Many of us often find ourselves in states where our minds keep racing, we can’t relax, our bodies are tense and tend to be on high alert and we find ourselves on edge more than we like. We wake up frequently over the night or have a hard time winding down and falling asleep.

There will always be stressors and pressures, but we have to remember that how we react and the impact is up to us. As Buddhist monk and author Thich Nhat Hanh writes, “Peace is present right here and now, in ourselves and in everything we do and see. The question is whether or not we are in touch with it.”

We do not have to resign ourselves to feeling on edge or letting outside forces, people or circumstances get to us. This does not have to be an accepted (or even expected) way of living. It is not a badge of honor and it does not have to be chalked up to “this is life.”  We all have the ability to cultivate calm by practicing healthy techniques.

We have all experienced those moments of feeling that everything is right and good in our worlds, where we feel at peace and content and where the constant noise in our heads is silenced. They can be quite fleeting, but they do give us a glimpse into being calm. But through a conscious choice we can learn to emphasize those feelings in our lives. We can teach ourselves ways to achieve peace of mind from the inside, and within ourselves. Here are a few “best practices” that you can incorporate into life. 

Turn down the stimuli

There is a lot of noise in our world—constant messages and alerts, 24/7 feeds of information, traffic, etc. But you can make a conscious decision to dial it down. Step away from the TV or computer, get off of social media and carve out time to remove yourself from crowds and noisy places.

Get Outside

Getting fresh air and some sunshine does a body and mind good. Take a break even if for five or ten minutes to get outside. Take deep breaths and simply feel the sun and air.

Turn up the Beauty

There are things that are beautiful to us—flowers, a picture, music, etc. Incorporate into your environment some things that capture your senses and lower your blood pressure

Do Something You Enjoy

Finding and doing something you enjoy transitions your thoughts away from the stress. The “something” does not have to be something big or expensive. In fact, the simple things can make the biggest impact. For some it’s baking or cooking, for some reading, for some taking a hike or walk and for others just sitting in a favorite lounge chair in the sun.

Create a Mantra

When you start to feel overwhelmed, stressed out, worried—when you feel that your calm is fading—the combination of deep breathing and repeating a calming mantra can help you reset and bring you back to center.

Smile and Say Thank You

You don’t have to perpetuate (or project) your feeling of anxiety, stress or tiredness. As you move through your day and encounter others be polite, greet people with a smile and say thank you.

Visualize a “Safe Place”

Sometimes it may be difficult to break away, practice your mantra or do a favorite activity. When you are in this position, steal away to the bathroom, your car or an empty room and for a few minutes visualize a place that you love, where you feel safe, peaceful and relaxed. Give yourself permission to stay there for a few minutes to bring calm back.

I’m sure there are other suggestions that may resonate with you. The key is to build your toolbox for cultivating calm and put the tools into practice.

“[The victors of WW II] introduced an all-pervasive, ultra-powerful society-shaping drug. This drug was the first of a growing group of high-technology drugs that deliver the user into an alternate reality by acting directly on the user’s sensorium, without chemicals being introduced into the nervous system. It was television. No epidemic or addictive craze or religious hysteria has ever moved faster or made as many converts in so short a time.”  — Terrence McKenna, Food of the Gods

 

We are living in a most interesting time, some call it the information age. But beyond that, the global changes that are occurring at this time on national, political, international, physical and spiritual levels is truly amazing. It really is an amazing time to be alive.

In this time of unparalleled access to information, some of which can liberate and free your mind (if used correctly) that was once hidden, there also is an abundance of deceptive and distorted information. We are also being bombarded with electromagnetic radiation and signals on a grand scale. Most of these signals are unseen to the naked eye, but that does not mean that they are not there. We can’t see all of the x-rays, radio waves, microwaves, infrared light, ultraviolet light, and gamma radiation etc., amongst others that permeate the world around us.

I find it interesting how much we humans rely on our sense of sight. It seems like it is the most primary and dominant of the five senses that we use daily. It almost seems like we take our other senses much more for granted as they kind of fall into a backdrop compared to our vision, which brings us vivid colors, the faces of both strangers and those so familiar to us, and the road ahead which we could not navigate otherwise.

Our seemingly most relied on sense of sight, as wondrous as it is and what it allows for us to see, can only see a small sliver of the total electromagnetic spectrum, as the visible part only makes up a small fraction of it.  To be exact, since less than 1% of all light that reaches us is in the visible spectrum, it comes out to about .0035% of the entire electromagnetic spectrum.

Taking this into account, it’s not so hard to believe that most of what is around us is unseen, although when we don’t see anything we tend to think nothing is there. Electronic devices of all kinds surround us now more than ever. Because of this, it’s easier now more than ever to be located, tracked and monitored. In this age of convenience, this can be a great thing when emergencies arise, or when we are even stranded somewhere.

On the other hand, these same devices can be used to invade our privacy, predict our behavior and make us vulnerable to attacks, both physical and virtual. It’s important that now more than ever before that we understand the scope of our own behavior when using all the new gadgets and technology available to us so we don’t fall prey to outside influences (that are both known to be harmful and even those that claim they are not).

This is such a fast time we live in now, for example if you look back only 15 years or so, cell phones were not nearly as common as they are now. Almost everyone has one now, even kids! We are almost guinea pigs in the sense that we are not even sure what this constant exposure to cellular phones is having in terms of a physical effect on our bodies.

Again we are told they are completely safe, but studies have shown that over-exposure can be harmful, especially to developing brains. Just ask yourself how you feel after being on a long phone call with your cell phone, or when you are in front of a computer screen or tv for too long. Personally I feel a negative effect as I start to get antsy, my head begins to hurt and I just feel the need to put it down and walk away.

There is only so much you can do it seems to protect yourself from all kinds of unseen manipulation both direct or indirect that occurs in this day and age, (unless you are living off the grid or close to it, or are a hermit) but we can take steps to mitigate the many harmful effects to our person, both physically, virtually and mentally. Awareness is key, just like it is and always has been when it comes to stopping being manipulated directly from a physical one on one or group dynamic interaction.

This unseen manipulation can sometimes be staring us right in our face, a prime example of this is television which was noted in the quote to start this post. Many people trust much of what they see on television regarding the news and other things such as history and documentaries etc.  There is a reason why they call it ‘programming’.

Remember like anything else, you now have the power to not only fact check, but also have access to different perspectives on topics both national and global thanks to the internet, foreign and alternate news networks, channels, websites, etc.

Getting back to nature more often, like experiencing old growth forests, natural waterfalls, gardening, camping out in nature, and just getting closer to the earth in general and disconnecting as much as possible is also a good way to break from the high tech norm and fill our bodies with much needed negative ions (yes I said negative ions).

Like a good martial artist who develops a physical and mental regimen to ward off attack and defend their person, in this high tech era, the use of new tools, access to a broader range of information than ever, and developing our awareness so we can protect ourself on a level beyond what most others are doing will serve us well.

In the twists and turns of life, sometimes we feel we either are right on course for where we think we need to be or we may feel like something is missing, or even that we have maybe lost our way. Hopefully you feel like you are ‘right where you need to be’, but if you feel otherwise, don’t despair because you are not alone and you can get back on track.

The strangest part about feeling this way is that it can be hard to pin down exactly why you do. Some people may even say they feel ‘depressed’ or just feel out of sorts. I know when I was younger, I found myself often in a state of melancholy and never really knew why. I had a loving family and people that cared about me, was healthy and athletic, played sports, had a lot of friends, I wasn’t poor, etc., and so I really had no real reason to feel this way.

I only mention this about myself because I can relate when someone tells me they feel out of sorts and they can’t explain it, I was like this for years. But I would shift, sometimes happy and filled with wonder, and sometimes the opposite. I didn’t know where I was going in life although I had a lot going for me. The smallest thing could seemingly change my mood, and ultimately my course, almost like a leaf at the mercy of the wind.

Sometimes it hits me as an adult, being much older now almost like it did way back then. But if I look at the big picture, take a deep breath and a step back, I see that I was happy coming into this world, as a child the world was full of wonder and limitless possibilities. We can recapture this in our current state, but only if we consciously choose so. It has to be a daily decision to do it. And if we do, it will be the same and at the same time not the same, (the feeling that is) because we are always changing, evolving, and growing as human beings. 

But the feeling is what counts. So how do we arrive back at the feeling of knowing we are on the right path or Way? Re-finding your Way is always a rediscovery of yourself and who you think you are. It’s natural to lose yourself, life can become seemingly so complicated and there are just too many variables sometimes to avoid this from happening. So recognizing this, is the first step in getting back on track.

An important thing to remember also is that you can simplify the basics that you need to and that there were things you have experienced in the past that you felt gave you purpose, that motivated you to move with energy and excitement. We can reclaim or revisit these ‘things’, whatever they may be to help us get back on course. We can try some new activities or hobbies we’ve been putting off as well to help start to shift and see things differently.

Sometimes maybe we need to just take a break. I have found that for me personally, taking a hiatus from something you are so used to doing can help tremendously and gives me fresh perspective. Remember, you are not obligated to do anything. You are only obligated to yourself, and sometimes being a little selfish is OK. I am not saying neglect those around you that need you, just that if you are not the ‘you’, you need to be, those around you will suffer as well. So take some time for yourself if need be.

Ultimately the key to re-finding your way to where you feel ok with everything, is finding balance. The only real balance we can have control over is what we do with our bodies, how we think and our reaction to things. Letting go of controlling outcomes, and other peoples opinions and actions is a must. Some other practical things we can do daily is to go inside and out.

By inside and out, I mean doing some type of daily internal practice (meditation, affirmations, personal mantra, self-hypnosis, breathing exercises/chi kung, etc.) and some type of physical activity (calisthenics, weight training, jogging/walking, hiking, yoga, martial arts, etc.). By going ‘inside’ and ‘out’ we not only rejuvenate ourselves, but help ourselves to focus our energy and be in the moment. When we can do this, the universe naturally starts putting us back on track.