Protecting Your Peace
How would you coach someone to remain calm while they’re trapped in a hungry lion’s den? Seems silly, right? However, many of us live in a lion’s den or at least stop by regularly. We surround ourselves with people, places, and situations that produce fear and we are not sure how to escape. We create a routine of stress and anxiety and stay in this cycle because it’s our normal. So how do you stop this cycle? You start protecting your peace.
Validate your feelings and worth. Consciously identify how you’re feeling the moment you experience a negative mood. Where are you? Who are you around? Accept that you are entitled to your feelings and identify actions that can improve your mood.
Reduce negativity. Correct any negative thoughts with positive alternatives/possibilities. Control what you can. Limit interactions with people, places, or things that consistently stir up negative emotions.
Be kind to yourself. Completely accept how you feel without any negative self-talk. Do something for yourself that you would do for a friend.
Practice calmness. Find moments of peace throughout your day. Sit in silence and focus on any tension in your body, your rate of breathing, and your heart rate. During your day slow down your speech, your walking, and your fidgeting. Allow your brain to focus on doing 1-2 things at a time instead of 5-6.
Organize your space. Create a nice and inviting space that is encouraging and uplifting. You can use a room or even a corner of a room. Use visual cues that trigger your senses. This could be a candle, pictures of happy faces, peppermint candy, textures that feel good, or music that is calming.
Protecting your peace comes down to creating healthy limits, communicating your expectations, and being ok with the fact that you can only change yourself.
✌️Be well!
