Saint Teresa’s Secret To Inner Peace

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:00]Have you ever had that strange feeling that life is moving very fast around you, but something can you is quietly asking for stillness? You may be doing all the ordinary things [music] and yet underneath it all there is a quiet pull, almost like something within you is saying, "Come back."

[00:00:21]If you are new to the channel, welcome to Simply Aware.

[00:00:25]Here we explore many faiths, philosophies, and spiritual traditions, not to compare them or divide them, but to see how so many of them point toward one [music] simple truth.

[00:00:39]That beneath the noise of thought, we are awareness itself.

[00:00:43]And this is why in today's video, I'm really pleased to share a few beautiful [music] teachings and pointings from one of the great saints of the Roman Catholic Church, Saint Teresa of Avila.

[00:01:01]Saint Teresa lived [music] from 1515 to 1582.

[00:01:08]She was a Carmelite nun, [music] a Spanish mystic and writer, and later became a saint in the Roman Catholic Church.

[00:01:16]We do not have to be Catholic or even religious in a formal way to feel the truth in what she is saying.

[00:01:24]Because beneath the language of her time, she was pointing to something very direct. The inner life, the sacredness within us.

[00:01:35]And this is why her teaching can sit so beautifully beside self-inquiry.

[00:01:41]Because self-inquiry also [music] asks us to stop looking only outside, and asks us to turn gently inward, and notice what is already here.

[00:01:53]Teresa said there is a great difference between the spiritual life and the world. The world passes. It changes constantly. That is the nature of the world. It moves. It shifts. It never quite gives us the permanent [music] peace we are looking for. And Teresa saw this very clearly.

[00:02:15]She was not saying the world is evil and we should hate life or reject people.

[00:02:21]She was saying something much more subtle.

[00:02:25]Do not expect passing things to give you what only the deeper reality can give.

[00:02:31]That is such a simple point, but it can take years to really see it.

[00:02:37]I know in my own life, it's is very easy to hear a teaching like this and think, "Yes, of course. I know that."

[00:02:46]But then 10 minutes later, the mind is off again, looking for peace in the next thing. I did [music] this myself for so many years while studying philosophy and religion.

[00:02:58]Eventually, I got it.

[00:03:01]There is something within us [music] more precious than anything we are chasing outside.

[00:03:07]Saint Teresa used the [music] language of the soul. She said the soul is not empty.

[00:03:13]There is a guest within it.

[00:03:16]God dwells there.

[00:03:19]Now, [music] in Simply Aware language, we might say there is awareness here.

[00:03:25]A presence. The I am.

[00:03:28]The simple knowing of being.

[00:03:31]Or maybe [music] you use the phrase God consciousness.

[00:03:37]This exists before thought, before identity. This is not something [music] far away, and self-inquiry begins here.

[00:03:48]Who is aware of this moment?

[00:03:50]Who knows this thought?

[00:03:53]Who is conscious of the body sitting here, watching and [music] listening to this video?

[00:04:00]Teresa used a lovely image. She spoke of the soul like an inner palace, and she said that if we really understood who lived in this palace, we would not leave it neglected for so long.

[00:04:15]I think that is a very human image, because most of us do neglect the inner palace. Not deliberately, we just get busy. We get pulled out into life, but inwardly, we be full of old dust, a bit of fear here, a bit of sadness there, and then we sit down and wonder why peace feels so far away.

[00:04:41]Teresa would probably smile at that. Not in judgment, but because she knew the human mind. She knew how easily [music] we forget.

[00:04:51]She even admitted that she herself did not see this [music] clearly for a long time, and I like that about her. It makes the teaching feel less distant.

[00:05:02]She was not speaking as someone who never struggled. She was speaking as someone who had learned slowly by experience. [music] She said that if she had understood earlier how God dwelled within the soul, she would not have left him alone so often.

[00:05:22]That line is very touching. Because we could say the same in self-inquiry.

[00:05:28]If I had known that peace was this close, I would not have spent so many years running after it.

[00:05:36]If I had known awareness was already here, I would not have looked for myself in every passing thought.

[00:05:43]But there is no need to regret. I learned from life, and eventually I am here as you are here, too.

[00:05:52]That is the kindness of this path.

[00:05:54]You do not need a perfect past. You do not need to have understood everything years ago. [music] You only need this moment. This simple willingness to turn back within.

[00:06:08]>> [music] >> Teresa called this recollection, inner recollection. It means [music] gathering ourself again, not forcing the mind to be silent, fighting [music] with thoughts or pretending to be holy, just remembering, remembering that there is a deeper presence within.

[00:06:28]Teresa said that we should remember this presence within many times a day if we can.

[00:06:35]That is refreshingly practical.

[00:06:38]Because sometimes spiritual teachings can sound almost impossible.

[00:06:43]As though we must live every second in perfect awareness without [music] ever forgetting the self.

[00:06:50]But most people cannot begin there. We begin [music] with little returns.

[00:06:56]One honest pause, one moment of remembering. [music] And these little moments build something in us.

[00:07:05]The mind becomes a little softer. The heart becomes a little less defended.

[00:07:11]The pull of the world [music] is still there, but it is not quite as powerful.

[00:07:17]We start to notice that peace is not something we have to grab.

[00:07:22]It is something we uncover when the noise settles.

[00:07:26]Teresa also said that nothing worthwhile is learned without a little trouble.

[00:07:31]>> [music] >> I think this is especially important to remember, because sometimes we want the spiritual path to feel effortless from the very beginning. And in this thought, we can easily get [music] discouraged, and later give up the search for enlightenment.

[00:07:48]A teacher once told me, "Discouragement is the thing that can make us give up on the spiritual path."

[00:07:55]So please be careful with this particular delusion.

[00:08:00]For some, at first, it can feel awkward.

[00:08:03]The mind may not want to sit and meditate each day, or as I often recommend, >> [music] >> twice a day. It may be restless. It may say, "This is boring." [music] You might suddenly remember 17 urgent things that apparently must be dealt with immediately.

[00:08:22]That is normal. The mind is used to living outwardly. We may have to exert effort and discipline, but we train it kindly again and again.

[00:08:34]We return with patience.

[00:08:37]I practiced Hung Gar Kung Fu for some years, and I remember the Sifu telling me one of Bruce Lee's famous sayings, "I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times."

[00:08:55]Meditation is the same.

[00:08:58]We just need to practice with patience the same technique over and over until it becomes effortless.

[00:09:06]This is where meditation, prayer, and self-inquiry support one another.

[00:09:12]Meditation quietens the mind. Prayer opens the heart. Self-inquiry turns attention back toward the one who is aware.

[00:09:22]Together, they help us become simply aware.

[00:09:28]Then Teresa speaks about [music] simplicity and humility, and I think these two are deeply needed. Simplicity means we stop making the path into a complicated [music] project. This is why I named my channel Simply Aware.

[00:09:46]It really is this simple to be aware without overcomplicating matters. We mistakenly believe [music] it must involve deep mystical practices to finally get enlightened, but this is not true.

[00:10:01]So, we come back to what is real.

[00:10:05]We sit, we pray, we inquire, we love and save others.

[00:10:10]Humility means we stop trying to control the whole process.

[00:10:15]We stop demanding that awakening happens on our terms.

[00:10:20]We allow life, God, awareness, grace, [music] whatever word you prefer, to work in us.

[00:10:30]Through humility is being available.

[00:10:33]It's a saying, "Let the silence guide me."

[00:10:38]Teresa also makes another point [music] that I love.

[00:10:42]She says the spiritual life is not only about prayer or contemplation.

[00:10:47]It is also about love in ordinary life.

[00:10:52]Helping someone, saving quietly, what I like to say, "Do good [music] and disappear."

[00:11:01]Doing the small task that nobody notices, being patient when we would rather be right. This matters because if our spirituality does not make us kinder, then something is missing.

[00:11:16]If our self-inquiry makes us cold, proud, or detached in an unhealthy way, then it's a state in the head and not reached the heart.

[00:11:28]Self-inquiry makes us more human, not less.

[00:11:33]Teresa said the Lord asks two things of us, love of God and love of neighbor.

[00:11:40]In self-inquiry language, we [music] could say, "Recognize the sacred presence within and see that same [music] sacred presence in others." If we are self-aware, then surely everyone else feels that same self-awareness, [music] too.

[00:11:59]There is a natural kindness that comes when the sense [music] of separation begins to loosen.

[00:12:07]Teresa [music] gives three simple foundations, love for one another, detachment from created things, and through humility.

[00:12:17]That is a whole path.

[00:12:20]Love keeps us open, detachment [music] keeps us free, humility keeps us available to truth.

[00:12:32]Saint Teresa reminds us that the world is passing, but the inner life is sacred.

[00:12:38]The soul is not empty.

[00:12:41]There is a presence within us nearer than anything we could find outside.

[00:12:47]Through recollection, prayer, self-inquiry, humility, and love, we begin to return to that presence.

[00:12:57]Not by becoming someone special, but by becoming simply enough to notice what has always been here.

[00:13:05]And that there is a natural kindness that comes when the sense of separation begins to loosen.

[00:13:11]A love beyond words, a genuine feeling of connection with everyone and everything.

[00:13:20]If this video speaks to you, please subscribe to Simply Aware.

[00:13:26]Around 85% of people watching are not yet subscribed, and your subscription really helps support the channel. And share these reflections with others who may be ready to awaken.

[00:13:40]Thank you for being part of this journey, and perhaps leave a comment or a question below.

[00:13:47]And finally, a closing thought from Saint Teresa's teaching.

[00:13:53]Do not spend your whole life knocking on the doors of the world when the peace you are looking for is quietly waiting within.