Inner peace is something we all strive but it somehow eludes us. Follow the below 5 steps to help yourself achieve and sustain the feeling of inner peace:
| Most often we get busy in our day to day activities living life mechanically and forget to connect with our inner self. We repress and ignore our emotional needs, physical needs and spiritual needs, so much so that we are not even aware of them. We lose touch with ourselves, and that can make us feel alone, disconnected, unrestful and imbalanced. Though everything else might be going well in life, we tend to feel that we are not truly happy. In such a situation the smallest thing going awry will make us stressed and can knock us over. Connecting with self is like providing an anchor to self. No matter how bad a storm is, when you are anchored, you are able to weather the storm. When we connect with our inner self, we start attending to our needs, become more self-aware, and create an internal locus of control. Thus no matter what else is happening around us, we feel like we’re centred or anchored and are able to deal with the situation constructively. |
Many of us tend to see emotions as problematic, hence we tend to bottle them up, lock them away or criticise ourselves for having emotions. However, emotions are what make us human. It’s ignoring our emotions that is both dangerous and problematic.
Unattended emotions bottled up inside, are like water in a pressure cooker. They keep building up pressure, pushing against our psyche, creating unrest within. It can create a constant sense of anxiety, stress, restlessness, or unhappiness or in the extreme form an emotional outburst. Thus for finding inner peace it’s vital to become aware of our emotions, attend to them, work through them and eventually, release them from our psyche routinely.
Constantly worrying about the future and regretting the past is one of the most common reasons for stress. Most of us forget or have forgotten the simple pleasures of here and now because we are too entangled in what’s to come or what has been. In order to break away from the constant turmoil and find inner peace, mindfulness, or being present at the moment, plays a vital role.
When we enjoy and experience everything that’s happening in the present, being aware of our emotions, thoughts and experiences at this moment, we declutter our mind, reduce our emotional baggage and experience deep-seated inner peace.
Our mind usually pays attention to the negative, to an anomaly or something that’s not right. Thus, while going through life also, we tend to pay attention to and magnify the negative, unpleasant occurrences or things that are not going well. However, this puts our conscious or subconscious mind into a state of constant fight, flight or freeze more, increasing the stress hormones and building unrest within.
Practising gratitude and making it a way of life changes our perspective, we are able to notice the positives, be thankful for what we have, and appreciate everything that’s going well for us. This changes us, rewires our brain, reduces the stress hormones, builds resilience, transforms our perspective, and enables us to tap into and magnify inner peace.
Meditation is the exercise of the mind and soul. Just as physical exercise is vital and helps you keep your body healthy; meditation is vital to keep your mind and soul healthy. There are various forms of meditation, you can do it sitting or moving, or alternate between them. Using various forms of meditation can help you identify the right one for you. The essential aspect of meditation is to get into a transcendental state.
