Inner Peace; Steps to Achieving It.

How to Find COMPLETE INNER PEACE
FINDING YOUR INNER PEACE IN EASY STEPS

With things being as they are in the world at the moment, feeling calm, genuinely happy and achieving inner peace can be hard things to achieve. But inner peace is essential for your well-being. That feeling when you are on holiday in a beautiful place and can really let go of day-to day worries, liberate your mind, and truly enjoy your experiences and surroundings. But can this be achieved in the here and now at home? Even with the worries of the world you may feel upon your shoulders? The answer is YES. Get some easy tips to achieve inner peace below!

HOW TO ACHIEVE INNER PEACE
Set your intention to achieve inner peace.

Recognise that achieving inner peace is a choice. The first step is simply to have a consciousness when things disturb your inner peace and to recognise that you have options as to how to react. Simply observing and recognising incidents that disturb your inner peace is a good start to making change. Also, make a conscious decision that you are “going for” inner peace. Simply doing this will allow your mind to analyse moments when you are truly happy and peaceful and what needs to be sorted out to increase these good feelings. This in turn will make you feel more determined that you are on a good path.

Go with the flow for inner peace!

Did you know the stress hormone Cortisol is at a high early in the morning after you awaken? Being able to take time in the morning to drink your morning tea or coffee, to do nothing for 10 minutes or simply to potter about without rushing can really help your stress levels for the rest of the day and create a good basis of inner peace to help your entire day. During this early downtime, “feeding your brain” with information actually can cause your stress levels to rise unknowingly too. Try and have this peaceful time before you switch on your devices or think about moving or working.

Set limits for yourself

Tired out? Running around with too much to do? Then you are not on a path to achieving inner peace and one of the first things to do is to consider how to get more quality time and to feel laid-back and peaceful every day. What unimportant things might you be doing that are helping this happen? Are you letting yourself get interrupted when doing a task? Do you let things build up, so that tasks become huge? Are you checking social media multiple times a day? Could you reorganise your schedule so that you have a better balance?

Don’t worry unnecessarily

There are so many things in our every day lives that are beyond our control, especially as most of us are now restricted in our movements and in the way we want to live our daily lives. But for each thing that starts to make you feel sad, uncomfortable, or just plain worried, ask yourself if this particular thing is beyond your control or not. If it’s something in the News or in the outside world, then it probably is out of your control. Realise that by allowing yourself to be affected by these things, you are causing yourself extra stress. Telling yourself it’s just the way this thing is and accepting it, will up your personal power, leading to less stress and more inner peace.

Avoid your stress-catalysts

Watching large amounts of depressing news, watching shocking things or following unhappy (or even absent) people on social media, spending lots of time with negative people. If you do these things, it is quite clear that at some stage or another, your inner peace will be disturbed. Turn to the positive, switch off the Wi-Fi or the television and turn to pastimes that make you feel happy and satisfied. Spend time with positive people in person or online or by phone.

Do a body clean-out!

Are you eating as you should? Or are you eating naughtily to try and make yourself feel better? Then for a few days, go out of your way to eat as you know you should. Pick ingredients you really enjoy but which are healthy and good for you. And, even if you have to prepare meals for others, do this for them as usual, but you just stick to your thing with what you eat. You will feel good about yourself, stronger and more confident

Know what is right and what is wrong for you

What is truly important for you? Being polite and helpful? Being honest and open? Not talking about people behind their back. Then practice what you preach and expect to be treated as you treat others. No pretence is needed on the path to inner peace!

Say what you think

Being submissive and docile is not the same as having inner peace. In fact, it is proven that being bold, firmly stating your needs and politely saying when something doesn’t please you, will get you much further in life and in your personal happiness. You are more likely to get what you want that way. You will feel more in control of your life and this all greatly contributes to a feeling of happiness and inner peace. No more kid gloves or pussyfooting around!

Think before you speak!

Having said the above in number 8, “think before you speak” is also important on your path to inner peace. Often when someone asks us or tells us something important to them, we just react without really thinking it through. Sometimes we either don’t say what we really think because we haven’t had time to think about it, or we say what we think and it comes out bluntly, wrongly or in a snappy or domineering manner. Simply taking the time to think and then respond is quite acceptable, even if there is a pause in the conversation. Or even to say, “one minute please I am just thinking about this,” before giving a response. You will find you feel calmer, like in you are in control of what you are saying, and this will make you feel more peaceful within.

You can be who you want to be.

If you have any kind of social pressure, or self-imposed pressure about your lifestyle, then realise at any time you can change this. There is no obligation for you to have a beautiful house or a brand-new car, a high-flying career or anything else. If you want to dress up as a fairy and dye your hair pink, who or what is to stop you? Take the pressure off yourself and you will feel a whole lot better. Stand up and tell people about the new you and your new priorities.

Find your inner peace the natural way

Time in nature and spending quality time with animals are always rewarding. If you can get out and about in natural surroundings, then make this a habit. If you have pets, spend quality time with them and try to do something new. And, if you do not have these opportunities, watching programmes about beautiful places and interesting animals is also good as a reminder that there are millions of lovely things on our earth, again contributing to feelings of inner peace.

Go tidy!

Because a less cluttered environment gives a less cluttered, happier, and more peaceful mind. Throw out old things you really don’t need. Become a bit more minimalist. This will give you space to think, space to replan and well… just nice space!

Think positively.

In any situation, try to concentrate on a positive outcome. This takes practice but you will find the more positively you can think, the stronger you will feel. Remember also that you do not always know what is going on in other people’s lives and try to be forgiving. Perhaps a rude or tense person is having a hard time at home or has their own set of problems!

    14.  Recognise stress.

When stress is affecting you, try and work out why you are feeling this. Because the body puts into action a thought, then a feeling and then a physical bodily reaction, it is quite likely that you are actually feeling a build-up of stressful catalysts and this last one was just the icing on the cake! Go back and try and ascertain what this build up was. Was there perhaps one catalyst that you could avoid in future, to reduce your stress levels? Could you be dealing with this particular last catalyst head on in a firm yet calm manner if you take time to think things through? The Pandemic has also caused its own levels of stress that are not your fault. These can require special techniques to deal with that kind of stress.

Just breathe for inner peace!

Breathing deep, slow breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth a few times per day can work wonders. For a moment, close your eyes, breathe, and focus on a beautiful image or a memory in vivid colour. Your stress levels will drop, and you will be calmer.

Know what you can change and you can't

You cannot change other people, but you can influence them towards changing themselves in positive ways. Remember, how you react can also affect what happens next! The balance needed is not to be the underdog, but not an unpleasant, snappy, domineering or sneering person either. Biting back in confrontational situations gets you nowhere either. Remember you have a choice of saying, “Hang on a minute I need to think about this,” before responding. This allows you the time to give a calm and intelligent reply. This will often surprise the other person.

We can also always find a good point about a person to say, even if they are currently annoying us to the hilt! Complimenting people on their strong points before making your point can go a long way. This Proper and upright method of dealing with people and difficult situations makes you feel great and contributes in many ways to achieving inner peace.