Finding peace

Finding peace 

Finding peace within is a wonderful but also a difficult thing. It is easy to go looking for it in the wrong places.

So here are 5 timeless thoughts to help guide you to the places where you can actually find it.

1. Simplify.

“The simplification of life is one of the steps to inner peace. A persistent simplification will create an inner and outer well-being that places harmony in one’s life.”
Peace Pilgrim

Making thing simpler has certainly brought a lot of inner peace to my life. So, a few of my favorite suggestions on how to simplify your life:

• Use a limited to-do list. Only 2 or 3 of the most important things.
• Set limits. Set limits for daily checking of inboxes. I do it only once a day. Set time limits for small decisions and make them within seconds after you have thought about them to avoid procrastination and overthinking. Set time limits for tasks such as 15 minutes each day for answering emails or for using Twitter. Set a limit for commitments and say no to be able to feel less stress and produce better results.
• Remember to “keep things extremely simple”. I have written down that sentence on my white board and it is a daily and constant reminder that helps me when I lose my way.

2. Accept.

“Acceptance of others, their looks, their behaviors, their beliefs, bring you an inner peace and tranquility – instead of anger and resentment.”
Unknown

When you accept what is you stop feeding energy into resisting what is. You don’t make a problem more powerful and sticky in your mind. Instead, somewhat counter intuitively, when you accept what is it loses much of its power. It just is.

And you feel stillness inside. Now, accepting what is doesn’t mean to give up. It just means that you put yourself in a better position take action if necessary. Because now you can see more clearly, you can focus your energy towards what you want and take the appropriate action to change your situation.

3. Forgive.

“Inner peace can be reached only when we practice forgiveness. Forgiveness is letting go of the past, and is therefore the means for correcting our misperceptions.”
Gerald Jampolsky

By accepting what is it is much easier to let go of things and to forgive what has happened.

Forgiveness is important because as long as you don’t forgive someone you are linked to that person. Your thoughts will return to the person who wronged you and what s/he did over and over again. The emotional link between the two of you is so strong and inflicts much suffering in you and – as a result of your inner turmoil – most often in other people around you too.

When you forgive you do not only release the other person. You set yourself free too from all of that agony.

One thing to keep in mind is to not just forgive others but also yourself. By forgiving yourself – instead of resenting yourself for something you did a week or 10 years ago – you make the habit of forgiveness more and more of a natural part of you. And so forgiving others becomes easier too.

Also, what you think is a question of forgiving others you may sometimes – after some time and inner struggle – discover is just as much, if not more, about forgiving yourself rather than the other person.

4. Do what you enjoy.

“Never continue in a job you don’t enjoy. If you’re happy in what you’re doing, you’ll like yourself, you’ll have inner peace. And if you have that, along with physical health, you’ll have more success than you could possibly have imagined.”
Roger Caras

When you do what you enjoy there is a natural peace that arises within. You are in alignment with your outer world. This also leads to a lot more success than if you have a lot of inner turmoil and really don’t care that much for your work.

One of my favorite tips for finding things you enjoy or love doing is simply to explore life. To be curious and try things out and see what you think of them. This can bring many insights both about yourself and about how things really are when you do them rather than when they are just theories floating around in your head.

If you have read my ebook The 7 Timeless Habits of Happiness then you know that there is a whole chapter in it about finding and doing what you love with exercises and tips for further reading. So if you haven’t checked out the book yet, go to this page for instructions on how to get you own free copy.

5. Be careful with your inner peace.

“Never be in a hurry; do everything quietly and in a calm spirit. Do not lose your inner peace for anything whatsoever, even if your whole world seems upset.”

The Seven Beliefs Of Success

The Seven Beliefs Of Success

A solid belief system can take you a long way.  Success has its own belief system and when you can master such a system, there is very little that can stop the inevitable:  massive achievements.  Take a look at the seven beliefs that can take your success to greater heights:

Belief #1: Everything happens for a reason
I can guarantee you that all successful people believe that there is a purpose behind every event or situation.  Whether it’s a lesson to be learned or a change in your life’s path for example, they believe that whatever happens was meant to happen.  Thus, they make lemonade out of a lemon.  Instead of beating yourself down if something does not go your way, focus on the good that can come out of it.  Yes, certain events are indeed very difficult to see positive into them, but you owe it to yourself and to your success to try your absolute best to make the most out of any situation.  There are many people that lost a loved one to a disease, only to become advocates for research to cure such a disease, as well as many victims of accidents that have not let their shortcomings in the aftermath get in the way of whatever they wanted to accomplish.  Sometimes life does not go as planned, but knowing that everything happens for a reason can help you carve a new path towards a new life with new goals and new successes.

Belief #2: Failure does not exist
There are only learning experiences.  Once you submerge yourself into a culture that does not see failure, but only experiences and results, you take away an enormous chunk of negative energy out of your life.  For example, I come up with many different ideas for marketing and new courses.  Sometimes, these ideas do not provide the results I expected.  Instead of saying “I failed”, I tell myself “I guess I learned something.  I learned that this technique does not work.  I’ll try something else then”.  If you want to achieve highly successful outcomes, you need to alter your view of failures into something constructive that keeps you going until you get the results you desired.

Belief #3: Take responsibility no matter what
It’s very easy to play the blame game whenever a difficult situation arises, but the true leaders are the ones that will take full responsibility, whether it’s positive or negative.  You may be tempted to deflect any blame onto others but there is something empowering about accepting responsibility.  If you know there is no such thing as failure, only learning experiences, then it is in your best interest to take full responsibility, since you know you will achieve your desired outcome regardless.  This shows maturity, as well as a coherent belief system all the way through.  It’s a symbol of personal power which is necessary to become highly successful.

Belief #4: You don’t need to understand everything perfectly
You may notice that most very successful people are well versed into many different subjects but do not have full mastery of them.  They know what’s essential without getting into all the minute details of it all.  For example, running this website and business, I have knowledge in areas such as marketing, design, programming, accounting, finances, etc.  I am by no means an expert in these subjects, but I know enough to manage them effectively & collectively.  I leave out the details to be handled by my accountant, designer, programmer, and marketing manager.  Successful people aren’t the most knowledgeable people.  For example, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs weren’t the most skilled programmers or computer engineers.  However, they were the most effective in using the skills that they had.

Belief #5: Your biggest resource are your people
You should know that you cannot climb the ladder of success all alone.  Along the way, you will need people to assist you.  The ones that climb further and higher than the rest are the ones that treat their people the best.  A sense of team unity and respect is totally necessary in order to create the proper mood from which you can harvest adequate success.  When you have a successful team working together, success comes easily.  This is why you need to nurture that team.  Care for those relationships because the more positive and enlightening they are, the further along you will get.

Belief #6: Work is play
Do you know anyone that’s ever succeeded doing something they absolutely hate?  Me neither!  An important key to success is making a combination of what you do with what you love.  We can all do our best to find work that invigorates us and makes us excited.  As well, we can also bring about at work many of the aspects of what we love to do.  You have to make “your vocation your vacation” as Mark Twain so eloquently said.  If you view work as nothing more than a way to make money, then it will nothing more than that.  Sooner or later, it will be dreadful to be doing this work many hours per day, when the only reason you are doing it is for money.  It needs to be more than that.  It needs to spark your creativity, make you smile, and inspire you.  I highly recommend you check out the article 7 Questions To Finding Your True Passion, which takes this point in further details.

Belief #7: There is no success without commitment
To achieve great things, you need a great commitment.  When JFK said we would put a human being on the Moon, it was a huge commitment.  Look at the enormous success it provided though.  The most successful people are usually the ones that are the most committed.  The best example that comes to mind is Wayne Gretzky.  He was never the biggest player.  He was never the fastest skater.  He didn’t have the most powerful shot.  However, he was the most committed.  Hockey was his passion and his life, which made him practice harder and want success more.  That is why he became the greatest hockey player the sport has ever seen.  Success comes with a price.  The ones that do whatever it takes (of course without harming someone or cheating) are the ones that accomplish the most.

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Tired? 7 Ways To Cure Fatigue Instantly

I think we can all agree that in this fast-paced world, our days are pretty full and hectic. It’s only natural to feel somewhat tired at some point during those long days. If you are feeling like you’d rather be taking a dive back into your bed instead of working, exercising, or doing whatever it is that you need to do, this article is for you! I have compiled here the best methods to cure your fatigue right away:

1- Take a deep breath
Yes, we all breathe without even thinking about it. However, we all mostly don’t breathe properly. Deep breathing helps in the better delivery of oxygen to your body’s cells, along with nutrients in your blood stream. As well, it helps in the process of carrying away toxins via your lymphatic system. If you do not detoxify properly, which proper breathing does, you become susceptible to weight gain, muscle loss, inflammation, and yes, fatigue! Try it out, take a couple of deep breaths, you will automatically feel better, and more awake instantly.

2- Drink water
If you aren’t drinking plenty of water by now, you should! This may be the reason why you are feeling tired. Juice, soft drinks and the likes aren’t what you should be consuming if you are tired. You see, dehydration reduces the blood volume which creates fatigue. Those other drinks are full of sugar which actually causes dehydration. Water is king, so make a habit to drink a glass of water whenever you feel tired. While I work, I always have a full glass next to me. This is the best way, because if you have to get up and get water, you will never remember it, especially while you are working intensively. With water right next to you, your mind will just know to take a sip here and there throughout your activity. You will be surprised how quickly just drinking water can get rid of your fatigue.

3- Get up and move!
Sometimes our fatigue is caused by inertia. Especially when you have to work at a computer or sitting at a desk all day. Movement, any type of movement is exercise! Moving your body creates an increased blood flow which in return increases your energy and defeats fatigue. As well, it makes you breathe deeper and you already know the benefits of breathing deeply as mentioned in point #1. So, all that you need to do is just get up, stretch a little bit, and walk around if you can. The best would be to do this every hour, so that you break the pattern of inertia. So get up and move, you will feel more awake right away!

4- Listen to music
Whenever it’s too quiet, we tend to get bored very easily. Being bored leads to fatigue. So turn up the radio, or pull out your iPod and start listening to your favorite tunes. In an instant, you can turn your boredom and fatigue into a fun, entertaining moment. As you sing along to your favorites songs in your head, your thoughts of being tired will slowly fade away. If you can actually get up and start dancing, then you will have mastered point #3 and #4 in one shot 

5- Laugh a little
Laughter has a lot of benefits, such as releasing higher levels of endorphins which make you feel better. This also sweeps away any feelings of being tired. As a matter of fact, recent studies have shown that even the anticipation of laughter increases endorphin levels. So you don’t have to laugh out loud, simply finding something amusing is beneficial. So start reading some jokes online, listen to your favorite radio show, or watch some funny videos on YouTube. You will notice that once you start laughing, you won’t be tired anymore.

6- Speak your mind
It is very easy to find ourselves being tired when we are quiet. Think of a classroom for example. It’s very easy to get bored and feel fatigue during a monotonous routine. However, the cure is to participate! Speaking can bring about the same benefits as movement (after all, you are moving muscles when you talk) and being a part of something such as a conversation or a discussion can give us an extra boost in focus and energy to counter the feeling of fatigue. So say something to a co-worker, or pick up the phone and call up a loved one for a few minutes. If you are alone, then maybe sing along to your tunes out loud? 

7- The Ultra Quick Power Nap
A quick power nap in the middle of the day is a great method to revitalize yourself and boost your energy to last you until the end of the day. However, most people who work in public settings cannot just take a nap like that! What you can do is take an “ultra quick power nap”, which consists of simply closing your eyes for a few minutes, clear your mind, breath deeply and slowly, and then return to your task. You can do this either at your break, or even at your desk. Just like that, you have gotten rid of your fatigue, and you can also enjoy better focus and alertness.

Practicing any of these techniques will make you feel more awake, more energized, and increase your concentration skills. With the very long working days that we now experience, it is crucial to implement such methods into your routine so that you can get through your days without always having to feel tired. I used to always feel like I wanted to sleep, all day, whether I had enough sleep or not. Basically, I got tired of being tired  These methods worked really well for me, so I hope they can be beneficial for you as well.

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6 Great Ways To Motivate Yourself To Exercise

6 Great Ways To Motivate Yourself To Exercise

At this point, everyone is pretty much aware of the huge upside to exercising regularly. The reason that there aren’t more people doing it, is the sheer lack of motivation. There is nothing that pushes them enough to go out there and exercise. Fortunately, there are some very useful ways which you can use to motivate yourself to become a more active individual. Let me elaborate on each one of them a bit more:

Change from a “maybe” to a “must”
The first thing you need to do is to categorically include exercise into your lifestyle without any maybe’s or but’s. Exercising should be a must within your daily routine. Within your time management, there should always be time allocated to exercising. I can’t stress enough how important this is. For example, a few years ago I decided to go for a bike ride every day and allocated 1 hour of my time to it per day. Before I did that, I was always putting everything else before it, and I never could find the time for it. So instead of trying to fit exercise into your tight schedule, make it a permanent part of it which is non-negotiable, and make other non-productive activities such as watching television secondary to it.

Surround yourself with fitness-oriented people
If you are not exercising, have a look at your close unit of acquaintances. Chances are that most if not all of them are just as non-active as you are. If you want to be successful at not only starting but staying active over time, you definitely need to have friends that share this same goal with you. Having a training partner is one of the best ways to get yourself the proper motivation to keep at it day in and day out. Someone with whom you can discuss the good and the bad, the positive and the negative, and that understands you fully is extremely important to your success at staying active. The bottom line is, if you are trying to be active, your non-active friends will never understand what you are going through and they are certainly not the right people that will motivate you to keep going.

Want to be better looking?
I have found that most people will pretty much do anything to become more attractive and more desirable. The good news is that you do not have to subject yourself to grueling & potentially dangerous plastic surgery to get the job done. With a little patience and a strong will, you can literally reshape your entire body via exercise. Use this desire of seeking to be more attractive to your advantage and turn it into pure motivation to exercise. Sure, there are tons of reasons why people exercise, but I am certain that 100% do it partly to be more attractive. Looks matter in our current society, and we associate looks with success. Play that card to your own benefit and you will see that you will possess plenty of motivation to keep exercising over time. To motivate you even more, take pictures of yourself on a weekly basis. I guarantee you that the change you will notice in the pictures over a few months will make you want to keep exercising for the rest of your life!

Think long term health benefits
As I mentioned in my previous point, physical appearance is a huge motivating factor, but your health should be an even bigger one. The thing with health, is that we do not “see” it. It’s hidden, and thus in a very visual and superficial society such as our current one, it becomes secondary to looks. Luckily, people are becoming more and more concerned with being healthy and living a better quality of life as they get older. Use this to your advantage as well to motivate yourself to exercise. The list of health benefits that exercising provides you with is just enormous. By thinking about maintaining a high quality of life for years to come, you are thinking long term and thus you can find the proper amount of motivation to stay active even during times that you feel like giving up. We all want to be healthy, and going through health concerns brings about much stress to our life as well as to those that we love. When I hear of fathers or grandparents that are changing their lifestyle and becoming more active to be around to see their children grow up, I am so proud of them. That’s one of the strongest motivation you could ever have to turn your life around with exercise.

Work towards a goal
Do you have a reunion to go to in a few months and you want to look your best? Do you have a vacation planned and you want to look fantastic in a bathing suit? Do you idolize a certain person and want to look just like them? These types of goalsare extremely powerful, and can provide unrelenting motivation that can then carry you towards those very goals. The key is to always have such a goal, because you don’t want to go back to your old ways once you have reached that goal. I’m sure you’ve seen people flip flop over and over again with their fitness, and this is due to the fact that once they reach their goal, they do not have another one to aim for. Always have something to work towards, and every time you reach one, create a new one. You will not only be amazed at the amount of motivation this creates, but you will astound yourself at how much you can accomplish that you never thought possible before.

Simply start
As hard as it is to get yourself to start, you will be happy to know that things get much better as you keep going. The steepest hill to climb over is to start. Once you start, you have conquered the biggest obstacle. This is something that you should be proud of, in and of itself. Once you start, you put the wheels in motion to create momentum, and this momentum is crucial to bring you towards the finish line. But for that to happen, you need to start. So stop finding excuses and ways to delay your start. Choose to start exercising today, and never look back. You will be thankful that you did 

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How To Control Your Jealousy

How To Control Your Jealousy

I have known some very jealous personalities in my life. To be perfectly honest, I can’t think of any one of them that ended up being truly happy or successful. Jealousy has a way of destroying everything in front of it without regards. I can freely admit that I am not a jealous person, and I feel that it has a lot to do with the fact that I concentrate more on what I do than what others do. I believe that I could be a jealous person if I wouldn’t have this control over myself. After all, I am a very competitive person that thrives on adversity. I would seem to be the perfect fit to have jealous tendencies, yet I do not. Here are some tips that I live by which I believe can make a significant difference in controlling your jealousy:

Focus on your qualities
I spend more time thinking about what I do right than what I do wrong. We all have our faults, sure. But why should we be reminded of them constantly? I am a very positive person, I will look at the glass as half full. I do not see problems, I see opportunities. I feel that being positive and always looking at the silver lining helps tremendously in avoiding feelings of jealousy. Jealousy thrives on negative emotions, so take the negativity out of the equation and your jealousy can barely survive. You are the best positioned person to know what you are doing right. You are therefore the best person to remind yourself of all that is positive about you. Do not count on others to do that for you, because you cannot be guaranteed it will always be the case. If I do think of a fault of mine, I think of it in terms of what I can do to improve it. I never dwell on anything negative about me, I feel that is a big waste of time, and a trap to affect other emotions, such as jealousy in this case.

Do not compare yourself
One of the main reasons why people feel jealousy, is that they compare themselves to other people and what they have. We are all completely unique individuals, and once you fully understand this concept, you will realize that comparison among each other is useless. We all have things that others don’t have and vice versa. The combination of what we have and what we do not have is unique. Now, you can aspire to have something or have a certain characteristic like someone else. That is usually a positive feeling, which triggers motion and improvement. Jealousy triggers paralysis, and that is the difference. You cannot be someone else, you are “you”, so focus on being the best “you” that you can possibly be!

Remind yourself of the consequences
What good has ever come out of being jealous? I can think of only one and I will discuss it in my last point. But usually, jealousy only leaves a trail of hurt and disappointment. Why allow yourself to feel this way if you know nothing good can come out of it? This is about being in control of your own mind. I know that jealousy is a hard emotion to control. This is why you need to remind yourself of all the potential bad things that can result from expressing this jealousy. You are not only bringing yourself down by being jealous, but chances are, you are affecting other people as well. Do you really want to be the root of such a negative experience to the people around you? Think about the consequences as soon as your jealousy grows so that you can more easily tame it.

Assess your lifestyle
A friend of mine once told me that his jealous ways completely disappeared once he changed his eating habits into a healthier direction. I found this quite fascinating. Take a closer look at your way of life. Perhaps the source of your jealous ways lies in the fact that you do not have a proper diet, do not exercise enough, or do not have a constructive hobby. Lacking in these areas can have serious effects on your psyche. Doing activities that make you happy & feel good will only boost my first point about focusing on what’s good about you. If you are moping around your home, eating junk food, and feeling sorry about yourself, chances are your potential for being a jealous person will be much higher.

Channel your jealousy into motivation
Instead of letting the jealousy eat you up, think about what you can do about it. Do not linger endlessly into the feelings of jealousy, it will drive you mad and irrational. Concentrate on a constructive way to direct the energy that you are expressing due to this jealous emotion into something that you can benefit from. Allow jealousy to motivate you into being an even better person than you are. Let it push you to improve yourself. Instead of letting jealousy destroy you, you turn it around and make it work for you. You will soon realize that jealousy will turn into aspirations, which can then be to your advantage. Channeling your jealousy into something that can motivate you to change, improve, or grow is a wonderful way to gain control over jealousy and make it work for you.

I have seen so many people lose so much because of letting their jealousy get out of control. I hope this article can help others in such a position to gain control back over this combustible emotion so that they do not suffer the same fate.

How do you usually cope with jealousy?

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4 Reasons Why You Need To Take Cold Showers!

4 Reasons Why You Need To Take Cold Showers!

A friend of mine is 45 years old, has no gray hair, and very good skin for her age. I wanted to find out if there was anything in her routine that could have been a reason for such youthful looks for her age (all without any surgery by the way!). Leaving genetics out of the equation for a moment, the one interesting thing that popped up was the fact that she takes a cold shower every morning. So I did a little research about the subject and found 4 main benefits that you gain by taking cold showers.

Now when I say cold shower, I want to clarify exactly what I mean by that. Taking a full cold shower, meaning no hot or warm or lukewarm water at all, is borderline torture! Especially in the cold winter months (I am from Montreal, and it is VERY cold here!). Besides, there are many benefits to taking a warm shower, the primary one being that it feels really good! But seriously, what I mean in this context, is the practice of starting with a warm shower, and ending the last few minutes with cool to cold water. Here are the benefits that you gain by incorporating a cold shower into your shower routine:

1- Better Circulation
Warm water makes the blood rush to your skin, and cool water makes the blood rush to your organs. This switching between hot and cold triggers better circulation in your blood by forcing the blood to move. The ideal practice would be to switch numerous times between hot and cold water, but merely ending the shower with cold water does help with circulation. Why should you worry about having good circulation? Well, it prevents such problems as hypertension, hardening of the arteries, and the appearance of varicose veins. Good circulation improves the performance of your system and thus help looking and feeling better.

2- Better looking skin
When you shower with warm water, it opens up your pores. Then you wash and this cleans up your pores. That’s all good. When you end, it would be best to close your pores and cold water does just that. It’s good to close your pores after you are all cleaned up because it will prevent the pores from being easily clogged by dirt and oil, which causes skin imperfections such as acne for example. Another benefit is that cold water makes your blood vessels constrict which reduces swelling and the appearance of dark circles under your eyes (where skin is at its thinnest). This provides you with a young, healthy glow.

3- Healthier hair
Cold water makes your hair look healthier and shinier. As a matter of fact, cool air makes your hair shinier too (that’s why there is a cool air button on your hair dryer). What the cold water does is that it closes the cuticle which makes the hair stronger and prevents dirt from easily accumulating within your scalp. Basically, the same principle with how it closes the pores of your skin as mentioned above. Stronger hair, of course, prevents hair from being easily pulled out when you are combing, and it helps in slowing down overall hair loss.

4- Mental benefits
There are plenty of mental benefits to ending your shower with cold water. The ancient samurai warriors used to pour buckets of cold river water on their heads every morning in a Shinto practice called Misogi. This was a purification ritual on a spiritual level. They believe that it cleansed their spirit and helped start a new day & new adventure fresh. Cold water obviously helps waking you up, which is what you want in the morning. Also, it energizes you and invigorates your entire being with the essence of life. Give it a try, you will definitely feel more alive! It can also lift you up if you are feeling a little down or unmotivated.

Ending your shower with cold water clearly has its advantages. Many benefits to cold showers, as you can see. I know this is something that can be very difficult for many people to do. The key is to not torture yourself. Go about it gradually. Start with a level of cold you can deal with, and slowly make it colder after each shower. As long as you get your feet wet (no pun intended!), and begin adding this routine at the end of your showers, you will be on your way to making a habit out of it and enjoy the benefits that this practice can bring you. Who knows, maybe you can avoid gray hair altogether like my friend! Maybe the fountain of youth is made up of very cold water?! 

Find Inner Peace in 10 Ways

Find Inner Peace in 10 Ways

Don’t you find life to always be filled with stress? Doesn’t it seem like there is always something that happens which encompasses our entire attention, and thus drain our positive energy? As our society grows more and more complex, finding true peace becomes more like trying to find an oasis in the desert. My life is a busy one as well, as running a company and all of the stress & demands that comes with it, definitely takes its toll over time. Therefore, I wanted to take this opportunity to share with you some of the methods that I use in my life to find peace and disconnect from the daily routine:

Accept what is
There is only so much we can affect. What we cannot change, what we cannot influence no matter what, should not be a concern to us. This is what I notice with so many people, in that we focus and linger on things which we have no control over. Why worry about something that all the worrying in the world will not change? Why care about what other people think of us when we’re not even sure what it is they are actually thinking? Once you open the blinds to this fact, and start accepting what is that you cannot change, you automatically relieve yourself of a mountain of stress and anxiety. It’s like a huge weight has been lifted from your shoulders. Taking this path is following a road towards peace.

Meditate
If you do not meditate yet, you are missing out on a very important activity that can change your life. Meditating for 20 minutes daily can have an enormous impact in all areas of your life. Take a look at this post I wrote 100 Benefits of Meditation. If that doesn’t convince you to start meditating, I don’t know what will! If you have a lot on your mind and you feel like your thoughts are driving you crazy, meditation can help you find peace. Simply close everything, sit back, close your eyes, and clear your mind of every single thought. Focus on the emptiness. You will be surprised what a mere 20 minutes of meditation can do to turn things around for you. If you have trouble meditating, I would suggest getting a professional guided meditation CD, which will help you get used to this level of peacefulness 

Spend time in nature
We spend so much time confined in buildings of steel and concrete and bricks that we quickly forget where we come from. It is natural for us to be in nature, and this is why it feels so good and it is so peaceful when you take a walk in a park or bike on a trail in the forest. As I am typing this blog, I am looking out my window to this gigantic tree in front of my house. Watching its stillness, with the wind blowing through its branches calmly, it is a sight that not only inspires me, but that I find peace within it. I have blogged before about how I enjoy biking and one of the reasons is that it brings me closer to nature. It is something you just can’t experience in a car. If you feel overwhelmed, take a stroll outside where there are tons of trees and far from the city. Be there and just enjoy the sights, the sounds, and the peace.

Learn the power of a smile
Whenever you are laughing or smiling, something interesting happens. Not only does something happen on a chemical level to make you feel better, but it also stops all stress and negativity from entering your psyche. A simple smile can make such a difference. For example, the other day I mishandled a dish and it fell on the floor, breaking into pieces, creating a big mess. Now, I could have been angry with myself for being clumsy and thinking “here’s another reason why life sucks!”. But I did the opposite. I began to smile and kind of make fun of myself for not being able to hold on to that plate properly. As I cleaned up the mess, there was no bitterness or anger. As a matter of fact, I did it with a smile on my face…I did it with peace. So whenever you find yourself in a similar predicament, just think of the silver lining, and don’t be shy to poke fun at yourself. You will quickly realize that peace finds its way much more easily to you when you smile.

Think outwardly
What I mean by this is that most of the time, we are so consumed within our own problems that we can no longer see the forest from the trees. Therefore, it helps to remind ourselves how big the world is. Take a moment and read up about some other countries, cultures, and the likes. Be aware that the world does not revolve around your problems. I find that when I hear about a tsunami or an earthquake killing hundreds of thousands of people on the other side of the world, my problems aren’t really “problems”. Looking beyond ourselves is very important in finding peace and it leads me to my next point.

Care about others
You will never find peace by being self-consumed and only worrying about your own needs and wants. When you begin to genuinely care about other people, so much goodness comes right out. This only helps into solidifying your inner peace. It can be people close to you or pure strangers, but any act of kindness and goodwill eases your way towards peace. When I help other people, I stop focusing on my so-called problems and realize that my life isn’t so bad after all. This rids my entire being of all the stress and feelings of overwhelm. There is great peace and wisdom in thinking and caring about other people, which we are blind to when we are too deep within our own selfish ways.

Never lose hope
Hope is something you can never afford to lose. With hope you always have a path towards peace. Whenever we get too stressed out and overwhelmed within our own life, we forget that hope. We forget that the sun always shines after a rainy day, and that this is merely a bump in the road. I find immense peace in just knowing, deep within my heart, that everything will be ok. With hope, I know that whatever is seemingly terrible, is only temporary and that soon enough, things will be just fine. This lifts off all of that negativity from my entire being, and I feel better pretty much instantly.

Embrace your beliefs
I am not one to pick or favor one belief system over another, so whatever it is that you believe in, embrace it with your entire being. Be within your faith 100% and peace will find its way into your heart. Now, we may all disagree on each other’s beliefs but one thing we must all agree on is that having a solid, healthy faith is crucial in founding a proper conscience that helps into guiding us towards peace and wisdom. There is a reason why research has shown that people that are deeply devoted to their faith have a higher life expectancy and are less likely to have diseases such as cancer. This is because they experience more inner peace, which is important if you want to increase the quality of your life.

Keep learning
One thing that provides us with much stress in life is the fact that we always worry about not having all the answers. Just accepting that you do not know everything, and that you are open to always keep learning is a tremendous step to take towards achieving inner peace. I find great joy in learning all kinds of different things, and just being aware that I am growing as a person each and every day provides me with great feelings of peace. Accept that life is one big journey of never-ending learning and you will find yourself closer to experiencing true peace within yourself.

Live in the present moment
Most of the time, what we worry about is relating to something either in the past, or something that hasn’t happened. Living in the present moment erases all such thoughts. Why worry about something in the past that we cannot ever change? (see point #1, accept what is). Why worry about something that we are not even sure will happen or not? This is why in the present moment, you find true inner peace. In the present moment, there are no problems and no concerns. There is only stillness, and it is within that stillness that you can uncover peace. I used to be such a person that worried all the time, to the point where I had trouble sleeping. Once I learned to live in the present moment, I stopped thinking about the past and any potential future, and just worried about being ever-present in each and every moment. My life is definitely more peaceful since then!

I am positive that this list can help you find your inner peace. If you require more wisdom and reading on the subject, I highly recommend The Path to Tranquillityby the Dalai Lama. It’s a terrific little book full of wisdom, and reading just a page each day is really inspiring. You might also want to check out Stillness Speaks byEckhart Tolle and another great book called The Path to Love by Deepak Chopra.

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