If You Can’t Create Calm in Your DAILY Life, You are More Off-Track Than You Think
The jungle is a noisy place. Insects buzz and sing. Birds fill in the gaps. Monkeys howl and scream. It is non-stop.
But in the midst of all that noise, and the metronome rumble of the ocean, I found quiet I had never known. During my 3 month solo-trip in Costa Rica, I discovered serenity.
It was an unfathomably deep kind of quiet, the kind that reaches the soul.
It was from this place, this depth of silence, that I found my true self.
This silence transformed my life from living like a ball of stress, fear and anxiety, to calm and faith. It took me from reacting to my circumstances, to becoming a self-made woman that builds her life, instead of just taking what’s given.
But I had to leave that place in Costa Rica, I had to go back home to an even noisier place, one with constant internet connection, social media, and so much expectation.
In the month since I’ve been home, I’ve learned that silence, serenity and quiet isn’t a beach vacation we travel to, but rather a place we create in our minds.
When I came home I had to learn how to create this serenity in my busy, overwhelming and chaotic life. I had to learn, or fall back into my old crippling and damaging routines.
The ones that gave me symptoms like anxiety, chest pain, binging on food and alcohol, and stuffing down my needs and my truth.
I refuse to go back to that place. No one should live there.
So I was forced to discover how to create this same serenity in my life, without the calm and beauty found in a jungle/beach lodge in remote Costa Rica.
This is what I found:
1. Silence is not an environment; it’s a state of mind
“The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware, joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware” — Henry Miller
I was in one of the loudest, noisiest and intrusive environments in the world when I was living in Costa Rica. It was a daily battle keeping the jungle and it’s millions of insects, animals and plants out of my zone.
I about lost my mind when ants infested my bed.
But every morning, I walked myself down to a favorite spot, I plugged in my headphones and I got rooted in myself. I listened to the calm inside my mind, I acknowledged my fear stories and my ego and started to unravel my limiting beliefs.
It’s only a noisy world when we pay attention to every. single. thing. that’s demanding our attention. To create silence we must change our perception and create boundaries.
Just like I had to constantly keep the jungle out of my living space, you too have to keep the intruders out of your mind and living space.
- First, get conscious of what things/people/circumstances that are distracting you and keeping you from growth.
- Second, start setting boundaries in your life to keep the annoyances and the distractions out. Guard this mental space like you were guarding your bed from thousands of little black, biting ants.
- Third, practice daily silence through meditation and/or exercise like yoga, running, biking, or swimming. Create physical boundaries like wearing headphones and listening to music that puts you in a high vibrational state, and keeps people and noises out. This allows you to tap in to your highest self daily.
A fulfilled life, a joyous life, is reserved for those who recognize that we can create silence and serenity in our daily lives, so that we can live better and become the best version of ourselves, instead of waiting for it to be bestowed upon us.
2. If You are Not Constantly Creating these States of Calm in Your Life, Your Life Will Feel Like Chaos
“We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it.” — William Faulkner
Even in the peaceful jungle, I got sidetracked into chaos and overwhelm. No matter where you go, there you are, the same human who is easily distracted.
Which is why we need to practice putting ourselves into a state of calm every day. As I talk about in this article, daily self-care is the best way to stay grounded in your mission and your truth.
If you want to succeed and arrive at your goals, you must put yourself into a state of calm every day. You must fight for and defend this state of mind like your life depends upon (because it does).
When we are constantly living in a state of chaos and stress, we shave years off our lives. We wreak havoc on our bodies, our relationships and joy.
We begin living in reaction to the circumstances in our lives, instead of choosing what we will give our time, attention and energy to every day.
Before I went to Costa Rica, I was giving my best self to people and routines that brought me down, that drained my energy.
After realizing that calm and serenity is created, not found, I was able to start achieving the goals I had set out to do, my marriage and relationships improved because I was less emotionally reactive, and people changed how they react to me.
Which leads to #3.
3. When You Embody Calm, Life Reflects Calm Back
“Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.” — Buddha
Do you know those people that always seem to have the worst luck. They are constantly in a state of overwhelm and panic. It’s as if every bad thing that happens in the world, happens to them personally.
It’s exhausting to be around people like that, can you imagine living your life like this every day?
I’m sure most of us have experienced this. When one bad thing happens, two or three other things follow in its wake and we cannot seem to catch a break.
Now certainly, bad things happen at random, to even the most divine and serene people, but we can guide and eliminate a lot of the chaos and bad that happen in our life.
As they say, your outer life reflects your inner life.
If you embody chaos and emotional reaction inside, your outer life will reflect that chaos. It will rush to you like a magnet rushes to metal.
As Napoleon Hill teaches:
“You are the master of your destiny. You can influence, direct and control your own environment. You can make your life what you want it to be.”
When you begin to embody calm, love and serenity, and try to maintain that mental state throughout the day, your life begins to change.
When you create boundaries to protect this state of calm and respect yourself by defending those boundaries, others learn to respect you too.
We embody calm by practicing it every day in the ways described in #1.
We embody love by observing our fears and quitting them through new thought processes.
We embody serenity by defending our state of mind so it radiates from us daily.
Conclusion
Calm, quiet, and serenity is not a place you go during your two-week paid vacation. It is not just a place that has spotty WiFi and yoga teachers.
This place is a mindset and it is available to you every day should you choose to recognize it, and defend it.
Take Action!
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