LifeSMART: Finding Peace

In an ideal world, our home is a place of peace away from the hectic outside world. Unfortunately, ideal worlds don't exist!

In order to make your home a sanctuary, you have to put in a little effort. Thankfully, it's easier than you think.

Here are ten ways you can find peace in your home:

1. Clear the Clutter. Many people never feel at ease when they're at home because their home is disorganized. Of course, a cluttered environment leads to a cluttered mind, and a cluttered mind is a chaotic one. If you take one weekend to clear the clutter from your home, you'll feel an immediate difference in your peace level.

2. Find a Hobby. Sometimes it's boredom that gets the best of us when we're at home. When you have a hobby to turn to, you'll find that it's a lot easier to feel peaceful and fulfilled.

3. Turn on the music. Listening to calming music will allow you to let go of the stress of the day and enjoy your time at home. Choose whatever kind of music you like, as long as it relaxes you.

4. Leave your work at work. If you use your home as an office away from the office, how can you ever find peace? Except for the rare occasion, leave your work at work, both physically and mentally.

If you work from home as I do, work in one dedicated space. Also, never work in the same room as you sleep, otherwise, you'll associate your bedroom as a workspace.

5. Create time to decompress. Do you rush home from work and immediately take on more responsibilities and chores? Instead, allow yourself even 10 or 15 minutes to relax and unwind before you begin tasks for the home. Doing so will mark a clear separation in your mind between work and home.

•You might want to just lie on your bed for a few minutes, read a book, or take a shower. This short time will rejuvenate and refresh you.

6. Be considerate. Be mindful of your family and their daily stresses as well. Too often, we take their presence and contributions for granted. Remember that the people you live with are human, too. Show your gratitude for them.

7. Praise the peacemakers. When someone in your family does something to contribute to the peace, be sure to praise them to let them know you appreciate what they did. This will help foster more peace in the future!

8. Pick your battles. You could fight a lot about little, insignificant things, but is it worth it? Instead, choose only the most important transgressions to challenge.

9. Allow things to roll off your back. When something isn't a big deal, just let it go. Instead, focus on maintaining your inner peace. You'll be glad in the long run that you decided to go this route; it makes life so much easier!

10. Cool off. When you're involved in a conflict at home, give yourself some time to cool off. Doing so will help you calmly talk about your feelings and come to a resolution. Or perhaps you just may realize that the issue wasn't as big of a deal as you first thought.

Maintaining peace in your home is important to the health and well being of every family member. Use these tips to nurture a peaceful environment so your home is a joy to come home to!

I was writing a new article for Life-SMART Coaching about how to break out of a bad mood, and one of the strategies was to meditate. Of course, this lead me to recall my article on meditation I posted here last Friday.

After rereading both articles, I realized I had not added one of my most effective, and favorite, strategies for lifting my spirits as well as meditating--sitting in nature.

I'm lucky enough to live one block from a wonderful park. The park has a one-mile walking trail through a beautiful canopy of tress, as well as a duck pond, complete with fountain and gazebo. And since this is a community park in a family-oriented area of town, there are two playgrounds and a water "playground" for the kids.

Now, I don't know about you, but when I take 15 minutes to sit in the grass and feel the sun on my face, and listen to the rustling leaves and the fountain rain, I find no greater joy. I feel more peaceful, generous, happy, focused, connected...I could go on and on. But I think what it comes down to is that I feel restored, like my factory settings have been reset.

Of course, after relaxing for a bit on the grass, I have been known to take a spin on the merry-go-round and swings. But the therapeutic value of acting like a kid is fodder for another post.

Tomorrow starts the first vacation my family has taken in two years. Maybe three. My bank account says it's not the best time to be spending money, but all of my extended family are getting together for my mom's 70th birthday. Even one of my aunts flew in for the occasion.

The day has been filled with all kinds of last minute preparations--four loads of laundry, gas up the car, clean out the fridge, stop the mail, get snacks for the trip, arrange for the pets to be cared for, etc. Oh, and pack!

I thought today would be hectic but I'm in this mellow frame of mind. I guess my mind has already left for vacation.

But I think it's more that I'm throwing off the worries for the time being. I won't enjoy my vacation if I'm worrying about money, or the house, or the poor pets left at home. Everything will work out. I have faith in that, so I need to take advantage of the opportunity to disconnect from my obligations and reconnect with my family.

I think I'll put on the Go-Go's "Vacation" and dance while I finish packing.

With the invention of computers, our work lives were supposed to get easier, but it seems to have gotten busier than ever before!

The original plan was for computers to allow us to get the same amount of work done in half the time. But we realized we could get twice the work (or more) done in the same time.

Now our world has become so fast paced that it’s hard to keep up, leaving us feeling frazzled and drained. Luckily, there are ways to deal with these overwhelming feelings and put some order back into your life.

Here are a few tips on how to turn your chaos around:

1. Take a break. Give yourself a chance to take in everything going on around you. Even if your break is a nice hot bath instead of a shower, it can help. Find a little time here and there to get some peace and quiet while you reflect on the events of the day.

2. Meditate. Meditation can be very helpful in bringing you peace. But it doesn’t mean sitting uncomfortably and chanting like the monks in the movies. Instead, it’s a very comfortable and soothing way to calm your mind and bring you the serenity you desire. With a little practice, anyone can meditate.

* Find a quiet, dark room and close your eyes.
* Picture yourself on a bridge. Imagine you’re carrying chains with heavy weights at the end. The weights represent your problems and the chaos around you. Now imagine throwing those chains into the water and watching them disappear forever.
* This imagery will help you settle into your meditation. Once you’ve cast away your burdens, you can imagine how peaceful your life can be.

3. Find the positive. No matter how chaotic things get, you can always try to find something good and positive in your situation. Actively look for the silver lining. It could be something as simple as a favorite song, a picture, or the smile of another person that gives you some inner peace. Look for these things and you will find them.

4. Slow down. While we have to multitask almost constantly these days, doing so tends to wear us down even faster. Multi-tasking adds to the chaos around us. Take one thing at a time and allow yourself to focus on that task alone. While you may be able to handle three or more things at once, the quality won't be nearly as good as if you focused on them one at a time.

5. Don’t let anyone drag you down. Be wary when considering the opinions of others. Don’t ignore everyone, but don’t let yourself get bogged down with other people’s baggage and their issues, either. Remove your personal chaos causers, even if one of the causes is other people.

6. Take out the drama. Eliminate the drama in your life, especially other people’s drama. It’s not your concern, so stay out of it and don't get caught up in it. Focus on solving your concerns positively rather than enjoying pity parties. This will reduce the drama and turn your focus to something positive.

Everyone has some chaos in his or her life. It isn't always a bad thing. Stress can be productive as well. In fact, without stress and responsibilities, some people would never get out of bed!

Life will always have stress, but how you handle it can dictate the level of chaos, or peace, in your life.

The first step is realizing that you need to make some time for yourself. If you don't, nothing you do will really make that much of a difference. You can’t be there for everyone else if you aren’t taking care of yourself.

Use these tips every day to bring order to your life, and soon you’ll find peace instead of chaos.