5 Ways to Create Inner Peace
5 Ways to Create Inner Peace
This is a season when we frequently talk about peace……but so many of us feel anything but peace on the inside. We may experience inner turmoil around the Holidays due to family interactions, the demands and busyness of the season, politics, finances, the list goes on. Outer turmoil rages on in many things that we can’t control. But I feel pretty confident that most of you reading this are looking for PEACE. Peace within you, and peace in the world.
I have had a daily meditation practice for a little over 7 years. (I’ll be the first to admit that in the earlier stages of my practice I could get very caught up in some inner turmoil during my practice) Sometimes I meditate on something spiritual, sometimes I use an app, sometimes I read a poem and then meditate on it. I often use the “Chopra” app, now called “Presence”. I just did the shorter, daily meditation of the day today, which happened to be on Peace. It is likely no accident that the message I wanted to share with you today is about creating inner peace!
I’m pretty sure most folks will agree that if we don’t have peace on the inside, it is very difficult to cultivate peace on the outside. Inner peace leads to better relationships, less stress, higher levels of joy and happiness, and actually…..inner peace is what leads to world peace! The more people living in the world with peaceful hearts greatly increases our chances at a world with less aggression and less division.
Here are 5 ways you can start cultivating inner peace today!
Avoid overindulging in news and social media: Nothing gets us more fired up than fear based news that makes us afraid of each other. Start by engaging less with the drama of the day.
Stay away from DOOM SCROLLING! It is sooooo easy to spend the 5 or 10 minutes in between this or that just taking a peek at your favorite social media feed. (I’m not innocent here) Instead, keep an album on your phone of all your favorite memories and scroll through that! Or, listen to a podcast that is uplifting and helps you find peace. Nobody feels better after time on social media, and before you know it that 5 minutes is 15 minutes or more! Read a book instead!
Gratitude journal: There is an overwhelming amount of research out there supporting the practice of a gratitude journal. Seriously, you can even just keep a note in an app on your phone. Taking the time to list 3 things that you are grateful for or appreciate each day is like mindset GOLD! I like to give some detail about why I’m grateful for the things that I list, but it isn’t necessary to get started with the practice. Something I write might be as simple as….”I’m thankful for the yung pueblo poem that I read today. It gave me a chance to look at the situation from a different perspective.”
Connect with someone: Like really connect. Take the time to call, meet up, facetime with someone you care about. Even if you are sad or frustrated that you are the one that always has to initiate. You’ll be glad you did. Connecting with someone you care about is food for the soul! I heard a quote today from Kristin Armstrong, “Real connection and intimacy is like a meal, not a sugar fix”. So get out there and connect with someone you’ve been wanting to connect with.
Quieting breaks: I have learned over the last few years that I can retake control of my nervous system when it is hijacked. There is a whole lot of information out there about the science of our nervous system. We hear a lot about being “triggered” by something and what this really means is that our nervous system is triggered to think that we are experiencing something bad, stressful, life threatening, etc. We might feel anger, fear, anxiety, sadness, so many feelings that may get in the way of us responding as our best selves. We can take back control of our nervous system by quieting ourselves through breathing exercises, EFT tapping techniques, humming, meditating and more. By stopping the cycle and quieting ourselves, we can maintain our own peace, and reflect peace to those around us.
Let Them: It’s highly likely that you have heard of the new book, “The Let Them Theory” by Mel Robbins. In the book she suggests that when we feel the urge to control other people, worry about what others will think or feel about us, compare ourselves to others’ perfect posts, etc. that we should just “Let Them”. After we let them, we turn that to ourselves and decide to “Let Me” act in the way that meets my needs. Not in a selfish way, but in a way that frees us from the need to control others, or change ourselves out of fear of something. Obviously, the book offers a much deeper dive and the science behind all of this, but I think it is a wonderful tool and maybe the key to inner peace.
Cheers to you finding peace…..and all of us creating World Peace!