How to Find Peace of Mind in the Modern World

How to Find Peace of Mind in the Modern World

 In my opinion this is the biggest problem we face as “modern” people. We might have flashy gadgets¹ and shiny cool things, but in the end when it comes down to peace of mind we have nothing.

I know for me at least whenever I used to come home for the day; I used to always be 90% tense and 10% anxious for reasons I couldn’t understand. I had a house, family, friends and blessings² I could never count. I just didn’t understand.

I was stuck in a never ending loop of distress³ and lack of peace.

So then how did I overcome that?

Well a couple years ago, I learnt a secret.

I was reading through some books when I read the most amazing quote:

Freedom from desire leads to inner peace.

– Lao Tse

This completely changed my beliefs and got me thinking.

Why there is so little peace in the “modern” world is because of too many worldly desires. So in essence⁴ the flashy gadgets and shiny cool things I thought were my positives were actually bringing me down.

This brought a revolution in my life.

I stopped worrying about always dressing⁵ good, I stopped caring too much about technology, I stopped worrying about having the best of everything.

I started detaching⁶ myself from as much as things as possible and my peace of mind right away started going up.

The main thing was that I started to slow my life down. I found through experience that the world was moving way too fast and that it was taking away my peace. There was always better technology; fashion kept on changing and the best things never lasted.

So the only way I could get my peace back was by slowing down and living at my pace.

You can have peace of mind too; you just have to put your mind to it.

Good Luck in living blissfully!

1 gadgets   

n.小机械，小器具（ gadget的名词复数 ）

参考例句：

• Certainly. The idea is not to have a house full of gadgets. 当然。设想是房屋不再充满小配件。 来自超越目标英语 第4册
• This meant more gadgets and more experiments. 这意味着要设计出更多的装置，做更多的实验。 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史

2 blessings   

n.（上帝的）祝福( blessing的名词复数 )；好事；福分；因祸得福

参考例句：

• Afflictions are sometimes blessings in disguise. 塞翁失马，焉知非福。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• We don't rely on blessings from Heaven. 我们不靠老天保佑。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 distress   

n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛

参考例句：

• Nothing could alleviate his distress.什么都不能减轻他的痛苦。
• Please don't distress yourself.请你不要忧愁了。

4 essence   

n.本质，实质，精华，精粹

参考例句：

• We must try to get to the essence of things.我们必须想法抓住事物的本质。
• The two things are the same in outward form but different in essence.这两件东西外表形式一样，但实质不同。

5 dressing   

n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料

参考例句：

• Don't spend such a lot of time in dressing yourself.别花那么多时间来打扮自己。
• The children enjoy dressing up in mother's old clothes.孩子们喜欢穿上妈妈旧时的衣服玩。

6 detaching   

拆卸( detach的现在分词 )； 派遣； 分遣； 分派

参考例句：

• Two-part serrated nozzle for easy removal without detaching hoses. 不用与内部管路分开，就可以轻易拆开、装管口喷嘴。
• Win between "detaching and attaching" and "old and new" 赢在“分聚”“新旧”间黄升民。