#012: Finding Tranquility Within: Escaping to Inner Peace

Back in February this year, I went on an unplanned one-week trip to Cancun. It was during a frigid week in Toronto, where temperatures dropped to -27°C. The cold and gloomy weather really affected me. I barely left the house that week, except for a few short walks around my neighborhood. I felt so down that week that I did something a bit crazy: On Friday evening, I booked a flight for a one-week trip to Cancun and left on Sunday, all in less than two days. I think many of us would like to do this more often.

But why do we feel the need to do things like that?

Sometimes, we search for happiness outside ourselves–from friends or family. We believe that going on trips and vacations will bring us a sense of freedom and happiness. We spend our lives eagerly anticipating retirement, imagining the peaceful moments we'll have on the golf course or the time spent with loved ones at a beach house or cottage.

Guess what? This isn't a novel feeling!

In "Meditations" (Book 4: Verse 3), Marcus Aurelius says that people seek retreats in the countryside, seashores, and mountains, and you, too (admitting to himself), have frequent desires for such things. However, he finds this foolish because, as he says, it's within your power to retreat into yourself at any hour you please.

Today, we use social media to escape or live vicariously through social media influencers. We hop on flights from one country to another. We complain about the little things that happen and spend most of our time either reminiscing about past trips or fantasizing about our next holiday. We spend our winters looking forward to summer and summers anticipating fall. One day, we want to live on the beach; the next, we want to be in the jungle.

Most of us seek to escape from our reality to find some rest somewhere. This is why we spend the entire year looking forward to our two-week vacation. We can't wait to escape the burdens of our reality. But why do we ever need to escape to Mexico, Colombia, Bali, Cape Town, Nairobi, Los Angeles, or anywhere else?

The rest and peace you seek lie within your own soul! And it is in your power to access it at any given moment.

My favorite part of the passage is where he says, "Nowhere can a person find a retreat quieter and more free from troubles than in their own soul; especially when they have thoughts that, upon introspection, bring about perfect tranquility."

Having a mind that is in perfect Tranquility goes deeper than happiness. As Seneca explains in his essay "Of a Happy Life and Wherein It Consists," "Tranquility is a certain equality of mind, which no condition of fortune can exalt or depress. Nothing can make it less: for it is the state of human perfection: it raises us as high as we can go and makes every man his own supporter."

Regarding Tranquility, Marcus Aurelius asserts that it is nothing other than maintaining a well-ordered mind and soul.

In the upcoming weeks, we will explore how you can develop that Tranquility, allowing you to "retire within yourself" whenever you wish.

See you on the road,

@Jaydee