You might have seen people claiming that their therapy or a course will create the ultimate peace and is “The Secret Behind Peace of Mind”. At the look of it, you feel after this course or therapy or retreat I will be forever peaceful. Generally, people think that once you have reached the state of peace then, you will have it forever. But this is not the case. Let’s first understand “what is peace?”

What is peace?

When your mind becomes free from internal disturbance, we are at peace.

But how to be at peace?

Our mind is disturbed due to external challenges and emotional turmoil. These external and internal disturbances are interlinked. When we face external challenges, we get into internal disturbances which take away our peace. So first things first – some corrections in our behaviour and actions.

1. Prioritise your work: Pending and accumulated work always creates pressure in your mind. Unconsciously your mind keeps track of your tasks and unknowingly creates pressure if there is a delay. Pressure in the mind takes away your peace.    
2. Learn to let go: In every activity, there are tasks which you can control and some which are not in your control. You have to learn to let go of the tasks which are not in your control. Worrying about tasks that are not in your hand will create more pressure in your head and this will take away your peace. Put your focus and attention where you have control.
3. Do not be a pleaser: People spend their life performing actions to please others. If you are one of those who always thinks what others will think or say before each action, then you know the constant pressure your mind faces before each. So, you should not be thinking about others while working but you should focus on what needs to be done. Self-love is the antidote to pleasing others and creates peace of mind.
4. Forgive: You might have noticed when someone insults you or disagrees with you, these events are played and replayed by our mind. Whatever you do these unpleasant thoughts keep bothering you. You can temporally engage your mind in some work but as soon as your mind is free, these thoughts catch-up and disturb your peace. The only permanent solution which can give you peace of mind from this nagging thought is forgiveness.
5. Keep Learning: Whether it is in professional life or life in general, if you are not learning you feel irrelevant and you will struggle to cope up with a situation. This takes away the peace of your mind. If you learn from the challenging situations in life, then you gather priceless wisdom. This wisdom helps you tackle situations in life better. This gives you confidence and this confidence helps you gain peace of mind.    
6. Do social work: Bringing a smile to other’s faces makes you happy. However, if you can solve someone’s social issue, this brings you peace and happiness. Humans are social animals and if you can be a service to society, it gives you a satisfaction that you will not get when you keep satisfying your desires. Helping others is a higher value which is ingrained in every human being’s value system. Whenever your actions match your value system you feel peace of mind along with happiness.
7. Be in Gratitude: Your peace of mind is lost if you are always focused on what is missing in your life because your mind keeps reminding you of this. For example, if you are having a shortage of money and you keep focusing on it, then you cannot focus on increasing your revenue. This is called poverty consciousness. I can understand you might say it is reality and you are just thinking about the facts, but what I am pointing out is that you might be thinking about your shortfall too many times in a day. These thoughts of shortfall take away the peace of your mind. So, what can you do about it? The antidote to this is to be in Gratitude. Yes, feel gratitude towards what you have because this will not only attract abundance but also gives you the mindset to work towards achieving more. When you are contented and working for your future, you feel in control. This feeling of control of your life gives you peace.   
8. Breath Properly: Have you noticed when you are in fear you take shallow breaths or when you are shocked you do not breathe? If you really want to be at peace you need to breathe normally at all times. If you start doing belly breathing, you not only feel peaceful, you will feel energetic. When you oxygenate your blood, your fears go away and peace comes to your mind. Good breathing is one which uses the full capacity of your lungs. Deep breaths or belly breathing is key to a peaceful mind.
9. Exercise: Stress takes away your peace of mind. Beat stress with exercise because endorphins are created when you exercise which then react with the receptors of your brain that reduce your perception of pain. Endorphins trigger positive feelings in your mind and body. This creates peace in your mind.
10. Meditate: Stress and fearful thoughts take away your peace of mind. Meditation is one way to bring peace of mind under any circumstance. Once you become a regular practitioner then your mind gets into a habit of getting into a peaceful zone. This habit will encourage your mind to sustain this peaceful state and believe me, the mind will definitely maintain this peace.

How to be in sustained peace?

Once you have reached the state of peace, then you have to be more aware to stay there. You have to constantly work to maintain your peaceful state. It is easy to lose your peace because of the environment and all your past negative experiences as they come in your way. You need to be vigilant and constantly aware to know what can disturb your peace. Before the circumstances or challenges disturb your peace, you need to dismiss fearful thoughts and work towards restoring the peace. Yes, if you constantly practice restoring your peace, then with each practice it becomes easier and soon this becomes your second nature where you always work towards going back to your peaceful state. So, to think that peace is a one-time effort is incorrect. It is a constant practice and one has to strive to stay peaceful throughout his/her life.

Till you read my next blog, till then Practice Peace, Stay Healthy, and Stress-free!!