10 Essential Habits For Creating Inner Peace
World Peace, although it's an amazing concept, is a lofty goal that can only be reached through widespread cooperation. Inner Peace, however, although it may be difficult to find, is absolutely possible to create alone. Each condition is intimately entwined, so true peace will only be achieved when both are finally realized. I firmly believe we can achieve this in our lifetimes, the sooner, the better. Here are 10 Essential Habits For Creating Inner Peace.
1)Spend Time Alone
Spending time alone, although it may seem lonely at first, is essential to personal development. Without time to reflect on yourself, your decisions, your life, and what you really want, you wander through life aimlessly, continually seeking ways to fill your time without really considering what direction you truly want to take. You may fill the void of loneliness temporarily, but you won't ever resolve the true problem: feeling lonely itself. Loneliness only becomes unbearable when there are unresolved issues within. It takes courage and determination, but resolving these underlying issues will bring you inner peace.
2)Meditation
Merriam-Webster defines meditation as the engagement in contemplation or reflection. Some people feel as it is some "New Age mumbo jumbo" and only for quacks. This is silly. Meditation has been around and practiced regularly for millennia. It is an essential part of mental health that has been largely neglected in our society partially because, frankly, the pharmaceutical industry and many other industries rely on people neglecting it. If all of those who were diagnosed with depression, PTSD, BPD, NPD, and likely many more modern "afflictions" practiced meditation, we would likely have no need for these medications.
Meditation is simple. The end goal is to quiet ones' mind, but to get there one must resolve ones' inner conflicts and recognize and correct any falsehoods in one's thinking. It is a hard thing to do, especially if one's ego relies on believing one is always right. No one is always right. Every single human being on the planet makes errors and believes falsehoods. And that is perfectly okay. What is not okay is not wanting to correct yourself. If you don't want to believe the truth, you are creating an environment of illusions, which, when inevitably shattered, will be devastating. As with all conflict, the only way to avoid it is to resolve it, and resolve to create a mental environment that will not create these illusions.
There are many ways one can meditate. A personal favorite of mine is to go on a hike. Let your mind be at peace as you soak up the beauty of nature. Then start to think about a problem or issue you may have, find its roots, and explore what things you can do to resolve it. Another way one can do this is during yoga. The body is relaxed so the mind can function better. It is peaceful, and helpful in so many ways. Listening to music, and/or driving in your car or biking are other great ways to meditate. We each really need to make time to meditate, as it is truly essential to one's well being.
3)Be Honest With Yourself
Dr. Wayne Dyer said, "You cannot be lonely if you like the person you're alone with." This is very true. But you will never truly like "the person you're with" unless you become authentic. You must try to examine yourself objectively, and resolve any inner hypocrisy you may be carrying. If something triggers you, there is normally an unresolved issue behind it. To resolve that issue, you need to either find the hypocrisy and resolve it, or find the feeling's origin and make peace with it. If it is a painful event from the past, it is helpful to realize that the person who hurt you (or even if you were the perpetrator) did these things in ignorance. Hurting others creates an undesirable atmosphere around you, a ripple effect of hurt in the world, and is usually done by those in turmoil themselves, thoughtlessly, or those who are mimicking others' behaviors around them because they see that behavior as the norm.
Inner turmoil could even be present simply because one is in denial of an uncomfortable truth. To go beyond it, one must accept that truth and resolve to do something to make it better. This is something that is extremely hard to deal with, as our society itself is built upon uncomfortable truths, relying on lies to sustain it. This is the embodiment of an unhealthy ego. Once you accept all truths realistically, your ego will become balanced, only a true gauge and judgment of ones' self and ones' abilities. Accept the fact that sometimes you may hold false beliefs, and that is okay, but always be willing to be corrected or correct yourself and continually change your mind if need be. Authenticity is the only way to become truly empowered and truly love yourself. Otherwise, you are loving an illusion, and it will inevitably be shattered.
If everyone could get to this point, we would finally be able to have peaceful relationships in all aspects of our lives. I can't wait. :)
4)Make Peace With Your Past
Some people say we need to forget about the past, but it is not possible to do when there are unresolved issues associated with it. One must examine those past events that still hurt today, and come to a new understanding of them in order to make peace with them. This is only possible once you free yourself of any illusions surrounding these past events, and understand where the other people involved are coming from as well. One must also take responsibility for anything they played a part in to truly overcome these issues. Another big thing to realize, is that without these issues, you would not be as wise as you are today, or have all the good things you have today. Some very painful events taught me a lot about life, and although I at times have wished these things never happened, I do realize that without them, I would have never come to the understanding I now have. To me, "forget about the past" is terrible advice. It's history, and we need to learn from it, so we don't repeat errors. Society itself could take this advice. To see things as they are, one should consider past. present and future in all endeavors. Only then will you see clearly.
5)Forgive Yourself and Others
We must learn to truly forgive ourselves and others for our trespasses against each other. These things are always done in ignorance. This reminds me of a biblical quote from Jesus, "They know not what they do." Although I don't consider myself religious, this is some sublime truth. Most of the time, we don't truly realize the infinite effects of all that we do. Each action we do, or sometimes inaction, has a ripple effect throughout time. If we hurt one person, that person usually hurts others, and those usually hurt others, and so on, infinitely. The same is true if we help others, they usually help others too. Upon understanding this, we truly see the incredible impact each decision we have has on the future. We realize that benevolence is the only intelligent way. So forgive others, forgive yourself, and resolve to be better. <3
6)Gratitude
There is always something to be thankful for. Truly. You are alive. You are breathing. You have food and shelter today. You have learned beautiful things. You have people who love you, even if you don't feel it. You have clothes on your back. To create an environment where you are thankful for more, you can also create things for which others will be grateful. We always have the power to transform, transform ourselves, transform our situation, and transform the environment. Always. The key is in our reactions. Are our reactions exacerbating the problems? What can we do to resolve the problems? What can we learn from this situation? The power to learn is another amazing thing to always be grateful for.
7)Learn to Truly Love Yourself Unconditionally
To love oneself unconditionally is essential for inner peace. Realize you are human, mistakes will be made, and resolve to improve. Love yourself as you love your children or partner. Speak to yourself as you would speak to them. Call out your own bullshit, and resolve it. Live authentically. Forgive yourself for mistakes. Life is too short to not love yourself, and loving yourself is not a bad thing if you love yourself as you truly are, authentically, and always strive to improve. The best version of you is your true self, and improving yourself is really just cutting away the bullshit and standing in your truth. You only lose things that are counterproductive to your best self, and your best life. These things are all results of illusions. To lose them is to truly find your self, and is priceless.
8)Exercise
A healthy body and a healthy mind need exercise. We are not meant to be sedentary. It hurts our bodies in so many ways. Even a short daily routine is better than nothing at all. Put on some music and dance for 10 minutes. Dance for one song. It will help you more than you realize. In this aspect, unless you are physically unable to do so, you are hurting yourself by not doing something. A short walk is a great way to do it. If you hate exercise, think of it as stretching. Yoga is amazing for those that hate exercise. It strengthens your body, provides time for meditation, and is really relaxing, especially restorative yoga, in which the poses are held for lengths of time. Pick 10 poses, and hold them each for 30 seconds, then increase to a minute or even 2 minutes. I promise you, your body will thank you.
9)Pursue Your Passions
Make time for the things that you love to do. Play an instrument. Sing. Dance. Paint. Draw. Explore. Take pictures. Write. Express yourself in the unique way that only you can. Everyone has a passion, or even several. Do what you loved to do before you focused on making money. And do it for fun. It's one of the things that makes life worth living.
10)Learn Something New
Never stop learning. Do you have a question about something? Look it up! This age of information has so many benefits we all should be reaping, but some haven't realized it or seen the value in it yet. I can remember being a little girl and asking adults questions I wondered about only to be met with an "I don't know." Today, a simple internet search will usually give you answers in seconds. I often find myself on search tangents for hours. This is one of the most amazing resources we have and we should all be using it. With our collective curiosities, passions and collaboration, our possibilities are endless.
Do you have any questions, suggestions for future posts, or ideas? Post them in the comments, and get a discussion started. Feel free to share with your friends or in like minded groups on social media, and like us on Facebook. Subscribe to my e-mail list to be the first to know about new posts. If you enjoyed this article, I also encourage you to read more of my posts. As always, I appreciate each of you who take the time to read my work, and sincerely thank each and every one who is working towards a better future.
Infinite Love, -Serendellion
