Holidays arrive

When the holidays arrive, life can become chaotic. Our regular routines are disrupted by holiday gatherings, we spend time shopping for holiday gifts and food, and we get time off from work, but most likely need to re-arrange our schedules and work harder to make sure that work is completed before we leave. Yet, even with the extra hoopla and frenetic activity, we can learn to keep the peace within ourselves.

I just want to clarify, that being at peace and being happy aren’t necessarily the same thing. There is a definite difference between the state of our inner being and our feelings. The state of inner being is what helps us manoeuvre through life in a calmer and more peaceful way, regardless of what may be happening around us, and/or how we feel about it.

Experiencing inner peace comes from practicing the art of letting go. When we hold onto feelings and situations, reliving them over and over in our minds and feeling the feelings again and again, we keep ourselves in a state of inner turmoil, even when some of the situations and feelings are happy ones. So how do we get to a place where we can achieve inner calm? It is through our ability to acknowledge our feelings about the things that happen to us and around us, and then we can let them go.

This may sound strange, but emotional feelings are not constant. No matter how happy or sad we may feel in any given moment, no matter what may be going on in our lives, it will always change. So, hanging onto resentments, fear, and anger or trying to hold fast to feelings of happiness and joy actually keep us in a state of inner turmoil. Acknowledging our feelings and then allowing them to flow into our past frees us to live in peace. This is the art of letting go.

I am sharing an exercise with you in the event you would like to try this. The next time you find yourself in the midst of emotional turmoil, find a quiet spot and close your eyes and breathe slow deep breaths, for just a few minutes. Allow any negative feeling that comes up to wash over you and then flow away. Then take a really deep cleansing breath and return to your day. If you do this as often as you need to, you will discover that you can do it faster and more easily every time.

Inner peace is the key to living a better, more fruitful and comfortable life. If you practice the art of letting go, over time you will find yourself doing it quite naturally. You will discover that there are times when you become consistently peaceful from within and don’t even have to pick up on and feel feelings before you let them go.