As we go through life we will meet crisis, problems and challenges along the way. Some of these will be unbearable that we feel we are pushed to the limits; our health is compromised and our relationship with our loved ones and other people are affected. Peace of mind becomes very elusive.
Peace does not stay with you unless you develop certain qualities and establish certain conditions. Without discipline, control of your thoughts, detachment, moderation in your habits and desires, appropriate awareness and attitude, you cannot expect to have peace in your life and in your mind.
If you want to have peace of mind and become a normal state of your awareness, you must follow the following six principles:
1. Learn to let go of things. Do not hold on to anything. What you hold in your mind is what holds you back from being your true self. What you carry in your mind as negative thoughts from your past, is the undigested food that stays inside your consciousness, like rotten meat emitting fowl energy. Let go of this foul energy with loving understanding for all those who harmed you, till you are at peace with yourself. Accept them as more players whose sole purpose in your life is to teach you lessons. Unknot the knots of hatred. Send peace into their homes and hearts, and their minds and bodies. Learn to live with detached mind.
2. Have faith in yourself and in God. With faith and confidence in yourself and God you can deal with the problems and challenges of your life very successfully. Faith takes you closer to God.
3. Cultivate and preserve positive mental attitude. To maintain positive mental attitude, you need not have to overlook the reality. You have to acknowledge the problem, accept it, but keep faith in yourself and your abilities to solve it. As long as you have this unshakable confidence and faith in yourself, in your connection with God, and in the good you find in other human beings, you have positive mental attitude.
4. Give unconditional love. Let love from deep within in your heart flow into all directions. Start with your spouse you have and child children, your parents and those whom you meet along the way.
5. Express gratitude. From the time you were born till today realize that you have received help and encouragement from people you know, to the books that you read, the money that you received from work, and the inspiration that you got. If you do this, you are releasing the flow of abundance that makes you of what you are today. You are inviting peace and harmony back into your life.
6. Know the meaning of sacrifice. Do not seek, but give. Make others happy. Help them in your own individual ways. Help the needy. Surprise someone with generosity. The more you give, the greater is your sense of freedom from want and obligations.
