People often want happiness and peace of mind, but it can be difficult to keep if you do not address the underlying problems causing your negative internal dialogue. But that doesn’t mean you can’t learn to quiet the critical part of your mind and experience more inner peace and happiness.
How to find inner peace? That is the ultimate question that has been debated for as long as humans have been around. Some people believe that inner peace is attained when one lives in the moment, without feeling remorse for past actions or worries about what the future holds. Others believe that happiness is being content with where you are and what you have. I personally believe it’s about feeling calm and grounded within yourself.
What does inner peace feel like
In its broadest sense, inner peace is defined as a state of mind free from stress and worry. It’s about being thankful for what you have in life and not focusing on the negative.
I know this is easier said than done since finding peace can seem like a considerable challenge when life becomes difficult, but every problematic moment gives you a chance to discover more about who you really are and what you can handle.
If you want to know how to be at peace with yourself then there are 3 areas in life you should focus on.
1. Living in the present moment
Part of finding peace of mind is when you are able to let go of negative feelings and thoughts and find contentment in what you have in your current life.
In this sense, inner peace is not something you have to strive for; it’s the result of living a life that is true to yourself. It’s about being grateful for everything in your life, including your challenges because without them you wouldn’t be who you are today.
In order to stop dwelling on the past or worrying about the future, you can train your brain to focus more on what’s going well in each moment by practicing gratitude for what you have and focusing on the positive aspects of your life.
Read More on why gratitude is important The Powerful Effects Of Neuroplasticity. Why Having a Grateful Heart Will Improve Your Life.
One of the most important things you can do is to let go of the past and stop worrying about the future. You can’t change what has happened, but you can learn from it and move on.
Letting go of old hurts will help you focus on what is happening right now instead of dwelling on what was or could have been.
2. Knowing who you are
When we don’t know who we are or feel that there is something lacking, life can seem unfulfilled or even stressful. When this happens to us, it’s often because we haven’t learned how to accept ourselves and embrace who we truly are and the unique qualities we have to offer the world.
Instead we can get lost in trying to be like everyone else and work towards goals that don’t actually reflect our true inner selves. But when we learn to accept ourselves and love who we are, it’s amazing how much easier life becomes.
Once you have a clear idea of your own identity and values, it is much easier to make decisions that reflect what’s truly important in life. We stop comparing ourselves with others and instead focus on doing what is right for us. This gives us the space to be happy, carefree and stress-free.
3. Trust your intuition
Trust your instincts. It’s a powerful tool that can help you navigate life with ease—when used properly, it will have an almost magical effect on your inner peace and feelings of confidence.
Many people find that they make better decisions when relying on their intuition rather than thinking things through logically.
This is because the subconscious mind receives and processes far more information than what our conscious minds can take in at any given time, including even whether something will be good or bad for us, which likely explains why so many proverbs emphasize the importance of “listening to your gut.”
When you are able to tap into your intuition and use it to guide you, it can help you make better decisions in all areas of life. This is because when we rely on our gut feelings instead of just our thoughts, we are tapping into a higher form of intelligence.
For more on the power of intuition: 18 ways to develop your intuition
How to find inner peace with these 7 practices
So how you can find inner peace and happiness within yourself?
The first step is to accept that your mind will always be critical of some things and that’s ok, as long as those critical and negative thoughts don’t take control over your life. If you want to have peace of mind that you will have to learn how to silence the critical part of your mind when it starts to get a little too loud. When you’ve learned to focus on what’s good in life, negative thoughts will have less power over your mind and you’ll be able to live a more peaceful and happy life.
So the question remains, how do you silence the chaos in your mind and find inner peace? It all starts with learning to be content with yourself and then moving on from there.
Here are 7 practices to finding peace in your life.
1. Be kind to yourself
When you’re feeling down, it’s easy to get caught up in all of the things that are wrong with your life. This is what we call “negative self-talk” and it’s a big part of how we create our own unhappiness.
If you want to find peace within yourself then you will have to learn how to stop being so hard on yourself when things don’t go right. Instead of focusing on all the bad things that happen in life, try focusing on what’s good instead or focus on the steps you can take to improve your situation.
Are limiting Beliefs Holding You Back? These 6 Tips Will Improve Your Self Worth-READ MORE
Self-criticism often does more harm than good. Instead of attacking yourself for your mistakes, try being kinder to yourself and forgiving the mistakes that you can’t change. The more you are able to be self-compassionate, the less likely you will be to spiral into depression or suffer from anxiety. It takes time and practice to learn how to treat yourself with more kindness. But once you get used to it, being kinder toward yourself will become a natural part of who you are.
2. Be honest with yourself
One of the most important things you can do on your journey to finding peace is, to be honest with yourself. You’re probably thinking, “That sounds like a no-brainer. Of course, I should be honest with myself!” But here’s the thing—we all lie to ourselves. We tell ourselves that everything is okay when it isn’t. We pretend that we don’t need help or support, even when we do. This kind of behavior keeps us stuck in unhealthy patterns and prevents us from finding true happiness and inner peace.
Being honest means telling yourself the truth about everything:
- Not hiding from your feelings,
- Admitting to yourself what you want out of life,
- Accepting your fault or mistakes in life
- Acknowledging your bad behaviors and how they are hurting you and others,
- Admitting when you don’t know something or need help,
- Being honest with your intentions and motivations in life
I’ll be honest, It’s hard to start being honest with yourself and not hide from all aspects of yourself. But does become easier as time goes on because the more we practice self-honesty, the less difficult it feels. We become more comfortable with our true selves, and we start to appreciate who we really are.
For More on Finding Yourself Shadow Self- Why You Need To Embrace Your Darkside
Honesty is crucial to developing a healthy self-image because if you lie or deny aspects of your true nature it’s like ingesting poison—it will slowly erode your integrity and self-esteem.
3. Practice gratitude
If you want to be at peace with yourself, practice gratitude.
One of the most common causes of emotional pain is not having enough things that we value or believe in. Gratitude can provide us with a deeper sense of well-being by helping us identify the abundance that already exists in our lives.
It can be hard to feel grateful in life when you are constantly bombarded with stressful life events, or surrounded by negativity. But just like any new habit, start small. focus on everything that you have going for you in your life no matter how trivial or unimportant it may seem.
The trick here is to retrain your brain to look for the good in any situation.
- Focus on your goals and dreams.
- Focus on the positive things around you.
- Focus on the people who support you and care about your well-being!
- Focus on the fact that you are moving forward in life and not backward.
- Focus on all of the opportunities that will come your way because you’re focused on the right things!
Gratitude is about recognizing that there is always a light at the end of the tunnel, we just have to make sure we are looking down the right tunnel.
4. Stop being self-critical
Self-criticism is never a good thing. It is a form of internalized judgment that can lead to feelings of inadequacy, depression, anxiety, and even physical illness. If you’ve ever been self-critical then you know what I mean: the constant stream of negative thoughts aimed at yourself
“I’m not good enough”
“Why did I do that?”
“I wish I were different”
“I’m not a good person”
“I’ll never amount to anything”
These are all examples of self-criticism. And they’re all terrible. The problem is that they’re also very hard to stop once you get started down the path, which can make it difficult to even notice that you’re doing it until it’s too late and you’ve already done some damage.
The truth is that judging yourself actually encourages more bad behavior because it reinforces negative thought patterns and behaviors. Which is the complete opposite of having inner peace
If you resonate with any of the above you may be interested in this article Do You Have A Victim Mentality? 7 Ways To Overcome Self-Victimization
5. Don't compare yourself to others
When we compare ourselves to others, we are always going to feel like we’re lacking in some way. The problem with this is that it causes us to be unhappy with who we are and what we have (or don’t have).
When you stop comparing yourself to others, you can focus on making positive changes in your life rather than feeling like there’s something wrong with you because you don’t have what everyone else has.
Sometimes not having what else everyone else has gives you more freedom to discover your own identity and purpose. Instead of falling into conformity and fitting in with the masses.
When you learn to stop comparing yourself to others, only then will you learn how to be at peace with yourself.
6. Learn to forgive yourself
A big part of finding peace within yourself is learning to forgive yourself and not letting the guilt consume you.
When you can forgive yourself for the mistakes of your past, it will be easier to let go and move forward. You’ll also feel less stressed because you won’t have to carry around this heavy burden anymore—of guilt or shame about what happened in the past.
If you are trying to let go of guilt, here are a 3 key things to remember:
- Recognize that your past actions did not hurt other people on purpose.
- Take responsibility for your actions and apologize or make amends if possible.
- Focus on what you can do to make things right going forward instead of dwelling on things you can not change.
Recommended Reading: How To Deal With Regret and Stop Living In The Past
The goal of forgiving yourself is not necessary to forget that something bad happened; rather, it is about recognizing the harm caused by our mistakes while also accepting ourselves as humans who have made errors along our path in life.
7. Take responsibility for your life
Accept 100% responsibility for your life.
As humans, we tend to blame others when things go wrong in our lives—but at some point (and hopefully sooner rather than later), we need to realize that only we are responsible for all of our actions, thoughts, and feelings. Even if someone has caused harm or stress in our lives.
“We are not responsible for the bad things that happen to us, but we are responsible to heal from it”
When you’re able to accept complete and total responsibility for everything that has happened in your life or take responsibility for the healing of the trauma others have caused, this is when you can fully heal, and have true inner peace.
It’s not easy to accept 100% responsibility for your life, but it’s worth it—because when you finally do, you’ll be able to take control of your destiny and make the changes that are necessary for finding peace.
There is great power in knowing you are full control of your life.
Finding peace of mind
Inner peace is a state of mind that can be attained by looking inward and understanding yourself. It cannot be bought or given to someone else; instead, you must find it within yourself.
finding peace of mind does not mean we live in a constant state of happiness or joy in our life. It’s more about acknowledging that good and bad experiences will come into our lives, but we don’t have to let them define us.
It’s a process. It takes time, patience, and persistence. You have to be willing, to be honest with yourself and others about what you want from life. And you have to be willing to change your thinking and actions in order for those changes to stick.
When you are able to fully accept yourself for who you are, then it becomes much easier to find peace within. You will not be worried about how others perceive you or if they like what they see. Instead, you will focus on loving yourself and everything that makes up who you are
The more at peace with yourself you are, the happier and more mindful you will be. Here are a few key takeaways:
- Be true to your values and beliefs. If something doesn’t feel right for you, don’t do it!
- Be present at the moment. Focus on what’s happening right now instead of worrying about the past or imagining an unstable future.
- Accept yourself just as you are—don’t worry about being perfect!
- Seek out the good in others and in yourself.
- Be kind to yourself as well as others.
- Give yourself credit for all that you do!
Being at peace with yourself is a process, not a destination. It can take years to find peace within yourself. Even then, you’ll have times when things are going well and other times when they’re not so great. Peace is about acknowledging what’s happening in your life and accepting it without judgment—no matter what happens or how often you slip up.
