Cultivating Peace in an Uncertain World

Dear friends,

As we all know, life can turn in an instant.

All our external attachments to safety can fade in a single moment: the home, the job, the family, the partner, the money, and as we’ve witnessed recently, even the most peaceful cities and countries in the world can turn into war zones overnight.

There is only one sustainable source of safety in life: the peace we hold within ourselves.

Without it, you can travel to the safest corners of the globe and still be simmering in fear and anxiety.

You can be the richest human in the world and still be feeling inadequate and lacking.

You can be deeply valued and loved by countless people and still be feeling unworthy and unlovable.

In contrast, when you feel at peace internally, you can be in a war zone and feel deeply steady and calm.

You can find yourself standing alone and on your own, and yet, feel solidly held and supported.

You can be living through immense uncertainty, and yet, find lightness and freedom in the present moment and be assured of your next aligned step.

This isn’t to minimize the impact of our external environment on our internal state, but to remind us of how much agency we have even if we find ourselves living through a war right now, as my family and I are.

When you finally embody inner peace, you can feel and process the waves of emotions while continuing to lead with clarity and alignment regardless of the external circumstances and turmoil around you—instead of reacting from fear and veering yourself, your team, and your vision off course.

The peace we are capable of feeling and sustaining within ourselves is the most powerful, precious, and valuable human capacity there is. Yet, society is constantly pushing us to search for it in all the wrong and temporary places.

Most individuals live in a constant loop of: “Once I achieve/have/gain [fill in the blank], then, I’ll be at peace. Then, I’ll feel safe. Then, I can rest.”

But the promised peace, safety, and rest never arrive from this seductive trap, because there is always the next moving goalpost to meet.

So my reminder to you today is this: Stop searching outside of yourself for what you can only develop inside of yourself.

Inner peace is not something you suddenly discover and stumble upon, it is something you intentionally cultivate and patiently build over time.

Think of it like a garden that you tend to on a daily basis.

Every time you choose presence over avoidance, you pull out a weed and plant a beautiful flower instead.

Every time you choose yourself over misaligned attachments and connections, you are clearing space for fruit-bearing trees to grow.

Every time you choose nourishment over noise, you are watering your garden to overflow abundantly, especially in times of crisis.

Remarkably, the more you tend to your inner garden of peace, the more effortlessly aligned people, opportunities, and external blessings find you, no matter where you are and what is going on around you.

But they won’t be showing up to validate, fix, or rescue you. They will be showing up to further expand, nourish, and reenergize the peace you already have within you.

When internal peace and safety become your baseline and your solid foundation, whatever is added externally builds on that foundation without becoming a substitute for it and without keeping you trapped in an endless cycle of grasping and fear.

So I hope and pray that this letter inspires you to continue cultivating your inner garden today.

Truly, if more leaders did this work, our world would be a much more peaceful place.

Until they catch up, may you lead the way and feel more at peace and at home with yourself with each passing day,

May you feel the assuredness of a calm and steady heart and mind even in the midst of the most turbulent storms,

And may you continue to thrive,

With love,

Maliheh