Peace in Your Mind – Sushila Mertens

My intention for this session is to explore how your mind understands and relates to peace. Your mind may not agree that peace is your natural state. The mind may give you unlimited reasons to be upset, angry, and afraid. The mind wants to be in control.

If your mind needs evidence that inner peace is measurable, you can take the assessments and record your findings and insights in a peace journal. You can retake the assessments at any time and reflect on how your inner peace is blossoming.

Where are you now in each of these statements? Using a 1 – 10 rating, 1 = Never, 10 = Always:

My mind is always replaying the past or worrying about or planning the future.
I listen to my mind over listening to my body.
I can’t stop my mind from going over and over and around and around about people and events.
I am so upset about people and the planet, I don’t ever feel peaceful.

What is your relationship with your mind? Write your thoughts and assumptions in your peace journal and/or share your understanding of peace on Activating Peace Inside Out Community facebook page.. We can create a field together by focusing on what peace looks like, sounds like, and feels like. Here are questions to consider:

What is my relationship to my mind? Friend, Foe, Ruler, Protector, _____.
Can I make peace with my mind?
Where do my mind thoughts come from?
Is it possible for my mind to be calm enough to experience peace?
Who am I beyond my mind thoughts?

So is your mind allowing you to be peace?

If you explored your assumptions about peace in The Journey Inside session, notice if your mind recognizes an alignment between your assumptions and how you live and feel peace. If your mind is in the past or future worrying, going in circles, or overrun by upsetting emotions, however you define peace, you probably won’t be experiencing it.

So what can you do if you are aware that your mind is working against being peace? This is good because awareness precedes action. You will need to take the action to calm your mind and release the unpeaceful effects on your body and emotions.

There are many action paths to choose from. Start with one and notice if your mind is quieter. Learn to relax your nervous system with:

Nature. Walk outside. Sit and observe trees, flowers, rivers, oceans, sky, stars.
Breathing techniques such as the oxytocin breath from the BraveHeart Women Female Success Model. Think of something pleasurable, allow a breath, exhale with a slow Ha sound, stimulating your vagus nerve that connects to all your organs, relaxes your heart and digestive system, and releases oxytocin.
Organic non-processed food. Eliminate sugars/sweeteners, caffeine, and processed foods.
Rapid Eye Technology. A simple technique available at http://rapideyetechnology.com/selfcare.htm
The Emotional Freedom Technique. Original source – http://www.emofree.com
Also known as Tapping – many variations –http://www.tappingsolutionfoundation.org
Body work – massage, Reiki, acupuncture
Exercise, Yoga, Dance, Dance Your Buts Off (DYBO)
Assistance from a life coach, spiritual advisor, or mental health professional.
Writing in your peace journal whatever your mind wants to express without editing. Give it a place to come out of your head and be heard. At some point you might ask, “Is this true?” Listen for the reply and write it down.

“Is this true?” comes from Byron Katie’s The Work, “a powerful process of inquiry that teaches you to identify and question the thoughts that cause all the suffering in the world.”

Did you explore and use any of the action paths to activate inner peace? Would you like to share any discoveries from this session with others? Your questions and insights are welcomed on the Activating Peace Inside Out Community facebook page.

Namaste, The best in me sees and appreciates the best in you.
Sushila Mertens