When life is running smoothly and things are going well for you, it’s easy to feel good and keep a positive disposition. But when life gets stormy and unpredictable, it’s also easy to get swept along on a current of negativity and spiral out of control emotionally. As many people do, you might find yourself attempting to “calm the storm,” by trying to control the people and circumstances around you, which is usually a fruitless effort that only adds to your frustration. The truth is, you have very little control over those people and circumstances, but you have 100% control over how you choose to respond.
An approach that usually works much better is to keep yourself as calm as possible, no matter what is going on around you. Let go of any impulse to control people and events, and instead breathe deeply and bring your attention to the stillness within you.
Say the word, “calm,” or “still,” several times, and keep your attention focused within yourself. You will notice that within just a few minutes your muscles will start to relax, your heart rate slows down, and any feelings of fear, worry, frustration or anger that you were experiencing will start to calm down.
When you first begin practicing with this technique, your peaceful feelings may only last for a few minutes before the chaos and negativity begins to affect you again. But if you will keep practicing bringing yourself back to an inner state of calm, you will be able to hold it for longer each time you do it. Eventually, it will become second nature and will be able to shift into peacefulness instantly and remain in that state much of the time, no matter how turbulent your surroundings may be at any given moment.
Interestingly, you will also start to notice that the calmer you are, it also has a calming effect on the people and events around you. Often, just keeping yourself in a grounded, non-reactionary state will allow the storm to blow over with no real harm done. You may notice that other people will become less aggressive and less inclined to argue or make unreasonable demands from you. Even situations that are quite turbulent or complex can often be smoothed out quickly if you stay centered and peaceful.
Best of all, your state of inner calm unlocks the door to all kinds of opportunities and solutions that can help make the situation better, even sometimes without you needing to do anything at all. Obstacles dissolve, difficult people spontaneously decide to move on, and circumstances improve, sometimes virtually overnight. If any situations do require your intervention, holding yourself in a state of calm will allow you to receive the right ideas and opportunities to make changes with very little fuss or strain required.
Regardless of how the solutions show up, you will be able to see a clear and obvious correlation between your state of inner serenity and the way everything and everyone in your environment responds to you differently because of it.
