Keeping inner peace
Inner peace begins the moment you choose not to allow another person or event to control your emotions. Keeping inner peace is a hard thing to come by these days. Sometimes it seems as if everything in life is conspiring against our having peace. The dog is barking, there’s trouble with work/career, you’re stuck in traffic and you just had an argument with a dear friend. In the midst of all of this unrest, we wonder how peace is possible. The answer to this question depends in part on how you define peace.
We all have the power to change our negative thinking. You may not be able to stop the thoughts from occuring, but you are more than capable of replacing them when they do. When you have an annoying song stuck in your head, what do you do? You sing a different song.
What is inner peace?
One way to define peace is simply the absence of conflict. If you can resolve whatever conflict you are facing, then you can have peace. But when conflict rears its head, peace runs out the door, and it won’t return until the conflict is settled. This notion of peace is a good start, but it is also fragile, because it is totally dependent on your circumstances.
A stronger definition of peace is one that allows you to rise above your circumstances and remain calm despite the storm raging around you. It is a sense of assurance that no matter what happens, things will eventually get better, and that somewhere, someone trustworthy is in control. This sort of peace is not dependent on circumstances. Rather, it allows you to see beyond your surroundings and fix your eyes on a point in the distance that allows you to hold steady on your course
and ride out the storm. How can you find this sort of peace?
Who do you trust to seek inner peace?
By putting your trust in the one person who transcends all of our trials and struggles: God. God is the only one who can truly offer us this gift. If we put our trust in Him, He will give us the strength and the endurance we need to weather any situation. God doesn’t promise that life will be easy. In fact, if we truly follow Him, He says we will experience trials of many kinds.
But rather than let these problems lead us to despair, we can be assured that we are not alone, and that we are not struggling in vain. As the writer of the book of James in the Bible says, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance” (James 1:2-3). You can place your trust in God by asking Him ( and your guides and Angels) to help you deal with these circumstances.
Take a moment and tell God about it. Tell Him you trust in His ability to help you deal with the situation, and ask Him for the strength and wisdom you need to get through it – as well as for her. Then wait expectantly to see what God will do. Your circumstances may not change immediately, but your level of peace and contentment will.
I suppose we all have our ways, our methods, of keeping strangely sane in a world that seems to be changing with every minute. It’s hard to keep your spirits up, and it seems so surreal sometimes, to think that we have to work hard at staying positive.
The key to staying positive – how to find inner peace
The key to staying positive is to rely on what’s inside instead. But keeping positive inside for many can mean facing their past, and what is embedded in them. Most of which includes negativity. I think positivity for many does mean what is inside, and realizing that inspiration and good moods are much more than partaking in the aspects of life that make us happy.
Expect temporary setbacks and failures on the road to accomplishment. By doing this, you won’t crash and burn mentally or emotionally at the first sign of a real challenge. Because life is not fair, and is far from perfect. We have to coast along, we have no option there. But we can choose how we feel, and somewhat train ourselves to be positive amidst the most grim situations and circumstances.
By expecting that setbacks will occur, that bad things will happen, we can lose our mindset that life is supposed to be perfect, fair, good, and just. Life is all of those, but unfortunately it’s up to us to find those aspects that make life so sweet. That is not what everyone wants to hear, I think, but it’s the truth.
Follow your guidance
The easiest way through life is to “follow your guidance.” When you feel the action in right, follow it. If you don’t feel comfortable about it, don’t. This may sound simple, but most people don’t follow their guides’ direction. They exercise “free will,” which is our God-given gift, but with the exercise of free will comes a whole new set of challenges they might not otherwise have had to experience. This is not a bad thing; just think of it as an assignment for “extra credit.”
Life is a process of change to progress and to regress. We need to fully acknowledge and realize that. Otherwise, we won’t feel fit anywhere we go and in anything we do. Biologically speaking, mature adults experience regression, while at the same time progressing career wise and psychologically.
We have been experiencing changes all our lives, thus one tiny step shouldn’t be magnified in a manner that hurts our potential to self-empowerment. Being able to acknowledge this and be willing to appreciate the change as a process of growing up and getting empowered would be the best attitude to help ease the pain of any kind of transition. Life is an odd thing. Being alive is not.