As I read Dan Pedersen’s post the other day, I couldn’t agree more with what he wrote: “…Nobody can give you the inner peace you need….” That is so true!
It’s scary and reassuring at the same time. Scary because it’s up to you*, and reassuring that you are the one in charge, that you can actually create this inner peace.
Inner peace is really a matter of life and death. It is so important to feel comfortable, to be calm, to be at peace. Because when you live in constant turmoil, in never-ending stress, you’ll become ill, very ill in the end. Our body needs this peace and calm to thrive.
“Yes, but how can I stay calm when I feel I am living a hurricane?”, is often the question I get.
Here is why it is key to realize it is all up to you, the hurricanes will always pass by in your life, there will always be a setback in life, you will always be in a conflict with somebody, you’ll feel sick from time to time, …
The outer world is the outer world.
It’s by creating an inner world full of calm, of contentment, of gratitude, …
that you’ll able to stay calm in all that is happening around you.
How can you do this?
Find a moment of silence every day. The more turmoil, the longer your moments of silence will need to be. It’s not difficult to create those. You just have to mindfully weave them through your daily rituals. For example:
Start your day by taking some deep, relaxing breaths before you even are out of bed.
Make your shower a moment of relaxation, enjoy the warm water. Or as Jonathan Lehman suggests: think while you’re in the shower of all the things you are grateful for in your life: people, pets, your health, your home, your garden, your job, …whatever. By thinking of the things that you enjoy, you’ll be on a high vibrational frequency and you’ll be calm and happy to start your day and you’ll attract** more of that during your day.
Set an alarm a couple of times a day to remind you to take some deep breaths, to turn your attention towards inner calm, to go to a place where it is quiet if possible. If not, create your silence in your mind.
End your day by becoming quiet, create an evening ritual***. As I’ve written many times before, the more you prepare your body and mind to go to sleep (mediation, breathing, writing a gratitude journal, praying, …whatever works for you) the better you will sleep, the more you’ll be rejuvenated in the morning, the healthier you’ll be, the more joyful you’ll be in life.
Be very aware of what you allow to be in your life. All we see, hear, read, … enters our body. The more negativity, aggression, violence, dishonesty, gossip, anger, …. -real or in movies or books- we allow to be present, the more our body will vibrate on a very low vibrational frequency. The more we stay there, the more it will become our state of being and the harder it becomes to rise to a higher frequency. It’s so easy to get drawn into all this drama in the world! We’re constantly bombarded with all that goes wrong in the world. Just try finding a movie where there is joy and happiness…. Good luck! Everything is about betrayal, violence, jealousy, being mean…. Look at what people talk about: drama here, accident there, illness, bad luck, … and we join in in those topics.
But say NO, don’t let yourself get dragged into all of that. As I said in the beginning, it’s for your own health and well-being that you have to stay in an as positive attitude as possible. You have to be conscious all the time because most people live in this ‘drama’ world.
Are you ignoring what is going on in the world? Is there no war, no sickness, no death? Of course, there is all that. BUT you wallowing in it will not change anything, on the contrary!
You can’t stop a war, but if you want to do something positive about it, you can help refugees or animals in warzones.
You can’t stop people from dying, but you can be there as a friend, as someone who sparks some light in their last days.
You can’t ignore having a fight with someone, but take some deep breaths, own your own responsibility in it and move forward, either by solving the problem, or either by gently letting them go in love and in peace, no need for any hatred or vindictiveness.
The better you understand that it’s all about how you THINK about things, the easier it will become to learn to steer**** those thoughts. And how you think about things, will determine how you FEEL about it. The calmer you can be in your mind, and in your heart, the better you can stay calm in ‘crisis’ situations and the calmer you can ACT and find a solution.
The calmer you can go through life, the easier it will become to always stay calm in your mind too. It’s a loop: calm in your mind, calm in the outer world, calm in your mind, …
The longer you practice this, the more it’ll become your way of being, the more these connections in your brain will be activated and the more you’ll automatically use this kind of reactions to everything.
Find your inner silence, build the rituals to make those brain connections that will make you stay calm and positive in life, do what works for you to go to that place of inner calm whether that is walking in nature, sitting in your garden watching the birds in the sky, meditating, …. Just be very conscious that there is peace and calm, no ‘noise’, no input, just being.
Good luck!
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*”The Trouble is, It’s All up to You. The Good Thing is, it’s All up to You.” Article by Katrien Degraeve
**”Ask and It is Given”, “The Vortex, where the law of attraction assembles all cooperative relationships.” By Esther and Jerry Hicks.
***”Night Time: Sweet Dreams or Waking Hours?” Article by Katrien Degraeve
****”Which Thoughts Are You Feeding?” Article by Katrien Degraeve