Inner Peace: Cultivating Serenity in a Turbulent World

Discover the tranquility that's been silently waiting for you, hidden behind the ceaseless chatter of everyday life.  You'll learn how the simplicity of gratitude and the art of self-acceptance can amplify life's pleasures, transforming your reaction to the world into a mindful dance. Take a deep, healing breath as we introduce a practice that's as simple as it is profound: breath work for cultivating self-love and deeper connections. Join us, and let's embark on this transformative journey towards a serene and joyful existence.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:38

Hello, dear listeners, and as we call this, we are in the heart of the month of March, so almost at the halfway mark of this very transitional month. It's when there's a lot of bloom and change and you can start to see the insects and nature starts to wake up and then they kind of go back to sleep for a bit or that's how I perceive it as a weather changes, and it can be beautiful but also harsh, and I thought what better way to help you through these last few weeks of March, and even if you're listening to this and it's not in March, these tips can help you whatever time of year it is. So we have a fantastic guest that's coming on the show tomorrow, but for today's show we're going to do a show called Peace Starts Within, and I'm going to help you find ways to connect with your inner calm. Peace starts within, as the saying goes, and it can inspire and feel self-inquiry and also the hope of change. Peace starts within, so I'll repeat that it can inspire inquiry and also the hope of change. It's something that we do have power and over of us how we react and how we are within ourselves. It's not to say it's easy to kind of break patterns that we have, but ultimately we do have at our hands a chance to renew and feel that peace within. I believe that these words have the power to do just that change the world from within us and along our way and in life.

Speaker 1: 2:12

We can forget that. So I've always found that quotes are great, kind of bookmarks which help us kind of see past ourselves. And especially in this world where unfortunately not so many people read these days, I think quotes are ways to kind of get rich wisdom across in kind of really bite-sized pieces. So here's a quote which goes when you see beyond yourself and you may find peace of mind, it's waiting there. So what I feel from that is that when you see beyond yourself, realize that the mind is in the way, and when we see beyond that we can find a sense of peace. So I'll just repeat that when you see beyond yourself, then you may find peace of mind is waiting there by the late great George Harrison of the Beatles. And it's through like holistic ways that we can find a way to kind of navigate and see beyond ourselves and that's where what works for you. But things like Tai Chi, meditation, yoga, mindful walking, mindful running. The list is endless of ways you can kind of still your being into that deep sense of presence. And as Buddha said, peace comes from within. Do not seek it without. So again, it's about this place of self-inquiry and going in to really know yourself. And then the amazing Rumi said listen, clamp up your mouth and be silent like an oyster shell, for that tongue of yours is the enemy of your soul. My friend, when the lips are silent, the heart has a hundred tongues from. From these quotes I feel it's reminding us to connect with that deep sense of peace and that peace is really within ourselves and not externally. It's not to say that if you're in a difficult situation that it's not going to upset your peace, but there are tools that you can use to kind of get back to who you are.

Speaker 1: 4:14

I appreciate that it's a challenge to switch off sometimes from the clutter busyness of our minds. You know, too often our inner war of worries and fears can put a downer on the day as it plays like a stuck record again, again, again. The victim card or the, the bully card, whatever way it plays out. Instead, that's quash a inner war of worries and fears and the demands of life, which may, therefore, can stop a battle with our ego, but can we instead find a way to find the inner peace and go within, for all is not lost. Inner peace can be obtained with a bit of practice, and so anything practice makes perfect. And without practice, then obviously things don't change. Or without the the desire to change things, then they won't. It's quite easy to sit on from the sofa and blame everyone else for your life, but instead can you take responsibility of the things that you can change.

Speaker 1: 5:16

I would like to add I also feel that a lack of gratitude towards what we have in life can magnify problems. In a world where social media and the, the way the very structure of most countries are gone now it's all about instant gratification, not having moments to be bored, so on our phones 24 hours, watching little tiny reels instead of kind of just being with ourselves. So I feel the lack of gratitude of what we have in life can magnify problems. And when I get in one of those moods which I can quite often, when I see a thing as half empty instead of half full, a few things, I try is to go back to the little things and say thank you for them for the little things in life, like a walk around corner or a nice cup of herbal tea or whatever it is for you. The little things in life may be different for you and they probably are for what they are to me, but by remembering the little things I feel it can help one feel and tap into the greater picture, like taking a bird's eye view of the life, seeing the whole of the thing instead of this little drama cloud that we can kind of jump into because it's familiar and it's easy, but not always the best thing for us.

Speaker 1: 6:33

So commitment and progress are concepts that become easy to grasp when reviewed through a mindset of gratitude and appreciation what we've got so far. We've got stillness to kind of find the peace within. Gratitude, knowing what ones triggers are by tapping into our stillness and going within, and commitment to wanting to find inner peace, and the progress happens via doing that. The important thing to remember that as humans we aren't going to be perfect, no one is nothing is but deep down, if we are still enough, there is that deeper sense of knowing, acceptance, the wholeness of our self in all aspects, and that inspires one to want to pull down the walls that stop us from reaching the love that self. Love, the peace within, for when we have peace within there's peace without in the rest of the world.

Speaker 1: 7:36

But if we all just watch, I'll give you an example and there's some horrible things going on in the world. I'm not saying that we shouldn't know what's going on in the world, but if we all watch the news so-called news together, or if everyone's watching the news late at night before they go to bed, then of course it's going to breed fear and anguish and a sense of feeling that you're not safe. Instead, can you do something? By all means, watch and use when you want, but do something holistic so find it in a peace and build that muscle. Because I feel when you're negative and you're worrying, it kind of goes into the collective consciousness which we all do and do by all means. But then this collective consciousness of thinking that peace cannot start within, that peace is an external thing and that we should live in fear, etc. Can kind of create more of what we don't want. So I would say that the saying goes that worrying is a way of praying for what you don't want, and in some ways that could be true. Who knows? So mind.

Speaker 1: 8:47

Our mind is our biggest enemy for inner peace. It looks like it's a play of the same folks again and again and again, provoking us thinking that it's keeping us safe, but when really it's not. But again, you can take responsibility for that. So maybe the mind wants to overthink. But can you find moments of stillness, can you sneak in some meditation, some mindfulness, and can you build up the awareness to stop judging and instead see it from a bird's eye view that maybe this situation is an old reaction, an old learned behavior, rather than what the reality of the situation is?

Speaker 1: 9:25

Breathe, so our breath is key to that inner peace. When we don't breathe properly, then of course there's no space for inner peace to be and we can kind of be running around chasing our own tail, running around kind of unable to find inner peace because we're not breathing down to the diaphragm, instead we're just breathing in the shallowness from the top. When we breathe slowly, calmly, with a sense of ease, and we exhale fully, then calmness can prevail over fear. We need to move. If we never exercise, I really don't feel how peace can be within. And exercise may be different for all different people depending on their fitness levels etc. And if you've never done any exercise before, then suggest seeing a profession before you embark on it.

Speaker 1: 10:18

But it's something that can help build happy hormones and that sense of calmness into the body and movement instantly lifts and makes us feel a bit happy where if we're sitting all the time we can feel stagnant. On the other side of that, then there is kind of controlled or rather flowy sitting, in a sense of meditation, and where we sit and we give the clutch of our mind a good spring clean by observing a breath. Just as little as five minutes a day can make a difference. So observe the space between actions and thoughts. Less is more, and what is stealing the distance between action and thoughts is the fact we are glued to our phones 24-7. Instead of allowing just those moments of bored as in like not having something to do, allow those to be and like, cultivate and unfold. So by stepping back from your mind, breathing consciously, introducing some form of movement that is right for your body, physically, practice in a meditation and allow in space, in a peace can't be yours. The best things in life are the nearest Breathe in your nostrils, lighten your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of right just before you, then do not grasp at the stars, but do life's plain common work as it comes, certain that daily duties and daily bread are the sweetest things in life, robert Louis Stevens. So I hope that reminder of how peace starts within was helpful for you today. Just to put the icing on the cake, we are going to do a very simple two minutes. Everyone's got two minutes, I'm sure. Meditation together to help us find that inner peace. As promised, here is your meditation, inspired by today's show.

Speaker 1: 12:21

Top tips for the meditation is either sit nice and cross-legged on the floor for a nice straight back, always nice to sit on a block or a cushion, although that's not available for you. You sit in a chair with the back nice and straight. The important thing is you're not slouching and if you're doing something that requires a concentration, all you need to do is just pause this and you can reconvene the meditation at a time that is good for you. If you're doing the meditation, let's begin so as you close your eyes and you breathe. You breathe as if you are breathing with ease. You feel the lungs relax and let everything go and from this moment you feel completely in your flow. It doesn't matter if thoughts come and go. Instead, all you need to do is breathe in and out through the nostrils in a flow Feeling as if you gently let go of all oxygen, let it go and, after the exhalation is complete, you allow the inhalation.

Speaker 1: 13:32

Imagine you breathe softly but gently, as if it moves all the way down to your feet and as you exhale, you just let it all go in this soft, continuous flow, using the tool of the breath. To come back to the mind, let's just do this for another minute and a half, dear one. Keep going, don't mind the mind is wandered off. Just come back to the breath, come back to the moment, come back to the flow. Self-love starts within, and what a beautiful way, then, to show your body and your inner self love by connecting the outer world to the inner world via the tool of your breath. So when life gets busy and you feel out of flow, all you need to do is connect to the breath and, on the exhalation, let things go and on the inhalation, bring new possibilities via that oxygen into your lungs. So softly. Come back into the moment, come back into the room. Everything, that all is well.