Inner Peace- Wild Geese by Mary Oliver

You do not have to be good.

You do not have to walk on your knees

for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.

You only have to let the soft animal of your body

      love what it loves

Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.

Meanwhile the world goes on.

Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain

are moving across landscapes,

over the prairies and the deep trees,

the mountains and the rivers

Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,

are heading home again.

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,

the world offers itself to your imagination,

calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting-

over and over announcing your place

in the family of things.

Without individuals who feel worthy and experience tranquility from within the world will never experience global peace. This does not mean perfection in living, none of us know a life without struggle, it’s all in how we perceive ourselves and the environment we live in. What is most important is that we value ourselves as worthy of the beautiful aspects of this world. We must have an understanding that it is our responsibility to take the time to notice and believe in the wonder the world has to offer. Life will pass us by if we sit in our despair and focus on the experiences that are do not offer the constant pleasure we seek. It is essential we appreciate that it is the struggle that allows us to know the difference, allows us to see that without the bad we never be able to define the good times. Only then will we feel truly at peace with ourselves and others.