They say everything is a matter of perspective. How you perceive, process,and react to certain aspects or events in your life ultimately defines who you are, essentially. I think that's not true. Yes, everything can be seen from a perspective or any perspective, for that matter, but the true power lies in our ability to choose. It is the power of CHOICE which defines us. It is the one true thing which ultimately dictates our actions. More importantly, our choices are the road maps which gives our life direction.
Amid the hubbub of daily living there arises a need, eventually in all of us, to be able to stop for a minute, take a deep breath, assess or reassess our bearings, and forge ahead. It is during these times when you need to find your inner calm, your quiet moment of peace. It is when we hurry through life that everything seems a blur, leaving us questioning, if not wondering, at times, if we could have done better. Well, as all eventualities, the outcome is a result of two things, really; what we set out to do and what we actually do. The choices we make defines the paths we take in life.
The key ingredient to make wise, informative,and better decision making lies in one's ability to remain calm. To be able to assess any situation from the placid to the gravid or to even the lucid depends entirely on a firm composure and an open mind. Inner calm or inner peace, if you want to call it that, can only be attained if we realize this truth: how we see and interpret events in our lives dictate our reaction(s) to them. What I mean by this is we don't necessarily need to be controlled by life's problems or challenges, we can take control by dealing with them directly, neglecting them altogether, or choosing to deal with them at a later time. In other words, we need to be in control of life's stressors. Mind you, many things in life stresses us and they can run the gamut of from the most mundane and heedless worries to the most life-threatening situations and anything imaginable in between. One thing remains the same regardless of what faces you, you need to convert whatever input you gather from the situation into a decisive plan of action.
The question remains, then, and as with my other posts, the how-to's are the gist of it all, is how do we attain inner calm? First and foremost on this short but rather How-To list is learning how to relax. Well, ok, let's make a quick rundown and cover the finer points in detail later.
How To Achieve Inner Calm
1. Relaxation is Key
2. Open Mindedness
3. Eliminate Stress and Stressors
4. Proximity and Relativity
5. Be Like Water
Lean to relax. Relaxation is not just sitting around sippin' your favorite concoction, no, far from that. Relaxation must entail not just physical rest but emotional, spiritual, and mental, as well. In other words, you have to view relaxation in a whole different light, from a holistic approach. Deep breathing exercises in slow but constant rhythm allows your cardiac rate to slow down and be regulated. The role of relaxation in achieving inner calm is that it prepares you for the next subsequent phases.
Open your mind to any and all possibility. Lose your standards. Know that in this vast world full of rich and vibrant life and cultures, you are essentially naive and ignorant to anything beyond your zones of familiarity. With an open mind acceptance becomes easy and second nature. It is when we accept that we essentially say we are committed to THAT particular truth. Having an open mind allows us to view options and choices not in the context of preference but in their value in finding solutions to a problem or situation.
Eliminate stress and stressors in your life. I have covered this point repeatedly in my previous posts and stated clearly how stress is unhealthy and may even cause disease. Know, however, that anticipation is, in and of itself, a stressor as well. When we know something bad is going to happen and know that it will happen and we wait for it to happen, well, we are causing ourselves undue stress.
Proximity and Relativity has something to do with the way you perceive events and situations in your everyday life and how you assign value to them. Are they in your priority lists or are they not? When you assign a level of importance or value to something it causes you a lot of pain and discomfort when you are in discord with it or if when you have no control over it or even if you lose it. Let's take for instance a mundane everyday happenstance such as leaving at 6:30 in the morning in order to get to work by 7:30. Imagine the stress you will be experiencing if you had to leave, say, 7:05? This example cites a common problem we encounter daily: our relationship with time.
Lastly, go thru life like water. Overcome your obstacles not by knocking them down, but going over them, going around them,wearing them down with the power of your will and your resolve. You have in you infinite strength you just don't realize or maybe even accept it. Flow in your everyday life. Don't flow like a raging pipeline in Hawaii but rater, like a quiet mid-autumn spring, slow but with constancy and clarity. Know that whatever comes your way, you are prepared for it, and you will overcome, just as you have in the past, and just as you will, again and again and again. You will realize that your only real true enemy in the end is yourself, for your lack of faith, trust, and belief in yourself. Flow like water. Gently and surely. Until our next post, folks. Take care and love one another.
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