When your peace is disrupted by the world outside or your thoughts inside, can you accept that rather than fighting it? Can you know that the disruption is temporary and the ripples created will still but also know that another pebble or rock will fall?

I’ve always loved the image of a pebble hitting still water. The moment of impact, the widening rings, the return to calm — it’s a tiny, perfect metaphor for being alive. But when the disruption isn’t in a pond but in the soul, the moment feels far less poetic. For me, it still happens more often than I’d like, and sometimes more intensely than I always know what to do with.

My most significant learning about these moments is that the thing I most need to do is wait. I cannot smooth out the water but I do know the water will smooth. And I also know the next pebble is coming. And so peace is about fighting less so that the waters calm more quickly and I am more still when the next pebble, or rock, or boulder falls.

As you read this I wonder:

* Can you sense when your waters are calm versus roiled? Can you quiet yourself and watch?

* What is your reaction when peace is disturbed? Can you wait versus fight or flee?

* Are you ready for the next disturbance? Can you learn to welcome it more than fear it?

The pebbles aren’t the problem. They are the teachers. They show us what we cling to, what we fear, and what we’re capable of returning to. They reveal what calm truly feels like. If we can welcome them — or at least not resist them — the waters settle more quickly, and we meet the next ripple with a quieter soul.

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