The easiest thing to do when everyone is hot about something (which people always are) is to join in and show your support. As a result you get hot too. Which means you voluntarily relinquish your peacefulness in favor of the needs of others. As they say, misery loves company! While joining the fray often seems like the thing to do it’s also what everyone who is not at peace wants from you. I assure you that their motives are not pure and that the results of your joining in will be costly in terms of your emotional well being.
What joining in the turmoil may do for you is provide a momentary satisfaction, which will fade when the turmoil dies down. But even as the turmoil dies down the feelings of dissatisfaction that arose within you while taking part in the turmoil will persist for awhile. That’s the negative dividend associated with the voluntary relinquishment of your peace. Is that a price worth paying? My life experience says that it’s not.
What would you do if I sang out of tune? Would you stand up and walk out on me?
The Beatles
Many times people join in on turmoil due to concerns about being out of step with their friends. To paraphrase The Beatles we all get by with a little help from our friends. But perhaps the message of the song in question is that it’s okay to be out of tune with them once in a while if those people truly are your friends. Such situations are also clouded by the fact that in the age of social media the definition of the word friend is a highly fluid one! (Related post. )Instead of trying to stay in step with your friends perhaps you’re merely trying to please online acquaintances. It’s worth it to ponder whether that’s you’re real motivation.
I have no doubt that there are times when a person needs to break their peace and jump into the fray on a situation. I also have no doubt that most times people allow outside influences to pull themselves into situations that could easily be avoided or ignored. That’s why it’s important that a person deliberately consider (like a pilot taking control of their plane instead of relying on autopilot) whether or not surrendering to turmoil is a better option than maintaining their peaceful frame.
Maintaining your inner peace should almost always be a priority in your life because your inner peace fosters happiness. And happiness allows us to truly enjoy our lives. Enjoying our lives is essential if we want to fulfill our unique purpose in the world. It’s all connected! Relinquishing your inner peace breaks that connection and surrenders your freedom to the (often fickle) priorities of the masses.
In The Midst Of A Journey 