Tuning in to Inner Peace: The Surprisingly Fun Way to Transform Your Life (14 page)

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Introducing Yourself

Notice how you introduce yourself in business, school and social situations. What did you say? What did the other person say? How did you feel?

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Visualize a New Introduction             

Imagine meeting someone in the future in these settings. Before you say anythin
g, remind yourself, “I am more like you than different. I am part of you and you are part of me.” “We are overlapping souls.” Use these words or your own.

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Quick Adjustment

If you notice that you have stopped taking care of your body, are berating yourself or feel tension building, stop. Develop a quick ritual to adjust your perspective: a few minutes looking out the window, a walk and an affirmation will do the trick. “I am not this body, these thoughts or this day. I am …bigger, one with everything.”

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Edit out ‘failure’

Do you ever hear yourself saying, “I’m a failure.” Edit out this red flag for misidentification. Find the humor and the good twists of fate that have come out of any perceived shortcomings, by appreciating your uniqueness.

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Watch from a distance

When you hear the ranting in your head, criticizing and finding shortcomings, use the image of watching a movie of your life story. Lighten up and enjoy the show.

If you’re ever feeling sad, depressed, or dissatisfied, gratitude is the salve that soothes all ills. It’s Tiger Balm for your state of Inner Peace.

In every case, gratitude is a true, loving response. It’s a starting point for anything to follow.

If you’re grieving a death, gratitude reminds you of your great fortune that you knew a person and had the chance to get close to them.

If you’re depressed about a lover who is gone, gratitude reminds you of the love you felt. There’s no reason you cannot continue exuding that love.

If you’re upset about a sudden illness, gratitude reminds you how fortunate you’ve been prior to this time, and how many other things you still have that enrich your life.

When you wake up, start by being thankful for the day ahead of you. When you go to bed, end by being thankful for the day completed.

Make a gratitude list anytime your energy or optimism is waning. It’s easy and infinitely long so you’ll run out of time, before you run out of things to be thankful for! Parts of your home: your bed, your roof, your blanket. Body parts and bodily functions: your feet, your eyesight, your eyebrows, your digestive system. Food and the people who worked to bring it to you. Your family, your friends, the people who work at hospitals, post offices, schools.

The list can never be completed. When you begin looking for things you are thankful for, you will notice more and more.  

Dissatisfaction is easy. It’s a natural state you’ll find yourself in if you do nothing to prevent it. Gratitude is the ointment that soothes the irritation.

Where you once had an itchy, red spot that was driving you crazy, applying gratitude will not only make the itch go away, but you’ll feel the healing of a mini-massage to your soul.

Gratitude is the simplest form of first aid for your Inner Peace. Apply liberally and frequently to treat minor irritations!

Set a memo on your phone wake-up alarm:“Glad to be alive!”

Exercises

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On waking, make a list of ten things you are grateful for. Try this daily, and try not to repeat.

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On lying down in bed, make a list of ten things you are grateful for. Again, do this daily and try not to repeat.

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Whenever you start to feel ‘off’, try listing ten things you are grateful for. It’s so incredibly easy. You don’t have to write it down, and takes less than a minute.

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Write a note with “I’m thankful for…” and put it on your bathroom mirror.

When your head is filled with worries, immerse yourself in nature. Nature will embrace you and soothe you. You don’t need to know how or why! Just go!

Nature as Healer

I grew up in Colorado, which is synonymous with wide open spaces and mountains. Without realizing it, I grew up immersed in nature.

When I moved to Busan, South Korea, it was my first time ever living in a big, densely populated city.

My daily walk included walking through a bustling shopping district, past two-story tall displays of model and products. Next, I’d walk through an underground shopping mall, one of a sea of people surging through. With each step, I felt myself becoming more unbalanced. My inner peace state was fragile.

I got it in my head that if I could just sit on the grass, I’d be fine. I did find grass in our neighborhood once, but it was on a sloped median in the middle of a busy intersection!

I went on some hikes in the nearby mountain parks, and felt so much better during and after, that I made it a priority to get into nature weekly. Whether it was going to the beach, hiking in the mountains, going to a quiet place to look at the sunset, or sitting by the river, I felt better. I returned home feeling centered, grateful and peaceful.

That’s when I decided from direct experience, that: Nature is a Healer.

If you can't get any distance from a trash-talking brain, spend time in nature. If you are crabby toward your loved one, losing patience at work, or generally dissatisfied, spend time in nature. Trust me on this one.

Nature as Teacher

When you spend time in a city, surrounded by technological gadgets, listening to people’s ideas and problems, you get a very human-centered perspective. You become the target of a barrage of hectic messages, intended to motivate you to buy and act in a way that benefits someone …maybe not you, your community or the environment!

An antidote is to deposit yourself in nature. When you do so, you immerse yourself in an entirely different set of life lessons:

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Ocean waves crashing on the shore, show the cyclical nature of life. And a single drop contains the essence of the entire ocean.

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Walking step-by-step up a mountain trail reminds us how you move through life. While a single step is unremarkable in isolation, it is the only way to get somewhere! And the view from even a small mountain gives you a completely different perspective of yourself and your community. You can’t deny that you are interconnected when you see yourself as a tiny part of a big natural system.

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A single tree teaches how the hidden deeper part of life is the foundation for the flowery, healthy part.  And how being flexible to bend in the strong winds of time, is better than being rigid and breaking. And how seasons come and go. A tree moves through time bearing fruits and dropping them, growing and changing, dispersing seeds for a new generation, and eventually dying.