According to my spiritual teacher and mentor, Adnan Sarhan, there are three qualities you must cultivate to be in the state of light. They are peace, faith, and excellence (in Arabic: Islam, Iman, and Ihsan). “When these three elements are acquired by any person," he explained, "they will be perfect." El ihsan el kamel in Arabic means the complete or perfect human being.

Peace in this context does not mean the absence of war, (which of course would be amazing.) It means peace inside ourselves. You cultivate this peace through regular spiritual practice. 

I was very lucky in my first years of Adnan's work. He arrived in New York each December to lead an intense 10-day Christmas Workshop. Everything I had lost in the intervening months between summer and Christmas was quickly restored.

Sometimes he would stay in the city for 3 or 4 more weeks to do weekend workshops. Sometimes he would return in April and May to do more weekend workshops.

In addition to Adnan's workshops, there were evening classes led by some of his advanced students. It was ideal. I could do workshops in the winter while earning a living and then spend 3 months at the summer camp in New Mexico.

Inner peace, I have found, is never fully achieved. Rather it is renewed moment to moment through meditation, breathing, and awareness.  

Because we are human, with human emotions we can be triggered by the words and deeds of others. Fear, defensiveness, sorrow, resentment, and anger are responses arising from habit and body chemistry. Through meditation, we can develop self-awareness of when we lose our peace and the capacity to restore it. 

Activities that can promote peace are mindful consumption of food and information. When we eat healthy foods, without excess or greed, we support our inner peace. When we limit our consumption of inflammatory news, we more easily sustain our inner peace.

Yes, we do need to stay aware of what is happening in the world but it is wise to choose your sources carefully. There is a war on for your mind, and the news made available to you is designed to get you thinking a particular way. If you find yourself feeling outraged, fearful, or despondent, it is time to shift your attention. Outrage will never result in an intelligent response to anything.

As you cultivate inner peace you will find your capacity for outrage to diminish and will naturally curb your consumption of information that serves little more than to ignite your disquiet.

The extra gift that comes with inner peace is its infectiousness. When you are calm, others tend to become more calm.

Yesterday I read a story about a man I know, who, back in his early 20s, survived 4 gunshots to his head by staying calm and tapping into his inner peace. In this state of calm, he was able to dissuade his assailant from killing him. It's an amazing story that you might want to read. Read Here. May we all learn to respond to provocation with that kind of inner peace.

I have found that the more spiritual work you do, the more you develop your capacity to sustain inner peace, the more self-aware you become, and the more capable you are in shifting from reactivity to peace. I suspect that the more we cultivate inner peace in ourselves the peace will reverberate throughout the rest of the world. The energy of peace is infectious because all humans hunger for this peace, like bees to honey.

If you could use a boost of inner peace, please join us tomorrow for movement, breath and meditation, December 15th at 9 am PST.

And/or join me on Sunday, December 17th at 8 am PST for another Sufi meditation class.  

The Zoom link is the same for both.

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89999494833?pwd=V2pOS28yYUdXM3hkaW1rVWIvSjBUdz09

Meeting ID: 899 9949 4833

Passcode: SUFI

Here's a time converter link to check the time in your location.

Most of the people who come to my classes have been doing the work for many years. Their participation strengthens the experience for others. Come and see if you can tell the difference 

If you decide this work is for you and you would like to do more, let me know and I can connect you to a mailing list that identifies all the Sufi Zoom classes being held each week with other experienced teachers of Adnan’s work. 

Be peaceful.

Michelle

Dr. Michelle Peticolas

Life Transformation Coach

Empowering Women to Reinvent Their Life After Loss

Secrets of Life and Death

https://www.facebook.com/secretsoflifeanddeath.com