‍“Peace is only activated from within. Once we have learnt to master our inner peace, our outer world automatically becomes peaceful in nature.” 
(Rayan Shatnawi)

What Is Inner Peace?

Attaining inner peace is a universal objective and is defined as the state of being mentally, emotionally, and spiritually calm despite any shortcomings, hardships, or stressors. Attaining inner peace soothes the mind and allows us to view things clearly and not react out of emotion, but rather have a logical and serene outlook in life. Inner peace has been emphasised upon for centuries and has been taught as a way of life through religious and spiritual practices as it shapes who we are and how we interact with others and the world around us. 

The Importance of Attaining Inner Peace

The foundations of inner peace are built upon gratitude, contentment, generosity, humbleness, fairness, self-awareness, and self-love. Establishing inner peace is highly important for one’s overall well-being as it has been linked to providing a sense of power and strength, better concentration, freedom from stress, a tranquil mind, clearer judgements, and improved efficiency at completing tasks. Attaining inner peace also has many health benefits that include an increase of blood flow in the body, a reduction of anxiety, an enhancement of energy, improved airflow to the lungs, and relaxation of the nervous system.

In addition to this, some spiritual benefits of attaining inner peace consist of growing in wisdom, discovering one’s purpose, reaching enlightenment, becoming more self-aware, developing more compassion, increasing harmony among the body, mind, and soul as well as experiencing a sense of oneness. Overall, when an individual establishes peace within themself, they are then able to emit peace into the world. Below are some ideas you could incorporate into your life that will assist you with attaining inner peace. 

Learn To Be Grateful & Content

Gratitude is the ability to be thankful for everything you have and focus on all that is good in your life, whether it is tangible or intangible. Sometimes being grateful involves finding gratitude in the challenges that occur in your life, becoming more content, and appreciating what you have at the moment that you have it. Inner peace, gratefulness, and contentment are highly linked due to their coinciding benefits which include an increase in positive emotions, attracting good experiences, an improvement in health, and being able to deal better with adversities when they occur. 

There are circumstances and traits that hinder individuals from attaining inner peace due to their upbringing, mindset, or way of life. For example, having feelings of envy, jealousy, materialism or even narcissism is the killer of joy and the thief of gratefulness. However, there are ways to overcome these negative emotions and thinking styles that will help you reach a point of peace. This can be achieved by remembering grateful moments in your life, being generous and helpful to others as well as celebrating the smaller wins. 

Becoming grateful and content is one of the most positive emotions and state of being to accomplish. You could practice gratefulness in your daily life by connecting to God and thanking Him for all that He has bestowed upon you, being kind, and partaking in gratitude exercises such as journaling and meditating. You can access some helpful gratitude, journaling, and meditation exercises through the Skylight App. 

When you are grateful, God increases you with blessings. There is so much to be grateful for in life, beginning with all the things we see to all the things we do not. Gratitude and content boost the immune system, increase optimism, and improve mental health, which is why it is essential to practice being grateful to attain true inner peace. 

Establish Prayer

Prayer is the act of communicating with God in a two-way relationship for the evolvement of our spirituality. Praying and communicating with God is the simplest way to attain inner peace. Engaging in prayer consists of having a clear intention towards God, thanking Him, asking for forgiveness, reading religious scriptures, speaking about your life to Him, and asking Him for anything you need or want. There are countless spiritual, psychological, physical, and emotional benefits to establishing prayer in one’s life. For instance, praying reduces anxiety, increases calmness in the body and mind, improves gratefulness, attracts positive experiences, and shifts one’s focus from the external and materialistic world onto a deeper and more meaningful relationship with God. Therefore, establishing prayer throughout your day is a simple yet effective way to attain authentic inner peace. 

Live In the Present

Sometimes it may feel like we are living in the present when we are actually stuck in the past. It is normal to dwell on your past mistakes and relive the memories of your past experiences, however, it is not healthy, especially if you are attempting to attain inner peace and calmness. It is easy to get caught up in the webs of your mind and lose touch with where you are now in life. Do not let the whispers in your mind pull you into the darkness and deeper into the never-ending cycle of overthinking. Allow yourself to grow from your past experiences and feel grateful for all that has passed you. Whether good or bad, everything happens for a reason for the sole purpose of turning you into a wiser, better, and healthier person. To attain inner peace, release any regrets, burdens, and negative emotions related to the past from your heart and mind. Let it all go. Every day is a new opportunity to start again, so do not overthink what has passed you and look towards the future fondly. 

Fall In Love with Yourself

Falling in love with yourself seems like a bizarre concept at first, when all you have ever done is hate yourself or parts of who you are. We feel the need to shun ourselves and focus on all that is external to us. But why? Why do we choose to neglect ourselves? Why do we fixate on finding love from anyone outside of who we are? Why do we crave attention and validation? Why do we think we are not enough? 

The truth is, we were not born with insecurities or with a list of things to hate about ourselves. We were not born with the desire to be admired or validated. Society taught us from a young age to rely on external mechanisms to validate who we are and tell us who we are meant to be. Reclaim your power by falling in love with everything about yourself and ignoring what is fed to you through social media, societal standards, and your environment. Step into living and thriving as your authentic self without concealing who you truly are.

There is a certain feeling about truly appreciating yourself for who you are and loving every part of yourself that is found nowhere else. That is why I undoubtedly believe that self-love is the most beautiful and underrated type of love in the world. When you learn to love yourself, you attain one of the highest levels of inner peace. 

Falling in love with yourself is not an easy journey. This is due to the countless years of negative self-talk, beliefs, and affirmations that have been wired and framed into your mind. You do not need to love absolutely everything about yourself to fall in love with who you are. It is all about appreciating who you are in the moment you are in. Let go of any version of yourself that does not make you feel good and do not ever let anyone else’s opinions or judgements make you feel any less. Remember that insecure people try to make you feel how they feel about themselves by demeaning you. Authentically confident and secure individuals do not make you feel bad about yourself, only insecure people do, so do not lower your vibration by giving into their unhealthy mindset. One of my favourite quotes by Andrena Sawyer reflects this notion, “You have to stop worrying about whether people like you. Some people don’t even like themselves.” Therefore, focus on yourself because no one else’s opinion matters but your own. 

I wholeheartedly believe that true beauty is only found from within because outer beauty is relatively insignificant compared to the beauty of the soul, which shines through any façade. Appreciating yourself for who you are on the outside and inside is what self-love is all about. So, remember to be kind to yourself at all times of every day. 

Here are some quick and easy ways you could begin your self-love journey or improve your appreciation of who you are:

• Get into the habit of complimenting yourself.
• Have some productive alone time.
• Practice self-care.
• Rest.
• Learn to be grateful more often.
• Create a vision board.
• Treat yourself to a present or date alone.
• Meditate.
• Be kind and compassionate towards yourself.
• Add self-love affirmations into your day.
• Exercise and eat healthily.

All in all, practicing self-love allows you to attain inner peace as you begin to shift your focus off the external world and onto improving and appreciating yourself. 

Let Go of The Need to Achieve ‘Perfection’

Perfectionism refers to the need to become or appear perfect to others. The need to achieve perfection destroys happiness and peace, which is why it is crucial to let go of this negative mindset in order to attain inner peace. Focusing on becoming perfect has been proven to decrease productivity and vulnerability, increase anxiety as well as depression, and lowers life satisfaction. This also ties in with the concept of not being about to achieve self-love as fixating on achieving perfection also lowers your sense of self-worth. Although overcoming a perfectionistic mindset can be difficult, it is not impossible. Perfectionism can be overcome by reminding yourself that it is okay to make mistakes as they make you better as a person, setting achievable goals for yourself, becoming more spiritual, and by searching for fulfillment in the things that bring you happiness. By adopting these mechanisms, you are sure to find inner peace within yourself and let go of the underlying need to achieve perfection. 

Be In Nature

Being in nature has always been an effective avenue to calm the mind, relax the body and connect to God. Studies have confirmed that being in nature reduces stress, anxiety, and anger, whilst increasing happiness, and contentment. Nature helps us connect better with ourselves and our creator as the natural elements of the earth give us a sense of comfort and harmony within ourselves. Surroundings ourselves with nature also helps us build a stronger relationship between our mind, body, and soul as we are away from distractions that include our phones, laptops, music, or even movies and shows. We are able to focus on the sound of trees swaying and birds chirping, admiring the sky and clouds as they move above us. It is truly a comforting and soothing state to be in. Thus, invest more time into being in nature as it is a wonderful way to attain inner peace and connect to God through his scenic creations. 

Attaining Inner Peace

Inner peace is the most wholesome and serene feeling and state to be in. Unfortunately, sometimes the negative and unexpected events that unravel in our lives hinder us from attaining long-term inner peace at its highest frequency. It is normal to feel inconsistent when it comes to inner peace, however, do not ever stop practicing and trying new ways to attain and keep it alive in your mind, body, and soul.