The New Year brings with it the opportunity to make some much-needed changes in your life. One of the most important resolutions that you can make is to make peace with yourself and accept the things that you cannot change.
Once you are at peace, you will find it a lot easier to make positive changes in other areas of your life. The following are a few ways to start.
Accept yourself
This sounds very easy, but it certainly takes some work to completely accept the person you are. This does not mean that you have to just settle for the things you are unhappy with. In fact, when you reach the stage of acceptance, it is a lot easier to determine what you want to change.
Then, of course, there are things that you have no control over, and it is important to accept these as they are and learn to work with them.
Practice meditation
Meditation allows you to reach deep within yourself and find your center. To find peace, you need to be able to connect your mental, emotional and physical self. On average, you want to practice meditation for about 20 minutes each day – although meditation can have benefits even if you do it for just five minutes.
Find a quiet and calm place, get comfortable and focus on the present moment. The key is to clear your mind so that you can truly relax. Paying attention to your breathing can help a lot. Meditation offers hundreds of different benefits, and you start experiencing these after your very first session.
Be one with nature
Getting out in nature is one of the most effective ways to find a sense of calm. People spend a lot of time in the concrete jungle for work, errands and other responsibilities throughout the week. A short walk in the woods each week allows you to take a break from it all, and lets you really concentrate on your thoughts.
This is the perfect time to work through your worries, because you are in a place that does not magnify them. You can also go for a bike ride, enjoy a swim in a river or the ocean (climate permitting) or simply relax in your garden to get a similar effect.
Learn more
The more you know, the easier it is to work things out to make life a little easier. You can find a lot of peace in kicking back and reading a book on a topic that you are unfamiliar with. This allows you to totally lose yourself while gaining some much needed wisdom.
Learning also gives you the chance to accept the fact that there are a lot of things that you do not know. When you accept this, you will develop a thirst for learning that is nearly impossible to quench, putting you on a journey to reach a higher level of self-discovery.
Start with one of these and slowly start working the other methods into your life. This allows for an easy transition, so that you can gradually work toward a greater sense of peace and self – and both are necessary for a healthy and full life.
-The Alternative Daily
Sources:
http://tinybuddha.com/blog/8-tips-to-feel-at-peace-with-yourself
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/no-more-regrets/201103/make-peace-yourself-how-we-let-go-regret
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/maggie-lyon/finding-inner-peace_b_1099583.html
