11 Ways Spirituality Fuels a Life of Peace

For 90% of my life I've felt tension in my body. I felt uneasy in my skin. Going through life with tightness in my body thinking that this is how it is to be human.

I'd go to work or school every day with a feeling of subtle fear within. I especially struggled in school when I was bullied. Based on those experiences I held fear in everyday life by imagining uncomfortable scenarios happening.

Those scenarios happened as often as life dictated because I was living life by default. Without monitoring my thoughts I was victim to whichever way the winds of life blew.

I was sad as a youth going to school and truly unhappy in high school. I didn't fit in so I felt lost, alone and imprisoned.

Even in social interactions with people I considered friendly acquaintances I could feel this tension emerging in my body. I didn't understand what it was but I certainly noticed it.

Feelings of unworthiness tainted my life which robbed me of joy.

I remember in my early youth my parents introduced some positive thinking cassettes to me by a guy named Bob Mowatt. I listened and it offered some relief to me at the time but it was not sustainable.

I often felt tension and pressure that I had to get places quickly because I'm running out of time. This is the conditioning brought upon by society and parents (doing the best with what they know).

My dad often pressured me to get moving to get things done which was his way of motivating me into a better life. This resulted in me rushing around as a habit.

So with the tension of getting places fast, I started to entertain the fears and ideas of having no control over when I die. I imagined things like a heart attack and cancer.

I believed those things could happen to anyone out of the blue without warning so I began to worry. Sometimes while driving I would even imagine scenarios like a car crash.

One day I was driving on the highway and my body started to become tingly especially in my arms.

It got really strong and took me over so I had to pull over to rediscover the ability to drive. It was a panic attack.

I realised then that there was a problem I needed to solve asap. I had no idea how but started with my diet. I gravitated toward organics and felt more peace of mind that I was doing the right thing.

As time progressed the panic attack did not occur again however the tension continued in my body day in, day out.

I learned meditation practices which aided in calming my mind. During the practise I'd eventually dissipate the tension by quieting my mind.

It's incredible how thoughts can wreak havoc on your body.

Recycling negative thoughts brought me to a panic attack while driving. Nothing else was going on except for the workings of my mind.

This reveals the truth in the saying "You're your own worst enemy". More accurately, your thoughts are your own worst enemy.

After reading the book The Power of Now by Eckart Tolle, I began to realise I am not my thoughts and don't need to identify with them.

I learned the tools to accept and surrender to the tension I felt which helped dissipate it. I still use these tools today which helps me self correct in the moment.

I still have negative thoughts at times but they no longer rule me. If I find myself in a negative loop I use meditation to find answers which relieves the compulsive thinking.

The root of suffering for humans is compulsive thinking. It is the state of not being at ease. It still happens to me from time to time but I now have tools to rediscover inner peace.

It's a continual practise for me to this day to remain self aware and present in day to day life. I have had some glorious moments of wholeness during meditation several times.

In these times of meditation I feel raw power surging through my body. It's electric. This is usually achieved alongside music that resonates.

I'm happy to see how far I've come from being tense most of the time to realising my full capacity in spirit. I'm able to find peace in every life scenario.

It sometimes takes processing but I'm continually developing myself into higher levels of consciousness. In higher levels of consciousness there's sustained peace.

Here are the practices I use to maintain inner peace:

The Path of Peace

Acceptance

People often resist challenges and fight against life when unexpected situations arise. This usually leads to strengthening the negative situation.

The faster you accept a supposed negative situation that has come up, the faster you’ll find a solution to it. You bypass the negative emotions and ruminating that comes with dwelling on issues.

This empowers you into a new favourable reality. I wrote an article on recent financial and relationship downfalls and how I quickly turned them into personal resilience. You can read it here if you wish:

Accept the current moment without needing it to change to find the immediate path to peace. When you surrender you are no longer fighting against anything. The result is easement of both the body and mind.

All you really need to do is accept this moment fully. You are then at ease in the here and now and at ease with yourself. -Eckhart Tolle

Return to the Breath

If you feel tense it's always linked to thinking. Negative thoughts perpetuate because they're not being observed. This creates an unconscious loop which results in tension.

Start by becoming aware of your thoughts and simply observing them. This will allow you to slow your thoughts down.

Once thinking slows completely to a stop you return to your breath. Follow the breath in and out. Say hello to calmness. This is the state of being (aka presence).

The ego often tells us that there are more important things that need to get done so it is often coaxing you out of being. Sit and observe the activity of your mind.

Accept it, allow it, but don't follow the thoughts. Let them pass.

Practise this a few times throughout the day to regain calmness and easement in your body. Peace is attainable anywhere, anytime with this method.

Meditation

Meditation is an effective practise for attaining inner peace as well as manifestations. The ultimate purpose of meditation though is to end suffering.

It leads to answers to challenges in life by clearing the mind chatter. Once that is out of the way answers emerge.

You can start by setting an intention out loud or in your mind before meditating. The intention can be to heal some negative recurring emotions or to aid in desired manifestations.

Sit cross legged in a comfortable position with spine erect to align the chakras (energy pathways) of the body. This allows the flow of your breath to move throughout your body.

After setting the intention close your eyes and begin by focusing only on your breath. Allow thoughts to arise, observe them and let them pass.

Continue observing them with the intention to quiet the mind to nothingness. It takes practise but the more you practise meditation the more "Aha!" moments you have in life.

Answers to life's challenges are always readily available within you. In the quietness they surface.

Meditation for manifestations is done similarly. You first observe and quiet the mind. Once the mind is still you envision your desired manifestation as though it has happened.

For instance you can imagine yourself in the new home with your lover or whatever you desire to achieve. The frontal lobe of your brain registers this vision as law.

When the mind is chatter free it is fertile grounds for creating from infinite possibilities. Infinite possibilities stem from stillness (the unmanifested).

"Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." - Jesus Christ

Self observe and self correct

At times you'll visit negative thought which results in sinking feelings. The ego is the fear based side of your mind that produces doubt and worry.

When you observe yourself throughout the day you're no longer controlled by them. So start by observing your thoughts throughout the day.

You are the observer of your life. That is the true you. You're the essence behind your emotions and thoughts.

As you observe negative emotions or feelings within you'll be able to link them to thought patterns which are the root of those emotions.

I used to recycle negative scenarios in my head that hadn't happened yet but I'd expect certain negative reactions from my ex wife at times. I'd play out these frictional moments in my head in a loop and plan how I'd react.

Sure enough the result would align with my thinking. I began to correct those negative loops by observing and acknowledging the loop.

Being present (without thought) allows me to create my life from the void (infinite possibilities) vs creating from negative loops. The result is little to no friction between my ex and I.

If you wonder, I need to keep in contact with my ex since we share custody of our children. Life flows in harmony now without the imagined negative scenarios.

Become self aware to transcend negative thought patterns. They're the root of suffering.

If you feel tension within your body from worry, realise it's rooted only in thought. It's only a fear of a non-existent problem that you're imagining.

That fearful scenario may not even occur the way you imagine it. Even if it does, you'll deal with it in the moment the best you can. It does you no good to feel the pain of it before it's even happened.

Worry engages stress hormones in the body because the brain doesn't know any different between an imagined scenario and the reality.

It is important then to self observe to acknowledge the root of your pain. When you find an negative thought loop occurring practise these steps:

1) Accept the thoughts (surrender)

2) Let them go (detach)

3) Imagine that scenario playing out favourably instead

Your thoughts create reality so the practise of reinforcing positive outcomes is powerful. You need to stop reaffirming negative outcomes and re-imagine it as desired.

Self correction is powerful but can be tedious because it's about breaking habits. Every bit of effort is worth it.

Focus on small achievable improvements because they're gentle and easy to adopt. 1% improvements of yourself per day compound over a year to a 365% personal change. That is huge!

With this correction practise you'll be a bigger, better you by the end of 2023.

Design your life with intent

Life is your creation. Your thoughts dictate reality. So if your thoughts are habitually negative, you're choosing pain.

With the tool of self observation you're able to create life from a self aware space. With that in mind you increase potential for greater possibilities to occur.

Fresh experiences arise outside of the old program (habit).

Make your dominant daily thoughts your desired life outcomes and they will begin to manifest in their time. The reason they manifest is that you combine thought and feeling with already having it.

This practice raises your energetic vibration to match the frequency of the outcome you envision. So thought + feeling + consistency = manifestations. Be patient and detach from the "when".

When you detach from the timing it allows the flow of the universe to create the outcome without interference. Detachment allows the manifestation because you're creating it from a place of wholeness and not from neediness/lack.

When you feel lack you match the frequency of lack. Instead feeling the outcome in this moment matches you to the frequency of it's attainment.

"Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." Jesus Christ

Be mindful of the content you consume 

You are what you eat and that includes what you feed your mind. Online media has so much variety nowadays.

Some content fuels your mind into empowerment. Other content dis-empowers you into limitations.

That which is dis-empowering is rooted in fear which limits the fullness of life. It is the strongest disablement of human expression.

When this type of content feeds your subconscious mind you become unconsciously hysterical.

It causes you various weakened states such as jumpiness, nervousness and confusion. People seem addicted to it.

It doesn't leave you feeling good after watching a horror movie. I remember watching horror movies in the past and feeling uneasy afterwards for days.

These movies invoke stress hormones in your body. Not good.

I used to watch horror movies until I read the book "Natural Cures they Don't Want you to Know About" by Kevin Trudeau. He explains the concept of stress and horror movies.

I weaned myself off those movies to validate that theory. It is a personal truth to this day. You only truly know when you put the experiment to the test.

I feel more at ease since making that change.

Diminish fear and anxiety from your life by eliminating the sources that feed it. The content you consume is an input to your brain.

Cut out the fear oriented material to find added security in yourself. You'll develop a trust in your own safety when not imagining a predator waiting around every corner in your own home.

On the flip side, filling your mind with empowering content will fuel you into greatness. After all, you are a master underneath layers of conditioning… just waiting to emerge.

Peel the layers... especially the fear and you'll become intimately connected with the master that you are. The purpose on this planet is to get to know thyself -- as you do, true sustainable happiness is at your fingertips.

This is not like the happiness you experience from attaining a new lover, a new home etc. That happiness typically wears off after a month, 3 months or maybe a year.

This is because those attainments begin to present their own set of challenges over time.

The experience of happiness is fleeting when dependent on the outside world. Sustained happiness instead is found at any time or place within the present moment.

It takes practise but consistent effort brings mastery. There's no greater path of empowerment than to become spiritually aware.

When you do, everything else falls into place and there's no resistance or struggle. It is a place of acceptance in full embrace of life's moments.

The appreciation for being alive becomes real.

Dis-identify with opinions and beliefs

Many people identify with their opinions which creates increased friction in conversation. The root is that they cling to those opinions so when someone challenges them they feel threatened.

It's the same response in the body as though that person is being attacked by a predator. The same stress hormones are secreted as a response.

So in the case of disagreeing with someone you are not so identified with proving your point or being right. Proving the point is the secondary purpose.

The primary is to have a constructed debate while being self aware. This is conducive to a peaceful interaction.

If the secondary purpose is not achieved that's ok. You still expressed with the primary purpose and can agree to disagree without attachment.

When you detach from personal opinions you levitate from conflict and move forward with peace.

You have less friction with interactions and increased harmony of life. It doesn't matter if the other person understands your perspective in the moment or not.

The bottom line is that you increase the level of peace in your life through self awareness. You lose the struggle of identifying with opinions.

Life becomes more joyous without heated friction. Others may still become heated but you can accept them as being unconscious humans.

Forgive them for they know not what they do. When you detach and forgive, you don’t let that unconscious person ruin your day.

You diminish conflict through continual self awareness. From this level of consciousness you bring peace into every interaction.

You take the high road time and time again. The high road is your new destiny.

Find understanding in others to help maintain peace in differing views. Validate their opinions before you express a differing personal opinion.

This helps people feel as though they've been heard. It keeps the interaction peaceful and offers an opportunity for your opinion to be heard.

You are now able to influence those around you with little to no resistance.

When you are self aware you are living through the transcendent dimension. You are no longer ruled by your ego in reactivity.

Silence and slowness

Self awareness gives leverage on identifying personal suffering. All suffering is linked to thought and nothing more. When your mind is not riddled with thought, solutions arise in the silence (clarity).

The quality of life rises when you're not rushing around completing tasks. Rushing life is nothing more than self imposed pressure.

I've often been caught up in constantly trying to get things done. I'd been living my life longing for a more fulfilling time in the future.

Living that way is a recipe for continual dissatisfaction. It’s the idea that happiness is just over the next hill. After you get over that hill though, another appears.

All we ever have is the now. Appreciate life where you’re at now without needing it to change.

It takes practise for me to this day because I'd been in go go go mode for several years. When I take time to embrace the moment it let's me find peace vs the tension of steady pressure to get places.

I've achieved feelings of complete wholeness many times in meditation so I understand the truth of this theory. Those are times when I surrender to the moment.

The idea that you’re running out of time and everything is at stake has been hard wired into most people. It’s a fallacy and only causes inner tension when operating from that lack mentality.

Self awareness allows me to slow down when I'm feeling tense. The self imposed tension begins to dissipate as I become aware of it.

Your level of consciousness dictates your reality in myriad ways. With self awareness, your life becomes intentional and directed from a powerful place.

Peace becomes a bigger part of your moment to moment existence. Remember that it's always available to you regardless of your life circumstances.

It takes practise to drop into being (presence) but it is your real self. The real you has no worry, doubt, fear or pain.

You are the silent observer in the background of your thoughts. A raw and present power.

The more you learn to tap into your true essence, the less perturbed you become by the outside world.

Detach

Attachment is the most common trait of humans.

If you lose a lover, your car, your home you tend to suffer. True power lies in detachment.

I carried insecurities around for many years based on past experiences. The result was harboured tension in my body.

Another form of tension I experience comes from worrying about the future. I'm currently living off savings which is a finite resource.

I've been worrying about how I'm going to support myself and my 4 children as a single parent.

The unknown is a scary place when the ego takes over; however, the practise of forgetting the past and future allows me to live from a space of neutrality.

This neutral space is no longer fearful because nothing is happening to me in the current moment that is fearful. The only fear I experience is self created.

It exists only by projecting thoughts into the future or the past. Neither past nor future exist, so I've been creating my own pain in the present moment for nothing.

Lately I've been practising presence and meditating to find answers. I'm now able to hold greater peace with the unknowns of my life.

I trust the path in front of me and feel that I will find a way to succeed. It began with sitting with myself and fully processing those negative emotions that plagued me.

I detached from the past and future to drop into the peace of the moment. I did this by focusing only on what I can control today and taking those steps.

The present is all there ever is so to think about past and future with worry and doubt is a true waste.

There's one sure thing of life is that it brings constant change. When you're in acceptance of life's changes, you're at ease with yourself and the world.

The only thing that creates stress is being attached to things staying the same. In the face of change, let go and embrace whatever may come.

When you let go you make space for something new and better to enter your life.

Your ego wants to control everything and is attached to outcomes. Instead when you detach and embrace each moment as it is (without needing it to change) you find peace.

Easier said than done in some cases but as you begin to practise this in daily life you are literally practising self empowerment.

When I was first starting a family with 2 kids I decided I wanted to move to Costa Rica indefinitely to experience life in the tropics in a completely new environment. I had a decent job at the time which I quit and just went for it.

My family thought I was crazy but I did it anyway and am so grateful that I detached from my old life to experience more of the world than the small town I grew up in.

Detachment offers freedom in many ways. Adopt detachment for a lighter life experience.

This includes minimalism with personal belongings as well as your intimate life. I wrote an article in regard to detaching from material items and dating “options” for a clear mind here:

Life is full of possibilities and by being detached you create life from a place of trust.

The universe delivers matching realities to the emotions and thoughts you carry. When we have fear we tend to want to control things and cling to them.

If you're in this mode you're creating from a lack mentality and the result is the corresponding outcome. Instead when you're in a state of trust the universe abides by delivering favourable outcomes.

Forgiveness

Forgiveness is a sure path to relieving resistance. It allows the flow of life no matter what happens.

If you're unable to forgive life moment to moment you can process those residing emotions by sitting and meditating on them. Allow them to be felt fully and consciously.

Set the intention of healing them before meditating. This allows them to be processed fully and cleared from your body. Emotions reside in your body when unhealed.

Sometimes it's difficult to find peace in every day life and to accept the present moment. I'm sometimes hard on myself for not being able to achieve stillness which actually perpetuates the issue.

I forget that it's not about achieving peace. It's in fact the opposite. It's about surrendering to peace.

It's about succumbing to the inner resistance. Accept and forgive it, then let go.

This is your natural state under layers of self imposed resistance. Give in to yourself and fully accept the present moment without needing it to change.

Connect with Nature

Nature offers us the most organic conduction of inner stillness. It is a great reset if you find yourself in your head a lot and overthinking.

I literally just returned from the forest minutes ago after a 30 minute meditation on a fallen tree. At first I noticed tension in my body but while meditating I was able to quiet myself and accept every part of me.

I sometimes feel tension within because of my own internal conditioning. The conditioning that I need to make more money, buy a house, take consistent action... Go go go..

With the meditation in nature I found it easier to fall into the silence and sounds of nature—to feel my wholeness as the soul that I am.

I proved the truth of the Buddha's recommendations to meditate in nature today. He became enlightened in nature.

I am not yet enlightened to his level but I understand the reason he recommended the forest as a place to connect to your higher self.

There is a quantum energy field available to us all the time but it is particularly potent and accessible in nature. It is subtle yet powerful.

Tune into nature to reset a chaotic mind. What happens when you tune in is your conscious mind merges with the energy field of nature. It becomes one with the harmonious stillness.

Nature loves to have you. It becomes conscious through you. When you bring your alert presence to nature you make trees conscious of themselves.

In Summary:

Your level of consciousness dictates your reality in myriad ways. With that in mind, your life becomes intentional and self directed from a powerful place.

With raw acceptance of life's moments you turn off compulsive thinking and discover clarity of mind. Mind chatter otherwise gets in the way of finding solutions to life situations you face.

The ego produces discomfort but the quieting of the ego (the chattering inner voice) produces inner peace. It's your natural state but it's often clouded by compulsive thinking.

As you practise being the gatekeeper of your mind, you simultaneously gate-keep your reality. With these powerful tools in mind you'll find greater harmony, peace and balance in your day to day life.

As you change your inner world, you change your outer world. Observe and quiet your ego and live through your greatest potential... in the Now.

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With love,

-Kush