Calm Down Already
It takes time to unlock the power of calm in one's life. It’s a way of thinking that focusses on what’s right in others while being centered on what’s right in yourself. It’s a choice to trust and it speaks powerfully to those around you. However, unlocking calm takes time, focus and lots of grace.
We can’t accomplish anything unless we can pull our thoughts to the present moment and focus on today. C.S. Lewis is famous for his thoughts on this saying, “The present is pregnant with meaning and possibility.”
The Real Source of Noise
Too often our stress level is tied to the amount of noise we let into our minds. Many of us are addicted to always being busy or worried, or offended by someone that hurt us.
Noise is caused by our reaction to each situation not necessarily the situation itself.
We don’t have to work at trying to get rid of every stressful situation. We need to learn how to embrace calm.
6 Tricks that Reduce Noise
Here are a few tricks that reduce noise and offer you a lifestyle of calm.
1. Focus on your strengths and put them to work. You may be trying to do too many things and end up doing none of them well. Name, claim and aim your talents and strengths to shift your mindset from what’s wrong all the time to what is right.
2. Manage your weaknesses don’t dwell on them. Gallup defines a weakness as anything that gets in the way of progress. Try acknowledging and managing your weaknesses to avoid failure. However, manage them by using your strengths to maneuver around them and move on.
3. Resist procrastination. Try doing what you need to do now so you can fully enjoy your times of relaxation. Instead of letting overwhelm consume you take several small steps towards your goals.
4. Free yourself to focus. Be intentional about carving out YOU time in order to breath, think and take action. If you know you are easily distracted, set some guidelines for yourself.
5. Create boundaries for noisy people in your life. Life can be full of people who stress you out through their constant noise. Put healthy boundaries in place to keep yourself free of extra drama.
6. Modify your agenda. Think of ways to save time and trouble. For instance, when you don’t have time to run the dishwasher use paper plates. And if you're scheduled for too many meetings find a partner who can sit in a few for you.
We can learn to find our calm and live “in the now,” by managing the problem of noise and making different choices. becoming a calm person is a great way to start the new year.