Posts Tagged ‘buddhism’

Inner Peace Amidst Outer Chaos

Posted: July 6, 2025 in Stimulus Space Response
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Inner peace is a term that has been used and abused over the years for a variety of reasons. It’s become a cliche and a buzzword, which in the everything-is-content-for-influencers era seems to be inevitable. But having inner peace or seeking inner peace in times of outer chaos is something that everyone can get behind.

One’s life experience is enough to know this: no matter what you do, life is better with some inner peace. Inner peace leads to better decisions, empathy, and deep conversations. It also improves active listening.

“Peace is not the absence of conflict. It is the ability to handle conflict with skillfulness.” — Thich Nhat Hanh

Inner peace lets us exercise courage, discipline, ambition, and restraint. It helps us engage with life instead of being jerked around by it. Inner peace isn’t just for yogis, meditation practitioners, and philosophy students. It is for everyone, and it is as important as cultivating physical health and critical thinking skills.

In my experience, I have found that inner peace is often confused with external peace. Inner peace is not a lack of strife, stress, or challenges. Inner peace is a calm state of being within ourselves, regardless of what is happening around us.

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Stoicism is rooted in identifying what is within our control and what is outside of our control. Learning of that concept helped me a lot. But, the idea of equanimity has been a lifesaver. It means accepting what we can’t control.

Accepting what we can’t control flows right into accepting the impermanent nature of life. I love how philosophical practices can flow into spiritual concepts which can flow into humanistic techniques.

  • Practicing mindfulness
  • Gratitude
  • Detachment
  • Acceptance
  • Congruence
  • Meditation
  • Journaling
  • Building meaningful relationships.

Are those the strategies of philosophy, spirituality, or humanism?

The answer is all of the above. After almost 20 years of study, I find a constant. The similarities in these systems, or disciplines, are a metaphorical pressure release valve.

Not a hack, a magic pill, a quick fix, or a miracle cure because no such thing exists. Rather a clear path to inner peace. Being able to take a deep breath in knowing what I’m going through isn’t new or unique.

“The chief task in life is simply this: to identify and separate matters so that I can say clearly to myself which are externals not under my control, and which have to do with the choices I actually control. ” — Epictetus

I am a human being going through what the majority of human beings go through. Knowing that there have been people for thousands of years experiencing similar internal and external challenges and have created systems, disciplines, strategies, and techniques to deal with the obstacles of existence.

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That harmony among the ancient teachings helps to cultivate inner peace before one acts on the wisdom. The symmetry between Stoicism, Taoism, Buddhism, and Humanism removes an inner fear of isolated deficiency within me. The confusion of what to do is taken away. The immature hope for a quick fix dissolves.

The what to do is there. It is simply a matter of doing. And the simpler we can make living, the more likely we are to cultivate inner peace for ourselves.

The Beginner’s Mind Is the Bravest Mind

Posted: April 20, 2025 in Stimulus Space Response
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I thought I had to wait until I was ready. But the truth is, readiness comes after the return — not before.

The act of beginning again is itself the practice — not a flaw in the process, but the process. We tend to think of starting over as something reserved for mistakes or failures, as if it’s a sign we’ve strayed off course. But what if beginning again is actually the most honest course we can take?

Every breath is a reset. Every day we wake up alive is a quiet invitation to try once more — this time with a little more clarity, a little more compassion, a little less ego. We are not meant to stay in motion uninterrupted. We are meant to pause, to question, to recommit. To begin again is not weakness. It’s wisdom.

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This idea — that beginning again is not a detour but the path itself — is something the Stoics understood deeply. To them, each moment was a fresh opportunity to align with reason, virtue, and the present.

“You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think.” — Marcus Aurelius

The urgency here isn’t morbid — it’s motivational. It’s a call to reset with intention, without needing a grand reason. Just the present moment is reason enough. Focusing on what I have control over, in the present moment, and then taking action with a sense of urgency is a balanced approach to life that Stoicism has brought to my attention many times.

Where Stoicism urges us to meet the moment with discipline, Taoism invites us to meet it with ease. If the Stoics offer a firm hand on the tiller, the Tao offers an open palm to the wind.

“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” — Lao Tzu

There’s wisdom in allowing our return — our beginning again — to unfold naturally, like water finding its path downhill. Taoism helps to take the weight off our backs and reduce the pressure we put on ourselves.

Taoism teaches us to flow, but Buddhism teaches us to see. To see the moment clearly, without clinging or resistance. In the Buddhist view, every beginning is just part of the great cycle of arising and passing away. The breath in. The breath out. There is no need to carry the weight of yesterday when the present is already enough.

“Each morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most.” — Buddha

These ancient philosophies of nature and simplicity feel more vital than ever in a world shaped by constant productivity, curated identities, and hustle culture. Internally and externally, we’re pressured to do more, be more, and prove our worth through performance.

That pressure often leads to stagnation, analysis paralysis, and burnout. But revisiting these timeless teachings — ones that predate democracy and capitalism — offers calming reassurance. It reminds us that what we’re feeling isn’t failure. It’s human. And it makes beginning again feel not only acceptable, but natural.

Returning to the present — the Stoic, Taoist, and Buddhist invitation to simply be — also finds support in modern psychology and neuroscience. Where ancient wisdom speaks in metaphors and mantras, contemporary science offers data and neural pathways.

Dr. Andrew Huberman often reminds us that real change begins not with motivation, but with action. Tiny, repeated actions reshape the brain through neuroplasticity. So even when the mind says, “Why bother starting over?” the body can respond, “Because this is how we grow.”

Science may explain how we change, but philosophy still asks us why. Why return to a craft, a calling, a version of yourself you once abandoned?

The answer, I’ve found, is rarely logical. It’s personal. It’s emotional. Because I’m a person and people aren’t logical, we are emotional beings.

Sometimes it’s a whisper — other times a reckoning. But whatever shape it takes, it’s a form of recommitment. Not to some imagined perfection, but to the values and curiosities that make us feel most alive.

“You’re under no obligation to be the same person you were five minutes ago.” — Alan Watts

All of this — the philosophy, the science, the stillness — eventually brought me back to something simple but easy to forget: the quiet power of recommitment. Not a dramatic restart. Not a brand-new version of me. Just a returning.

A choice to keep showing up, to remember what matters most, and to walk toward it again, even if slowly. I’ve realized it’s not about being perfectly consistent. It’s about being consistently willing to try — to give whatever effort you have in you, in the moment.

There will always be reasons to delay the return — doubt, fear, the feeling that we’ve waited too long. But the truth is, we don’t need permission to begin again. Not from others, and not even from our past selves.

The beginner’s mind is the bravest mind. The moment we choose to return — to a habit, a purpose, a part of ourselves — we’re already on the path. Whether it’s through meditation, journaling, movement, or simply pausing to take a breath, there are so many ways to come home to yourself. Whichever path you take, just know this: beginning again doesn’t make you a beginner. It makes you human. It makes you brave.