BEHIND THE MIKE

The 1991 movie City Slickers featured Billy Crystal, Daniel Stern and a character named Curly, played by Jack Palance.

The movie focuses on a young, unhappy Manhattan yuppie played by Billy Crystal. He convinces two friends to join him on a cattle drive in the southwest, presumably in search of the meaning of life or peace.

The movie notwithstanding, all of us meander through life in search of a similar goal – the one thing that makes our presence on earth meaningful. In business, we seek the one thing that makes us unique and different from the competition.

In marriage, we seek the one thing that helps us to bind our relationship with our spouses and often retreat to that one thing to help save things when the marriage goes sideways.

As parents, we search for the one thing at allows us to effectively communicate with our children to help them to blossom into all they can be in life.

The movie simplifies life with a solution best defined as “peace.” Interestingly, “Being prepared for war is one of the most important means of preserving peace,” wrote George Washington. “Peace” goes beyond our personal lives.

I love utilizing the following quote to toast others in life. “When there is love in the heart, there will be beauty in the character. When there is beauty in the character, there will be harmony in the home. When there is harmony in the home, there will be order in the nation. And when there is order in the nation, there shall be peace in the world.”

Too often we go through life looking for outer peace when we have not found inner peace. It is hard to have one without the other.

Peace, more often, is a state of mind. Depression is driven by the past and anxiety is driven by the future. If you are at peace, then you are living in the present. I think Mother Teresa put it best: “Peace begins with a smile.”

Some would argue that there is no greater wealth in the world than peace of mind, which begins at the end of your comfort zone. “Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance,” so said Confucius.

Ben Franklin argued “We are born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.” That suggests we are responsible for ourselves. There will always be conflict in our lives, but we need to handle it by peaceful means. That is what responsibility is.

It’s hard to find peace and serenity. There will always be storms in life. That, in fact, is the very definition of what life is about – storms that come and go. Our success can be found in the ability to find peace amid those storms. Serenity is not freedom from the storm, but peace amid the storm.

Peace does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble or hard work. It does mean to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart.

Sadly, there are many things in life that we cannot change. It has been said that one of the happiest moments in life is to find the courage to let go of what you cannot change.

Does that mean we abandon all hope? As long as we never lose hope, there is always a way. It has been said that man can live about 40 days without food, three days without water, eight minutes without air, but only for one second without hope.

Having faith allows you to cope in life. Trying times come and go as they always do. Having patience can allow your dreams to come to fruition. If we ever lose hope, we’ll never know what tomorrow may bring.

H-O-P-E is an acronym for Hold On, Pain Ends.

Michael Aun CSP,  CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame is the author of “It’s the Customer, Stupid!” (John Wiley & Sons)