There is a difference between inner peace and complacency.

Just sit with that for a moment.

I can’t really talk about breaking rules without talking about sacred disruption. What I mean by “rules” is somewhat vast—I mean rules imposed on us from the outside (society, religion, the government, work and relationship expectations) and the inside (personal habits, routines, beliefs, coping mechanisms). Sacred disruption is on par with sacred rage. Without it, nothing ever changes.

I have to reference a job I had many, many years ago as a health and safety coordinator. In that line of work, the saying always goes, “complacency is the number one cause of all incidents.”

Complacency doesn’t just keep us trapped behind a façade of comfort and false security. It’s actually dangerous. It’s dangerous to our bodies, our minds, our hearts, our spirits, our overall well-being—both as individuals and as a collective.

Not every rule is meant to protect you. And just because one rule appears to keep you safe doesn’t mean that it protects others too. Discernment is everything. It’s critical to be aware of that. We are NOT separate from each other.

But complacency will tell you that we are separate.

The truth is that anyone who benefits from having some sort of power or control over you and others, also benefits from your complacency.

Herein lies my issue with the whole “love and light and acceptance” movement. I don’t think that everyone uses that “method” as a means of bypassing into complacency, but it sure is an effective way to do that. We cannot only focus on love and light. The shadow (personal and collective) thrives in an unconscious state of being. The longer it remains in that existence, the more power it can hold over us, simply because we refuse to acknowledge it. This can definitely lead to that feeling of being alone in a room full of people. It creates generational cycles and trauma. We cannot bypass the darkness.

We gotta go through that shit.

Not only does bypassing keep us complacent, it also invalidates our personal experiences and the experiences of others. Also known as gaslighting. It makes us complicit.

I don’t know what you have heard, but we are ALL allowed to have reactions. We are allowed to be angry. We are allowed to be devastated. We are allowed to be elated. Call this sacred permission.

Feelings may not be “facts,” but they are sometimes the necessary alarm bells for when changes are needed. Or for when boundaries need to be enforced.

How we respond is where we find our power.

A sacred disruption, whether it comes from you or someone else or even Nature herself, is not meant to be comfortable. I believe we can shine our brightest in those dark, uncomfortable moments. Even if it feels like failing at the time. That’s the beauty of it all. That and the promise that within disruption, like chaos, is always clarity. Might not be the clarity you hoped for…but it will be there.

Once we obtain a sense of clarity and awareness, that will begin to illuminate the path to inner peace.

Choosing to walk the path of inner peace means choosing to walk into the storm. We will have to break a few rules or “codes of conduct” to get there. We have to say the quiet part out loud. Sometimes, we have to tear down walls. Sometimes, we have to stand our ground. Your intuition is the compass on the journey.

It’s never been about doing something the “right” way.

It’s about wholeness and authenticity.

That shit is messy.

You know what else it is?

The light. The light in the dark.