7 Simple Methods to Fill Your Life with Peace

You don't have to spend a fortune on a wellness resort or sit on a hilltop to achieve inner peace. Setting aside time for relaxation is great, but when you most need calm, it's amid the hectic pace of daily life. That awkward situation where your phone rings and your purse spills its contents over the floor while you're waiting in line at the pharmacy? It’s at that moment, when you are fighting the need to blurt forth a string of obscenities, which you need to achieve inner serenity.

Many people search for situations that facilitate inner tranquility. In actuality, everyone possesses this serene, sympathetic, profound awareness. You own a vast reservoir of tranquility and composure within you, but you need to develop the ability to access it.

For people with traumatic pasts and those who live or work in toxic environments, peace can be difficult. There’s no denying the relationship between the mind and body. Your body is in overdrive when your mind is ruminating.

Even though you cannot resolve every disagreement, you may gradually bring about inner harmony.  Being at peace enables you to understand your mission. It enables you to put aside your tiredness with the here and now, make wiser choices, and experience life to the fullest. You have peace inside you and here are the seven methods that I was able to use to bring peace into my life every day.

Nobody can bring you peace but yourself.  ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

1. Slow Down So Peace Can Enter Your Life

The first step is to slow down.  When you’re sitting at the stoplight on your way to work, really look at the glorious sunrise or admire the distinctive skyline as you crest the hill of the city you work in.  Each day, you are given ample opportunities to be in awe of the beautiful world around you, but you need to slow down and take notice. 

You need to be fully in the present moment. Not mulling about the past or worried about the future, these are peace killers and only cause undue stress.  Slowing down reduces the stress you have in your life as you consciously refocus your attention on what is truly important. 

When you slow down, you can get clarity.  Only when you are mindful and in the present moment can you unclutter your mind full of thoughts.  As you get clear on what you want, and define your goals, can you then make clear and decisive decisions to move forward. Slowing down has significant benefits to your body and your mind.

The life of inner peace, being harmonious and without stress, is the easiest type of existence.  ~Norman Vincent Peale

2. Make Space for Peace by De-cluttering

Clutter is a negative and makes you feel bad when you see it.  Disorder reflects your internal self.  The messier your home is, the messier your internal life is.  Why is it that when you take something out, you don’t put it away?  It can’t be that you don’t have the time, because it takes longer to search for something than it does to put it away so you can easily find it the next time you need it. 

Untidiness is distracting.  Maybe this is why your home is disorganized.  Perhaps you want distractions so you don’t deal with the matters of your life that need dealt with.  A few years ago, I de-cluttered my entire house, or at least those areas I was responsible for, and in doing so, other parts of my life became organized.  What surrounds you reflects what is inside of you.  De-clutter so you have room for peace. 

Peace is liberty in tranquility.  ~Marcus Tullius Cicero

3. Set Boundaries To Maintain Peace

Setting boundaries can be an arduous process if you are like me, a recovering people pleaser.  As a child of an alcoholic, I learned at a very young age that keeping my mother calm was in the best interest of the household. But years later, I was still allowing her to wreak havoc in my emotional life by taking her phone calls when she was drinking, because I was trying to “honor my mother”.  I came to realize I was to honor her, but not at the cost of my peace or health.  I stopped taking her calls, changed to an unlisted phone number (remember those) and had less anxiety in my life when the phone rang.

Saying no to someone is an act of compassion for all involved. Before making a conscience decision to only do those things that I enjoyed or spend time with people I liked, I did a lot of things so people would like me.  Then I would complain, a negative act, about my helping others, which did not honor the service I did for the other person.  If your heart is not into going to an event with someone or helping them move, then let them know you are not available.  This way, you’re not taking your time to dishonor your service or spreading negative energy. 

Do not let the behavior of others destroy your inner peace. ~ Dalai Lama

4. Take Time For Yourself

My husband worked the midnight shift with rotating days off.  The upside of this schedule is that we each got alone time.  We like our alone time.  He can work on projects and not be interrupted or play his bass guitar full blast without bothering me.  I can read or write or take an online class without feeling that I am not spending the time with him.  It works out perfectly for us.

His schedule changed and we will be both on the same shift.  Yeah, lots of togetherness in our future.  We have actually discussed this and have agreed that we still both need our time apart to pursue those activities that the other does not take part in.  For example, I will continue to go to book club as well as some classes.  This means that he will have time at home without me- so it works out for both of us.

Alone time is an important part of your self-care plans.  It allows you time to recharge and reflect on where you want your life to go.  A weekly bubble bath, a monthly girls/guys night out, a creative day are all ways that you recharge so that you can continue to give from a place of fulfillment instead of pulling from a place of emptiness.  Time for oneself is important to finding lasting peace.

Peace is its own reward.  ~Mahatma Gandhi

5. Let Go To Attract Peace

Holding onto the past does not allow the present to be lived, and peace only occurs in the now.  Whether it's old material possessions or negative memories that keep you in the past, the only way forward is to let them go.  Releasing the memories, hurt feelings, and pain first requires that you take responsibility for your current situation.  You made decisions and choices that got you to this place in life and if you blame others; you have given up your power to change and, therefore, your power to regain your peace.

Once you have taken responsibility, you are empowered to consciously choose to change your mindset so that you begin to attract the peace you want in your life.  Peace is a positive state of being.  This means that you have to choose to feel happy.  Feelings are not thrust upon you by others. You can choose how you feel.  No one makes you angry. You choose to get mad at them for something they did. You could easily have believed that they were being senseless and forgive them.  Why give them the power to take away your peace?  No one on this planet has the power to take away my peace unless I give it to them, and why would anyone choose to give up their peace of mind?

Peace is the result of retraining your mind to process life as it is, rather than as you think it should be. ~Wayne W. Dyer

6. Be Present To Experience Peace

As previously stated, peace only happens in the present moment because that is where you live your life.  Your life is happening at this instant in time.  The past is gone, and the future is what you make of it.  You cannot add peace to the past and you cannot propel it into your future. Peace happens at this present moment.  For more on being present, I recommend Eckhart Tolle’s excellent book, The Power of Now.

When you are being present, you are fully conscious and aware of what is happening at this moment in time that you find yourself in.  You are not mulling over the conversation you had yesterday (in the past) with your boss.  Nor are you worried about the next meeting (in the future) you are having later this week.  At this moment I am typing and only thinking about writing this article to help you find peace based on what has worked for me.  This moment you are reading this article (thank you) and learning simple methods that you can do to fill your life with peace.  The present is here, in the now, fully aware and conscious. 

You find peace not by rearranging the circumstances of your life, but by realizing who you are at the deepest level. ~Eckhart Tolle

7. Be Authentic & Peaceful

Authenticity is when you make a conscious decision to be yourself.  Not what others want you to be, not what others expect you to be, but what you truly are, your genuine self.  When you decide to just be yourself and not be concerned with others' opinions, peace engulfs you.  Peace is a gift from the Divine.  When you are truly yourself, the Divine within you unites with the Universe and that connection is part of your true state of being.  Peace is meant to be part of your daily life if you allow it.

I have spent most of my life with the incessant chattering of negativity from my ego inside my head.  It’s this voice that tells you-you are unworthy, which is a lie.   The egoic voice is the one that tries to take away your internal Divine peace.  When I started taking yoga, it helped my meditation practice and I could turn off the babbling of my ego.  When I wrote in my journal about this, I realized how much peace I felt day in and day out despite the normal daily tasks and annoyances that occur.  I also realized that the peace had always been there, but I was not focused on it. I was choosing to focus on the stress and anxiety I was creating.  Choose to be authentically you.  Choose peace.

We don’t realize that, somewhere within us all, there does exist a supreme self who is eternally at peace.  ~Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love

Moving Forward With Inner Peace

You may be more resilient and emotionally stronger as you navigate life's shifting waves by making progress toward achieving mental peace. Although everyone can achieve more mental and emotional calm, it might not happen right away. Throughout these processes, knowing that patience is a crucial component and treating yourself with respect and compassion may make a world of difference.

Joy and tranquility are inextricably related. Peace is finding stability and harmony; joy is discovering bliss. Your heart is open and your mind at ease when you're happy, allowing you to be the finest version of yourself.

It’s unnecessary for a busy life to be stressful. You can stop the day from robbing you of your energy by making little additions, subtractions, and modifications to some of your everyday activities. In the same way, you may improve the quality of your days, months, and years by refining your thinking.

Peace comes from within.  Do not seek it without. ~ Siddhartha Gautama

As you become more mindful of the clutter in your life and become conscious about your mindsets, you can adjust the course of your life.  Do you need support in overcoming the clutter in your life?  Do you want a strategy to help you create a peaceful life?  If so please, contact me and we can put together an action plan for you to be authentically you and for you to know that every day peace.