3 Answers

Tracy, here is a great quote that might serve you in your quest for your own internal happiness and peace: Happiness is like a butterfly, the more you chase it, the more it will elude you. But if you sit quietly, it will come and sit on your shoulder. The problem, of course, is that our society isn't really one for sitting still, is it? It's always go, go, go (when young, it's an implied mobility and perpetual change; when old it's an implied biological function, perpetual changing Depends). So here's the hard part, Tracy ... you have to find it within yourself to sit quietly even if it's just on the inside as you and the world zip along in chaotic fashion. There's this societal assumption (in the United States) that we are guaranteed happiness. The Founding Fathers were smarter than to guarantee any such thing -- they merely guaranteed you were free to seek it. After a long life full of hard knocks, I can only say finding it is a constant struggle but I can guarantee that the key and road to it lies inside yourself and not from any external thing (yes, I know finding your life's soulmate etc. ... but love is an internal thing firstly, and flows out from there). So do find time to still your mind, find your peace ... and then smile when the butterfly lands on your shoulder. It is the delight in such simple things that leads to simple happiness, and ultimately, our peace and harmony.

Unfortunately, Tracy, mankind's recorded history lists no period of extended peace and harmony, and even short (in historical era terms) periods are rather scarce. If you are into the Judeo-Christian ethos, Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (prior to the eating of forbidden fruits) might be the only utopic era (though other cultures have similar utopia concepts, the Judeo-Christian one is probably one of the more common). Seeing as anatomically modern humans (AMHs) are relatively new, let's hope the next 100,000 years of evolution of our species sees us finding that sort of utopia. Provided we don't greenhouse-gas, nuclear weaponize or some yet-to-be-discovered-but-menacing-end-to-humanity-scenario ourselves to death beforehand.

What peace and harmony?