When hard times hit - like the pandemic - our material possessions don't seem quite so important. The activities we used to enjoy lose their appeal and we are left with an emptiness, a gaping hole in our souls if you will. Could it be that these hard times are wake up calls? These times of slowing down, opportunities to reevaluate our values, priorities, and relationships?
As someone who has been through many crises, I have learned that the only true anchor of life is FAITH. I don't know where I would be without it and I don't know how people who do not believe manage to get thru life.
Faith is knowing that everything and everyone will be okay, no matter what it looks like in the present moment. Faith knows that the problems that seem unsurmountable now are "light and momentary afflictions" and you will come out stronger and better. Faith brings peace to our troubled minds and souls. Faith is a spiritual value that is the core of this blog. My goal is to help YOU develop more faith so you can conquer the Goliaths in your life and have more inner peace.
This is a deliberate attempt to be more mindful of my thoughts and activity, to stay in the present moment, and be more connected to myself. That season is over, and I am in a new season. My advice to you is to not wait until you retire or have a health crisis to slow down. Start living a gentler pace of life today.
When we move too fast, overdo or overthink, we become disconnected. I call it the "rat on the wheel" syndrome. We neglect our health. We think we are superhuman and can do it all. Not true. Now I am attuned to the feeling of being hurried or rushed - most of the time -and when I catch myself feeling disconnected, I stop whatever I am doing. I'll get up from my desk. Take a walk. Meditate for 15 - 20 minutes. This practice breaks the go-go-go cycle and gives my brain time to recalibrate. Slow and steady wins the race and also keeps us at peace, in good health, and in the present moment.
4. Manage Your Energy Field
Is there someone in your life who constantly complains? Whines? Is angry, hostile, or negative? Do others always come to you to vent their woes? These are opportunities to set better boundaries.
As a good listener, I seem to attract people who need to vent. Sometimes I don't have the bandwidth to listen. Listening well takes a lot of energy that often goes unappreciated. I always thank people for listening to me. People will suck your energy if you allow them to. Now don't get me wrong, that's what friends are for, but some people will take advantage of you if you let them.
Personal story
Where to Start
If we want to have more peace and joy, which leads to energy, we have to recognize what is stealing our peace in the first place and then do something about it. Today I'm sharing on identifying these thieves and how to put a stop to them so we can enjoy each day we are given.
1. Recognize everyone is in process.
People are all at different places of their emotional and spiritual journey and during tough times, some are not able to withstand the pressures. They may over-react, get angry, say unkind things and distance. Do yourself a favor and don't take it personally.
Some of us are actively working on spiritual growth. Others, however, are not.
Just like becoming physically fit, it takes time and effort to become spiritually strong and emotionally self-controlled. Not everyone is up for the task. Many people are too focused on making a living, having fun, worrying, or distracting themselves to work on their emotional aka spiritual growth. I know you're not one of them, or you wouldn't be reading this blog so good for you!
2. Catch your negative thoughts and feelings.
If we want to be less reactive, we have to be conscious of our thoughts and our feelings in the moment. It is too easy for our monkey minds to go down the path of negativity, self-loathing, shame, judging others etc. We need to become aware of the negative patterns of thinking we have developed. Negative thoughts are self-defeating. The first step is to identify these patterns and then replace them with positive, empowering thoughts. The battle is in our mind and that is where it is won.
If we start to feel offended by what someone says, we need to stop and ask the question "What did you mean by that?" instead of blowing up or getting defensive. So many arguments stem from misunderstanding the other person or our own misperceptions and ego.
Since the mind tends to magnify the negative, we have to make a deliberate effort to consciously catch thoughts of worry, fear, anxiety, rumination, and negativity. We have to catch the negative, unproductive thought and then make a conscious decision to think about something else so we can keep our peace, rather than react in an unhealthy behavior such as over-eating, snacking when we are not hungry, raising our voice, indulging in addictive behaviors etc.
3. Slow down.
Doing too much is another sure way to lose our peace. We rush from here to there because we have packed too much into our schedules. We make mistakes, forget things, and our blood pressure goes up and our patience goes down. That is how accidents happen; we cut ourselves chopping food, we forget the house keys, we lock ourselves out of the car, we are short with a loved one. These are all warning signs we are moving too fast and in the mindless mode.
Stop rushing and allowing other people to make you rush. People have their own agendas. God's timing is slow, haven't you noticed? When we rush, we lose our peace. Let them go on without you. You don't have to beat the driver next to you. Relax and enjoy the present moment and keep your peace. I know this will take some work, but your heart and your mind will thank you for it.
Personal Story
As a single mom, I always had way too much on my plate because it was ALL on my plate. I had to move fast to get it all done. I had little family support and an ex-husband who shirked all his familial responsibilities. It all took a toll on my health.
If we want to have more peace and joy, which leads to energy, we have to recognize what is stealing our peace in the first place and then do something about it. Today I'm sharing on identifying these thieves and how to put a stop to them so we can enjoy each day we are given.
1. Recognize everyone is in process.
People are all at different places of their emotional and spiritual journey and during tough times, some are not able to withstand the pressures. They may over-react, get angry, say unkind things and distance. Do yourself a favor and don't take it personally.
Some of us are actively working on spiritual growth. Others, however, are not.
Just like becoming physically fit, it takes time and effort to become spiritually strong and emotionally self-controlled. Not everyone is up for the task. Many people are too focused on making a living, having fun, worrying, or distracting themselves to work on their emotional aka spiritual growth. I know you're not one of them, or you wouldn't be reading this blog so good for you!
2. Catch your negative thoughts and feelings.
If we want to be less reactive, we have to be conscious of our thoughts and our feelings in the moment. It is too easy for our monkey minds to go down the path of negativity, self-loathing, shame, judging others etc. We need to become aware of the negative patterns of thinking we have developed. Negative thoughts are self-defeating. The first step is to identify these patterns and then replace them with positive, empowering thoughts. The battle is in our mind and that is where it is won.
If we start to feel offended by what someone says, we need to stop and ask the question "What did you mean by that?" instead of blowing up or getting defensive. So many arguments stem from misunderstanding the other person or our own misperceptions and ego.
Since the mind tends to magnify the negative, we have to make a deliberate effort to consciously catch thoughts of worry, fear, anxiety, rumination, and negativity. We have to catch the negative, unproductive thought and then make a conscious decision to think about something else so we can keep our peace, rather than react in an unhealthy behavior such as over-eating, snacking when we are not hungry, raising our voice, indulging in addictive behaviors etc.
3. Slow down.
Doing too much is another sure way to lose our peace. We rush from here to there because we have packed too much into our schedules. We make mistakes, forget things, and our blood pressure goes up and our patience goes down. That is how accidents happen; we cut ourselves chopping food, we forget the house keys, we lock ourselves out of the car, we are short with a loved one. These are all warning signs we are moving too fast and in the mindless mode.
Stop rushing and allowing other people to make you rush. People have their own agendas. God's timing is slow, haven't you noticed? When we rush, we lose our peace. Let them go on without you. You don't have to beat the driver next to you. Relax and enjoy the present moment and keep your peace. I know this will take some work, but your heart and your mind will thank you for it.
Personal Story
As a single mom, I always had way too much on my plate because it was ALL on my plate. I had to move fast to get it all done. I had little family support and an ex-husband who shirked all his familial responsibilities. It all took a toll on my health.
Since I retired, I have been working on - believe it or not - slowing down and doing less. I have a sticky note that says "Take the pressure off". The treadmill concept is a hard mindset to break but keep at it and you will retrain your mind and learn to relish feeling more relaxed and at peace.
This is a deliberate attempt to be more mindful of my thoughts and activity, to stay in the present moment, and be more connected to myself. That season is over, and I am in a new season. My advice to you is to not wait until you retire or have a health crisis to slow down. Start living a gentler pace of life today.
When we move too fast, overdo or overthink, we become disconnected. I call it the "rat on the wheel" syndrome. We neglect our health. We think we are superhuman and can do it all. Not true. Now I am attuned to the feeling of being hurried or rushed - most of the time -and when I catch myself feeling disconnected, I stop whatever I am doing. I'll get up from my desk. Take a walk. Meditate for 15 - 20 minutes. This practice breaks the go-go-go cycle and gives my brain time to recalibrate. Slow and steady wins the race and also keeps us at peace, in good health, and in the present moment.
4. Manage Your Energy Field
Is there someone in your life who constantly complains? Whines? Is angry, hostile, or negative? Do others always come to you to vent their woes? These are opportunities to set better boundaries.
As a good listener, I seem to attract people who need to vent. Sometimes I don't have the bandwidth to listen. Listening well takes a lot of energy that often goes unappreciated. I always thank people for listening to me. People will suck your energy if you allow them to. Now don't get me wrong, that's what friends are for, but some people will take advantage of you if you let them.
Personal story
I called an out-of-town friend recently to say hello and see how she was doing in this pandemic crisis. When I asked about her mom, she launched into a tirade about her alcoholic brother for like 20 minutes. When I asked her why she was telling me all this, she said "Well, you asked about my mother." Yeah, but I didn't sign up for all the gory details of her personal family problems. I was exhausted.
Take your concerns to God. Pray more often. Journal. I journal every day, sometimes twice a day. God has plenty of energy to listen to my stuff.
The minute we recognize these behaviors, we need to put a stop to it because one way or the other or we will wind up drained and not have the energy to take care of our own concerns or pursue our own destiny. If I am on the phone and someone is worked up over something, I give them one warning to calm down. Okay, my mom I give more than that, because she's old. Really, it shouldn't matter who it is. People need to be responsible for managing their own emotions and not pass them to others. Emotions are transferable.
When we have to listen to someone complain, vent, or otherwise spew their negativity on us, we lose energy and that means we lose our peace and joy. Next time you are on the phone with someone complaining or venting, notice how you feel when you get off the phone. Do you feel like getting something to eat when you're really not hungry? Pouring a glass of wine? Or doing some other addictive behavior? These are all stress reactions to help us calm down because we have lost our peace. Their stress comes over to our energy field.
When we get rid of the peace stealers, we will have more peace and less stress, and that, friends, is what leads us to joy. Joy is a result of having peace. It's a process. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto thee." (Matt. 6:33). The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy, in that order.
Take your concerns to God. Pray more often. Journal. I journal every day, sometimes twice a day. God has plenty of energy to listen to my stuff.
The minute we recognize these behaviors, we need to put a stop to it because one way or the other or we will wind up drained and not have the energy to take care of our own concerns or pursue our own destiny. If I am on the phone and someone is worked up over something, I give them one warning to calm down. Okay, my mom I give more than that, because she's old. Really, it shouldn't matter who it is. People need to be responsible for managing their own emotions and not pass them to others. Emotions are transferable.
When we have to listen to someone complain, vent, or otherwise spew their negativity on us, we lose energy and that means we lose our peace and joy. Next time you are on the phone with someone complaining or venting, notice how you feel when you get off the phone. Do you feel like getting something to eat when you're really not hungry? Pouring a glass of wine? Or doing some other addictive behavior? These are all stress reactions to help us calm down because we have lost our peace. Their stress comes over to our energy field.
When we get rid of the peace stealers, we will have more peace and less stress, and that, friends, is what leads us to joy. Joy is a result of having peace. It's a process. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto thee." (Matt. 6:33). The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy, in that order.
For Reflection
Who or what is stealing your peace these days? Do you need to set better boundaries? What fear do you need to face and take action on? Who do you need to speak up to?
Who or what is stealing your peace these days? Do you need to set better boundaries? What fear do you need to face and take action on? Who do you need to speak up to?
I hope today's post has shed some light on how to recognize peace stealers and what to do about them. We have to be consciously aware of the thoughts we are thinking as well as who we allow into our lives. In these difficult days, it is even more crucial to keep our peace and our joy.
If this post has been helpful in some way, do join our blog community by entering your email address in the box provided. You'll receive my weekly posts and also a copy of my free eguide "7 Steps to Finding Your Spiritual Path".
Stay tuned for more positive and practical wisdom to help you ignite the power within and discover YOUR destiny!
Until next time, keep looking up!
Ariel Paz
If this post has been helpful in some way, do join our blog community by entering your email address in the box provided. You'll receive my weekly posts and also a copy of my free eguide "7 Steps to Finding Your Spiritual Path".
Stay tuned for more positive and practical wisdom to help you ignite the power within and discover YOUR destiny!
Until next time, keep looking up!
Ariel Paz
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