How to live happy and fulfilling life? Some small steps to find inner peace

Often we look for peace in our outer surroundings, but how many of us try to find peace within ourselves? How many times do we look for ourselves and explore relationships with ourselves so that we can have a peaceful and fulfilling life?

Throughout history, many philosophers and psychologists recommend that to lead a happy life, it is important to find peace within oneself. This involves finding and connecting with our inner self, keeping aside all worldly things. Research studies indicate that only once an individual is able to take a break and learn to live the moment to find peace within, which leads to a deeper connection within themselves. And this kind of self-awareness helps us to move toward self-actualisation, leading to a more meaningful life.

Recently there has been a shift in trend. Many people are now trying to move away from materialistic things and the fast pace of the world toward finding peace within themselves. One of the key ways to attain peace within is to first find ourselves.

- Self-awareness: To find peace, it is important to be aware of oneself first. This involves understanding and getting in touch with our inner self. Often, we don't tend to feel emotions that don’t give us happiness or shrug off these feelings. But it is essential that we get in touch with our inner self to find peace. The simple trick here is to acknowledge what we are going through, be it good or bad. This gives the strength to find peace and overcome challenges that hinder the process.

- Breathing: A research study indicates the most effective way to calm and take a break is to just breathe. As simple as it sounds, we often overlook this. One way is to practice the 4-4-4-4 breathing, this involves closing our eyes and breathing in for 4 seconds, holding it for 4, breathing out for 4 seconds and again holding for 4 seconds. This can be done anywhere on repetition will we feel calm and it allows us to take a break from things happening around to look on the inside.

- Mindfulness: We often tend to keep running around, without noticing things happening around us. With the advancement in technology and increasing dependence on it, we often find ourselves glued to gadgets than living in the moment. Mindfulness simply is the skill to stop and smell the roses. It is the ability to be fully present in the moment, being aware of things that are happening around us, processing them fully, and responding appropriately and not having too many things on our platter and not being in touch with ourselves.

- Gratitude: Often, when we go through our everyday life, we forget to calm down and see the things which are going well for us. To have peace within us, it is important to make a gratitude list, to focus on good things. It could involve making a list weekly or when you feel down to find calmness amid chaos.

- Journaling: To get in touch with ourselves, our thoughts and feeling, journaling can play a crucial role. Often, we are in situations where there is a lot going around and we find it difficult to find peace or process things fully within us. Writing a journal can help to get in touch with our inner self, putting things on paper can increase self-awareness and allow us to process things daily.

- Self-compassion: To find peace is to accept oneself unconditionally. This involves not just liking the parts of ourselves, which are good or socially desirable, but also those which we may not be fond of. It is important to realise the importance of all our traits and behaviours, while being compassionate toward ourselves. One practice to incorporate is daily affirmations, saying some positive statements for self-empowerment. This helps us to appreciate ourselves and feel a deeper connection. For example, just keep repeating to yourself, “I feel safe and loved”.

The best gift we can give to ourselves is being comfortable in our own company that life becomes an experience in itself. As Annie Dillard rightly states, “How we spend our days, is of course, how we spend our lives”. So, let’s not wait for “things to fall into place” to feel better, let’s take the responsibility for our own peace and happiness. Making conscious living a way of life is the key to living a peaceful life. So, adopt these strategies and find peace within, while gaining self-awareness.