There are so many ways to bring more inner peace in your life. Here are just a few of the things I love to do regularly to maintain my sense of peace. These are practices that have helped me transform from an anxiety-ridden, overwhelmed person, into a calmer and happier one.
Practicing Mindfulness for Inner Peace
Mindfulness is such an important practice in daily life. I talk about it all the time because it literally saved me from my own anxiety and paralysis. It can transform the way we perceive and react to stressful situations and has amazing benefits overall when it comes to our wellness and health.
For me, letting go of the desire to always be right was an important part of becoming more mindful. It was a challenging but transformative concept. Doing this isn’t always easy, especially when something triggers us. It IS possible though to learn to listen to what the other person has to say before reacting or responding. Even when you don’t agree, with practice you can become more tolerant of others’ opinion and ways of being without acting on the urge to “fix” them.
One of the best strategies for bringing in more inner peace is to meditate daily, especially in moments when important decisions need to be made or we’re facing chaos. When making decisions, I look for a quiet place in my house, I sit comfortably, close my eyes, take a few deep breaths, and sometimes even listen to relaxing background music. I make sure I won’t be interrupted by turning off my phone. Then, I take about ten to fifteen minutes to meditate.
When thoughts come in, if they speak to me in any way, or if they make me feel energized, happy, or at peace, I write them down. Often, that’s the answer I needed to hear. I use meditation whenever I’m feeling overwhelmed with a situation. I genuinely haven’t felt anxiety for many years because of my meditation practice.
At minimum, try using the three deep breathes techniques and centering yourself before speaking, making a big decision, or taking an important action. This will bring you more clarity and improve your messaging.
Resisting What Is, Is Futile
Another strategy for bringing more inner peace into your life is try to practice non resistance as often as possible. It works like this. When something difficult happens to you, instead of reacting in a negative way, allow that reaction or thought to exist, be aware of it and of the situation, and picture it floating away from you.
Take a moment to ground yourself by connecting to and becoming aware of your body. I use the three breathe or meditation technique any time I need to calm myself but whatever you feel works for you you should do!
When dealing with a person who’s making it difficult for you to stay calm, allow the person to exist and just be in that moment as it unfolds. Do not react. Allow the moment to pass.
Another thing you can do for inner peace is listen to and act on your intuition as often as possible. By this, I mean pay attention to the gut feeling that tells you whether you should or shouldn’t take action on something.
Sometimes our intuition will pull us in a certain direction. It’s so important to be able to listen, to hear what our intuition is telling us, and to act on it. I’ve noticed that in those moments when I’ve taking action on my strong gut feeling, these have been the best decisions of my life. I started important jobs, met interesting people, and was met with amazing opportunities as a result.
Let Go and Don’t Force Things
Another strategy that brings inner peace in is to never try to force things to happen faster then they are meant to. This can be so challenging when you’ve invested time and energy, and maybe even money into something you really desire. It takes work to master this, to know the difference between when to act, and when to allow.
One technique you can try is this: when you feel like things are not progressing as fast as you’d like them to, take a step back, move your attention to something else for some time, and allow the thing the time it needs to develop.
You’ve heard the expression “a watched pot never boils”? I think it applies here. You can have the vision, take the actions, and still need to give it time. Sometimes, delays happen for a very good reason. Trust that.
Take action, but ensure it’s mindful action and then allow things to unfold the way they are meant to.
Another thing I do for peace is remind myself that other people don’t need to change for me. It’s not my job to change or fix them. I try to recognize instead that this person has the right to make their own decisions and live the way they want to. If I expect to be respected and have my autonomy, then I need to give the same to others.
Live According to Your Heart
To maintain inner peace it’s so important to always listen to what your heart is telling you. Being true to yourself when making life choices can mean the difference between creating a life that brings you more stress, or one that brings you peace and happiness.
When you truly know yourself, this allow you to see what your passions, values, and interests are. When you know what you love, this is the beacon by which to set your course. It takes work to get to know who you are, but once you know you can never unsee it.
Others will tell us what they believe we should do, but the truth is that these comments are often based on that person’s fears or personal expectations of what they want out of life, not what we want or need.
Learning to recognize what’s in your heart will give you the guidance system you need for making decisions and always heading in the right direction.
Remember to Practice Self-care
To me, practicing self-care doesn’t mean getting a mani pedi. It means doing the things that feed my soul, the things that make me feel energized, that make me feel happy, and yes, give me inner peace.
Self-care is a way to investing in yourself. I recommend making a list of the things that make you feel good. Schedule these activities into your week and make them a priority as you would your job or family.
Over time, you’ll begin to see the difference in how you feel. You will feel more energized in the morning, more rested, as though you’ve pressed the reset button.
Going back to decision-making, for me it’s a form of self-care to go towards my joy and bring my focus to it. I love to make decisions knowing that they’re going to make me happier. I believe that when I’m happy, my friends, family, and partner can feel it.
If I know that something is going to make me completely miserable, or that I am not going to be able to deal with the stress something might cause, then it’s an unacceptable choice to me.
To make decisions that consider love, both for yourself and for the people you care about, is to ensure that the decisions you’re making are not hurting other people, including you.
Move on From Your Past Hurt
Eckhart Tolle wrote The Power of Now, and with it he published a meditative practice guidebook. I want to use this little book to share a quote with you that I think about every day as I make choices and deal with life.
“Whatever you need to know about the unconscious past in you, the challenges of the present will bring out.”
When you’re feeling challenged, feeling resistance or defensiveness about something in the present, it’s very likely that you’re connecting to some form of trauma or hurt from your past.
Another thing Tolle says is this: “You may think that you need more time to understand the past, or become free of it, in other words, that the future will eventually free you from the past. This is a delusion.”
I understand this to mean that focusing endlessly on your past hurt will not take the pain away. You’re only going to be reliving over and over again the hurtful event. The only real way to move on from it is to be in the moment. The way to do that is through mindfulness. Be here now. Be in the now. However you want to name it, the point is to be in the moment and focus on the present.
Do you use mindfulness in your daily life? Let me know below.
Copyright Authentic World Inc 2021, Michelle Thompson 2021
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
My name is Michelle. I have over twenty years of experience as a group facilitator, zen meditator, and public educator. I’ve helped thousands of people re-imagine their lives and create concrete plans for self-improvement. I’ve facilitated dozens of workshops and support groups on topics like stress management, mental health and wellness, goal setting, grief counselling, safety planning, and confidence building. I’m a former social worker and non-profit consultant, and after struggling for years with my own feelings of anxiety and uncertainty about who I was and what I wanted, I did the work and learned how to get out of my own way and create an authentic meaningful life for myself. Now I teach others to do the same. I created Authentic World Inc, to offer a supportive space for learning these important life skills.
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