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Lise's avatar

There is so much truth in this post, Meredith! The source of all wars can be found in the wisdom you are sharing here. We are a very young species and have much to learn yet, but we will get there, in some form or another. It's our destiny. ❤️🙏

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Meredith Forder's avatar

Thank you Lise. That is beautiful 🤍

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Harry Borgerhoff's avatar

Reminds me of the quote:

"What happened to you may not be your fault, but your healing is your responsibility."

My life changed once this truly sunk in. Victim mentalities are exhausting for everyone involved!

What are your thoughts on stoicism?

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Meredith Forder's avatar

I follow the ancient philosophy of Vedanta. Its thousands of years old, well before stoicism. I believe the great Stoics also studied it. Therefore, they thinking is very much in line with how I think.

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Harry Borgerhoff's avatar

Thanks for your answer!

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pen n. bolsillo's avatar

“Love everyone, serve everyone, remember God, and tell the truth.” - Neem Karoli Baba (Maharajji)

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MJ Polk's avatar

Same🙏philosophy saved me too Meredith. This was beautifully written. Thank you 🤠🤙

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ila Dawn's avatar

I related with this so much.. thank you for writing this.. I too was exactly this.

Expectations from my closed ones, and from the flow of life, have stressed and hurt me a lot, and when I had to just cry and feel it, had no other escape option, I luckily got to read books around such beautiful philosophical thoughts that it made so much sense about why was I feeling what I was feeling. And it really has made my life so much simpler and beautiful, like getting what I could have never even expected.

And following this with no expectations, just do your thing, give heartfully, and accept whatever comes your way, instead of stressing about it--put the energy into solving it or maybe just letting it be for a while. Has made life so much lighter and just flowing so well.

I have had a mantra "go with the flow" for a long time--and now I am back to it. And it has made me feel what I had dismissed for the last few years--but never ever again.

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Amilia TOMIC's avatar

i love the whole article Meredith it is about knowing thyself, how we re-act and respond, changing how we think, this then changes the energy that we work with, love it!

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Meredith Forder's avatar

Thank you Amilia. Love hearing from you.

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Joe Nichols's avatar

People everywhere believe that stress is external

This is the crux of this piece for me. The moment you realize YOU control the reaction, the world changes. You CANNOT be stressed unless you allow it. Thank you for the reminder Meredith.

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Meredith Forder's avatar

Pleasure Joe. Thank you for your words, always.

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Joseph A. Carosella's avatar

I agree completely (as do The Stoics, the Tao, Wayne Dyer, Louise Hay, Rumi, Santa Teresa de Ávila, and others).Hard to keep this wisdom present all the time, but oh, what a difference it makes!

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Meredith Forder's avatar

Hi Joseph, thank you for your response and apologies for the delay.

Having studied ancient Vedanta philosophy for over 3 decades, I'm not at all surprised that those you mention agree ;) Have you studied Vedanta?

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Grace Grossmann's avatar

Oh, Meredith, your words touch my heart and art of life: peace really does come when you expect nothing and everything flows towards us because we accept all that happens to us for the greater good! Amen.

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Meredith Forder's avatar

Dear Grace,

Apologies for my tardy response. I'm currently on holiday...

I appreciate your words so much. Thank you.

It's true, everything flows when there's understanding, acceptance and no expectations.

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Martine 🦋's avatar

It isn't always easy to accept life as it is... When big things happen in life it can be a real challenge Meredith. I've learned the hard way. But... it learned me also that real Peace always have to come from within yourself.

When you find that, life doesn't necessarily gets easier but the way you cope with things will. And That is what makes a Life more Peaceful 🌬🦋

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Meredith Forder's avatar

Dear Simona,

I'm sorry for my late response.

It's hard to accept things as they are when we lose a loved one. I totally understand. Healing takes time, and you have to honour that.

But life does get easier and more peaceful with knowledge, higher purpose and understanding x

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Wild Pacific's avatar

What are ways to achieve peace if there is a potential damage though?

Agreed that overthinking and fighting the reality is not constructive and is a malaise of modern world.

However, sometimes there are abuses and manipulation, there are people who want cheat you and outplay you. Sometimes there is outright crime and injustice that we don’t see unless we think deeply. And then, it is on us to affect this somehow.

The difference between unfounded anxiety and real one is where all the game is, IMO.

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Meredith Forder's avatar

What do you mean by potential damage? If you can give an example, i'll be able to answer your question.

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Wild Pacific's avatar

I meant it quite widely.

As mentioned, crime, abuse, manipulation.

If we are alone and deal with messy world, acceptance is working well and we can sift let ourselves settle in reality.

When there is someone potentially takings advantage of us, and we accept it, we settle in the pain or hurt, pretending it’s not there.

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Meredith Forder's avatar

Ok, the gist of the article is peace can be found by expecting nothing and accepting everything.

Now, if i’ve understood you correctly, you’re asking how to be peaceful when there is potential danger around.

What I’ve come to know is that when you have a higher purpose, let’s say gaining wisdom, and you concienously work towards realising it, then you gain peace of mind and things start to fall into place. Your life gets better and the dangers back off.

You begin to feel lighter, more at peace and free.

But you have to allow yourself the time to gain wisdom. Until then you should have reasonable expectations about your situation. Except your situation as it is and keeps driving to gain wisdom and peace. Hope this makes sense.

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