Will You Make Inner Peace A Choice In 2023?

“We are not at peace with others because we are not at peace with ourselves, and we are not at peace with ourselves because we are not at peace with God.”

Thomas Merton

There’s no denying it… there’s utter chaos in the world today (and yesterday and tomorrow!)

Many of us are too stressed, too busy, too rushed, constantly agitated, often distressed, and stressed some more. It can get very exhausting very quickly!

And it’s the beginning of the year, which means we’re probably also dealing with post-holiday stresses, start-of-year financial pressures after holiday budget blowouts, or maybe fallouts with family over Christmas and what not… this is not your first post-holiday rodeo, unfortunately.

No matter how hard we try to simplify our lives, it feels like something major is always going on or about to go down.

It’s easy to be constantly overwhelmed by the chaos around us. When it comes to making your new year resolutions, “I just wish my life was peaceful,” always makes it to the top of the list but by February, chaos still reigns.

And then I come along and declare that “being at peace is a choice”?!

Well….

It’s hard to agree, at this point, that peace doesn’t depend on your circumstances. That you can choose to be at peace regardless of what’s going on around you.

Yes, you have a busy, hectic lifestyle.

Yes, you long for peace and calm but you may feel that you will never achieve them, at least not foreseeably, in your current circumstances.

But you can. Hear me out.

Peace isn’t merely the absence of noise or chaos. Inner peace is an intentional decision you must make each day, sometimes even multiple times in a day!

‘Learning to distance yourself from all the negativity is one of the greatest lessons to achieve inner peace.’

Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart

It begins the moment you choose not to allow other people or external events to control your emotions.

Inner peace brings with it so many positive emotions and benefits that it is worth its pursuit in all circumstances.

The Amazing Benefits of Inner Peace

Regardless of what your life looks like right now, you stand to reap immediate benefits from your pursuit of inner peace, albeit it’s a never-ending journey:

Benefit #1: Release From The Past

The past can hold you prisoner.

Maybe it was the hurtful words your spouse or a friend said to you or maybe the heartache of a traumatic childhood.

The truth is that you can’t always control what happens to you, certainly not what happened in the past.

Choose inner peace by releasing the past.

This may mean giving forgiveness, which ultimately releases you from the burden that you carry from the hurt of the past.

With that, it means that you embrace where you are now, but still acknowledging that something awful happened, and try to move on from it.

Benefit #2: Enjoy Better Sleep

I remember agonizing over a situation I had blown out of proportion in my head just before I went to bed, and boy did that destroy my sleep and my mood for the next couple days!

You’ve probably had nights, just like I did, where you spent most of your time in bed tossing and turning because you were worried or angry over a situation.

You may or may not have had control over that situation. Either way, you lost sleep since you were experiencing a lack of peace.

Prioritizing inner peace means it doesn’t matter what’s going on. You strive to find rest despite your circumstances. You simply deliberately choose to let go of stress.

Benefit #3: Improved Health

When you’re inevitably living in a state of constant stress, you’re putting your body and your health under significant strain.

Being chronically stressed raises your blood pressure, which causes your body to produce too much cortisol, which ultimately compromises your health.

Nothing is ever worth your health!

But when you choose inner peace, it isn’t just your attitude and mindset that are positively impacted, it’s also your body.

Ordinarily, your blood pressure drops, your adrenals stop producing stress hormones, and you find it easier to be pleasant to yourself and to those around you.

Benefit #4: Improved Relationships

Being at peace means you’re not trying to control, or think you can control, what others are or aren’t doing.  

Instead, you’re creating boundaries that give you and those in the situation the freedom to be who you are and who they are.

That’s the beauty of choosing inner peace—you don’t have to focus on what others are doing. This also leads you to being more patient with yourself and those around you.

Benefit #5: Become More Intentional

When you’re focused on inner peace, you stop reacting to everything and try and gain a better sense of control over your situations.

You may start by being more intentional about:

• how you spend your time and with whom,
• your energy and how you expend it, both physically and mentally,
• your money, spending and saving patterns.

These actions of intention ultimately help you regain a heightened sense of control over your potentially stressful situations.

Benefit #6: Ability to Focus

Chaos can feel like you’re fighting fires with a squirt gun!

Even if you manage to get one out, the next one quickly becomes a blaze that feels overwhelming, and you wonder how much longer you can keep doing this.

Inner peace is a gift you give yourself. But it also gives you the gift of focus.

Since you are no longer panicking over every fire, but instead you prioritize and concentrate on the ones that truly matter and focus on putting those out first.

Benefit #7: Stop Focusing On The Future

“These mountains that you are carrying, you were only supposed to climb.”

Najwa Zebian

Chaos often stems from a focus on the future that you have no control over.

You’re constantly playing the ‘what-if‘ game and thinking of everything that could go wrong. You’re trying to be there when you’re firmly in the here.

This creates stress and anxiety that you are choosing to carry.

Peace forces you to stop thinking about what could happen. It takes you out of the imagined future and plants your feet firmly in the present moment — the now.

When you feel you’re slipping further from peace, it’s a good time to ask yourself:  

“Is worrying about this work report helping me write it?”

“Is stressing over my marriage helping it?”

“Is being troubled over my health improving it?”

If the answer is a simple “NO”, then it’s best to commit to choosing inner peace!

Benefit #8: Stop Worrying About What Others Think

A key point of anxiety for many people is centered on what others think of them and how they’ll be perceived.

This can rob you of peace and keep you from approaching others as your authentic self. You may even find it easier to hide behind a mask and never truly get to know those around you.

But choosing inner peace means you can make the bold declaration:

“What others think about me is none of my business!”

It frees you to show up as you really are—warts and all—because you know that no one has the power over you, to make or break you!

Peace Is Yours, Truly Yours

“The truth is that stress doesn’t come from your boss, your kids, your spouse, traffic jams, health challenges, or other circumstances. It comes from your thoughts and reactions about your circumstances.”

Andrew Bernstein

Peace isn’t something magical that’s only gifted to a few.

It’s not a feeling reserved only for those who have easy lives (spoiler alert: no one does!).

Inner peace can be yours today…. but you must be intentional in your decision to claim it and be in it, most days.