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Do you want peace and how do you find it? I certainly have had my share of “Drama Queen” days.  Peace is a state of calmness and serenity and the antithesis of this state is stress and anxiety.  Only you can control your thoughts and your emotions and how you react to them. “Awareness is the power that is concealed within the present moment.”  You have to be aware of your self-talk, be cognizant of your feelings and most importantly, the way you communicate these feelings to the world. You have to understand who you are inside to transform those feelings to find your inner peace. Here are a few strategies to help you on your quest for inner peace.
Let Go of Control. As a leader, I intellectually and intuitively know that people feel appreciated and respected when they are allowed to make a contribution rather than be nit-picked and controlled. To quote one of Stephen R. Covey’s seven habits: “Synergize. “Look for the third alternative – not my way, not your way, but a third way that is better than either of us would come up with individually. It’s the fruit of respecting and celebrating one another’s differences.” Let go and trust that all will be right and you will find peace.
Deep Breathing Exercise. This exercise can be done anywhere. It calms the mind and balances the emotions. Sit straight with your hands on your lap and close your eyes. Focus on your breathing. Start inhaling slowing and deeply to a count of 4 seconds. Hold your breath for a count of 7 seconds and then release and exhale slowly for a count of 8 seconds. You will instantly feel a sense of calm.
Physical exercise. Exercise and being optimistic can change your mental outlook and will help your health enormously.   Martin Seligman, PHD and one of the leading experts in the field of positive psychology and author of the new book Flourish states: “ when it comes to our health there are essentially four things under our control: the decision not to smoke, a commitment to exercise, the quality of our diet and our level of optimism. And optimism is at least as beneficial as the others.” Not only will exercise and optimism relieve your mind of stress but it will also give you a boost of energy. Putting yourself first, adding exercise and a positive mental attitude will definitely enhance your overall well-being and will help make you feel at peace.
Stop watching/listening to the news. Eliminate the news in your life entirely. Â What a difference it has made in my life. We live in a culture where negative media is broadcast 24 hours 7 days a week. This keeps you in a constant state of negative energy. I don’t miss the news and if something important is happening I will eventually hear about it.
On my personal journey I am learning that I’d rather have peace then to always be right. Take 15 minutes out of your day to mediate and quiet your mind. When you take the time to be still you will create a state of peace and happiness with this daily practice.  When I find myself anxious or troubled I affirm “You can choose peace instead of this” and “this too shall pass”. These two powerful statements have always brought me strength and peace. Lastly, this quote from Dalai Lama recaps inner peace beautifully: ”As human beings we all want to be happy and free from misery…we have learned that the key to happiness is inner peace. The greatest obstacles to inner peace are disturbing emotions as anger, attachment, fear and suspicion, while love and compassion and a sense of universal responsibility are the sources of peace and happiness.”Â
Perhaps as a child you were familiar with the show, Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood on Public Broadcasting television.  Fred Rogers’ was a loving, down to earth man who helped children learn about careers, science, math, reading and most importantly  character, manners and relationships. Later in his life while accepting an achievement award he said something so profound that it is definitely worth contemplating today.  To summarize his speech at that awards banquet, he said that all of us have had people who have loved us into being.
What powerful words! Â Every human has had someone love them into being. Â Maybe it was a parent, grandparent, teacher, or friend who influenced our character and what we have become. Â Love is so powerful, so healing and it creates an environment of openness and honesty. Â This is where we truly thrive to become who we were destined to be.
So as we think about the people who have influenced and shaped us, let’s reflect on who we are loving into being? Are we giving our full selves to this process?  It requires a humble spirit to serve others and lift them up.  It takes gentleness or strength under control to empower others.  Patience is needed to spread  the love and passion.  And finally, we bring healing in the lives of others by embracing the differences of other people.
This spirit of loving one another into being is what heals and changes the world.
How are you doing with this? Â What will you do differently today that will impact another person in becoming who they are meant to be?
Traci Vincent
There are many people around the world who are stuck in the mindset of staying busy just to be busy, or earning a salary and acquiring more stuff. Â It’s sort of the hamster wheel cycle whereby each week they push toward higher accolades, higher salaries, corporated promotions, and the like, only to find themselves miserable with very little free time to actually enjoy the big paycheck they have earned and to simply exhausted from working those long hours that they are too tired to truly enjoy life.
When you think about time, the ancient Greeks had two ways of describing time. First “chonos”, time calculated by seconds, minutes, days, etc. This is where many of us find ourselves trapped. Time to go to work, time to start the meeting, time to cook dinner, time to go to bed. We become wrapped up in calculating our lives based on a race against the clock to get things done. Â Sadly, before we know it, a week or even a month has gone by before we realize it. How many times have we said or heard, “Wow, I can’t believe it’s already July (or whatever month)…it seems like Christmas was just yesterday.”
The second word for time that the Greeks used was “kairos”.  It is time calculated as an opportunity or moment. More specifically, these a moments or opportunities are limited in number and will soon pass. The Romans used that word to translate into the famous Latin phrase, “Carpe Diem” or seize the day. Can you see the difference here? When we focus on kairos, we begin to seize opportunities in life whether that is a business deal, improving the relationship with our children before they head off to college or simply changing our wellness routine before we are diagnosed with diabetes or heart disease. By focusing on kairos we loosen the grip of the cycle of living solely by chonos time. We begin to find rest for our bodies and rest for our soul as we expand our kairos mindset.  It is like the old adage, “It’s not how many hours you spend at the office that matter, its the number of deals you close.”
So here is your challenge…think about focusing more on kairos this week. What opportunities await you this week? Begin to open up and see these opportunities that will soon pass. Â Go out and seize them. Â Don’t let another day go by where you race to second to second in the name of being busy. Start seeing life in a new way, start living life and its amazing moments and not merely working to live and collect stuff.
Traci Vincent
Many times we try to find our passion in life. Some things may be holding us back. These few items will help you live your passion and break through to an amazing life.
Tolerate
A lot of energy is drained from you when you set things aside and don’t take action. When you just tolerate, you become the average of the closest people to you. There are a lot of energy vampires out there that will drain you of your energy and don’t believe in you. You have to believe in yourself to be passionate about your life. But it takes courage to follow your passion. It’s not easy to do that. It takes courage to put that energy out there for others.
Beliefs
Our beliefs may limit us. We have some beliefs that hold us back from living life the way we want. You need to have focus when you are building your life, but there’s no reason why you can’t do many things and have many passions. You can love many things.
Conditioning
We have to work on our conditioning. The reason you don’t have the things that you want right now is that you don’t believe. What are you waiting for? What searching is going on inside? Look at your calendar and see what you are filling your days with. What are you putting aside for later? Are the people around you moving you forward or holding you back? Put the right energy out there and work on getting more passion in your life. Live the dream that you want to live. Take action. Move forward. That’s what it’s about.
Things you can do today to find your passion in life!
Believe in yourself.
Learn more about the things that you are passionate about. Take a class or a course, or find a mentor in those areas.
Plan some time in your week to engage in the activities that you love.
Become an expert in the things that you are passionate about.
Stop procrastinating.
Do and enjoy what you love.
There was a time in my life that I knew that I had to change. I was lost in a mental state of victimhood but intuitively knew that there was more to my life at the visceral level. I have always had faith to guide me but I was allowing fear to run my life. Enough was enough and I finally made a concerted effort and made the choice to take back control of my life in a positive way.  Eckhart Tolle teaches: “You do not become good by trying to be good, but by finding the goodness that is already within you, and allowing that goodness to emerge. But it can only emerge if something fundamental changes in your state of consciousness.” When I began to change I felt my inner light starting to shine again. I started to peel back the layers of my life and started working on my new state of consciousness.  The true power is awareness and with this awareness I started to create the life I dreamed and wanted and more importantly the life that God intended me to live.
Taking that initial first step is not easy. While studying, I discovered that I also had to take on an attitude of action. I hope these few techniques will help you as it did me on your personal evolution journey.
Be yourself.  For most of my life I role-played and allowed others to define “me”.  I am finally living just being. I had to step back from those who insisted on defining me. Their limiting beliefs were causing a problem for me. Believe in yourself, accept yourself and learn to affirm that “I am enough and I am myself”.
Focus on your inner power. Shakespeare wrote: “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” Stop focusing on your weaknesses which keep you in a mental state of negativity. When you are aware and in-tune with your inner source you can shift that mindset when you tap into your strengths and your true power.
Make peace with the present moment. Life is experienced in the present moment. So many people live their lives with resentment and blame because they are so focused on the past or so caught up about worrying what’s going to happen next in their future. Start to take responsibility for your life and live in the present moment and make peace with it.Â
Working at staying in the present moment has developed into a daily spiritual practice. I know what matters in my life and when challenges appear, I know how to react and take action. Sometimes I fail but because I’m more aware I adapt quickly and overcome the setback.  The source of abundance is within us all. We are children of the universe and spiritual beings.  “Today, no matter where I am going, no matter what I am doing, no matter whom I am doing it with…nothing is more important than that I feel good.”  Thank you Creator, I love just the way I am.
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