You have heard
a similar expression right?
What would happen if you got your peace together this year? How would your life change? How would life change for others around you? What if enough people got their peace together and that peace rippled through our country?
I am starting a 3-month series devoted to helping you and others experience more peace. We will cover topics like peace with your mind, body, and spirit. We will include topics around peace with your significant other, family, friends, co-workers, neighbors, and even random encounters. We will talk about peace with money and peace with things. Let’s get our peace together!
Anxiety is an enemy to peace. You cannot experience peace when your mind is captured by anxious thoughts. When I write this blog, our anxiety as a nation is at an all-time high of around 50%! One out of two people are experiencing abnormally high anxiety. As I examine my inner peace, I realize my anxiety is heightened. The anxiety shows up by losing sleep, thinking about exposure to COVID-19 (doctor gave me a 50/50 chance of survival), navigating the business terrain, helping aging parents, taking care of family, and the desire to impact others with peace before my death. When I stop to consider everything on my plate, there is a considerable amount of stress. I have handled stress pretty easily for most of my life. At 64, my energy level is not the same as my 40-year-old self. We all have stress and anxiety. The question? How are we dealing with it?
Anxiety can be annoying or debilitating. For me, anxiety means loss of sleep at times, lack of energy, inability to focus, and sometimes feeling a bit paralyzed. For you, it can be similar or far worse. Some people have severe anxiety making everyday life difficult. You may need medication to help settle your mind until the stress and anxiety lessens. Some need medication on a more permanent level due to biochemical imbalances in the brain.
Here are a few tips for those of us facing some anxiety:
1. Mind Dump the things you THINK about which create anxiety. I use this technique often when my mind is over active going to bed or when I wake up in the middle of the night. You may be anxious about what you are not getting done. I need to get everything on my mind out of my head and on paper. This helps me. The next step is creating a plan of action to get things done. A realistic plan! If your plan is unrealistic, then you end up creating more stress and anxiety. Your plan must include a calendar to schedule the day and time you will get it done.
2. Think through the worst possible scenario. Now, what would be the results and how could you move forward? We often think we could not survive. We can survive, and eventually, often thrive. As a mediator, I often encounter people at some really difficult moments in life. They wonder what lies ahead. Initially, life was difficult. Then, the sky parts and the sun emerges. Life goes on. They realize many of their anxious thoughts were unfounded.
3. Meditation or Prayer daily. There are many studies to support the physical and mental health linked to meditation and prayer. I know of no other practice more helpful than exercising your mind to create stillness and peace. You need to learn to build and flex your brain muscle to bring peace and quiet. The more you practice, the faster and deeper you can go to a place of peace of mind. I will delve more into this practice in one of the future blogs.
Anxiety is the enemy of peace. Hope some of these thoughts will be helpful for you to create some peace. Let’s get our peace together changing our lives and those around us!
Shalom
Doctor Peace