Cultivating Peace Of Mind In Daily Life

There's all kinds of negative news out there. It just feels like the world is determined to take away your peace of mind. Guess what? You have a choice to create peace of mind in your daily life…you do!

Get clear on what your sphere of influence is. You don’t need to worry about what is outside your sphere, focus on what you have control over. Knowing what you control really helps to not feel so tipped over with everything going on. 

It isn’t ignoring what is happening, in fact, consciously accept the fact that things are happening that disturb you, but when you understand what is outside your control, they are less likely to steal your peace. 

If there is something that you don’t want to watch on TV, what do you do? Yep, turn the channel.

It is the same in our lives, if there is something bugging us, we may need to turn the channel for a bit and take a break. 

Tell yourself that you are choosing peace, then take a deep breath. Maybe you will even spend a few minutes with some deep breathing techniques. 

Your breathing is actually controlled by a part of your brain that is also in charge of your reactions to different things that are happening. When we slow that part of our brain down, we can slow down our responses and begin to use our brain to think, not go into flight mode. 

Figure out the triggers that cause you to lose your sense of peace, then set some boundaries around them. Perhaps you will only watch one hour of the news, then turn the TV off and pay attention to the people around you that you can influence. 

Maybe your trigger is someone who calls often and upsets you, let them know that you are available to talk on Sunday afternoon only. 

Maybe let the person go to voicemail and call them back when you are calm. 

Let them know that you can talk for 15 minutes, then need to go. Set whatever time limit you think you can keep it together. Knowing the end is coming makes it easier to smile and not get upset. 

I have some more ideas on how to generate peace so look for my next email. We can find peace of mind every day.

Dr. Paul