Everyone wants peace. The world would be a much nicer place to live in with it. While you can’t bring peace to the world, you can bring it to your corner of it.
Developing peace in your life doesn’t come immediately. It doesn’t come naturally. Peace is like a garden. It is something you cultivate, but it won’t happen without dropping some seeds and watering them with good habits daily.
Here are 10 small ways you can bring more peace to your life:
- Start your day with meditation.
Sure, it may mean you wake up 15 or 30 minutes earlier, but it will be well worth it. Most studies indicate that successful people start their day clearing their thinking and plotting out the day. Getting a soft start to your day with a clear head will set the pace for calmness the rest of the day and will help you make better decisions.
- Make your world a drama-free zone.
We all have people in our lives that love to create drama, but that doesn’t mean we must participate. Consider limiting access to these toxic people to your life, particularly when you are home. Your home should be a place of retreat, not more chaos.
- Purge and organize
Clutter clutters the mind. Plus, it is aggravating when it’s difficult to find things. It’s a great time to purge out all clothes, garage, and attic to create a more open, inviting and calm living space.
- Be gracious and grateful.
Many people do things for us every day without a word of thanks. That includes spouses, children as well as grocery store clerks, police officers, and many others. Be sure to say “thank you” often and you’ll be surprised at how peaceful your life becomes.
- Smile.
Scientific studies indicate smiling and laughing is the best medicine. Psychologists indicate that emotions follow actions, so smiling will make you feel happier even if you start the day gloomy.
- Eat well.
Food shouldn’t be just to fill the stomach. It should fill the spirit as well. Make the most of it. Buy nutritious food, even food you’ve never tried before, and make learning to cook it an event. Treating yourself to a good meal every night will do much to improve your quality of life.
- Limit technology
We are all tied to social media and other forms of technology, but it’s been shown that too much of it can lead to a host of mental and social problems. Limiting technology will do a lot to refocus your thoughts and will add time to your daily routine.
- Limit news.
News is, by nature, negative. Watching or listening to too much of it will subtly change your typically optimistic attitude to a negative one. While you need to be informed, you don’t need to be tied to it all day and all night. Limit it to a specific time during the day or evening.
- Quit procrastinating.
Procrastination leads to stress. The more you procrastinate the more you will stress about how much work you are putting off. Once you get started, you will find that the job you had been putting off wasn’t as bad as you thought it was. A completed project will satisfy you, and keeping projects on track will make you feel accomplished and keep you relaxed.
- Choose to be happy.
Happiness is a choice and isn’t always the result of good things happening to you. You can be happy despite circumstances if you choose to live that way. Many people put being right over being happy, but that is a bad choice. A “right fighter” will find they sacrifice a lot to prove themselves right, including relationships, opportunities and inner peace. Some battles aren’t worth it.
Putting these suggestions into action will change your life almost immediately. You will find that the key component to having a peaceful life starts with you and the decisions you make to incorporate that in your life.