How to feel at Peace :)

The cutest creature, Lady Beetle :)
I let her have an enjoyable walk on my fingers before flying away 

Hello Hello wonderful creatures.  I just want to start the blog by disclosing how much I adore each and everyone of you guys.  For this particular reason, I decided to enrich each one of you with a blog post encompassing peace.  Why this topic in particular?  Well, here is the mystery.  I came across this amazing quote by Francesco Petrarch, “Five great enemies to peace inhabit with us:  avarice, ambition, envy, anger, and pride.  If those enemies were to be banished, we should infallibly enjoy perpetual peace." 

So I was hanging out with a very close friend of mine in Shaqlawa facing the spectacular view of Safeen.  We talked a lot about life and the changes we have gone through as we made the move to live in Kurdistan. We were both feeling at peace for the 4 hours that we faced the beautiful mountain...we discussed how we could keep this feeling of peace.  We  agreed that it would be really easy to keep that feeling if we simply stayed at where we were, facing the beautiful mountain...but that's just not the real world.  I didn't want to come home and jump right back on the merry-go-round...the go, go, go...seeing the weeks fly by...so I've given it a lot of thought and I have a plan...I'm a To Do List girl...I work better with a list, but my list is really probably never realistic.  I put way too many things on list for a day and then feel like I've failed if I don't finish the tasks...so I am pledging today to be better about my list...I will be realistic...I will only put a day's worth of activities on the list...OK, I've committed to it, it's in print, I'm in.

I'm also committing to getting back to exercising...I realized this morning that I hadn't been running in a month, now I really didn't just blow the gym off, we were traveling, a wonderful thing, lots of fun...but no gym time. I feel so much better when I exercise...so I'm getting back on track!  With my walking comes my thinking, meditating so to speak, and I am much more pleasant person when I do that. 


So here I have piled up 10-points that I find to be vital in maintaining peace; 10 things you can start doing as of this minute. Ready?  Go! 

Prioritize and Set a limit: If your life is overfilled with stuff you may need to set some limits. You may need to stop doing some of the least important things, the things that if you are honest really don’t matter that much. Don’t hold yourself to “perfect” standards. And set a limit for how many times you will check inboxes, Facebook, Twitter etc. per day. Checking on stuff all the time creates a lot of stress. And say no if you really don’t have the time.

Find a relaxation technique that works for you. I personally like to do cardio for relaxation.  Running gets loads of stress out of me. What works for you? Long walks, music, yoga, meditation or going for a swim? Find out and do that.

Don’t make mountains out of molehills. This can create a lot of unnecessary stress. When facing what looks like a mountain then ask yourself questions like: Does someone on the planet have it worse than me? Will this matter in 5 years? These questions help you zoom out and realize that in most cases things aren’t really that bad and you can handle them.

Slow down. Your emotions work backwards too. If you slow down while walking, moving your body or talking you can often start to feel less stressed (compared to if you move/talk fast). Slowing down to decrease stress goes for many other things you do in everyday life too like riding your bicycle, driving the car, working at your desk and eating.

Declutter your world, declutter your mind. Just take 5 minutes to declutter your workspace or the room you are in. A decluttered, simplified and ordered space around you brings clarity and order to the mind. 

Use a minimalistic workspace. My work space is just a laptop on a small black desk made out of wood. I use a comfy chair and there is room for my mug of tea beside the computer. That’s it. There are no distractions here. Just me, the computer and my mug of tea. This brings peace and makes it easier to focus during my working hours.

Hard to do: Accept and let go. Well today I was reminded, "when you hold a grudge you let that person live in your head rent free". So I dug down deep and let it go. I am feeling so much better about my own little world.

A change is good. Read a novel, watch your favorite TV-show or a movie. It’s simple but it works well to just release pressure and relax.

Don’t procrastinate anymore. Solve your problem and release it and all the underlying stress and tension that it is creating in your life. You probably already know what to do, you are just not doing it yet. But the longer you wait the worse the tension inside becomes. 

Take a deep Breathe. When stressed, lost in a problem or the past or future in your mind, take a deep breath for two minutes . This will calm your body down and bring your mind back into the present moment again.