5 AM Clarity, 7 AM Chaos

The Art of Holding Onto Peace

I love the musings that flow through my mind as I take an early morning walk before the sun has even let one ray creep over the horizon. I come home feeling empowered, ready to take on the world. And then—reality hits. The rush of getting everyone ready for school, the inevitable chaos that comes with it. That serenity, the one pulsing through my veins at 5 AM, vanishes. Just like that. And I find myself wondering—how do I get it back?

On my walk, I was reflecting on the idea that humans must suffer to truly experience life. Can we not simply choose joy instead? But as I processed it further, I realised that suffering and joy run parallel to each other. In the past, whenever I heard the word suffering, my mind would automatically picture someone living in poverty or a war-torn country. But suffering exists in everyday life, in the smallest of moments. A fleeting disappointment, a heartbreak, even the overwhelm of a busy morning. Yet, from suffering, joy always emerges.

I suppose, in my limited understanding, that to endure suffering in a way that serves us, we must also allow ourselves to experience joy simultaneously. To bridge the connection between both—so that suffering does not consume us, but rather, allows the heart, which holds joy, to flourish.

I'm working on being mindful of when my mind tries to take the lead, and instead, calling in my heart to guide me. This whole journey of being conscious in an unconscious world is harder than it seems. But isn’t that what makes us human? If it were easy, we would have all reached enlightenment by now and left these earthly plains. And Earth? It would be left to Mother Nature and the animal kingdom.

I love that I get to have these deep, thought-provoking conversations with myself and then open them up to my audience—to you—to ponder and share your own reflections.

I wonder… throughout the day, depending on the position of the sun, do our thoughts change? Now that is a blog for another day.