Seven Simple Steps to Inner Peace
Achieving inner peace seems like a utopian ideal these days. Indeed, with so many work, family, and personal responsibilities, how can you possibly stay calm? There simply aren’t enough hours in the day to fulfill all your obligations in order to achieve the status and success that’s socially required of you.
However, what would happen if you reordered your priorities? If you began to give value to what truly deserves it: your health, peace of mind, the company of your loved ones, and finding happiness in the little things. As its name indicates, inner peace isn’t something that comes from the outside and your circumstances, but from the attitude that you personally choose to adopt.
The spectacles you choose to put on to go through life define the way you see it. Therefore, if you’re one of the many people who suffer from stress and anxiety and you want to change this reality, start by changing yourself.
Seven steps to inner peace
If you want to achieve inner peace, we advise you to:
1. Stop worrying
One of the most important changes you must make is to banish worry from your life. Worrying, although sometimes unavoidable, really is useless. Indeed, it’s pointless to dwell on an issue over and over again, making the same mental journey that only leads you to a dead-end and increases your anxiety.
Change your focus and, instead of worrying, think carefully. When you’re presented with an adverse situation, analyze it carefully. Then, decide if there’s a solution and if you can do something about it or not. If you can, go ahead and act. That’s your job, to act to modify what you dislike.
On the other hand, if you don’t have a solution you must still act. However, this time you must act to control your mind. Don’t allow yourself to get into an endless loop of worry and rumination. Focus on accepting the reality that’s arrived, go with the flow, extract some learning from it, and move on.
2. Breathe
There’s a direct correlation between your physical state and your mental state. Therefore, when anxiety overwhelms you, sit down and breathe. Take slow, deep, diaphragmatic breaths and you’ll immediately begin to feel physically relaxed. Then, you’ll see how your mental tension also decreases.
Nevertheless, you shouldn’t just use this resource as an emergency measure. In fact, if you really want to achieve inner peace, make deep breathing a habit. Devote at least two ten-minute periods each day to breathing properly. Before long, you’ll notice your overall anxiety levels drop significantly.
3. Think positively
As we mentioned earlier, it’s essential to carefully select which spectacles you want to look at the world through. If you look through with those of complaints, victimhood, and powerlessness, you’ll only feel frustrated and helpless. That’s because you’ll have accustomed your mind to search, find, and detect everything negative that surrounds you such as problems, difficulties, and limitations. You can’t be happy and feel at peace if you think you’re surrounded by adversity.
You can just as easily train your brain to identify every opportunity, resource, and positive aspect of life. Start by doing it deliberately. Make an effort to recognize and be grateful every day for all the good things you have. Over time, this function will become automated and you’ll suddenly realize how lucky you are.
4. Keep moving
It can be counterintuitive to think that to achieve a state of calm and relaxation you have to get moving. However, it really is so. Exercising on a regular basis not only has benefits for your physical health, but it also improves your mental health. It helps you clear your mind, disconnect from your worries and gain confidence and self-esteem.
5. Sleep well
Take care that your rest is sufficient in both quantity and quality. One of the most common manifestations of anxiety is insomnia or difficulty in falling asleep. Furthermore, an overall lack of sleep only makes it worse and aggravates the situation. Therefore, make a firm resolution to put your worries aside at bedtime.
Dedicate the last hour before going to bed to do a relaxing and enjoyable activity that takes your mind off the issues that are concerning you. After all, you can’t do anything about them today but you can take care of them tomorrow. For now, prioritize your sleep.
6. Live in the present
Living in the present implies paying attention only to what’s happening in the here and now. In other words, it means being in tune with what’s happening right now, and being aware that everything else simply doesn’t exist, except in your mind and your imagination.
If you manage to train yourself to live in the present, neither the ghosts of the past nor the fears of the future will torment your inner peace. One way to do this is through meditation or mindfulness. Give it a try!
7. Be yourself
We know that this phrase borders on a rather well-worn cliché. In fact, learning to be yourself is a challenge but it represents one of the pillars that guarantee your well-being. You might find that you’re often afraid of expressing your opinions, desires, tastes, and you tend to put on a mask to fit in. However, in the long run, this disturbs your inner peace.
Therefore, the ideal is that you learn to connect with yourself and live your life without caring about what others say. In this way, you’ll be able to achieve that inner peace that you long for.
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.
- Márquez, S. (1995). Beneficios psicológicos de la actividad física. Revista de psicología general y aplicada: Revista de la Federación Española de Asociaciones de Psicología, 48(1), 185-206.
- Pérez, J. F. (2010). Ansiedad y respiración diafragmática. Enfermería integral: Revista científica del Colegio Oficial de Enfermería de Valencia, (89), 16-18.