By 6 UNUSUAL PATHWAYS TO INNER PEACE
You’ve tried religion, you’ve tried meditation. But have you tried these?
By Ronnie Ann Ryan
Finding inner peace is a state of being that millions of people hope to achieve. With so much chaos in the world today, knowing you can go within to find serenity is such a blessing.
Calming your nervous system is essential to lower stress levels and maintain good health. Today’s hectic world often keeps you moving at a frantic pace, as you run around to get everything done. There’s just too much to handle, or things don’t go well for some reason and cause stress to build.
There are countless routes to calm your mind and body, and you’ve probably heard about many of them. Maybe you have even tried a few like walking in nature, meditation, clearing your energy, aromatherapy, and even taking Epsom salt baths.
If you’ve tried other methods but haven’t found the right one, here are a few unusual ways to get there. Sometimes, you just need a new technique to find the inner peace you crave.
Here are 6 unusual routes for finding inner peace.
1. Explore ASMR — Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response
Crackling noises and whispers are considered ASMR which helps the brain shift into a pleasant, relaxed state. These soothing sensory triggers through sight, sound, and touch can help you let go of negativity and bad moods too.
The term ASMR was coined and became popular in 2010 after scientists studied this response to discover what people were raving about. While you can find loads of videos offering this kind of stimulation on YouTube, you can also get there on your own.
Do you know the packing material called bubble wrap? Simply popping those bubbles one at a time can produce that ASMR experience, calming your mind and body. Try it! There is something soothing and satisfying that makes you want to keep going until every last bubble is flattened to send your cares away.
2. Get some sunshine
Getting out in the sunshine has many surprising benefits that have been forgotten with the concern over UV rays. Regular exposure to the sun, just 10-30 minutes a few times a week, is good for you!
Sunlight elevates your mood and improves many mental health conditions, increases energy, creates stronger bones, can lower blood pressure, and extends your life! A bit of sunshine and natural light helps your brain function better.
Exposure to sunshine without sunglasses (not looking directly into the sun, of course) is important to stimulate photosensitive cells in the retina. These cells connect directly to the pituitary gland, which affects your biological clock to impact sleep patterns. The photosensitive cells also engage the hypothalamus, which regulates the nervous system.
Even the pineal gland is stimulated by sunshine, which produces melatonin known for sleep and digestive function. Plus, a bit of sunshine improves near-sightedness and overall eye health!
Let’s not forget vitamin D, which has been known to lift moods and contribute to healthy bones. So, get outside, take off those sunglasses, and soak up a bit of sunshine to lift your mood and maintain good health naturally.
3. Pick up a coloring book
Whether you pick up a crayon or colored pencil, playing with color is not only fun but a path to inner peace as well. You can make up a design, draw a still life, or fill a page in a mandala coloring book. What you color doesn’t matter. Simply allowing yourself to enjoy the process without the pressure of producing great art will help you feel calmer.
The act of coloring gets the right side of your brain working, which is about creativity. When you are being creative, you enter a flow state where you forget your worries as you focus on the process. Coloring can help you reach a more reflective state of mind where you feel relaxed and sink into a sense of inner peace.
4. Do deep breathing
When you sit quietly and practice deep breathing. This activates the parasympathetic nervous system responsible for the body’s ability to rest and digest. It also counteracts the fight or flight stress response busy people are prone to, helping you calm yourself.
For deep breathing to be effective, what works best is to fill your lungs and your belly before exhaling. When you breathe deeply from the diaphragm like this, it helps regulate your nervous system and minimize the production of stress hormones.
Plus, you’ll get a boost of energy from the additional oxygen you’re taking in! Just 10 minutes of deep breathing will help you feel more relaxed, reaching a deeper sense of inner peace while gaining health benefits at the same time.
5. Listen to birds singing
Listening to birds sing also impacts the parasympathetic nervous system like deep breathing, to curb the fight or flight stress response. When you hear the birds, it triggers an evolutionary response that had important meaning to our early ancestors.
As it turns out, birds sing when they feel safe and there are no predators around, signaling early man they too were safe. Since the birds were calm enough to sing, the human body responded by being less on guard against danger and relaxing.
That’s why even today, when you hear bird songs, you’re often captivated and feel at ease, knowing this subconsciously from your ancestral heritage. Listening to other nature sounds can also produce a state of inner peace like frogs peeping, crickets chirping, water moving, and more.
6. Say “No”, then say it again
If you’re a people pleaser, you tend to do things you don’t want to do or ignore your own needs to satisfy others. This creates internal friction as you are torn over how to respond and may feel like you have no choice.
Being helpful is a wonderful quality, but not when it’s at your own expense. This is a classic boundary issue that can strip you of any chance for inner peace. That’s why learning to say “no” to a request can feel like a relief, and in fact, is quite liberating.
When you say no, you are choosing to take care of yourself first. Most people pleasers think this is selfish. However, listening to your inner voice and taking care of your own needs is essential for your health and well-being.
Giving until you are drained is not good for you or anyone else. This is especially true if you are a caregiver. Everyone needs time to rest and recharge before continuing to serve or even to be their most productive self.
If you’re ready to begin setting boundaries, start small. Instead of going to a restaurant you don’t like, suggest one you want to try. If you’re too tired to help, tell the person you can help tomorrow. It’s OK to admit you need rest instead of acting immediately. Handling your own needs first will help you feel that inner peace slowly returning.
Now that you have six unusual ways to find inner peace, which one will you try first? Pick one today and treat yourself to the calming results. You deserve it!
