How to Live a Happy and Peaceful Life with Self-Knowledge?

It seems impossible to find inner peace and happiness in today’s turbulent world, the lost feelings which we cannot get to, no matter how hard we try. But what is inner peace, and how can we live a happy and peaceful life? Can we still talk about peace and happiness despite all the problems of contemporary life? Is it enough to have money, property, fame, important posts, higher education, entertainment, etc., to achieve this goal? Or are these different in essence from what we are seeking?

Are happiness, peace, and love some abstract concepts or emotions resulting from hormonal activities which help humans to go through hard times, or are they really achievable? What are the characteristics of a peaceful and happy life?

To answer these questions, we should first know the correct meaning of these words.

Inner Peace or Comfort?!

Despite loving ourselves and trying hard to find happiness, most of us feel less happy and peaceful. In spite of all the conveniences of life, our inner pressures and worries increase day by day. Even if we feel satisfied with our lives, it is often temporary, and that is enough to explain the difference between ‘comfort’ and ‘inner peace.’

Basically, living in peace and happiness is not the same as having such things as welfare, knowledge, fame, and status which bring us comfort. Many of us have encountered people who enjoy great blessings as well as fame and have gotten what they have wanted, but deep down, they do not feel inner peace and joy; they feel frustrated, disappointed, and depressed in the face of life challenges and stresses. High rates of divorces, suicide, mental disorders, and sadness, especially among educated and wealthy people, confirm this bitter truth.

Living in peace and happiness is different from being carefree and lighthearted; enjoying wealth, fame, social or academic popularity; and being busy with fun and entertainment. We may have all these things, but not be truly happy and peaceful; when we are alone, we might be overwhelmed by a pile of worries, anxiety, and negative thoughts.

We might even see some fearful, anxious, and sad people among the religious ones who do not live a deeply happy and peaceful life; the big or small problems of life do not let them be clam and happy. Even reading the scripture, saying prayers, performing religious rituals, and doing charity work cannot relieve their sadness and anxiety. Therefore, neither material prosperity nor superficial religiosity can make people feel happy and peaceful. So where can we find inner peace and joy?

Peace and Happiness Defined

Happiness and lack of anxiety do not mean that we do not have any problems in life; it is actually the way we deal with life challenges which causes much sadness and stress. A person who has the skill to handle difficult situations keeps calm, does not lose her confidence, and is patient with others even during the toughest times. That is because true peace and happiness do not depend on external factors, but rather they come from within us. But what does this sentence mean? Why can material possessions and even spiritual gains not keep us calm from within?

We have a natural tendency to achieve whatever that is good and perfect, no matter what kind of goodness it is: wealth, knowledge, beauty, etc. Although they belong to completely different categories, all of them are somehow appealing to us. Our desire for goodness is so strong that even a beautiful plate fills us with admiration and creates the tendency to have it.

We feel happy by reaching any kind of perfection and feel sad by losing it. Like when we suffer from poverty and get happy by acquiring wealth and money, but this happiness is not long-lasting. When we achieve it, we are worried about losing it. At the same time, we want more things right away and longing for them makes us sad, restless, and distressed. All these limited and transient possessions do not contribute to our joy and calmness, but rather they are barriers to our inner peace and happiness.

Our inner contentment depends on matters which are not temporary and limited. Therefore, peace and happiness can be defined as follows: “Peace and happiness are deep and lasting feelings within us. These feelings depend on an infinite source not on temporary, external things and do not turn into sadness and anxiety under various circumstances around us.”

The Root of Sadness and Anxiety

According to the above definition, one of the reasons why we fail to find inner peace and happiness is that we want to step in this path without any knowledge or awareness. We love ourselves, but without self-knowledge, our attempts are useless.

Knowledge and awareness are the prerequisites for success at everything. Just as we cannot repair a car without knowing its structure, it is impossible to make this restless, ambitious human being peaceful and happy without knowing her and knowing the things which bring her peace and happiness.

Generally, we do not live our lives according to the true definition of the ‘self’; we do not know the rules and formulas of our existence and try to make this ‘self’ happy and calm without knowing it at all. We seek eternal peace in things like power, wealth, popularity, etc., which are transitory illusions.

Even when we resort to religion, we are ignorant of our truth, the truth of religion and what it does to our being. As a result, we do not have true faith and the God that we worship based on our own understanding cannot make us feel calm and secure from within.

So far, we have realized that peace and happiness should be lasting and come from within, but what is the source of this lasting inner security? We will get to this later.