How to Maintain Inner Peace in Stressful Times

Feeling stressed and anxious? Here are 4 practices to help you regain balance, clarity and inner peace.
 
1. Tend to your thoughts.
 
Many of our thoughts are simply conflicting opinions and internal arguments which serve no useful purpose. However, these thoughts ultimately determine our life experience and our happiness or unhappiness. Therefore, if a thought causes you suffering, change it to the opposite as soon as possible — before it becomes saturated with negative emotions.
 
2. Slow down reactions with conscious breathing.
 
Thought initiates speech and action, and of course, these will not be peaceful if our thoughts are not peaceful. So, to support the process of thought tending described above, it is essential to create a pause or space between thought and the resulting speech or action. The key to this step is learning to breathe intentionally. Begin by simply deepening your natural breath. Take in your full lung capacity of oxygen and let it out twice as slow as you normally would. Even a few of these conscious deep breaths will move you in the direction of peace.
 
3. Release tension.
 
The next way to shift away from distress and towards a peaceful balance is by employing a simple tension release exercise. Stress accumulates in certain areas of the body, and if we do not take notice until it reaches a chronic level, it becomes more injurious and difficult to remedy. To prevent this, perform a mental body scan periodically throughout the day, especially when stressed. This can be done anywhere, and it only takes a moment. Simply notice where in the body you are holding tension. Inhale deeply and squeeze the muscles in that area as tight as you possibly can. Then exhale and release all the tension and stress completely. Repeat several more times until you feel the muscles letting go.
 
4. Turn your focus from outside to inside.
 
Our 5 senses continuously stimulate us, sometimes creating restlessness in the mind and body that can trigger happiness or unhappiness, depending on what they experience. However, when we draw our attention inward, away from the senses, just momentarily, we can experience a deeper state of peace within. After pausing sensory input for a few moments, focus deeply on one thing that inspires awe or reverence, as a bridge to a state of meditation. Facilitate this sensory restraint and inner concentration by shutting off technology and any other potential distractions, setting a timer for 5-10 minutes, and committing to the process of single-pointed concentration. Choose something beautiful or sacred on which to focus, and then breathe deeply, as you feel the peace wash through you.
 
Practice these steps regularly and they will become easier and quicker, with more prolonged results. When we are centered with inner peace, we remain fully available to any relationship or task at hand. Inner peace makes us feel resilient, strong, healthy, happy and free. It allows us to be more empathetic with others, and able to give naturally from a place of well-being and wisdom. Stress happens — but we can manage it by transforming our internal response.

Change Your Genes with Your Mind

Yoga, meditation, and other mindfulness exercises can actually reverse stress-related changes in genes linked to poor health and depression, according to a new scientific study.

 

In the new paper, published in Frontiers in Immunology, British researchers analyzed the findings from 18 previously published studies on the biological effects of meditation, yoga, breathing exercises, Qi gong and Tai Chi. Together, the authors say, the studies show that these mind-body exercises appear to suppress the expression of genes and genetic pathways that promote inflammation.

 

In today’s society, in which stress is primarily psychological, the body’s inflammatory response can become chronic and can impair both physical and mental health. Researchers found that people who practiced these activities regularly had fewer signs of inflammation, including a decrease in their production of inflammatory proteins. This signals “the reversal of the molecular signature of the effects of chronic stress,” they wrote, which may translate to a reduced risk of inflammation-related diseases and conditions.

 

Lead author Ivana Buric says existing studies suggest that mind-body interventions “cause the brain to steer our DNA processes along a path which improves our well-being.” She also emphasizes that inherited genes are not static and that DNA activity can depend on things people can control. “By choosing healthy habits every day, we can create a gene activity pattern that is more beneficial for our health,” she says. “Even just 15 minutes of practicing mindfulness seems to do the trick.”

Mahatma Gandhi, Jim Carrey and Penache Desai — How to “Be the Change” in the World

“We but mirror the world. All the tendencies present in the outer world are to be found in the world of our body. If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. This is the divine mystery supreme. A wonderful thing it is and the source of our happiness. We need not wait to see what others do.” – Mahatma Gandhi

 

As Gandhi stated, you need not wait to see what others do. Empowerment means taking personal responsibility, believing in yourself and your ability to change things. “You always have power to change things. It’s your perspective that makes you think otherwise. When you shift your perspective from victim to change-maker, the world shifts with it.” – Penache Desai

 

If you’re awake for 16 hours a day, you have 960 opportunities to change the world. A smile, a random act of generosity, a kind word, stepping out of your comfort zone, and even just energetically choosing love—these are all miniature miracles that make a difference.

 

When you shrink from action and wallow in the fear paradigm the media portrays, you feel powerless and stressed. “You can spend your whole life imagining ghosts and worrying about the pathway to the future, but all there will ever be is what’s happening here, and the decisions we make in this moment.” – Jim Carrey

 

Take personal responsibility for change. If you care about a situation, take steps toward changing it. “Love is an action. To be the change is to be love. Even when it hurts. Even when it’s easier to slip into patterns of fear. How else can we shift the collective consciousness from one of fear and stagnation to one of love and expansion? It starts within—it starts with you and it starts with love.” – Penache Desai

 

“You will only ever have two choices: love or fear. Choose love and don’t ever let fear turn you against your playful heart.” – Jim Carrey

 

NAMASTE

In Eastern Hindu traditions, people greet each other with “Namaste,” which means “the Divine in me greets the Divine in you.” In Christian traditions, people say to each other when they meet “The Christ within me salutes the Christ within you.” In Islamic traditions, people greet each other with a phrase which means “May the peace, mercy, and blessings of Allah be upon you,” — for which the reply is “And also with you.” We can choose to see every person we meet in two ways: through the dark eyes of judgment, or through the bright eyes of love. The glass you CHOOSE to look through determines the experience of your relationships.

The Wealth of Ideas

Ideas are the currency of the 21st century.  Gone are the days when a college or post-graduate degree or a title will guarantee you financial security and stability.  Jobs change rapidly with technology and innovation. Nostalgic desires to bring back jobs like making horse-drawn buggies ignore the fact that we now have cars, which are made by robots.  Fresh ideas and new skills will propel you to vision and purpose, and to success and freedom.  Practice writing 10 ideas a day to exercise your creative mind, while learning from everything you experience, everyone you meet, and everything you read – spawning more new ideas. Then ACT on your ideas, so they can germinate, grow, and produce fruit for you and the world. Do something today. Learn a new skill. Enroll in a course.  Write the first page.  Pick up that guitar. Connect two people who can help each other. Ideas without execution abound in the ether.

 

5 Dietary Tweaks to Increase Quality and Quantity of Life

In terms of life expectancy, the U.S. ranks around 28th of the 34 free-market democracies in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. According to the most rigorous analysis of risk factors ever published, the #1 CAUSE OF DEATH AND DISABILITY in the United States is DIET. The Global Burden of Disease study concluded the 5 worst components of the standard American diet are: (1) not eating enough fruit, (2) not eating enough vegetables, (3) not eating enough nuts and seeds, (4) eating too much salt, and (5) eating too much processed meat.  Such studies consistently find those eating more whole plant foods reduce the risk of dying prematurely from heart disease, cancer, and ALL causes of death combined.

 

Warren Buffett’s Simple Investment Advice for Anyone

In Warren Buffett’s recent annual letter to Berkshire shareholders, he advised investors to put their money in index funds and be done with it. In fact, he said, that’s what he plans to do with his own money once he is gone.

“My advice to the trustee couldn’t be more simple: Put 10% of the cash in short-term government bonds and 90% in a very low-cost S&P 500 index fund. (I suggest Vanguard’s.) I believe the trust’s long-term results from this policy will be superior to those attained by most investors — whether pension funds, institutions or individuals — who employ high-fee managers.”  In other words, Buffett believes even the best financial planners won’t consistently beat the S&P 500, particularly after factoring the cost of compounding fees.