Photo by Flickr user Swami Stream

What is the peace that eludes us so much of the time? For me, it's what I feel watching my grandsons play together. It’s the mellow feeling after a spinning workout or yoga class. But what about the rest of the time, especially when things aren’t going well?

Over the years, I’ve worked with many clients who had horrific stories to tell. Once I asked a client to describe the monster she believed lived inside her. It was a Godzilla-type creature that dominated her imagination. I encouraged her to watch it and listen to it. After several minutes of reporting its rant and violent acts, she stated that it slipped into the water and swam away. I asked what was left. She said a beautiful, calm, blue lake. And then she recognized that the lake, in its full beauty, had been there inside her all along.

To me this describes a basic truth. The peace is there within us all the time, although we might have to listen first to some monsters to get to it. But if we don’t try to kill off those parts of ourselves, judge them or give them power by fighting them, there is a body of calm also there that we can enjoy.

The next time you sit down to meditate, listen to whatever your “monster” is. Perhaps it’s obsessive thinking about a test or performance, or trouble in a relationship, or an issue with money. Simply observe the “monster” rant and rave as if you were viewing a movie. Be curious about it, as if you’ve just met.

Then when it spins itself to exhaustion —or swims away — relax in the calm and peace that remains. Meditate on that peace.

As a mental health professional, an owner of a fitness studio, a writer and a wife, mother and grandmother, I have found meditation to be helpful in every aspect of my life. To find out about my meditation classes this fall or my newly published novel, A Barroom View of Love, contact me at susanmmorales@yahoo.com or check out my websites: susanscottmorales.com and bodiesinbalancefitness.com