Inner Peace
Where is it and how do you get it?
Inner Peace.
Isn’t that what we’d all love to experience consistently, as we weave our paths through life?
The good news is it is far simpler to attain than you may think!
The not so good news is that simple isn’t always easy.
Attaining inner peace may not be easy, because it means replacing old habits that aren’t getting you anywhere, with new ones and that requires dedicated commitment.
The benefits, though are definitely worth the effort.
Being in a constant state of inner peace gives you the ability to live your life with a sense of happiness, satisfaction and fulfillment undisturbed or influenced by outside circumstances, events or other people. Pretty cool, huh?
So, how do you acquire it?
By living your life your own way, not how others think you should.
By not worrying about what others think of you.
If we try to live our life honoring somebody else’s values rather than our own, we’ll always have a little gnawing discomfort going on deep inside. And who wants to deal with that?
To experience inner peace, you also need to be able to forgive and
let go of guilt.
Forgive yourself and others as soon as possible and you will feel a big load coming off your shoulders. An imaginary backpacked finally dropped. Ahhh!
Feeling guilty about something that happened in the past won’t change what happened and won’t make anybody feel any better (either you or the person involved). You already know this.
Do what you can to put things right, resolve to do better in the future and move on. Do. it. now.
Likewise, letting go of anger or grudges will bring about a surprising sense of peace.
Think about it — how does holding onto these negative emotions help you?
Of course, it can be difficult to forgive someone who’s hurt you, but I’ve come to realize that most people don’t maliciously set out to hurt others, and those who do are deeply unhappy themselves.
The motivation behind their action is most probably fear rather than a deliberate desire to want to cause hurt or pain. And thought of in that context, it’s easier to let it go. Bless them on their way as you wave good-bye.
With a little bit of practice at forgiveness, you may even find yourself getting less annoyed or angry with people in future. Oh what a joy!
When you can shrug things off and not take things personally you’ll be able to feel a greater sense of inner peace.
Your happiness is determined by how you think about the events in your life, rather than by the events themselves. Take charge of your thoughts and you take charge of your emotions
To achieve inner peace, you also need to let go of worry. Yes, another tricky one!
Worry is similar to guilt. Worrying about what might or might not happen is completely unproductive, and totally destroys your ability to enjoy the present moment.
A great shame, considering that the present moment is all you really have.
So, how do you learn to let go of worries, guilt and anger?
The first thing is to become consciously aware of what you are thinking whenever you feel worried, guilty or angry.
Notice what’s going on in your inner dialogue, and acknowledge that it’s your thoughts about the external event that’s causing you to feel the way you do, and not the event itself.
Then reframe your thoughts to reflect what’s going on around you in a more positive light.
Whenever you catch yourself thinking the old thought, banish it immediately and replace it with the new one.
“No-one can create negativity or stress within you. Only you can do that by virtue of how you process your world.” — Dr Wayne Dyer
This will take some practice but with patience and persistence you will develop a lighter inner dialogue that promotes a feeling of well being and inner peace, and the world will feel like a far better place to live in!
Thanks for reading.
If you wish to increase your level of patience meditation helps. Try one of my short practices right here .
