How to have a peaceful life (Inspired from Patrick Jane's quotes)

I've always loved watching "The Mentalist" series. Every single episode from 7 seasons is never disappointing. I love the main characters there: Teresa Lisbon, Patrick Jane, Kimball Cho, Wayne Rigsby, and Grace Van Pelt.

My focus here is not about what "The Mentalist" is about. If you want to know what it is about, you can just watch from HOOQ or TV or others. It's much more fun to watch than to tell. My focus is about some quotes that I get from Patrick Jane, the mentalist.

Some quotes are funny and informative, some others are annoyingly true. But at least, those quotes make me think.

Like this quote: "If you stop seeing the world in terms of what you like and what you dislike and see things for what they truly are in themselves, you will find a great deal more peace in your life." (Season 2 Episode 6: Black Gold and Red Blood)

What Patrick Jane says is so true. If we often talk about what we like,  other things we don't talk about are ignored. The truth is, there is always something likable from anything. Let's say you dislike snakes because you are afraid of them. How unpeaceful your life is everytime you run into snakes. You worry about being bitten, you worry you cannot find them if they enter your house, you worry that you will die because of the poison, and so many other worries. But if you look closely at their face, they are undoubtedly pretty. And also, if you think what they think when they meet you, you will realize that they think you will kill him. So, to get peace when you meet a snake, just think as it is. It is an animal which needs food and shelter, and they belong to the universe. So do you.

Or this quote:  "Being sorry is far worse punishment than being dead. Everybody dies. Very few people ever feel truly sorry for the bad things they've done." (Season 1 Episode 2: Red Hair and Silver Tape)

When it comes to talking about crimes and punishments, the most heinous crimes deserve death penalty. But according to Patrick Jane, being dead is not scary for heinous criminals because all people will die sooner or later. It feels much heavier for us if we are guilty and we really regret doing that. Living with having regret and feeling sorry will really punish us. And not many people can live that life.

Or this quote: "People trapped in miserable lives always talk about escaping. Few actually do it. It's easier just to close your eyes and pretend the misery doesn't exist."  (Season 2 Episode 4: Red Menace)

Who never has problems in life? Nobody. When our life is in misery, we really want to run away from it. Stay far far away from that misery. But we can't. (Well, some of us do run away from that misery). So it really ruins our days.  We will be in a bad mood, look sad, angry, depressed, and empty. Therefore Patrick Jane advises us to close our eyes for a moment to ask our brain to be able to pretend that the misery is not there with us. Then when we open our eyes, we will feel a little lighter because we take a deep breath and create a smile.

Enjoy the moment

Have you been in the moment like in the picture? You are sitting down enjoying the morning air and your pets are accompanying you, enjoying the moment, too?

Just look at those two cats. From looking at their faces, do they look worried about what to eat tonight? Do they show anger because of thinking about their cat enemies? I don't think so. They are just savouring the moment. They are looking at the thing they see without thinking about what to do with the thing. Are they peaceful? Yes. Are they happy? Maybe.

It's common that we have many happy moments in our life. It's also common that we get a happy feeling being in those moments.

However, not all happy moments can make everybody involved feel happy about those moments. I'm not talking about people who get jealous in those happy moments. Let's just put aside those toxic people. I'm talking about those whose mind is not in those moments, thinking about something else.

If their mind is in those moments, I'm sure they will join the happiness. But if they let their mind wander, they will seem like the people who don't belong to the group. Their body is there, but their mind travels somewhere else.

The key is just one: be in the moment. If you open your window when you get up in the morning, inhale the morning air that comes to your face. Never think about something. Just breathe. If you are nervous because you will give an important presentation, embrace the moment of your being nervous. Don't deny it. If you deny it, it means that you are worried about the audience's response. It means that you are thinking about something else.

So, when my cats roll their bodies on the dirty ground, they are enjoying the warm dirt on their bodies and I am enjoying looking at them. When my cats sit and relax with me, I savour the moment looking at everything they do, without letting my mind be busy thinking about something else.

The Sound of the Surroundings

Have we ever noticed the sounds around us? And if we have, have we ever enjoyed them? If yes, are those sounds all types or specific?

Thanks to our ears for their ability to pay attention to our surroundings. They do their function at their maximum. They can also give signals to us about what types of sounds we can enjoy.

Any daily sound that comes from nature is absolutely enjoyable. Who cannot enjoy the sound of the leaves played by the wind? Who hates the chirping of birds on the trees? Who is afraid of the sound of the pouring rain? Nobody, I think and I hope.

I need to focus on one type of sound, that is baby chick's voice. Try to enjoy its voice when it is under its mom. Its positive emotion of feeling warm under its mom sends a soothing sound to our ears.

It will be different if that baby chick looks for its mom. Its voice will be very loud because there is an emotion there; an emotion of feeling scared of not finding its mom. That baby chick's voice will give signal to our ears that it needs help. Is that kind of sound disturbing us? I don't think so; it is just affecting our emotion and reaction about what to do.

However, if we sometimes feel disturbed with some certain sounds, it is because the emotions causing that sound are uncontrolable. Just imagine when we hear the crowd of women waiting in line for a sale. The sound will unbearably hurt our ears because of those women's desire and anger to get the products on sale.

How will our ears feel when hearing many people working in front of their computer, typing onto their keyboard loudly and powerfully? Just enjoy it, because it is the music of the surrounding.