In a nutshell…
Say hello to joy and happiness. They reside in you.
Tag: Contentment
Living a Peaceful Life Is Easier Than You Think
Have you ever just wanted to throw all of your worries out of the window? Perhaps you just want to settle down peacefully, free of drama and worries and live out the rest of your life in peace and harmony with your surroundings? It might seem like a lot to ask for especially if you live in a busy city environment. Just take a look at this post from Time.com and you’ll find that by just living in the city, your brain could actually change for the worse. However, it’s important to remember that you can achieve virtually anything assuming you’re willing to put the time and effort into it. First, let’s take a look what why you’d want to live a peaceful life in the first place, then we’ll dive into some deeper considerations on how you can achieve a peaceful life.
Why live a peaceful life?
First, let’s examine why you’d want to live a peaceful life or how it even differs to your current life. You might be perfectly content with how you live now, but here are some advantages to a peaceful life that may entice you to change how you approach the world.
- Peaceful living helps you remain calm and collected. The first major advantage is being able to remain calm and collected no matter what the situation is. By living a peaceful life, you’ll be able to find inner peace with yourself to prevent inner struggles from affecting your life. You’ll have clarity when making decisions and living your life, and you’ll no longer have to suffer from thinking about too many irrelevant things.
- You’ll always find the silver lining no matter what happens. Misfortune happens to everyone at some point in their lives and we have to learn how to deal with it. As explained in this helpful article by PsychologyToday.com, there are ways to deal with unfortunate events and learning to live peacefully can assist this process by helping you find the silver lining during unfortunate events.
- It helps you become more tolerant of people around you. If you’ve ever lashed out at someone because they just seem to annoy you or if you find it difficult to make new friends because you judge them too quickly, then living peacefully can help you settle that inner critic so that you’ll become more tolerant of everyone around you.
- You can learn to seek forgiveness for your past mistakes. Maybe you’ve done something in the past that was really rude or hurtful to someone that was close to you, or perhaps you often get frustrated and argue with almost anyone. Using steps that are similar to the ones from TheHopeLine.com, it’s possible to seek forgiveness so you can atone for past mistakes. A switch to living a peaceful life will help facilitate this so you can get rid of struggles and conflicts to make way for a new beginning.
- Being peaceful can help bring joy to your life and those around you. A peaceful life is a life of happiness. With no struggles to worry about and no negative emotions to cloud your judgement, you’ll bring happiness not only to yourself but to those around you who will be entranced by the calm and collected way that you approach life.
- There are many others around the world that seek peace and you can be part of it. You aren’t alone on your journey to becoming a peaceful person. Online communities such as the one at Reddit.com will help you in your journey to live a simple and peaceful life that is free from conflict and struggles. They can offer advice and you can share your experiences as well.
Now that we’ve gone through the advantages of living a peaceful life and what it involves, let’s go deeper into the subject by explaining some important fundamentals that will help you live a more carefree and enjoyable lifestyle.
Commitments don’t necessarily mean what’s important
First, let’s talk about what it means to commit yourself to something. Commitment means that you are dedicated to a cause or activity. For instance, you can be committed to your partner and faithful because you won’t cheat, or you could be committed to your company so that you do everything in your power to make them more successful. Commitments are, for the most part, defined by you. You are the one that chooses to marry or stick with a company and you have the power to control that decision. As explained in this post at ThoughtCatalog.com, there is such a thing as being afraid of commitment. However, it’s much better to understand why you feel afraid of committing than doing it blindly and regretting it later in the future.
However, commitments don’t always imply that something is important. Just because you feel committed to your work, it doesn’t mean that your job is the most important thing in your life. Many people work jobs that hardly pay anything, but they find meaning in the work they do and that’s what keeps them going. Others find that they feel committed to their children, but until you realise what’s important about your children, you’ll start to feel like your commitment and sacrifices are just becoming a chore. If you’re not sure what commitments you should be investing in for your kids, then take a look at this article from AhaParenting.com and you’ll come across some fantastic advice that can teach you to become a better parent.
In short, learn to distinguish between a commitment and what’s important. Until you realise why you’re committing yourself to something unconditionally, you won’t get any sense of satisfaction or fulfilment from sacrificing other things to feed your commitment. Once you can tell the difference, you’ll find that you have a lot less stress on your mind and you’ll be far more productive throughout the day.
Take it slow and go easy on yourself
Another important thing to remember is to go easy on yourself. Sleep a little do nothing once in awhile and remember to indulge in your own hobbies. Sure, work can be difficult and time-consuming, but that doesn’t mean you’re not allowed to take holidays off. It’s important to give yourself plenty of time to relax, and you can achieve that by focusing on your comfort. It’s the small things that count when you want to live a peaceful life, so look at articles and resources like Mattress-Guides.net to help you pick a great mattress to sleep on at night. You’d be surprised at how much better you feel after a relaxing night of sleep. Other factors can also affect your sleep quality such as your body temperature and what you eat before you go to bed. In short, try to focus on giving yourself more relaxation time and you’ll learn to appreciate taking life a little more slowly.
Spend more time with loved ones
You should also focus on giving yourself more quality time with friends and family. By planning trips together and indulging in enjoyable days out together, you’ll improve your relationships and find new ways to connect with the people that matter in your life. If you’re finding it difficult to have a stress-free day out with your family, this article at ACookingPotAndTwistedTales.com will give you plenty of fantastic advice that will show you how to reduce the stress of planning a day out. A day out can be a slow and relaxing event that doesn’t need to be stretched out. It doesn’t need a purpose either, it could just be for the sake of meeting up with loved ones to relax together.
Be content with your lifestyle
To live a peaceful life, you need to learn to be content with everything you have. For example, if you’re able to find little joys in everything you do, then you’ll be far happier than if you were to constantly think to yourself that you’re not good enough or that your environment isn’t good enough. Find what makes you happy and try to think positively about smaller things in life.
Just being able to sit down and drink a cup of tea after a long day of work should give you joy. Similarly, being able to sit down at your computer and chat with friends that are thousands of miles away should give you a great sense of joy.
Being content is all about looking at the better side of life. Small comforts should make you happy and frustrations should be dealt with swiftly and without much trouble. It doesn’t take much to completely change your life around so that you are more content, but if you ever need help then take a look at articles such as this one from ZenHabits.net to learn more about what it means to be content with life.
Living peacefully can seem difficult or even more stressful, especially if you aren’t used to thinking positively or if you have a job that’s incredibly stressful. Hopefully, these tips will give you a great start on your new lifestyle so that you can enjoy life in a new way.
This is a collaborative post.
Take A Chance On Love…
I aspire to be an old man, with an old wife, laughing at old jokes from a wild youth – Atticus
Loving him
was risky,
but
it was
a chance
she chose
to take
and
40 years
going on,
she has
never been
happier.
©
Jacqueline
50 Shades Of Little Things That Make My Heart Glad.
As the days go by, my mind grows more attuned to the simple, little, beautiful sources of my pleasure and I would like to share them with you. These things don’t cost much if they cost anything at all.
Maybe because I’ve had to live life on a shoe string budget for quite some time – due to cutting back on full-time work to take care of my children – yes, some sacrifices are worth it at the end.
I must tell you that it’s tough, tough, tough, not having a steady income, but I’ve also learnt to literally become a minimalist and my sense of deep appreciation for the small things have deepened beyond measure.
I digress. Now to the 50 shades of things that make my heart glad. They are in no particular order.
- The cuddle and warmth of a new baby.
- The wonderful smell of a new book.
- The outlay of books in the library or bookstore.
- Office supplies and notepads.
- The frisky frolic of a happy puppy, baby animals excluding snakes and other creepy crawlies.
- Good music and Saturday mornings.
- A well-stocked pantry.
- An early morning walks when the air is crisp and fresh.
- The sounds of birds chirping. I try to decipher their conversation, unfortunately, I don’t speak chirp.
- Watching the sun rise and set.
- The tinkling laughter of a child.
- The quiet hum of my home in the wee hours of the morning.
- A scalp massage from the fingers of a dear one.
- Foot rub after a hard day.
- A pretty bud and fresh flowers.
- The rich smell of coffee and coffee shops. I think I’ll end up owning one 😉
- The sound of Beethoven that my husband plays when he’s shaving *don’t ask me why.
- An ice cream on a cone on a hot day.
- My bare feet planted on the cool floor under my work table.
- Singing loudly to myself – though I can barely carry a tune.
- The sound of rain.
- Smiles. When I make someone smile.
- Gazing up at the stars.
- Seeing happy people
- The smell of freshly cut grass.
- Watching my children dance.
- Dancing – I love dancing.
- Listening to my fave songs on repeat.
- Morning mist on untouched plants.
- Warm heartfelt hugs, forehead kisses, and deep conversations.
- Getting lost in the pages of a book.
- Sleeping on my bed or just lying in and lazing there.
- Quiet moments to myself.
- A nice soak in a warm bubble bath.
- Christmas time
- Sweets: chocolate, cheesecake, chocolate cake, hot chocolate. I am an unrepentant chocoholic.
- Finishing a crossword puzzle
- Things that make me laugh.
- Tea time with a pretty tea set – sounds silly but it just makes me sigh in contentment.
- Pretty candles and meditation.
- Cooking and watching others eat it with appreciation. Sharing food with others is filling.
- An unexpected gift.
- Seeing an elderly couple holding hands 🙂
- Freshly washed bed sheets.
- Looking at old photos and reminiscing.
- Finding bargains
- Making friends
- Picnics at the park – I can’t wait for the weather to get cooler.
- A clean house and family time.
- Finishing things on time.
As I wrote this list, I realized I had many more things that I could include, like the warm cup of corn and mushroom soup (homemade) that I’m enjoying right now. I will share the recipe with you in another post.
So tell me, what are your shades of pleasure?
Jacqueline
Now Available
Hold It!
I seek my contentment and peace without apologies because it can’t be purchased and it’s so easy to lose in today’s world.
when you’ve been pierced
by the blunt edge of pain
you will know that
the sharp sweetness of joy
is far better to hold
close to your chest.
©
Jacqueline
Now Available
January is out. How are you holding up?
We were just singing Auld Lang Syne a few days ago and here we are in February getting ready to share boxes of chocolates, roses, cards and all what not for the love of Valentine.
Two things this brings to mind are; the shortness and speed of time as well as how we must harness our time optimally.
Some of us probably set out major goals and may be taking a look at how far they’ve gone with it. While some didn’t bother with it. Whichever spectrum you are in, it’s all good.
Remember that the most important thing is that when you set major goals, always appreciate the minor accomplishments that brought you to your goal even when you are falling behind your set goal.
Celebrating those minor accomplishments boosts and motivates your drive to keep pushing forward. Castigating oneself over failures most times has a reverse effect.
Today, as I took my brisk morning walk, I did a mental account of all that I’ve been doing with my time and I am thankful for the consistency in keeping with my plans. I am thankful for the zeal to wake up each day with peace and a positive frame of mind.
There are mornings that the joy I feel inside literally flows like a river. What my experiences keep teaching me is that the greatest success we can achieve in our lives is contentment, peace, and joy.
Since I came to the understanding that my happiness is my responsibility and doesn’t lie in anyone’s hands, or in material gains, I’ve found that happiness easier to hold on to.
There’s always something to be grateful for, all you have to do is to look inside. Be kind to yourself and others.
Jacqueline
If you wish to participate in a gratitude challenge, there are several gratitude/thankful platforms in the blogosphere that you can tune into and get your ithankful going on. I can’t express in words the enormity of Joy and fulfillment that comes from having a heart of gratitude. Please check out Maria’s blog, Colline’s blog and Bernadette’s for thankful/gratitude challenges.
Wispy clouds of perfection…
May we not strive for perfection,
for we shall break our backs
In pursuit of such elusive dreams,
we simply break our hearts
for perfection can never be caught,
no matter how hard it is sought
for like fine wisps of cloud,
they melt or move beyond our sights
leaving yawns of dissatisfaction behind,
or sending us on endless quests in our mind.
May we strive for greater purpose,
for contentment is awesome
for satisfaction is a comfortable bed to lay on,
with peace a priceless joy to know.
© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha
Below is my first just published Poetry Book “Out of the silent breath” which is available on Amazon and Smashwords.
When you buy my book, you support me in an invaluable manner.
I absolutely love this book of poems. My favorites are “Love Rations” (for those who love to give the silent treatment) and “Beggars Supper” (which definitely pulls at the heart strings). Two thumbs up!!
Midnight Motivations and Musings # 97
It’s been said a billion times and yes I will say it again, ‘life is too short to live miserably,’ and at the end of this living what exactly would you have achieved if misery has been your only destination?
There’s never going to be one Eureka moment when happiness runs up to you at a bus-stop and clings to your pants legs with eagerness to become your life tenant.
Neither is it something that someone else can hand over to you. The people around you may help in stimulating your state of happiness, but they don’t owe you the responsibility of making you happy and as a matter of fact, handing someone the reins to your happiness is a big mistake that you can’t afford to make.
It’s an active emotion that must be pursued daily and requires your contribution. The state of being happy is not a one-size fit all recipe, and each person has to find their own mental and emotional state of well-being which exists not because everything in their life is perfect but because they appreciate and enjoy their imperfect moments.
No one should sit and wait for happiness to happen to them because the state of happiness is not a destination you arrive at, but a continuous journey of the mind.
Blessed be.
Jacqueline
Below is my first just published Poetry Book “Out of the silent breath” which is available on Amazon and Smashwords.
When you buy my book, you support me in an invaluable manner.
From the very first poem, “Dreams,” this book captivates with passionate and perceptive words. Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha captures a broad expanse of the human experience in this book of richly layered poems.
The state of gratefulness…
With the ups and downs of life, sometimes, it’s difficult for your minds to clinch into a constant state of grace because most times our reflections are on auto drive on picking out the things that may not be going as we wish as against the other blessings that are pebble stones on our path and act as GPS to help us navigate back when we stray down the road of doubt and ingratitude.
Making a conscious decision to express gratefulness has made me more conscious and appreciative of the little things that I ordinarily took as a given and with this comes a greater sense of contentment and peace.
I’m totally grateful for the kindness received from those around me. To Tasha of Hit below the belt hard, I appreciate the slice of carrot cake you bought for me 😉
I’m grateful for the fact that though sometimes I fall short in my responsibilities as a parent and wife, my husband has been doing his best to remain my supportive backbone.
I don’t take these things for granted and I always encourage anyone to practice the state of gratitude not so much for the present state that you are in, but for the journey of the wonderful sense of contentment that it builds in you.
There’s always something to be grateful for and you will probably find so many when you look.
Love and light.
© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha
Below is my first just published Poetry Book “Out of the silent breath” which is available on Amazon and Smashwords.
When you buy my book, you support me in an invaluable manner.
From the very first poem, “Dreams,” this book captivates with passionate and perceptive words. Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha captures a broad expanse of the human experience in this book of richly layered poems.
Midnight Motivations and Musings 37…
This predicament of complacency and arrogance happens and manifests in so many aspects of our lives very easily.
That tendency to feel comfortable, not wanting to rock the boat and just go with the flow once we’ve carved a sweet niche leads us down this track.
We can be contented with what we have and yet strive to keep improving our lot, because life itself is a consistent flow that does not stagnate.
The tendency to also grow arrogant and superior, once we start having that sense of accomplishment is also a penchant that easily sneaks in.
We should remember and strive to keep our heads bowed in humility, even as we stand tall in confidence.
© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha