,\u201d as if it will fall out of the sky and suddenly all will be peaceful. I\u2019ve found that peace requires a lot of effort \u2013 at least as much as working in a corporation and probably more. When I worked sixty to eighty hour weeks in international business in Europe, I found that I could take time off, go away for the five week summer vacations and not think about business. But peace is not a part time job. It requires full time attention and practice. One of my many teachers, Sathya Sai Baba, who died recently and the Dalai Lama condoled as a great loss, said, that by eliminating the \u201cI\u201d or ego and getting rid of the wants and desires, peace results. It sound so simple, but simple practices are not necessarily easy.<\/p>\n<p>Doing spiritual practices and consciously diminishing the \u201cI\u201d in activities and reducing desires for things is a 24\/7 practice that even extends into dream sleep. It\u2019s hard work. But this kind of work to become more quiet, humble and peaceful is the most important work I feel I will ever do. I don\u2019t get paid for it in dollars. The rewards come in a more serene life where I\u2019m not pulled on a mad, emotional roller coaster of dramas and happiness. Life becomes more even, regular and calm. It doesn\u2019t mean there is no more passion or excitement. But the higher, wiser part of me steps back and looks from deep within and observes without getting caught up in the play. As one inspirational quote goes, \u201cLife is a game, play it.\u201d But don\u2019t get caught up in the game. This is a way to peace.<\/p>\n<p><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Bio:<\/strong> <strong>Debra Moffitt<\/strong> is author of<a title=\"Awake in the World Book\" href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Awake-World-Practices-Divinely-Inspired\/dp\/0738727229\" target=\"_blank\"> <\/a><em><a title=\"Awake in the World Book\" href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Awake-World-Practices-Divinely-Inspired\/dp\/0738727229\" target=\"_blank\">Awake in the World: 108 Practices to Live a Divinely Inspired Life <\/a>(Llewellyn Worldwide, 2011) <\/em>She&#8217;s a world traveler and longtime student of the world\u2019s oldest spiritual traditions. An instructor at the Sophia Institute, Debra leads workshops on spirituality in the U.S. and Europe, writes for publications around the world. Visit her at: <a title=\"Awake in the World Website\" href=\"http:\/\/www.awakeintheworld.com\" target=\"_blank\">www.awakeintheworld<\/a>.com and <a title=\"Debra Moffitt\" href=\"http:\/\/www.debramoffitt.com\" target=\"_blank\">www.debramoffitt.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Everyone says, \u201cI want peace,\u201d as if it will fall out of the sky and suddenly all will be peaceful. I\u2019ve found that peace requires a lot of effort \u2013 at least as much as working in a corporation and probably more. When I worked sixty to eighty hour weeks in international business in Europe,&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":409,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,4,13,3],"tags":[34],"class_list":["post-70","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faith","category-inspiration","category-prayer","category-spiritual-practice","tag-inspirational-prayer"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>From Pieces to Peace: A Simple Daily Practice for Serenity - Awake in the World<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/awakeintheworld\/2011\/05\/from-pieces-to-peace-a-simple-daily-practice-for-serenity.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"From Pieces to Peace: A Simple Daily Practice for Serenity - Awake in the World\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Everyone says, \u201cI want peace,\u201d as if it will fall out of the sky and suddenly all will be peaceful. 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When I worked sixty to eighty hour weeks in international business in Europe,&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/awakeintheworld\/2011\/05\/from-pieces-to-peace-a-simple-daily-practice-for-serenity.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Awake in the World\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-05-18T13:00:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-05-17T15:14:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/~\/media\/9B309FD553F14A9284DB5191CE841F65.ashx?w=333&amp;h=250\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"debramoffitt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"From Pieces to Peace: A Simple Daily Practice for Serenity - Awake in the World","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/awakeintheworld\/2011\/05\/from-pieces-to-peace-a-simple-daily-practice-for-serenity.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"From Pieces to Peace: A Simple Daily Practice for Serenity - Awake in the World","og_description":"Everyone says, \u201cI want peace,\u201d as if it will fall out of the sky and suddenly all will be peaceful. 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