How to Achieve Peace of Mind in 3 Steps
Table of Contents
Introduction
How much value do you place on your inner peace? In what ways do your contemplations impact your daily life? Who influences your peace of mind? These are some questions I ponder on inner peace. How would you reply to these questions? Please share your thoughts below.
Throughout this article, I will explore the concepts of inner peace and peace of mind. What are they? How do you achieve them? What impact can these have on your life? Who else could be influenced by you embracing inner peace? What effects can that have on their lives?
Peace of Mind Meaning
What does peace of mind mean to you? How do you measure it? Who is in control of your peace of mind?
For me, I believe peace of mind relates to how you manage your considerations. These are your contemplations. You can be in control of them. However, that does not imply that you are your thoughts. Thoughts are weird and wonderful constructs that can inspire, motivate, and even hinder. How you let your thinking affect you, will ultimately be down to you. If you require support with managing detrimental ruminations, there is support available. It is up to you to ask for that support.
Your thinking patterns possess great power and influence. It is said, that with great power comes great responsibility. You are ultimately responsible for the weight and power that you assign your cognition. It is only your power to provide. However, it is important to be compassionate with yourself. You are only human.
Gently close your eyes. Search deep within yourself for the fundamental nature of the human your inner self wants to be. What does inner peace feel like for your inner self? Is it a tingle of excitement at success? Is it a resounding sense of calm from an absence of worry and fear? How does inner peace feel for your inner self?
Peace of mind can come from how you assign power to your ideas. Mindful awareness is a wondrous tool you can use to support you with this. Mindfully observing your thoughts requires detaching from them and allowing them to pass by without assigning that power and influence they can demand. This is not about suppressing or denying emotions but being aware of them without allowing them to interfere. It is a state of detached awareness. Visualise your notions like clouds passing above you in the sky. Every one will be slightly different. They will keep coming. They will keep floating by.
Thus, for me, peace of mind is not an absence of thoughts or emotions. Rather it is the method with which you engage with them. Objectively observe them for what they are.
What is the Opposite of Peace of Mind
For me, the opposite of peace of mind is when you are emotionally stimulated to such an extent that it can interfere with your ability to successfully manage your ideas. It is when your ideas gain control over you. Rather than when you observe your perceptions and thoughtfully consider them before responding. Responding thoughtfully is preferable to reacting instinctively. It gives you more choice and more control over yourself.
Have you ever felt so stressed or emotional that it feels like you cannot think straight? I have. It can be any emotion too. It does not necessarily have to be an emotion that you associate with negativity. Not that I believe any emotion is in itself negative. This depends on so many factors. Labelling emotions in this way is not helpful. Although, identifying the emotion and naming it is. Have you ever felt so excited about something that your mind races wildly with what-ifs? I believe it is the intensity of your emotions that can affect your ability to contemplate.
For me, it is this lack of control over the contemplation that is the opposite of peace of mind. If not addressed it can escalate into rumination. So, how can you achieve more control of your thinking patterns? That is what I will explore further in this article. However, if it is something that you struggle with, please seek professional support to alleviate your suffering. Your inner self will be grateful. You can explore more inner peace.
A 3-Step Peace Background for Peace of Mind
Your foundation for inner peace will be awareness. Self-awareness of what situations, people, emotions, places, and thoughts are likely to provoke you. What thought do you have that waves a warning flag?
This thought could be self-defeating such as, “I am not capable.” It could be a thought that would cause you to avoid a situation like, “I don’t have the time for this.” It may even be, “I am not worthy.” Remember, you are worthy. Everyone is. Whatever the thought that causes you issues is, becoming aware of that pattern of thinking is key to managing it.
As always, I promote the use of keeping a journal to track things like thoughts, emotions, and patterns of behaviour. It could be a written journal, a video journal, or an audio journal. Whatever format works for you. Record your thinking about situations, it will be revealing.
Once you have identified what your problematic thoughts are, then you can address them. There are numerous ways in which you can calm your cognition including meditation, exercise, and mindful activities. Here I am going to focus on addressing the thoughts themselves.
First, try practicing mindful awareness of your thoughts. It is something that does require practice, but it can become like second nature. This is worth it. Mindful awareness is about observing your thoughts without emotional attachment. Observe them objectively for what they are. They are not facts. They are not your identity. They can be opinions, with the information you have at that moment in time.
It can help to visualise them like clouds passing by in the sky. Not becoming emotionally attached allows you that precious time to consider all the factors in the situation. However, this does not mean to suppress your emotions. That will not serve you well. Embracing mindful awareness allows you to hold these as an abstract.
Then evaluate your ideas. When you think to yourself you cannot do something, challenge that idea. Why can’t you do it? What evidence is there to support this? Who told you you cannot do it? Spoiler alert, you are telling yourself. It will likely have initially come from some external source and you will have internalised this as fact.
You are evolving every day. You are becoming a better version of yourself with every experience you have. Their advice may well be outdated and inaccurate now. It is time to update your beliefs to reflect this. An important question to ask yourself is, does this belief serve you well? Is it helping or hindering you?
It may be that you will benefit from some good advice. You can provide that for yourself. If you are winding yourself up to think that you are not good enough, you can tell yourself that you are. If you are winding yourself up to take shallow breaths, advise yourself to slow your breathing. If you are easily swayed by others’ opinions, remind yourself your intuition is powerful. Your inner self has a powerful voice. Use it to your advantage.
Mindfulness is all about non-judgmental self-compassion. If you make a mistake, you will be learning a valuable lesson at the same time. It is how you respond to it that will count.
Finally, acknowledge your efforts. Update your journal. Use this new knowledge of coping well in that situation for the future when you experience self-doubt. The more you experience success in managing your notions, the more powerful you will become. You will be realigning your neural pathways. You will default to a more positive mindset. You will also have these tools to use if you become aware of other troubling thoughts and beliefs. You are in control of you. Use that control for your benefit!
Embrace Peace Day Every Day
Life would be so much simpler if you had a peaceful day, every day, wouldn’t it? Mine would. So, make time for it. Carve out a serene space where you can take five minutes. Somewhere where you can meditate. Somewhere you can listen to soothing music. Somewhere you can walk in nature. Somewhere you can do whatever it is you need to do to embrace your inner peace.
In modern life, everything seems so urgent. You have everything a click away. You can order whatever you want on your phone. This is convenient. This convenience contributes to this sense of urgency. I believe you are conditioning yourself to that same sense of urgency. However, how is that sense of urgency impacting your well-being when you attribute that same sense of urgency to what you do? That is not so convenient. It can be counterproductive.
When you feel pressured, your thoughts will likely feel pressured and urgent. This can cause you to make impulsive decisions without considering all the options available. Then there is always decision fatigue. This is where you make so many decisions that you exhaust your ability to make more prudent decisions.
Things, whatever things they are, take time. You are only capable of doing what you can do when you can do it. Evaluate your expectations of yourself and others. How realistic are they? Embrace self-compassion when you feel like you are falling short. The likelihood is, you aren’t falling short of anything but your own expectations. Express empathy and compassion for others around you. These responses are powerful for all involved.
Use Your Own Peace Word for Inner Peace
Once you are aware of the warning thoughts you have identified that can cause you problems. You can divert from these problematic thoughts. If not, they can be time-consuming. They can be stressful. They can wreak havoc on your cognition and your behaviour. This can then affect others around you.
Consider a peace word or peace phrase that you can tell yourself when you recognise that warning notion. It will benefit from being able to nullify some of the power of that tricksy thought. Something personal to you. It can be your secret. It is simply a phrase you can tell yourself when you recognise that notion provoking you. It can be as simple as “Stop!” Something that will disrupt that negative thinking pattern. Something that will give you space to clear your mind.
Then you can use your peaceful place to regain your composure. Take five minutes. It will likely save you a lot more time and energy. It will grant you more peace in the long term.
A Peace Flag You Can Wave Everyday
When you embrace your own peace of mind, you can have a profound effect on others in your life. Your mood can affect those around you, whether you want to admit it or not. It can affect your body language, it can affect your tone of voice, it can affect your words and your behaviour. When you embrace your own inner peace, you will also emanate peace to the external world around you.
When you emanate peace, it will return to you. This will reinforce your own inner peace. Just like you affect others in your life, their behaviour and response will impact you. Starting from within peace will rebound to you. This can resolve many conflicts, peacefully.
Focusing on your inner self and what you really need and want is powerful. This may be rest. It may be a laugh. It could even be a little conversation. Only your inner self knows what that is. Ask yourself, what do you need? What do you really want?
Conclusion
Everyone has thoughts all the time. Everyone is thinking quickly with an ever-increasing sense of urgency. Maybe it is time to slow this process down. Take some of the intensity out of it. Or at least, equip yourself with peace treaties should you need them. Self-awareness is empowering. You can choose to empower yourself.
Calling all coaches. While I am still offering limited life coaching spaces, my new focus is on content writing and creation. If you like what you read here, contact me. I am offering to use my knowledge and skills to support you with your social media management. Message me directly or visit my website to book a free Mindset Meeting where our minds can meet and we can formulate a personalised plan for you.
Also, please comment below with your thoughts on inner peace and peace of mind. What do you believe? Sharing is caring, your insight may help others who read this.
References
Breitowich, A. and Shortsleeve, C. (May 20, 2024) If you want to be more confident, self-compassion is the trait you need to work more on Women’s Health UK. If you want to be more confident, self-compassion is the trait you need to work on (msn.com)
Lee, Y. B. M.D., M.B.A. (2023, January 16) Decision Fatigue and What to Do About it Psychology Today Decision Fatigue and What to Do About It | Psychology Today
Puff, R. P.h.D. (2017, February 2) That Path to Peace of Mind Psychology Today The Path to Peace of Mind | Psychology Today
Comments