Finding Peace When You’re Feeling Overwhelmed
Sometimes life can feel overwhelming.
That’s not surprising, given the many people and priorities competing for our time and attention. Then there’s the unrelenting rush of news – from within our communities and around the world – that further fuels our sense that things are out of control.
When the world outside becomes too loud or discordant, go within. This inner sanctuary – a place of peace and connection – shows us what is truly real. It is also the access point for consciously connecting with and allowing the assistance of energies such as Divine Peace and Divine Grace, which can help smooth our path.
We are encouraged to remember that we have a variety of tools we can use to restore our inner peace and harmony – regardless of what is going on in the external world. First, we must remind ourselves that we are not our thoughts or our emotions. We are the ones who experience these, and who get to choose whether or how to respond.
External events that we view as negative or threatening can cause our thoughts and emotions to become inflamed, especially if these events trigger us. Some steps you can take when feeling overwhelmed or triggered include:
Be the witness of your thoughts and emotions. Acknowledge and thank them for bringing concerns to your attention and then release them, without needing to immediately react or respond. Get into the habit of witnessing your thoughts and recognizing that they are not who you really are. You have thousands of thoughts every day and many are repetitive in nature. Moreover, some of these thoughts aren’t even your own.
Take a break from engaging with the news or social media. Spend some time in quiet contemplation to help quiet your mind and emotions. It can be helpful to meditate, listen to some soothing music, or spend time in nature. A lot of the news you encounter tends to be slanted towards a particular point of view. It can also be fear-based because negative news and opinions attract attention. A steady diet of negative information – and misinformation – can provoke anxiety and create a distorted view of the world. So it’s good to periodically unplug from the news and opinions of others and just enjoy some inner peace and quiet.
Make time for self-care. It is easy to become so absorbed in meeting the needs and demands of others that we lose sight of the need for self-care. Self-care isn’t selfish. Taking the time to address your personal needs helps you to be your best for others. So ensure you are tending to your physical, mental, emotional and spiritual needs. Whether you want to do some yoga, read a book, go for a walk with your dog or spend some time in quiet contemplation, your attention to self-care can enhance the overall quality of your life.
Practice being in the present moment. When we focus just on what is in front of us in the present moment, we can enter a state of peace and flow. When we get mired in our regrets about the past or our anxieties about the future, we are just letting the noisy voices in our head to run wild. Moreover, there’s a lot of research out there that shows our memories of the past aren’t even all that accurate. Similarly, our fears about the future rarely materialize. The present moment is where your life is actually happening so keep your focus there.
Engage in some energy work to help clear your energy field and raise your energetic frequency. When it comes to enhancing your well-being, you are not limited to just addressing matters of the physical. There are many tools and practices that support energetic clearing and help you raise your own energetic state. For example, you can choose to work with energies such as Divine Peace or Divine Grace by breathing in these energies and then allowing and accepting them so they can be of assistance. (If you’d like some assistance in working with these energies, check out some of our videos on the Boundless Joy YouTube channel – @boundlessjoy.)
When it feels like things are out of control, the ultimate antidote is to recognize that we are never really in control. Things happen. Life unfolds. We can access a deeper state of peace when we open ourselves to just allowing life to unfold as it does, without judgment or expectation, while allowing energetic support to help us move forward on our path.