ast Sunday I had the most beautiful day out in the vineyards with my friends.  Even though it is officially the season of Winter here in Australia, the sun was shining and the weather was glorious.

There is something about walking through vineyards, sipping a wine and tasting cheese that is so totally relaxing.  Then meeting up with friends and sharing stories just adds so much love to the day.

On the way home, I dropped into a convenient store (against my preference) to pick up some snacks for my teenage daughter who had invited a friend over for the night.  As I got out of the car, my phone dropped and for the first time ever smashed.

A $300 mistake!

I felt 100 scenarios and possible ways to have prevented this, or ways to blame others- rush through my mind.

I suddenly remembered that true peace should not be dependent on your situation.  Was I going to maintain the  peacefulness of sitting in a vineyard sipping wine on a glorious sunny day? The key is to be this peaceful and loving no matter what your external world presents.

At this moment I had the choice to move out of my heart space that was so easy to be in whilst tasting cheese and sipping wine:- and shift into my head space, and stress, blame and complain which is also easy when a small lapse of consciousness and no fault of yours has just cost you $300.

You see anyone can be peaceful meditating under palm trees in a tranquil setting. The real test of your awareness is whether or not you can maintain your composure, your peace and your love when things are not going your way and when your environment is a little more chaotic.

This week watch yourself shift from peace to stress depending on your externals and ask yourself if you can maintain your peace within, by not allowing the external world to determine your level of happiness.

Photography by MDH and Fagun Mishra