The service of shaia{R}

Finding Inner Peace

First Wwe need a definition of Inner Peace--

Inner peace (or peace of mind) refers to a state of being mentally and spiritually at peace, with enough knowledge and understanding to keep oneself strong in the face of discord or stress.

Now that Wwe have the definition perhaps Wwe need to know WHY inner peace is needed in life.

Here are 20 Reasons Why you Need Inner Peace

1. It improves your ability to concentrate.
2. It improves your ability to handle efficiently the daily affairs of life.
3. It increases your inner strength and power.
4. Its possession eliminates impatience, anger, nervousness and restlessness.
5. It helps manifesting patience, tolerance and tact.
6. It makes you feel centered, grounded and stable.
7. Being mentally and emotionally calm contributes to enjoying better sleep.
8. You gain the ability to be emotionally and mentally unaffected by what people think or say about you.
9. You gain the ability to eliminate stress, anxieties and worries.
10. You enjoy happiness and bliss.
11. You gain self mastery and self discipline.
12. It helps you relax your body and nerves.
13. The healing energies of the body work unhindered.
14. Being peaceful enables you not to be swayed by events, hardships and difficulties, and to maintain inner poise, clear judgment and common sense in such situations.
15. Inner peace eliminates negative, futile and restless thinking.
16. It improves your relationships with other people.
17. It makes life look brighter.
18. It increases creativity.
19. A peaceful mind improves the ability to meditate.
20. Possessing this ability opens the gateway to enlightenment and spiritual awakening.

Ok, so now that we have that covered, we need to start getting down and dirty and involved in obtaining Inner Peace. While shaia realizes that there are many ways to go about this and that maybe her readers have inner peace, it might be good to take a refresher course just in time for spring!

Inner peace is the most valuable thing that we can cultivate. Nobody can give us inner peace; at the same time it is only our own thoughts that can rob us of our inner peace. To experience inner peace we don't have to retreat to Himalayan cave; we can experience inner peace right now, exactly where we are. The most important criteria are to value the importance of inner peace. If we really value inner peace, we will work hard to make it a reality.

Finding Inner Peace in 10 Ways

Accept what is
There is only so much we can affect. What we cannot change, what we cannot influence no matter what, should not be a concern to us. This is what shaia notices with so many people, in that we focus and linger on things which we have no control over. Why worry about something that all the worrying in the world will not change? Why care about what other people think of us when we're not even sure what it is they are actually thinking? Once you open the blinds to this fact, and start accepting what is that you cannot change, you automatically relieve yourself of a mountain of stress and anxiety. It's like a huge weight has been lifted from your shoulders. Taking this path is following a road towards peace.

Meditate
If you do not meditate yet, you are missing out on a very important activity that can change your life. Meditating for 20 minutes daily can have an enormous impact in all areas of your life. Take a look at this page shaia wrote 100 Benefits of Meditation. If that doesn't convince you to start meditating, shaia doesn't know what will! If you have a lot on your mind and you feel like your thoughts are driving you crazy, meditation can help you find peace. Simply close everything, sit back, close your eyes, and clear your mind of every single thought. Focus on the emptiness. You will be surprised what a mere 20 minutes of meditation can do to turn things around for you. If you have trouble meditating, shaia would suggest getting a professional guided meditation CD, which will help you get used to this level of peacefulness.

Spend time in nature
We spend so much time confined in buildings of steel and concrete and bricks that we quickly forget where we come from. It is natural for us to be in nature, and this is why it feels so good and it is so peaceful when you take a walk in a park or bike on a trail in the forest. As she is typing this blog, she is looking out the window to this gigantic tree in back of the apartment. Watching its stillness, with the wind blowing through its branches calmly, it is a sight that not only inspires me, but that she finds peace within it. shaia hasn't blogged before about how she enjoys hiking and one of the reasons is that it brings me closer to nature. It is something you just can't experience in a car. If you feel overwhelmed, take a stroll outside where there are tons of trees and far from the city. Be there and just enjoy the sights, the sounds, and the peace.

Learn the power of a smile
Whenever you are laughing or smiling, something interesting happens. Not only does something happen on a chemical level to make you feel better, but it also stops all stress and negativity from entering your psyche. A simple smile can make such a difference. For example, the other day shaia mishandled a dish and it fell on the floor, breaking into pieces, creating a big mess. Now, shaia could have been angry with herself for being clumsy and thinking "here's another reason shaia's life sucks!" But she did the opposite. shaia began to smile and kind of make fun of herself for not being able to hold on to that plate properly. As she cleaned up the mess, there was no bitterness or anger. As a matter of fact, she did it with a smile on her face…she does it with peace. So whenever you find yourself in a similar predicament, just think of the silver lining, and don't be shy to poke fun at yourself. You will quickly realize that peace finds its way much more easily to you when you smile.

Think outwardly
What shaia means by this is that most of the time, we are so consumed within our own problems that we can no longer see the forest from the trees. Therefore, it helps to remind ourselves how big the world is. Take a moment and read up about some other countries, cultures, and the likes. Be aware that the world does not revolve around your problems. shaia finds that when she hears about a tsunami or an earthquake killing hundreds of thousands of people on the other side of the world, her problems aren't really "problems". Looking beyond ourselves is very important in finding peace and it leads shaia to her next point.

Care about others
You will never find peace by being self-consumed and only worrying about your own needs and wants. When you begin to genuinely care about other people, so much goodness comes right out. This only helps into solidifying your inner peace. It can be people close to you or pure strangers, but any act of kindness and goodwill eases your way towards peace. When shaia helps other people, she stops focusing on her so-called problems and realize that her life isn't so bad after all. This rids my entire being of all the stress and feelings of overwhelm. There is great peace and wisdom in thinking and caring about other people, which we are blind to when we are too deep within our own selfish ways.

Never lose hope
Hope is something you can never afford to lose. With hope you always have a path towards peace. Whenever we get too stressed out and overwhelmed within our own life, we forget that hope. We forget that the sun always shines after a rainy day, and that this is merely a bump in the road. shaia finds immense peace in just knowing, deep within her heart, that everything will be ok. With hope, shaia knows that whatever is seemingly terrible is only temporary and that soon enough, things will be just fine. This lifts off all of that negativity from her entire being, and she feels better pretty much instantly.

Embrace your beliefs
shaia is not one to pick or favor one belief system over another, so whatever it is that you believe in, embrace it with your entire being. Be within your faith 100% and peace will find its way into your heart. Now, we may all disagree on each other's beliefs but one thing we must all agree on is that having a solid, healthy faith is crucial in founding a proper conscience that helps into guiding us towards peace and wisdom. There is a reason why research has shown that people that are deeply devoted to their faith have a higher life expectancy and are less likely to have diseases such as cancer. This is because they experience more inner peace, which is important if you want to increase the quality of your life.

Keep learning
One thing that provides us with much stress in life is the fact that we always worry about not having all the answers. Just accepting that you do not know everything and that you are open to always keep learning is a tremendous step to take towards achieving inner peace. shaia finds great joy in learning all kinds of different things, and just being aware that shaia is growing as a person each and every day provides me with great feelings of peace. Accept that life is one big journey of never-ending learning and you will find yourself closer to experiencing true peace within yourself.

Live in the present moment
Most of the time, what we worry about is relating to something either in the past, or something that hasn't happened. Living in the present moment erases all such thoughts. Why worry about something in the past that we cannot ever change? (see point #1, accept what is). Why worry about something that we are not even sure will happen or not? This is why in the present moment, you find true inner peace. In the present moment, there are no problems and no concerns. There is only stillness, and it is within that stillness that you can uncover peace. shaia used to be such a person that worried all the time, to the point where she had trouble sleeping. Once shaia learned to live in the present moment, she stopped thinking about the past and any potential future, and just worried about being ever-present in each and every moment. shaia's life is definitely more peaceful since then!