8 Critical Practices for Inner and Outer Peace

Your world is conflict ridden and you find yourself frustrated daily without resolve. There's issues with your spouse, your ex, other family members or co-workers.

When you get your ego out of the way these problems are all solvable. You can dissolve the conflict and regain peace in your life in all areas. But it takes practise.

I'll outline the practices required to conquer these problems for good. Not only do these practices solve your immediate life issues but they also ripple out to the world around you on the fly.

It is said that our pain is self chosen. That said if you're suffering in relationships or elsewhere it's resolved through yourself.

You are the captain of your ship. Often times people project themselves into the future or dwell on the past which also leads to suffering.

You're conditioned that life's about survival so you must continually worry about the future. You also ruminate about the past at times which only creates tension and discomfort.

These habits of thinking ahead or behind remove you from the easement of the present moment. They're also the anchors that weigh you down from reaching your full potential.

To think about the future and worry about what could or could not happen tends to create it as reality. You create your reality through your most dominant thoughts.

While it is a good idea to plan the future it is a disservice to continue thinking about it. It's especially detrimental to imagine what could go wrong about future plans.

Worry creates stress in your body due to thoughts about a situation that hasn't happened and may not even happen at all. It creates suffering for no reason.

This is why it's said that our pain is self chosen. Without those thoughts about imaginary situations, you're at ease.

This applies to thoughts of the past as well. When you ruminate about the past it leads to negative emotions of sadness, depression and a sense of lack.

The thoughts often involve loss of a lover, family member, money or some possession. It keeps you rooted in the past which prevents you from moving forward in life to manifest anew.

Life is full of possibilities and opportunities but you can become closed off to them. This happens when your mind is crammed full of thoughts of past and future. It's your ego that wants to keep the past and future alive.

That's the challenge of living in the Now is that the ego consistently wants to get in the way. It convinces you that there are always important things to think about other than relaxing into the moment.

It barely gives you the time to truly fall still which is a state that connects you to the void. The void is the un-manifested which offers infinite possibilities of manifestation.

This is where dreams are brought to reality from nothing. In the void answers and solutions arise easily but with a mind that thinks incessantly you miss them.

The ego wants to remain active and while it's active there's no space for answers to arise. The average human thinks approximately 60,000 thoughts in a day.

It's a tiring affair. By the end of the day you're exhausted because thinking requires energy. You could also have trouble sleeping because of not being able to stop thinking.

Thinking continues at bed time and robs you of relaxation. This is why many people turn to sleeping medication. They revisit self doubt patterns and/or worry of the future.

If this is you you're not alone and it can be resolved with practise. The practise may be tedious especially in the beginning but every bit of effort is worth it.

It takes patience and consistency but the benefits are life changing.

The Advantages of Living in the Now

In 2013, I read the book "The Power of Now" by Eckhart Tolle. Upon doing so I dedicated myself to becoming a practitioner of living in the moment.

In that time I remember feeling tense for most of my living days. This was because of always trying to achieve a more fulfilling life than the one I was living.

I worried about the future and how I'd make enough money to support my young family. I found it hard to relax and sit still.

I felt better by always being in motion and getting things done. It was a restless energy. I also carried a fear of things going wrong at times.

It kept surfacing in my mind that I would have uncomfortable situations with co-workers, family etc. And because I thought like this, those circumstances would manifest by default.

As time passed I began practising meditation and continued to apply the principles from "The Power of Now". I began to realise that life was happening for me and not to me.

I grew into my power to manifest favourable breaks on the regular. To date when I'm faced with a challenge I always trust in my capacity to overcome or go around it.

Co-workers would even comment that they thought Jesus was following me around because circumstances would often mysteriously work out in my favour. I would get the scheduling I wanted without asking amongst other favourable breaks.

This is one of the benefits of practising present moment living--more synchronicities occur in your life. They begin to emerge more and more as you learn to quiet your thinking mind.

As the years passed I continued the journey of self observation. My ego was still quite active in the beginning years so it took more effort to quiet my mind then.

I continually read and apply knowledge from books and spiritual masters. I've learned to trust in the flow of life. This allows the fear of imagined negative scenarios recede.

With present moment awareness comes self awareness. With increased self awareness to stop negative thoughts before they become a loop.

This again brings you back to being connected with the void (infinite possibilities). Again when you're in touch with the void your mind is quiet and it has space for answers to arise without effort.

To test whether or not you're living in the moment spend a few days with your family and see how much they trigger you into reactivity. When you live in the Now these triggers no longer have power over you.

It's because you're self aware and able to take a moment to respond instead of react.

Your entire world begins to change and you start to create fresh life experiences because you're not reacting the same expected way. The more you practise living in the moment the more you teach others to do the same. This doesn't mean formal teaching--it can be indirect through being the example.

Living in the Now fosters a life of peace and harmony with others. It's also conducive to the manifestations of your desires by feeling that you already have it in the Now.

Whether you want to manifest or not, when you live with a quiet mind you transcend both your thoughts and physical body. You now live through your higher self which offers you infinite possibilities rather than limited possibilities.

You are actually an invisible, formless power house that is often kept hidden by your ego. Layers of self doubt, fear, worry, anxiety. It's all an illusion of the ego.

Your ego offers only limited possibilities because it creates life in conjunction with your thoughts. Your higher self (true self) offers infinite possibilities because you are creating life from nothing (an empty mind).

The thinking mind operates almost entirely in the past or future. Sometimes thinking is required for brief moments when relaying information to others.

But it becomes a disservice when there is a constant voice in your head creating self doubt and worrying about next week's problems. Living in the moment comes without that baggage.

When your mind is quiet it's creating life from the infinite. Since your reality is a replicate of your thoughts an empty mind is more powerful than one that relives thought patterns.

If you don't clear your mind you create the same reality over and over again. That reality is fed by worry and doubt. When your mind is empty you create from a clean slate which offers fresh experiences daily.

So how do you practise this state of being in everyday life?

The Practise of Now-ism

The art of living in the moment is our natural state of being but it's not our normal state. If you think of animals in nature they're not thinking about the past and worrying about the future. So for them it is both their natural and normal state.

Humans on the other hand, have been conditioned into compulsive thinking. So how do we stop it?

1) Self Observe

The most foundational practice is to self observe. This means to continually observe your thoughts as they arise and let them go.

You're then able to remain calm in conflict by handling it through your intentions vs your emotions. When you self observe you have the opportunity to elicit the best response in arguments.

You're no longer at the whim of your emotions when you harness this skill. You remain stable and bring high consciousness to every life situation.

You're ultimately able to acknowledge when you're causing your own suffering. You can identify negative thought loops.

2) Self Correct

As you catch these loops you can instead replace it with a desirable imagined outcome; however, if you're unable to do that it's also effective to simply observe and let go of the thoughts.

If you feel angry or frustrated emotions surfacing, take the time to observe them and let them go. It's challenging at first but overcoming these emotional patterns drastically changes your life.

Your ego strives to be right all the time which tends to feel good in the moment but afterwards you suffer. Your problems grow through reactivity.

Don't hold on to emotions and follow them because that's your ego (wanting to suck you back in). Quiet the mind and respond with intent.

Peace is at your fingertips as you practice this powerful tool.

3) Meditation

Another path to living in the peace of the moment is through meditation. Meditation is the practice of observing and letting go of thinking.

I wrote an article on different types of meditation and how to practice them. Check it out here: https://bmi.beehiiv.com/p/7-benefits-know-meditation?_gl=1*e21938*_ga*OTg3NDQ3OTYuMTY3OTg2MTcwMw..*_ga_E6Y4WLQ2EC*MTY4MzE1Mzg1OS4yNi4xLjE2ODMxNTM4NzMuNDYuMC4w

4) Allot a window of time to improve your life circumstances

A personal struggle that I had for a long time is worrying about the future and how to make my life situation better. So I'd spend several hours in a day trying to line up my housing situation, a new job or XYZ change that I wanted in life.

Because I spent so much time projecting myself into the future I felt tense and uneasy. I now set aside 30 minutes daily for addressing my life circumstances.

This allows me to relax more rather than working so hard to get somewhere else. I now feel grateful and trust that no matter what happens I'm able to relax.

If you're a person who puts a lot of effort into your future it is best to set a small block of time daily to that (~30 mins). What's most important in this life is to live in the moment and appreciate your life as it is (without needing it to change).

This practise alone slows time down and removes the rush effect to life.

5) Return to your senses

Spend most of your time in a state of an empty mind. Forget the past and future. It's surprising at how much those thoughts don’t serve you.

A practise that helps this is to come back to your senses (particularly sight and sound). Become acutely aware of the visuals and sounds wherever you are.

With this practice you also become aware of the space between the sounds. You get in touch with the silence which is a sign that you've merged with the quantum energy field of the universe. You now have access to raw power.

If you find yourself thinking too much you can start by slowing your thoughts. You slow them by observing and letting them go.

This eventually returns you to your breath. Once you're here you can practise visual and sound awareness.

6) Direct your life with intent

Once you have practised living from a clear mind it offers you a chance to direct and intend your life. A clear mind is ready to respond to life in the best way possible.

You then have the power to align yourself with a personally designed reality. This allows your manifestations to come to fruition without interference of the ego.

The ego is often wondering when and how your manifestations will occur. This usually brings a feeling of tension to the equation which sends the signal of lack to the universe.

Everything is frequency specific so when you match the frequency of lack you delay the manifestation. In the present moment, when you feel the manifestation has already happened you're in tune with its frequency.

Tuning to the moment brings such opportunity to create from the infinite. From this state you're no longer at the whim of your life circumstances.

When you're in touch with the fullness of who you are there is nothing that can make you more complete nor take from your wholeness.

You may acquire material things in the world and you may lose them. In the grand scheme it doesn't matter.

People often resist the loss of something in their lives through negative emotions (dwelling). If you do this you tell the universe that you're in lack so more lack scenarios flow in to match that frequency you’re emitting.

When you instead live in the moment you're able to accept and let go easily.

Letting go and surrendering keeps you connected to the infinite. All desires are best manifested from this state of being. That said, it's the fastest pathway to manifesting anew where there is loss.

So the power of living in the moment allows you to trust that no matter what you lose in life you can regain it and more.

7) Realize your wholeness

There's no limit to what you can manifest from the Now. Also there's no need to manifest anything because in the now you are already whole and complete.

Anxiousness about manifesting a future to be happy is not needed because the joy of being alive exists in this very moment always.

At first you may not experience the present moment as joy. It tends to feel like a spaciousness in the beginning.

Visit that spaciousness as often as possible every day all day. From living in the Now you find your life's purpose easily because you're aware of your wholeness.

8) Dis-identify with opinions and beliefs

The more you practise living in the Now the more your life will begin to change. You'll find yourself less reactive and more responsive.

With the spaciousness it gives you the opportunity to take a moment to respond from your higher self. When faced with a challenge your ego will no longer control you into negative reactions.

You'll no longer identify with personal emotions and opinions. This allows you the easement of not feeling threatened when your opinion is challenged. You are not your emotions or opinions.

Take a moment when your opinion is challenged to remember the overall intent of the conversation. It's often to bring understanding to your viewpoint rather than proving yourself right.

The ego loves to be right and to feel superior to others but that's not the goal. Rise above that and explain your opposing view peacefully.

Mention that you could be wrong and then state your opinion. This shows the other person that your identity is not invested in the opinion. It fosters an easiness to the debate.

If a debate happens with an unconscious person it may become heated and in that case you can agree to disagree.

This allows you to direct the energy back to peace. You now have leverage in arguments of any kind.

With these 8 actionable practices you have the ability to alter the course of your life entirely. I wish you peace, harmony and powerful manifestations from living in the Now.

With love,

Kush Wood

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Are you ready to embody your higher self on the regular? The result is to learn to dissolve or go around life’s problems rather than make them bigger. I offer affordable counselling to help you achieve that.

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