Inner quiet, a place of your own.
Try to imagine nothing
Close your eyes and think of nothing…it's hard isn't it. All those jobs and niggles, all those bits of unfinished business not to mention things that need remembering for tomorrow. So what is the secret of inner peace and contentment?
Forgive Yourself
Forgiveness is the answer, not of other people but of ourselves. It is often easier to forgive some body else rather than ourselves. We all have regrets and sometimes we can punish ourselves for past weakness, foolishness, or words we said but did not mean. It is good to have ambitions, it is normal to want to improve our lot for ourselves and our families, but you should not be so absorbed in your ambition that you lose sight of what you are trying to achieve.
You have to accept yourself for who you are, maybe you are envious of a certain celebrity or wealthy business person, but if you are both stood on the beach watching a beautiful sunset, do they have more than you? It is also about knowing what is important to you.
I used to want to be a 'rock star', I've experienced playing on stage to a live audience and loved it, but I wanted to play to the stadium full of fans, or a Woodstock concert. However, most of those who were my heroes either died of an overdose or had problems with drink and drugs, they were hounded by the press or fans wherever they went and lost all privacy, I didn't want that.
Looking back too often, can make you miss obstacles on the path ahead.
I had a number of things that niggled me all the time and would not let me rest, they were not important things but even so they made me cringe. It was only when I could forgive myself for my past actions that I felt that was beginning to understand what inner peace was all about.
Consider a meadow, it is made up of many things; brightly coloured flowers, long stalks of grass, herbs and what seem to be plants of very little significance, and yet they are all important and with out the least of them the meadow is not complete.
If you are stressed out, feeling lost, worthless, perhaps you feel a failure because all about you others seem to be more successful; I suggest you try meditation rather than anything else.
Meditation is Difficult but Worth the Effort.
I began meditation over thirty years ago and it has helped me see life for what it is, and to know how precious a gift it is. Whether or not you believe in God, you should not overlook the fact that life is a miracle. If you watch a program about astronomy and see how many countless stars there are and even more countless planets, some of which may have some form of life on them, we are still the exception. We are a tiny spec of dust amongst countless other specs of dust, but we have life; that is a miracle.
It took time to develop the necessary discipline to be able to slip into the comfort of that other place. I learnt to turn off my stress, but most of all I learnt to forgive, to be more tolerant, and overcome pain or at least subdue it.
Inner peace is not something you can pick up when you want, it has to be a way of life, if you really want to be able to sit down and think of nothing you have to work hard at it.
- Panic Attacks, How I Beat Them
My story of beating panic attacks. It was a seven year fight, but I won.
