I’m often drawn to people who have a sense of quiet confidence and serenity about them. They seem to move through the world differently, like there is a river of strength, capability and peace running through them.

I want to be more like that.

And, I wouldn’t be surprised if you did too.

Whenever we grow or heal or improve ourselves we move closer to this sense of strength and peace within. Serenity is our natural state and the things that keep us in stress, anxiety and overwhelm are simply covering it up. The path to deep serenity is one of loving ourselves and letting go of what no longer serves us. It is a lifelong journey.

While we travel this healing journey toward peace, we also find ourselves craving serenity in our daily lives. Every time we listen to that call and focus on a more peaceful way of being we take one step closer to our authentic serene selves.

Here are some things to embrace along your journey:

Live Simply

A simple life has fewer distractions and a sense of order that contributes to more peaceful living. It will contribute to:

• A quieter mind
• Less to worry about or care for
• Fewer distractions
• Feeling organized & knowing where everything is
• Less visual clutter
• A more peaceful schedule
• Better physical and mental health
• Improved finances
• A sense of peace

Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?

Engage Your Senses

When people have panic attacks one of the common recommendations is to do a sensory grounding technique that will bring them back into their physical body. This method includes connecting to each sense by asking:

• What do I see right now?
• What do I hear right now?
• What do I feel right now?
• What do I taste right now?
• What do I smell right now?

You can use this technique to bring more peace and calm into your daily life. You may also want to consider engaging your senses by cultivating a sensory rich home environment. This could include beautiful colors, music, soft textiles, lovely scents, delicious food or even a time of quiet.

Mindful Moments

Most of the things that upset us are not happening now. We worry about the future and ruminate about the past more often than we are in the present moment. The average person spends more of their life energy worrying about things that never happen than the things that really do.

The serene solution is to live in the now. Focus on our present moments and quiet our minds.

Here are some ways to do that.

• Meditation and prayer
• Zero in on physical actions like washing your hands
• Be observant – pay attention to the details in things around you
• Shift or let go of wayward thoughts
• Breath or relaxation exercises
• Count something, like your steps or things you observe
• Dance or sing
• Get lost in being creative
• Sports, sex or anything you can get lost in
• Listen to your heart

Completions

Think about a time when you completed a project you had been working on for awhile. How did you feel? Chances are it included relief, freedom and maybe even a sense of gratitude. Completions feel really good.

Most of us though, have lives filled with things that are incomplete and create energetic clutter around us. They make us feel overwhelmed or like failures for not being able to get them done.

I encourage you to make a list of the incompletions in your life and re-evaluate them. Do you still really want to finish that book or upcycle that table? See what you can let go of or move to a “Someday” list to take the pressure off. You can then take the remaining items and prioritize them, committing to only a few at a time so that they don’t feel overwhelming. Choose one to focus on and if possible, bring it to completion. Crossing it off the list will feel great and bring more serenity into your life.

Resolve Tolerations

Tolerations are distant cousins of incompletions and drain your energy in a similar way. I once left plastic around the edge of a new TV for months before realizing it was bothering me. It only took a few minutes to take it off.

Tour your home and other places you spend time in. Make a list of the little (and sometimes big) things you just tolerate and then start resolving them one by one. If you are like me, many of them will seem tiny and only take a few minutes to fix, but the level of peace you feel will expand with each one you eliminate.

Keep in mind that tolerations may include people, things on your schedule and other less obvious things that you just live with, but are not happy about.

Acceptance

The truth is the truth and no matter how hard you try to change or resist it, it will always be. Most of the stress and pain we feel is caused by the resistance to the truth, not the truth itself.

Fighting the truth is an impossible task, but we as humans seem determined to try. We waste a lot of time, drain our energy, make ourselves sick, ruin relationships, block success and so much more, just because we don’t like what is true.

Life is easier when you stop fighting. Happier and peaceful too. The way through is to become an observer of what is true, accepting it and letting go of any expectations you had that things will be different. From this neutral place you will be more effective and less reactive. You will have the inner space available to observe and listen to your heart. And, you will make wiser decisions about how to move forward to create a life you love.

My hope is that as you read through these ideas you started to see the possibility of more serenity in your life. You don’t have to do them all at once. Just choose something that speaks to you and make an intention to move that direction. You can move as fast or slow as you want, but keep in mind, feeling serene can be addictive and once you get started you may find yourself committing to a more simple and peaceful life.

Related Posts:

7 Meaningful Benefits of Living Simply

When You Can’t Get What You Want

10 Ways to Create a More Meaningful Life