An Invitation to Look Within

“The kingdom of God is within you.” — Jesus the Christ (Luke 17:21)

“Let nothing disturb you. Let nothing frighten you. All things pass away. God never changes.”

— St. Teresa of Ávila

“I love You with two loves: a selfish love and a love that You are worthy of.” — Rabia al-Basri

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The teachings of the mystics have always emphasized the importance of meditation. That message has never changed. What changes is life. As we move through different seasons, we often find ourselves returning to those same teachings with a deeper understanding of how they apply to the lives we are living today.

It seems that everywhere I turn, I am reminded of just how uncertain life really is. On the world stage, we continue to witness war, political division, environmental disasters, economic uncertainty, and rapid technological change. Closer to home, this past year has included serious health challenges within my family, the loss of my mother, the fire at our home, and now three people very close to me who are facing cancer. Each experience has been different, yet together they have pointed me toward the same question: How do we remain peaceful and centered in a world that often feels anything but peaceful?

I don't believe that question is unique to me. In many ways, it feels like the question of our time. We are surrounded by information, yet many people feel more anxious than ever. We are more connected through technology, yet loneliness continues to grow. We have more conveniences than any generation before us, yet fear seems to permeate so much of our daily lives. It makes me wonder if we have spent so much time trying to change the world around us that we have forgotten the importance of changing the world within us.

As this awareness has deepened, it has quietly influenced the way I move through each day. It has reminded me how easily I become absorbed in what seems urgent in the moment, often distracting me from what truly matters. More than once, I have found myself asking different questions. Am I spending enough time with the people I love? Am I placing my attention where it truly belongs? And when I sit to meditate, am I really there? Am I doing my best to quiet my mind, stay awake, and give my meditation my full attention and effort?

Across centuries, cultures, and spiritual traditions, mystics have all pointed us in the same direction, not toward the outer world, but toward the inner one. They understood something that we often forget. The world around us will always change. There will always be reasons to worry, reasons to grieve, reasons to become discouraged, and reasons to be afraid. If our peace depends entirely upon what is happening outside of us, then our peace will always be fragile.

Seen through this lens, both personal hardship and global unrest begin to point toward the same essential question: where do we anchor ourselves? It is here that I find myself returning to Kathy’s teachings. One of her central messages was that the most important thing we can do to change ourselves, and ultimately to help change the world, is to meditate. Again and again, she encouraged us to “die daily,” to withdraw our attention from the constant pull of the mind, and to turn it inward toward the soul.

This perspective has also been reinforced through another avenue of my life. Over the past year, I’ve had the privilege of interviewing leaders as part of my doctoral research who have maintained a daily meditation practice for many years, some for decades. They have experienced illness, loss, disappointment, uncertainty, and profound challenges, just like everyone else. Meditation did not remove those experiences from their lives. What it appeared to do was change the way they moved through them. Again and again, I heard stories of greater resilience, compassion, perspective, and an inner steadiness that endures even when life becomes difficult.

In describing their experiences, some spoke of having an anchor in the midst of a storm. Others described a quiet space within them that they could return to, no matter what was happening around them. What struck me most was not that their lives were easier, but that they were able to meet life more fully, with less resistance and more presence.

What is especially compelling is how these lived experiences are now being echoed by modern science. Researchers continue to find that meditation can reduce stress, improve emotional regulation, increase compassion, and even change the structure and function of the brain. Science explains some of the “how.” The mystics have always focused on the “why.” They remind us that meditation is not simply about feeling better. It is about remembering who we really are.

This convergence between personal experience, scientific insight, and spiritual wisdom helps explain why the teachings of Jesus, Teresa of Ávila, Rabia al-Basri, the Radha Soami Masters, and so many other mystics continue to resonate across generations. They all invite us to make the same journey, not away from the world, but beneath its constant noise.

Taken together, the lessons of the past year have been both simple and profound. We cannot control the headlines, eliminate suffering, predict tomorrow, guarantee the health of those we love, or ensure that our plans unfold the way we hope. Yet within these limits, what we can do is choose where we place our attention.

From that choice, we can choose to spend at least a little time each day cultivating our inner life. We can choose to meditate. We can choose love over fear, compassion over judgment, and presence over distraction. We can choose to trust, even when outcomes are unclear, that something meaningful is unfolding, and that goodness has a way of emerging, often in ways we don’t expect. And perhaps, in doing so, we begin to influence the world around us in quiet but meaningful ways. A calmer mind leads to kinder words. A more centered heart leads to wiser actions. Change may not always be dramatic, but it is real.

In this light, perhaps that’s why Kathy never tired of reminding us to meditate. Not because life would become easier, but because meditation prepares us for life as it really is: beautiful, uncertain, precious, and far shorter than any of us would like.

If there has ever been a time to look within, it is now. Not because the world demands it, but because our hearts quietly do. In answering that call, even for a few moments each day, we begin to discover a peace that no circumstance can take away.