How to find inner peace? It’s a question often asked, but rarely answered in a satisfying way.
Some say peace of mind lies in security. Some say it’s about de-cluttering, and finding stillness and calm in life. Some say it’s about acceptance and letting go. I say it’s all about what you do.
What is Inner Peace?
The Taoist answer is very simple: Self Acceptance.
Our lives are so over-scheduled that we go about our days frantic and preoccupied. It’s hard to relax or fully enjoy life with all of the distractions and upsets.
Inner peace or peace of mind, serenity, and inner calmness are descriptions of a disposition free from the effects of stress. In some cultures, inner peace is considered a state of consciousness or enlightenment that may be cultivated by various forms of training, such as prayer, meditation, tai chi or yoga. Many spiritual practices refer to this peace as an experience of knowing oneself. Finding inner peace is often associated with traditions such as Hinduism and Buddhism.
Inner peace is more about being than doing. It’s about leaning toward rather than struggling against. It’s about being fully present and focused on the task at hand. The rewards of inner peace are numerous. They include mental and physical health and well-being, self-confidence, better relationships, and a more intense and joyful experience of life.
“He who lives in harmony with himself lives in harmony with the universe.”
Marcus Aurelius
Lasting inner peace and the desire to make it a priority in life is a learned trait. In a culture that venerates busyness and constant stimulation, you have to make peace a priority if you want to reap the benefits.
How to Find Inner Peace within Yourself
How do you find inner peace within yourself? As our society grows more and more complex, finding true peace becomes more like trying to find an oasis in the desert. So here are some timeless thoughts to help guide you to the places where you can actually find it. Let start with being at peace with yourself.
How to be at Peace with Yourself
Being at peace with yourself is the step to achieving inner peace. Here some tips to answer how to find peace and how to become at peace with yourself.
- Focus on the positive. Make a conscious effort to look for positive things during the day. Stay with and appreciate those positive moments.
- Decide your own self-worth before others do. The most important thing to remember is that you are worth it, you can go another day, and you can be happy. Life will not throw you anything you cannot handle or overcome. Start self-esteem activities for children, teens, and young adults.
- Let go of perfectionism. Perfectionists strive for flawlessness in all parts of life. Perfectionists consider mistakes to be personal failures or deficits. Mistakes are not seen as a normal part of learning and growing that we all experience. It’s all a journey. Allow yourself to be imperfect, and yet still make progress.
- Expand your heart and your mind with books, education, and constant learning. Learning happens on your time and on your watch, not in school and not at work. When your mind is learning, it is staying young and active and sharp. Read books. Educate yourself. Be learning whether you are 20 or 120 years old.
- Practice patience. Other people around you may not be living in the same way that you have chosen to. It doesn’t matter; they will have their conscience to live with at the end of the day and you will have yours. Choose to respond in a way that will give you peace of mind. Take a deep breath before reacting to people who push your buttons.
- Spread peace beyond your relationship with you, into your relationship with others. The beauty here is that when you tap and awaken your own peace, you quite naturally begin to radiate and offer up serenity to those with whom you interact. Your peace touches others, and has a wonderfully contagious effect.
- End your pursuit of accumulation of stuff and replace it with collection of experience. The path to minimalism is paved with true peace and harmony. It is pure, beautiful, and one that everyone can travel. It is the joy of seeing and believing that less is more, that we have all we need, and that we need only more inner peace and harmony, none of which you can buy. Collect experiences to enrich your life. Living the simple life is always best choice for me.
- Be generous with your smiles. When you are laughing or smiling, it makes you feel better. Reach out to others in loving kindness.
- Meditate. Among the many benefits of meditation is calm and insight. With meditation, you are able to monitor your inner world, recalibrating your thoughts and emotions into a semblance of order, so that it makes sense. You decrease restless and obsessive thinking. You keep things in perspective and so make more accurate judgments. You develop the strength of will to withstand the onslaught of a confusing world. Any anxiety you have, any tension, will be slowly leached away, as you meditate.
- Live in the present moment. An inability to let go of the past and a sense of inevitability about the future will plague the mind. Living in the moment—also called mindfulness—is a state of active, open, intentional attention on the present. When you become mindful, You will take each day as it comes. It is much less burdensome, and less overwhelming, to think of what can be done today, rather than be bogged down by what should have been done yesterday, or what can happen tomorrow. Learn to appreciate events as they happen.
Peaceful Thoughts: Prayer for Inner Peace and Peace of Mind
Find your own affirmations, own prayer for inner peace and own prayer for peace of mind in your words. Keep playing with the words, and changing them until you find a phrase that resonates with every cell in your body.
Prayers and affirmations are a kind of mantra, and mantras are powerful tools. We can only think one thought at a time; repeating a single phrase over and over sends powerful messages to your subconscious mind.
Choose a thought, a prayer, an affirmation, a phrase that sums up the essence of a book or teaching, and repeat it a number of times throughout the day. Repeat especially when doubts, fears, anxieties arise, and see what happens – and prepare yourself for some truly marvelous results! Also there is an Abundance Prayer which is about having an abundance of love, happiness, family harmony, good health, and friendship.
The following prayer is just one example of prayer for inner peace and prayer for peace of mind
Lord, please put Your peace in my heart. I'm worried and anxious. My mind races and obsesses. I can't help thinking about my problems. And the more I think about them, the more depressed I become. I feel like I'm sinking down in quicksand and can't get out. Calm me, Lord. Slow me down, put Your peace in my heart. No matter what problem I have, Lord, You are bigger, You are more powerful than it is. So I bring my problem to You. I know what I want. I know my will. I do not know Yours. I do not know how You will use this problem for my salvation. I do not know what good You will workout from this evil. But I trust You. I trust Your goodness and Your wisdom. So I place myself in Your hands. Please fill my heart with peace.
what a joy this was to read. To remember, that my hope is in the lord. thank you.
Reblogged this on Ethereal Beings In My Life and commented:
Great blog piece on inner peace!
If we all just spent a bit of time daily obtaining inner peace…what a difference our world would be…or at least our selves. Thanks for your site.
You r awesome! When Steve went to work last week & I had time for myself, I felt that way!
I am currently working for my inner peace. I truly believe that inner peace is about leaning toward rather than struggling against. It’s about being fully present and focused on the task at hand. I am sure my create is with me as I attain full inner peace and learn to live each day at a time.