How to experience more joy, inner peace and meaning in your life

It all revolves around YOU: Who are you? What are you? And what are you doing here?

Finding the answer to these existential questions can take a lifetime—or many lifetimes if you believe in incarnation. You may be someone like me, very curious, deep and introspective, who would love to embark—or has already embarked—on such a mysterious, fascinating and rewarding journey.

OR you may be someone very pragmatic who would rather receive simple and quick answers to these questions.

Whether you feel you belong more to the first group or the second, know that either way, in order to experience true joy and inner peace in life, and to have a meaningful path to walk ahead, some level of introspection and self-knowledge are required. And that there is no way out of them. There more one tries to progress passing by them, the more Life will try to bring our focus again within; and most time in ways that will not be pleasant.

But for those identifying more with the second group, I’ve figured out a ‘simple way’ to find these answers, at least on a superficial level.

Here’s how you can get closer to who you truly are (the essence of you, as you cannot know or define yourself in absolute terms) and what you are doing here:

[NB: Courage and total honesty are required in each and every step mentioned below; otherwise, this exercise is a waste of time and energy]

Part One: SELF-OBSERVATION

[Self-awareness is the prelude to experience our dream life]

1. Take the time to identify all the things that you love doing (from the apparently insignificant to the biggest; all of them are crucial) and make a list (the longest and more detailed, the better).

Example: I love writing, I love speaking about things that are meaningful to me, I love helping others to get closer to their highest desires, I love helping others feel at home within themselves, I love helping others feel at home around me, I love reading existential books, I love being alone in Nature, I love opera, I love yoga, I love the sun caressing my skin at sunset, I love hugging and being hugged by beautiful people, I love dancing, I love listening to the music that I like, I love meditating, I love smiling and being smiled at, I love being paid for my gifts (for just being me), I love bathing in the sea, I love making love with conscious men, I love learning new languages, I love walking at night, I love eating chocolate and Japanese food, I love travelling around the world (by any means of transportation), I love challenges, I love watching videos of extraordinary humans, I love social media, I love playing with kids, I love taking care of my business, and so much more!???

2. Take some time to identify how you feel when you do the things you love doing: find a quiet space and a calm moment, get into a comfortable position and close your eyes. Imagine yourself doing the things that you love doing, or that you would love to do, and identify those feelings (physical sensations). What are you experiencing? Is it calmness, excitement, elevation, blissfulness, enthusiasm, expansion, empowerment, tranquillity, belonging, or is it something different? (You need to find your own words for each feeling).

[Most of these feelings can be easily reduced to two main categories: joy and peace, but now it is important that you focus on each one of your feelings separately]

3. Then register in your mind the three most recurring feelings: once you have felt them clearly, and you have appropriately named them, register them: make sure that you are very aware of when they happen and how they feel in your body. [Remember that everybody experiences 'peace' (or anger or any other emotion or feeling) in a different way—a similar but different way—and also that 'peace' doestnt mean exactly the same to each person, so please don’t think that these are obvious or irrelevant details to pay attention to).

[One cannot expect to live a 'wonderful' life without knowing what activities are truly involved in that 'wonderfulness' and what that 'wonderful' means in terms of emotions (how those activities make us feel: the sensations we immediatley experience in our bodies)] ?

4. Observe yourself closely for one month and find how many of your weekly hours are spent in doing/experiencing the things that you love: have a sit and find this precise number: 3 hours per week? 5, 10, 15, 20??

One week has 168 hours. If 80% of your time you are not doing the things that you love, it is natural that you are not feeling much joy, inner peace or a sense of belonging/connection to humanity. It is natural, too, that you are feeling stressed and/or depressed. And it is also probable that you are lying to yourself about what you truly desire in life or how you feel in general about your life experience; or, if you have already realised that you are not happy or satisfied with your present life, that you think, and are constantly telling yourself, that nothing can be done about it.

For many people there will be a big gap between their present life and their dream life (a life where we are who we are—we don’t try to be someone different—and we do what we love). So, if there is quite a gap, first and foremost: not to panic! Life is a journey and while we are alive we have the possibility to adjust things.

Every apparent problem has a solution if we know how, when and where to look for it.

TO BE CONTINUED…