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Tag: peace

  • Meditation and You

    Meditation and the awareness of it is growing in Canada and western countries. Many centers, places and groups have been formed to practice meditation in a formal and informal way of improving well-being. With that in mind, wouldn’t mediation done by adults also be beneficial to you? It is well known that keeping your mind quiet and in one place may be harder than landing a man on the moon. Therefore meditation could be a great tool to for you to create calmness in your life; however it does come with some major obstacles. Before we get into the nitty-gritty of meditation, it would be good to give a simple overview of what mediation is:

     Mediation is the just the practice of sitting, lying down in a clam place and watching your breath, thoughts and sensations. It is a way of focusing attentively on the present moment.

    Some schools have brought mediation to the classroom. This allows students the time to take a break from all their daily activities. These time-outs have also proven to show positive effect.   Such visible benefits include enhanced relationship with parents, friends and better personal self-esteem.[1] The traits and benefits are long lasting and can provide a great foundation for you to build upon in future endeavors. So getting started early in your life, is a worthwhile undertaking. Suggestions include starting off with just sitting down and relaxing for a few minutes. Afterwards, watch the breath and progress onward from there… There should be a sense of wonder as you learn and try mediation in groups, at school, or with family and friends. If you continue practicing, you may achieve high levels of spiritual enlightenment. In brief, www.iamspirituality.com describes spiritual enlightenment as:

     “The concept of enlightenment implies complete understanding of life and the universe, which usually is accompanied by a detachment of all things impermanent and a complete awareness of everything that is, at the moment that it is.”[2]

     Growing up in our modern society is tougher than ever; you face a number of distractions and challenges. Consequently providing a way to relax and calm your mind through mediation is a great tool. Mediation acts to protect your mind from toxic stress by empowering oneself to be comfortable with your thoughts and emotions[3]. It may not be easy for the young at heart, but through practice and patience, can be a great experience.

    References:

    [1] O’Connor, B. (n.d.). “How to Get Kids to Meditate.” Retrieved June 7, 2015.

    [2] http://iamspirituality.com/top-10-ways-to-achieve-spiritual-enlightenment/

    [3] Machado, Amanda. “Should Schools Teach Kids to Meditate?” The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 27 Jan. 2014. Web. 10 June 2015.

  • The Importance of Finding Peace Within

    The Importance of Finding Peace Within

    Finding peace within is sometimes a mysterious topic. One may often wonder what it even means within the hustle and bustle of daily life; is it possible? Can it ever be achieved? We are overloaded with a seemingly endless to do list and people to please. Being aware of not feeling at peace can be a motivation to find it again, and to overcome the challenges that are presented to us.

    The first question for overcoming the feeling of being ill at ease is to identify why you feel ill at ease. Perhaps your to do list has not been worked on and is becoming quite frightening, or perhaps the problem is with the to do list itself. Maybe the thought of everything on that list gives you no satisfaction at all. If the problem is that you have not done any work on your to do list in a long time, the solution may be very simple; break the list down into smaller steps. For example: If you have a presentation due on the topic of women’s rights in Canada, you might want to break the project down into doing an introduction on day 1, the body of the presentation on day 2, and the conclusion of the presentation on day 3. Doing this with the various items on your to do list will help to make things less scary, and more approachable.

    On the other hand, if your to do list is filled with things that are not rewarding, then you may need to conduct an evaluation of your goals and desired end results for your various pursuits. Sometimes we avoid doing work because we do not truly care anymore about the results. For example, if I want to get a high school diploma, I will go to class and do the homework and act generally respectful of those around me in order to facilitate my success. If you do not want a high school diploma anymore, you may consider dropping some of the items off your to do list. In this case, I would recommend speaking with a guidance counselor who may be able to re-light the motivation to complete the diploma. If you are knocking off things on your to do list, you are closer to achieving the goals you originally set out for yourself. The question is how you can regain a sense of inner peace amid seemingly random, negative emotions?

    There are many strategies for regaining peace within:

    • Take some time to reflect upon all of the things that you are grateful for.
    • Do some meditation or conduct concentrated moments of silence.
    • Talk with a friend about positive things in your life.
    • Get a little exercise to increase your brain’s natural feel good chemicals.
    • Do some yoga, or engage in an activity that makes you feel good.

    Finding peace within is something that is always in your control. You are always able to regain it; it just takes some investigating to find solutions that will work for you. Good luck!

  • The Importance of Finding Peace Within

    The Importance of Finding Peace Within

    In a world filled with obligations and seemingly never ending stress, finding inner peace can seem like the stuff of fairytales. The reality is that the majority of us are feeling the pressure of our daily lives in a big way. Poor quality food (yes chips, I am talking about you), poor sleeping habits (five hours a day truly isn’t enough) and mismanaged time can leave a person feeling perpetually like a ping pong ball darting back and forth on the table of life.

    As busy as our lives might be, it is important to find the time to look inwards to find a sense of peace in order to have some semblance of balance. Not only does finding inner peace feel good, it is essential. Inner peace means different things to different people, but the core of the definition remains the same; feeling internal harmony with an absence of internal strife. As previously mentioned, inner peace is essential; our three states of being (physical, spiritual and mental) rely upon it. Without it, anxiety, stress, depression, fear and restlessness – all bi-products of an absence of inner peace – are given leeway to take over our lives.

    As cliché as this may sound, inner peace helps to make the world go round. Let’s take that statement and apply it to a hypothetical situation. If there was a doctor who was manic depressive and due to his depression was unable to focus for long periods of time, developed chronic memory loss or became unreliable in his or her attendance at the office, said doctor could wind up causing some serious damage to or even killing one or more of his or her patients. The wrong medication could be prescribed, a client could be misdiagnosed or a hopeful patient would have traveled to the doctor’s office in vain looking for an absent doctor. Medical and legal chaos would ensue. As extreme as this example may seem, the absence of inner peace can cause such a large amount of discord in our lives through blindsided snowball effects that it can alter it and those around us.

    In an effort to find inner peace many of us turn to spirituality or religion. As the Dalai Lama so wisely stated, “We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves.” His words mirror the teachings of so many religions today. In some way, shape or form, every religion functions on the act of mastering internal peace and then applying it externally. This transference of peace dictates the way that we live and communicate. Aside from religion, other methods of obtaining inner peace are through meditation, listening or creating music or engaging in a relaxing activity. Regardless of what you choose to do, remember that a peaceful person is a happy person and so are the people around them.