Inner peace: what it is and how to find it within yourself 🆙

Inner peace: effective strategies to conquer the serenity of a Zen monk.

Serenity is when what you say, what you think, what you do, are in perfect harmony.

Mahatma Gandhi

Due to the society we live in and the toxic people we are often forced to associate with, it has become normal to lose that feeling of calibration and of peace within ourselves.

Other times the cause is not to be found outside but just inside of us.

In any case, when we seek our inner peace, it means that there is something wrong or, on the contrary, we have solved a problem in our life and we need to reflect and to meditate.

In this article we will look at the meaning of inner peace and how to reach it step by step.

What is inner peace and its meaning not to be taken for granted

We can superficially define inner peace as a feeling of general physical well-being, but above all of mental and psychological stillness.

The concept of peace and inner calm, however, goes even further and also identifies a state of mental relaxation and relaxation giving up all negative feelings.

To better understand the meaning of these two words, which represent a small world of their own, know that a person who has reached their inner calm in general.

He doesn't get attached to negative feelings, complaints and anger
He does not live his life in a hurry and frenzy
He has a higher awareness of himself and the world around him
Accept the negative as well as the positive, because they are part of the world
He is not anxious about the future and has overcome most of the problems of his past
He fully accepts himself, both physically and temperamentally
They are generally happier and healthier psychologically
He knows how to grasp the gifts of life, even the unexpected ones
Lives a life of a much higher quality than average
Has real self-esteem
Live the present moment fully

These are just some of the characteristics that distinguish a person at peace with himself and that we can all reach.

Now that we have defined the concept of inner peace, let's see how to find our peace of mind in 4 steps.

How to find inner peace in 4 steps

# 1 The first real step to inner peace

The first ingredient in achieving one's inner peace is some sort of fundamental prerequisite: it's about finding happiness.

Didn't you expect it?

Being sincerely and deliberately happy is there main entrance door for your inner calm and serenity.

Think about it: Have you ever seen a person who is perpetually angry, frustrated, depressed or unhappy at peace with themselves?

I never.

First of all, therefore, I advise you to work on your concept of happiness to understand what strategies to implement to achieve it, perhaps by reading the article I wrote on how to be happy.

Once this prerequisite is met, we can proceed towards our inner peace with the second step.

# 2 Practice peace awareness

The quote at the beginning of the article is very important and I did not choose it at random, because when what we think is not aligned with what we say and with what we do, we open the door to an inner war.

Il contrary to inner peace which we are looking for instead.

In fact, we generally can't find inner peace when we act and speak contrary to our core values.

That is when what we consider vital in our existence is not in line with what we do every day, perhaps several times a day.

The solution is to try to be more consistent with ourselves, abandoning the limiting beliefs that see us in a certain way.

For example, if we have the belief that we are poorly tied to money, because maybe we want to feel more "spiritual", but then we act in the opposite direction trying to make more money, we will never be able to achieve true inner peace.

So, in addition to being consistent with our values, we need to review our beliefs and accept who we are; if we think that money has a certain importance we must accept it without denying it.

This does not mean that money is the most important thing in the world, but being part of the society we live in it has a certain usefulness and importance that we must tolerate.

Do you understand the concept?

It is necessary to find these contradictions within us and become them fully aware.

Speaking of money, in this article I have talked more deeply about the beliefs related to money, if the example touched you closely take a look.

# 3 Take away the war instead of adding the peace

By letting go, we become free to use all of our mental power to enjoy this moment and create a wonderful future.

Louise hay

Whenever we set a goal or make a commitment to ourselves let's think about adding something.

Should we lose a few pounds? Instead of eliminating junk foods, we add healthy foods.

Should we achieve inner peace? Instead of eliminating negative thoughts, we go in search of pillows to meditate or unnecessary exotic objects.

In these situations, however, we must letting go of those feelings that block our ability to achieve complete mental stillness, in particular we can:

Stop criticizing ourselves and others
Permanently remove energy vampires from our lives
Cleaning around us; our spaces are the mirror of our mind
Letting go of unnecessary grievances that we subconsciously identify with
Let go of the need to change others
Overcoming the fear of making mistakes and letting go of the fear of others' judgment
Eliminate the need to always be right at all costs
To abandon the thought that it is too late for us
Overcoming the regrets and remorse of the past
Give up the obsession with control

The list could go on for many more lines, but I'm sure you understand what needs to be let go to attract inner peace.

It's not at all easy to let go of those anchors that we have crystallized with decades of thoughts, beliefs and habits, but it is good to start little by little, day by day.

I know that it is much easier to buy a meditation cushion that we will never use, useless incense or a book that will remain in the library forever to accumulate dust.

But these objects they won't help us until we help ourselves from our inside.

Let's now move on to the last step that is decidedly more practical than the previous ones.

# 4 A day in the monastery (at your home)

Once you have read and applied the 3 steps we have seen it is vital take the time to find your own inner peace.

My advice is to "isolate yourself" in a thoughtful way for at least one day, so as not to be distracted by other people, including social devices; by the way, have you ever considered the idea of following a media diet?

Of course, you don't need to go to a monastery nestled on a mountain (which you can actually do if you have the chance), but you can create your own monastery day in your own home.

To do this, make sure no one is bothering you, turn off your smartphone notifications and any other possible sources of distraction.

Dedicate this day completely to loneliness and introspection; if you know the rudiments of meditation and have already benefited from this practice, meditate freely.

On this day in the monastery, I recommend that you carry out as many of these activities as possible.

Wake up early (and go to bed early too)
Meditate, even for just 10 minutes, perhaps several times (in the morning as soon as you wake up, after doing physical activity and in the evening)
Use the stream of consciousness to discover something new about your character
Eat slowly and focus on each bite
Read a transformative book, I always recommend this one here
Observe nature trying to capture unpublished details
Write a diary, perhaps with the RELO method
Get some physical activity
Prepare your food starting with the simplest ingredients
Reflect and reason on the existential questions that afflict man
If you can, do not use technological devices and write something with a pen and paper
If you know yoga, do it
Listen and reflect on your basic emotions like hunger, thirst and boredom
Think about the questions to get to know yourself and answer them in writing in a sincere and spontaneous way
Practice silence

If you don't have the opportunity to find time alone at home, you can immerse yourself in nature, but beware: the park is not enough, it takes something more like a mountain hike.

Speaking of mountains, by clicking here you can find the article where I talked about the life lessons I learned from nature.

If you also want to take advantage of Zen to make your day in the monastery more philosophical, take advantage of this moment to read the stories I have published in the articles dedicated to awareness.

In short, carve out 24 hours for yourself and try to live them as if you were in a real monastery with the sole purpose of regain your inner peace.

Inner calm and absence of conflict

In summary, to achieve inner peace we must:

Focus on happiness, what must we do to be happy?
Be aware of our beliefs and values, if you get stuck write a list of values you could never give up and act consistently with this list.
Let go of negative thoughts and all the anchors that block us away from our inner peace.
Organize a day in a monastery at our home to reflect deeply on our life and who we really are.

Inner peace is not achieved in a few hours but it is necessary to work a lot on ourselves and on our awareness.

It is especially vital to commit to points # 1 and # 3 that they require more knowledge than we are used to having.

If you want to invest in these aspects with greater determination, I suggest you subscribe to the blog by entering your name and email in the box below.

If you want to tell us something about your research path or your experience with the day in the monastery, use the comments below the article.