Inner Peace

3 Ways to Experience Peace Through the Craziness of Life

By Eric Cox

Peaceful day I am guessing you are a driven woman with a list of goals and dreams a few pages long. I know I am, and between my strong desire to feel like an awesome mom and wife as well as carrying out all of these dreams, what most often gets lost in the mix is time for ourselves and our own inner peace.

A million stressors overwhelm and distract us.

We all go through stages where bury our heads in work and family, and sometimes miss the opportunities to look up and experience the world around us. We get caught up, stuck in our heads, and miss the beauty of the bigger picture.

The idea of being peaceful often stays a “nice concept” that we don’t feel like we can afford, but it sounds lovely. We exclude ourselves from the category of deserving or being able to have a peaceful existence. It just doesn’t seem realistic considering all we have to get done.

How can we finally live a peaceful existence amidst the noise? We must start by making an effort and taking little steps each day. With practice and experiencing the positive results, you’ll work harder and harder to make time for yourself and your inner peace!

Here are a few completely doable ideas for you:

Start the day off by enjoying stillness. This may mean we wake up 30 minutes earlier than everyone else that will be rushing to get ready for school or work but this time can help set the tone for our day. I use this time to meditate, pray, and enjoy a cup of coffee. Others like to get out first thing and exercise in peace or go for a walk. Don’t use this time to make a to-do list or read the news – there’s plenty of time for that and it only clutters our mind on what there is to do rather than allowing us to clear our mind.

Take breaks throughout the day. We don’t have to jump from one thing to another. Step away from the computer, delay a scheduled trip to the grocery store – there’s plenty of time for that, too. Repeat the mantra, “there is plenty of time for everything I need to get done today.” Often, our busy-ness is simply a mindset. We all are truly busy, but it’s also a story that we get wrapped up in. Breathe. Sit back and read a book. Savor a cup of tea, Take a look around for a few minutes and let thoughts flow. Then… get back to business more refreshed, clear-headed, and mindful.

Go off-track. Spontaneously go on a walk, run an errand, call a friend for a glass of wine – do something that shifts your tempo of urgency to slow you down. Don’t rush. Take a look around, breathe, and intentionally take in the beautiful world around you. As the thoughts of, “I should be….” enter your mind, invite them to leave.

All of these actions will encourage you to develop the healthy habits of making time for yourself and taking breaks so that you can experience peace amidst the noise.

You’ll be amazed by how much more efficient you are by granting yourself the gift of peace. When we re-set our focus by interjecting peaceful moments through a day, we tend to get more done and have a calmer approach to the tasks we’re committed to fulfilling.

Live the moments – don’t let them pass you by.

Please share what you do to maintain your inner peace and joy throughout the day!

5 Things I’ve Learned From My Social Media Detox

By Lisa Selow

CC Image courtesy of Librarian by Linkedmediagrp on Flickr

In our high tech world, we can write emails, social media posts, and even blog posts on our mobile devices. With a couple of clicks, we can send photos and videos to our loved ones. We also can text or video chat very easily.

Technology helps us stay connected to those we love and enjoy, while also creating new friendships online. Yet, it can be draining at times, since we are managing even more communications and a greater number of relationships in our daily lives.

Do you ever think about what it would be like to unplug, even just a little bit each day or for a short, but extended amount of time? Maybe you even fantasize about what it would be like to delete your Facebook profile?

You’re not alone. As I write this, I’m right smack in the middle of a self-administered, monthlong social media detox. Other than some tweets I scheduled last month, I’ve not logged in or posted in any of my social media accounts.

Why did I decide to do this?

My main reason is self-care, since I felt depleted by unsolicited advice from others on social media, particularly in private messages. Reading my newsfeed on Facebook drained me too. While I’m happy for others’ successes, I started to put extra pressure on myself to achieve, do, and produce. My inner critics were pouncing on me! At times, I’m already hard on myself as I recover from perfectionism. So, I realized that I needed a break.

Here’s what I’ve learned so far abstaining from social media:

I have more time to do what matters to me. Art, music, creative hobbies, meditation, and yoga have become daily practices of mine, not just optional, as I made them in the past.
I’m more in the present moment. I don’t have five tabs open on my computer as I try to do my work.
I zone out much less when I’m tired or stressed. I tend to stretch and drink water more and take more breaks, instead of checking on my newsfeed or messages.
I notice more inner peace. I’m not comparing myself to others as much. I don’t feel anxious and don’t feel like I’m not doing enough to achieve happiness or success (or perfection).
I have remembered that I’ve always been more about quality, not quantity of friends. I’m enjoying spending time in person with friends or connecting with them through email or telephone. I feel more connected to my heart.

I’m sure I’ll learn some more things from my social media detox. The major a-ha moments seem to come to me one at a time. I have been keeping a list of these a-ha’s in my journal. It’s helpful to look at the list when I feel tempted to check social media. I also have an accountability partner that I can contact if I feel the urge to log in to Facebook or Twitter or elsewhere in the social media world.

I’m not saying social media is a negative thing. Rather, I’m sharing my journey to help you think about how you spend your precious time. My goal is to achieve a balance with social media, being on it a few times per week, instead of hours per day. I myself find it wonderful to have time for fun, self-care, and creative hobbies.

What about you? What challenges or joys does social media bring to your life? Share in the comments below.

Inner Peace on Earth- for a truly beautiful Holiday

For many people this season it’s difficult “to be jolly”. Financial woes, loss, loneliness, and family stress can feel like weight of a heavy snow more than ever around this time of year. By the way, if you broke in to song with that first sentence, this may article may not apply to you but read on…

Something that you hear a lot around now is “Peace on Earth, goodwill towards men!” More than any other times of year, around the Holidays we tend think about what we can do to better the lives others. If you are struggling with ways to find your own peace though, spreading peace to others can seem out of reach. So how do we remedy that in time to have a great Holiday? I believe the cure lies in one of my favorite phrases, the change we want to see in the world starts with us. Once you have inner peace it becomes easy to be one person or one family making a difference in the lives of others by word and deed.

Now we’re on to something but, again, where do we start within ourselves is the next question.

I come to this with kind of different angle given my particular area of expertise as a Beauty and Life Coach. While millions are constantly searching for an outer “fix” the real connection to harmony and beauty is feeling bliss on the inside and radiating that out to the world. I believe that much of the inner turmoil and lack of peace that we experience comes from allowing ourselves to be caught up in superficial things like material possessions, and not living according to our authentic beliefs.

Even before thinking of the gifts you would like in your life, start finding your peace by thinking of those you already have. Your gifts can be your beautiful smile, radiant personality, intuitive feeling and deep connection to those around you, constant optimism, or just about anything else. By taking this mental and emotional inventory you remind yourself of the value that you already hold rather than thinking there must me something more. That is the point after all, that you are already more than enough! All too often we think of ourselves in terms of the “mizpah”, the beautiful necklace that we give each other as friends. It’s that heart that is broken and each of us takes half to symbolize the eternal bond with the other. The true gift is in letting yourself be complete and giving your whole heart to as many people has you can throughout your life.

We can also achieve peace by remembering that we are all gifts to the world. We are such wonderful gifts in fact, that we should be re-gifted often. And as those gifts we are not our wrapping paper, ribbons, and bows, we are a joy-filled bundle of beauty and divine purpose!

When something or someone is true to their purpose and simply enjoys being they are a source of beauty for the world. Before waiting for New Year’s resolution season, take some time to explore what it is that brings purpose and joy to you. Consider what you would be doing in your ideal job, relationships, and personal life, and how living that true to them would bring beauty to your soul. Now take that a step farther and actually write that down and create your special “gift list”. There is something about the process of putting pen to paper and seeing your dreams in front of you that helps bring them to reality.

Have a wonderful, and beautiful, Holiday and I look forward to being an inspirational part of your journey in the coming year!

Written by Bestselling Hay House author, TV & Radio Host, Celebrity Makeup Artist and Life Coach Michelle Phillips