How To Maintain Inner Peace

Inner peace implies having harmony and emotional well being, feeling satisfied with oneself despite the daily struggles.It is the state of being connected to the deep internal self knowing that everything is okay, and always will be. Albert Camus once said: “In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.” That sums up the entirety of what inner peace really is: the understanding that no matter what is happening around you, there is a place of total knowing and calmness within you. Not only are you capable of returning to that place when you need to, but it’s possible to live your entire life from there. The challenge is learning how to connect with it in the first place and learn to rewire how you respond to your monkey mind, which is always jumping from one worst case scenario to the next.

   Achieving inner peace is a process that requires a willingness to let go of everything that is unnecessary and accept all our emotions.It implies being willing to discover who we really are and realizing that only we are capable of controlling our emotional responses and reactions.when people reference knowing something “deep down?” They say things like: “I’m worried, but deep down,  I know it’s going to be okay.” Or, “I’m angry at him, but deep down, I know he loves me.” What do you think they are referencing? Where is deep down? They’re talking about the place within them that has an infinite wisdom, a better understanding, and a more insightful perspective of what’s going on. It isn’t shaken by the stressors or fears that the mind wants to offer. So much of the process of finding inner peace is being able to get to that “deep down” place where we know and feel that ultimately, everything will be okay.There’s another metaphor in meditation in which calmness is compared to steadying a lake or a large body of water. Our thoughts and actions are like stones in the water: they create a ripple effect. The point of meditation is to make our self quiet enough so that the water comes back to its natural stillness. We don’t have to force the water to be still. It does it on its own when you stop interrupting it. The same goes for finding inner peace. It’s not so much something we have to create , on the contrary it is something we have to return to.

          With all this talk of how we have to “come back” to our place of inner peace, it brings up the question of why we ever got disconnected from it in the first place. This is important because understanding why we lose it is fundamental in finding it again. When we grow up, we adapt to our environments. We adopt the beliefs and ideas of those around us. We alter our personalities so that we become safer, people we believe can’t be hurt by the world. When we are children, we are more vulnerable than ever, and it’s in this time that we pick up what can easily become lifelong coping mechanisms. If we are not instructed from a young age to connect with our inner sense of peace, we will instinctively begin to trust the voice in our head. This is where we really get lost, because the thoughts that we have on any given day are largely the product of what the Buddhists would call the “monkey mind,” or as a neurologist could explain it, the process of different receptors firing off and making associations with things,  that may or may not have anything to do with reality. When we begin to trust our thoughts, we let them inform our feelings. This becomes a cycle, and ultimately traps most people who aren’t aware that it’s happening. They have a weird or scary thought, have a subsequent strong feeling, and the combination of the two makes the situation feel real when it’s actually just a misunderstanding of your neurological process. Of course, that doesn’t mean that our thoughts are useless. It just means that they are not always reflective of reality, and should be used as more of suggestions than anything else.

“There is only one kind of peace, which is inner peace. Why? There is no “outer peace” because we are not in charge of the circumstances of our lives. We cannot design the world to our liking or even control our own thoughts and feelings. Peace is not to be found in any temporary arising; that is, anything that comes and goes, which includes events, people, objects, thoughts, emotions, etc. If we stake our happiness on things that are temporary, what happens when they appear or disappear? There goes our happiness. This truth begs the essential question: Do you want passing happiness or enduring peace?”

The answer to finding peace is within ourselves, and forming daily habits that correspond with the simple things that truly make us happy. 

1.    Focus on the present. A lot of inner conflict is a result of worrying about the future or dwelling on the past so a great way to cultivate peace within yourself is to focus on the now. 

2.    Simplify your life. You've heard it a million times before, but less really is more. The more you simplify your life, the less anxiety and stress you'll have counteracting your peacefulness. 

3.    Learn to accept what is. Whenever you choose not to accept what is reality, you're causing turmoil within yourself. Accept what is and you'll be a lot more at peace with yourself and the world. 

4.    Avoid most negativity. While some negativity does have a purpose (such as to alert of us danger), most of it brings you down and if you want to have peace in your life, you have to do what you can to avoid it. 

5.    Make positive choices. Choose to spend time with positive people in positive situations or you will have a very difficult time having peace in your life. It's your life -choose your surroundings carefully! 

6.    Learn what triggers your emotional outbursts, then try changing things that trigger emotional shifts.

7.    Teach yourself to let go of emotions and things.

With this brief overview, you can see why finding inner peace and embracing it has been considered so desirable over the centuries, despite the outward appearance of humankind’s taste for war, rivalry, crime, and hostility. The zone of peace is real, and if you want it to be your home in life, the way is always open.

About the Author

-Namrata Jain is a TEDx Speaker, Life Coach, Counselling Psychologist, Pre Marriage & Marriage Counselor, Corporate Trainer, Author, Expressive Arts Therapist, Wellness and Success Coach, Personal Growth Advisor and Blogger. 

Namrata has been awarded as the‘Most Promising Counsellor and Psychologist of the Year 2018’. She has been featured numerous times inMumbai Mirror - Times Group sharing her inputs on Mental and Psychological Wellness. Her sharing in a show on Sony TV and Radio 98.3has been appreciated by numerous professionals and individuals across the country. Namrata Jain has also been featured on the Cover of Brand India Magazine – Healthcare Edition. She has also been recognized as the Director of Relations, India by Global Goodwill Ambassadors, a US based organization. 

Namrata Jain is also an Admin Leader of Community Leadership Circles, Mumbai, under a global initiative by Facebook.