Inner peace refers to a deliberate state of psychological, emotional or spiritual calm, often in the face of a plethora of external stressors. In those moments where the clutter of your mind clears and quietens – and you feel calm, free and unburdened… That’s inner peace.
When we achieve moments, even periods, of inner peace – we are being given the opportunity to see the wood for the trees. To take a step back. In these moments we are more able to assess the anxiety and stress that impacts our capacity to cope and our everyday experience of life. In these moments of clarity and calm, we can find new ways to respond, problem solve, push through… and move beyond the barriers that have been holding us captive to life’s hurdles and challenges.
In exceptional circumstances, we need a philosophy that can help us hold on to our sanity and sense of perspective. Here are The School of Life's suggestions for how to survive the crisis emotionally.
Why is inner peace so important?
Many faiths speak of inner peace as an outcome of understanding and accepting the root causes of personal suffering; or in the case of Thich Nhat Hanh, the ability to transpose suffering into compassion. This probing of often hidden trauma (that is believed to include ancestral suffering by some) is also a key focus for modern psychotherapy practice. It’s no secret that the modern world is no picnic to navigate. Our mental health is collectively suffering, with more of us than ever before requiring support for stress-related issues, anxiety and trauma. There is an exponentially growing global suicide rate. We are juggling a growing mountain of conflicting priorities. And too many of us are time-poor, overwhelmed, anxious, and stressed.
It is within this very context that the need for inner peace, and practices that support peacefulness in all corners of our adult lives, are of such fundamental importance. Life can of course be rough for young people too; and for some, childhood is unthinkably traumatic… Yet for those young people growing up in a nurturing environment, with a true sense of core safety, there is a lived experience that is arguably more peaceful than that of their adult counterparts. They are not (like many of us) almost always in chaos, overwhelmed, under-appreciated, self-diminishing, overworked and exhausted. In order to truly flourish as a grown up, and lead a life worth living – the search for (or rediscovery for those lucky enough to have experienced it in early life) inner peace must surely be the most worthy of endeavours.
In Ten things that disturb inner peace, we explore some backward thinking. This video examines what actually stands in the way of achieving it, so we can eliminate these things and reach a state of tranquility.
How to find inner peace right now (even when you feel stressed, anxious and insecure) – from Justin Brown.