Everything about our society today makes it difficult to enjoy peace of mind or inner peace. Stress, feeling depressed and anxious are common issues many people have to battle with, and the reason why more people are interested in the search for inner peace than ever before. If you work 8 hours a day, five days a week like most people, you would need to find the balance to keep your sanity together.
Although, sometimes it may seem like a futile wish to bring a little inner peace and calmness into your life. But there are ways to find and preserve inner peace. However, inner peace isn’t just something that you can turn on; inner peace is a lifelong journey only attainable through dedication and conscious effort. It is a condition to be reached and improved on. So how can one achieve inner peace? Here are 15 ways to experience inner peace and appreciate life at a deeper, more fulfilling level.
1. Don’t try to control everything
In reality, we cannot control everything, so why worry about those things you can’t control? Troubles are never-ending, and always thinking of things beyond your control can quickly sour your mood and makes you feel less competent.
Ask yourself, literally, “Is this something that I can control?” Will stressing in any way be beneficial? You have to consciously acknowledge that there are things beyond your control and also realize some of such things and not worry about them. To attain inner peace, you don’t want to be disturbed and frustrated in your life by something beyond your power.
2. Manage the things you can control
To attain inner peace, you must be able to manage the things around you. Consider paying more attention to the things you can control and are more critical, rather than the least important stuff. You can consider creating boundaries in individual relationships which you find difficult to cope with. You may also need to set some limits if you feel your life is congested; like the number of times per day, you check inboxes, Instagram, Facebook, etc.
Furthermore, when you feel uncomfortable, you can take a few minutes to declutter the room you’re in. A clean, simple and organized space around you would bring clarity and order to mind. For a more comfortable atmosphere, you can go as far as organizing your home and life too. When you can properly manage your life, you become more in control and at peace with yourself.
3. Don’t make a big deal out of everything
Whenever you feel stressed with little issues, always remember that there are people in the world with more and worse problems than you at the moment. Take a moment to reflect on your past, think about past worries and ask yourself if those worries still matter now.
The truth is we may see minor issues as mountains when they are molehills in reality, and we tend to forget that fears don’t last forever. If worrying about every little thing, you only create unnecessary stress and find it difficult to attain inner peace.
4. Be true to yourself
It’s effortless to allow the society influence who you think you are or what you want to do. This can often leave you dissatisfied with yourself when you are unable to meet up with specific societal standards.
However, when you are right to yourself, you know, become conscious of your values and decisions. Therefore to attain inner peace, you don’t have to pursue a career to please others, or chase trends to fit in. If you want to live your best life and attain inner peace, you have to live a life that congruent with personal values.
5. Be assertive and practice meditation
Learn to be open with your needs and desires, to say them boldly, and practice positive affirmation. Being assertive keeps you conscious about what you need and gives you more control over what you want. On the other hand, being passive about these things can lead to worries and less control over your desires, which is counterproductive to attaining inner peace.
Furthermore, it would help if you began to practice meditation. Meditation can be very calming; it would help you see things more accurately, and prevent your mind from being unnecessarily troubled. If it seems like you are being stressed out by whatever you are doing, take some time out to meditate and observe the positive change it takes on your mind and body afterwards.
6. Do away with dangerous beliefs
There are some false beliefs common amongst most people, some of which can be very detrimental to your happiness and could hinder your reach to inner peace. Don’t say to yourself “I will only be happy if I have this,” “I don’t think I am good enough,” “I shouldn’t be angry,” or “I don’t have time for myself.”
These are lies, and they would hinder your experience of inner peace, do not place your happiness on material things, neither should you belittle yourself because everyone has potential. To attain inner peace, you have to be mindful of what you believe and tell yourself.
7. Accept and let things go
We’ve all had negative experiences from the past; it could be something someone said, something you or someone did. Unfortunately, you may still carry the burden of that incident on your mind, and it may be difficult for you to forget regardless of how much you try to push it away.
If you want to attain inner peace, you should learn to accept your past and focus on your present. This is because you no longer have control of what has happened, but can control yours now. Although the memory may remain your head, the negative feelings it brings become a lot less powerful.
8. Solve pending issues
When you stop procrastinating and learn not to keep thing pending, you would relieve yourself of underlying stress and tension. Come to think of it, is it necessary to postpone important things when you know you would have to do them anyway?
You probably know what to do already, and not doing it yet wouldn’t relive you of the stress you’ll have to face doing it later. Postponing things wouldn’t help as you may find it challenging to complete pending tasks and obligations when they become too much.
9. Don’t assume things, ask questions
It isn’t easy to read minds; although we know, this fact yet often try to figure out what goes on in people’s minds. What you may not know, however, is that you unconsciously create fear for yourself, confusion and misguided assumptions when you try to read minds.
If you want to keep your sanity and bring yourself inner peace, you should talk and ask questions instead. Although It can be a little complicated for the person at first, in the long run, it will save you and the person so much trouble.
10. Create time to disconnect and escape
Leave your job where it belongs, and work phone. Over the weekend, create time to disconnect from all forms of regular activities, or at least limit your internet activity and checking your mobile phone. Also consider giving your undivided attention to your family, friends, hobbies, or maybe being out in nature.
These things would help take your mind off the stressful and mandatory things you are obligated to. Another way to get your mind off these things is escaping into fantasy thorough mediums like films, novels, music and other contents. Getting your mind off your troubles for a while can help relax and maintain inner peace.
11. Doing one thing at a time
If you want to attain and maintain inner peace, you have to learn not to rush things but rather take things one at a time. Learning to take one thing at a time would help direct you through your daily activities which will not only bring more inner peace but also help you to do better at pretty much anything. Always having this in mind as you go through your day would make you less depressed about the things you can’t control and more concentrated on the things you can.
12. Do things a little slower
Whenever you feel overwhelmed, try doing things a little bit slower, it has a way of helping us relax. Slowing down your actions can often start to feel less stressed compared to if you do things hurriedly. If you slow down while walking, moving your body or speaking, you tend to stress your nerves less, which can be quite relaxing. You can also do this to help reduce stress on other daily activities such as riding your bicycle, working at your desk and eating.
13. Find a relaxation technique that works best for you
There are different ways to reduce tension when you feel overwhelmed, to maintain your inner peace; you want to figure out what works best for you. Some people prefer meditation, working out or belly breathing to ease the tension when they feel stressed. Others would rather practice yoga, go on long walks or go swimming. Find out what way works best for you, and unwind with it whenever you need a time out.
14. Don’t forget there’s tomorrow
We all have bad days occasionally or have life interfere with our plans for the day. However, when these things happen, we may feel like it’s the end of the world, and we would no longer be able to fulfil our dreams. One of the best ways to manage such a situation is to kindly remind yourself that there is still a day tomorrow and that you will get it done then. On the other hand, beating yourself up isn’t a smart or helpful tactic.
15. Breath
One of my favourite techniques to stay calm and maintain my inner peace is taking a deep inhale and exhale. Whenever you feel anxious, breathe with your belly for two minutes, and concentrate on the air going in and out. This will calm your down and help you regain your mind back to the present moment.
