How to Create Inner Peace during Changing & Challenging Times
It’s not always easy to stay calm, peaceful, and centered. Sometimes it might feel downright impossible. What’s happening in the world is hard to avoid. It seeps into our consciousness through many sources. The news. Headlines on emails. Conversations with friends and families. Social media.
Certainly, it’s important to be aware of what’s happening around us. For peace of mind, however, it’s crucial to set boundaries on information intake. By creating boundaries with incoming information we can give it space, without allowing it to consume our focus and sense of wellbeing.
We all have inner parts who want to keep us safe. These parts often use anxiety and hypervigilance as tools to keep us on edge and aware. Unfortunately, habitual anxiety and hypervigilance only serve to weaken us, obscuring creativity and best solutions. By protecting and relaxing the nervous system, we give ourselves better access to inner guidance, new ideas, and feelings of inner peace. Softening harsh feelings can feel incredibly empowering.
Here are some tips to help you create inner peace:
Notice where you are putting your attention. Notice how you feel when you focus your attention on different aspects of your life, or the world around you. To create more inner peace, help yourself focus more of your attention on what feels good, right, and empowering. Set boundaries where needed.
Commit to incorporating relaxation practices into your day. If your nervous system is taking in more stress than usual, it is doubly important to unwind and relax.
Tune into uncomfortable feelings. Be gentle and compassionate with these feelings, as if you were comforting a child. Listening to your feelings will foster a sense of self-acceptance, and validation. Sometimes, this is all that’s needed to quiet inner turmoil.
Use breathwork to help calm anxious feelings. There are a variety of techniques which help to calm the nervous system. These include: Box Breath, 5-7-8 Breath, Voo Breath, Heart Breath and more. Find the techniques which work best for you. You’ll find many examples on YouTube.
Tap. EFT tapping has been clinically documented as an effective technique for reducing cortisol. Stress-related cortisol spikes can interfere with good sleep, cognitive clarity, emotional wellness, digestion, and immunity. Just to name a few. Try tapping while tuning into your feelings. You don’t need to say any words. Tapping can help release some of what is causing your discomfort. For more information on tapping, contact me.
Try an acupressure mat. An acupressure mat has rubber spikes which stimulate acupressure points. At first it might feel uncomfortable, but when the endorphins kick in, it can feel incredibly relaxing, even sleep-inducing.
Meditate. Find time during the day to meditate. If you’re new to meditation, start with a few minutes, and build from there. Consider reaching out to a meditation teacher for guidance. If it’s helpful, listen to calming music, or a guided meditation, to help you get started. Meditation has been shown to change the way our brains handle stress, in a very good way.
Find activities which light you up. No matter how silly, frivolous, or unimportant they might seem. Take a walk or a hike. Sing. Dance to your favorite music. Create art. Cook a favorite recipe. Take a class. Visit with friends. Watch something funny. Read a great book. Listen to an uplifting podcast. Tap into what’s going right in the world. Find what speaks to you. Stay open to feelings of joy and wonder.
Essentially, so much of creating inner peace is about noticing which activities help you feel calm, centered and empowered, and which ones don’t. Choose how to spend your precious time, attention, and energy. Empower yourself with practices to help relax your nervous system. The more empowered you are, the easier it will be to navigate whatever you’re navigating.
Wishing you Peace,
Marian
Contact me for a complimentary Self Discovery Call.
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