9 Simple Ways to Achieve Inner Peace in Your Life
All roads to inner peace end at the same destination – well-being and happiness. This state of cognitive and emotional harmony is the Rosetta stone that we all long to achieve. With it, everything makes more sense and we achieve a psychological balance from where we’re far better placed to make improved decisions.
The term “inner peace” is often seen as having spiritual and philosophical connotations. However, psychology has been delving into it for years. Reaching this state doesn’t depend on your external circumstances. In fact, internal well-being must be achieved from inside you. It goes far beyond what happens to you in your everyday life.
Therein lies the magic, but also the difficulty. Because given the maelstrom in which we all live nowadays, it’s difficult to orchestrate mental harmony. There are so many worries and changes as well as infinite uncertainties. Anyway, let’s take a look at what mechanisms there are to allow you to embrace that internal vision.
Peace is an inner craft, don’t look for it outside yourself.
9 ways to achieve inner peace
We could define inner peace as a deliberate state of psychological calm that you manage to achieve even when you’re exposed to stressors. It’s important to remember that. Indeed, peace of mind requires “being okay” with the circumstances around you. It involves focusing all your energy on yourself in order to appease your fears, concerns, and anxieties. In this way, you’re able to see what surrounds you with a greater focus and perspective.
The University of Marburg (Germany) conducted research highlighting the contributions of positive psychology in this regard. The study concluded that factors such as positive valence emotions, vital meanings, and good relationships mediate the goal of inner peace. Furthermore, everyone has the power to develop this capacity. However, to achieve it, you need to put into practice certain skills. This is what you need to do.
1. Make your priorities clear
Not everything you pay attention to, spend time on, and worry about is really important. In fact, if you think about it, there are probably many things in your life you could leave behind. Certain tasks and probably even some people. You need to learn to cut back, by understanding what’s really valuable, useful, and meaningful to you. This is the key to good mental health.
2. Take care of your basic needs
No one can achieve well-being, even less happiness, if they don’t first satisfy their basic needs. Think of the classic Abraham Maslow pyramid and its first level. It stated that no human being can achieve satisfaction or internal peace if they don’t first attend to their basic needs of food, water, warmth, and rest.
3. Make a commitment to yourself. You’re important.
One of the ways to achieve inner peace is to remember that you’re the most important person in your life. Sometimes, you spend so much time prioritizing others and their needs that you tend to place yourself as a supporting actor in your own story. However, you’re the main protagonist of your own reality. For this reason, it’s vital that you commit yourself to your own well-being.
4. A mind that knows how to control anxiety
The anxious mind is full of noise, worries, pressures, catastrophic thoughts, and irrational fears. To find inner calm and peace, it’s essential to learn to manage your anxiety. Strategies to attain this might range from regulating your emotions to cognitive restructuring in order to change your most distorted ways of thinking.
5. Interact with nature
Regular interaction with nature is one of the best ways to achieve inner peace. Studies published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology tell us more about the connection between nature and happiness.
You can achieve a connection with nature by taking a daily walk in a natural setting like the countryside, mountains, parks, beach, etc. On the other hand, you could spend time in a nature retreat, such as a country house, for example.
6. Close pending issues
Unfinished business can take many forms. Moreover, it stops you from giving your mind a rest. Grudges, not daring to say certain things, yesterday’s issues, or that problem that you’ve been putting off for a long time, are all things you must draw to a close.
Letting go of frustration, hatred, and past regrets is essential. Furthermore, f acing what worries you in the here and now and being brave enough to say what you feel are also ways to achieve inner peace.
7. Be grateful for what you have
Around you, there are aspects of your world that are both beautiful and significant. However, sometimes, in the chaos of the day-to-day, in the midst of anxiety, pressure, and worry, those elements that give meaning to your existence might go out of focus and become blurred.
Being grateful for what you have means giving presence and value to what matters to you. It gives you meaning and happiness. Therefore, be grateful for being alive and for having a new opportunity with every new day that dawns to do what you want.
8. Some battles just aren’t worth fighting
Sometimes you might spend a large part of your existence fighting battles that you’ve already lost. For example, maybe you want your parents to appreciate you more. However, it’s just not always possible for people to change from one day to the next. Indeed, it’s unlikely that someone who never took much notice of you is suddenly going to change their ways.
Another losing battle might be waiting for situations to improve at work. Often, simply accepting the fact that things aren’t going well proves to be the starting point for them to improve. Indeed, once you become fully aware that a situation is coming to an end, you’re able to move forward to achieve what you want and need. Consequently, ceasing to pay attention to what no longer makes any sense is another way of achieving inner peace.
9. Overcome your fears
Courage in the face of fear sets the stage for happiness. In fact, well-being means appeasing anguish. Inner peace is knowing that, whatever may come, you have the resources to face it. This feeling of competence to face the future, whatever it may bring – be it good or bad – is the definition of peace of mind.
Don’t hesitate to put these suggestions into practice.
All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.
- Anderson, R. (2004). A definition of peace. Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, 10(2), 101-116.
- Capaldi, C. A., Dopko, R. L., & Zelenski, J. M. (2014). The relationship between nature connectedness and happiness: A meta-analysis. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 976.
- Diener, E. (2000). Subjective well-being: The science of happiness and a proposal for a national index. American Psychologist, 55(1), 34.
- Pérez, J. F. (2010). Ansiedad y respiración diafragmática. Enfermería integral: Revista científica del Colegio Oficial de Enfermería de Valencia, (89), 16-18.