3 Simple Steps towards a more calmer, peaceful life, starting now.

Are you craving a calmer life? Do you feel constantly busy and pulled in many directions? Is your brain often feeling overloaded? My friend, you are soooo not alone and I have been there so many times. I thgouth this was the way life just was as a working mom, trying to be a productive memebr of society and prove my worth and do all the things. I kept ignoring my intuition and my nudges to slow down, and I didn’t want to show my weakness.

I know im my heart I am not meant to go on high speed at all times, and I’m sure that you also feel that way or else wouldn’t have bothered to click on this post. I can handle high speed an jam packed for very short term intervals but if there’s too much going on, too much stimuli and a too full schedule, I start to mentally crumble. I need space and MARGIN. (More about that later!). I need buffer time. My family and my husband need me to have buffer time as well, or else I am no fun to be around. A calmer life IS possible and to start it doesn’t involve any drastic changes BUT it does involve shifting a few key things that only involve you and your own mind to start.

Here’s what I’ve learned about starting to slow down and step into more PEACE & CALM:

Step #1: Start telling yourself NEW things and thinking different thoughts. That’s a biggie. If you’re anything like me and how I used to commonly operate (and still catch myself doing today but much less!)… you are probably thinking things like “Ugh, I am so busy!”, and “I have way to much to do”, “When am I going to find the time to …”, “The kids just need to stop needing so many things from me!!” “I really wish I didn’t have to xyz …” among many other thoughts … because we often feel that our thoughts are 100% facts when mostly … they are thoughts that we can learn to reframe, to uplevel. Upleveling our thoughts does a few things for us: Feeds our mind new information, starts to help us to feel differently (calms our nervous system and helps feel-good neurotransmitters to start showing up!), and ultimately affects the outcome of our lives as we often will take different actions from feeling differently as a result of our new way of thinking. So, what if, instead of the above thoughts that circulate through our mind incessantly, we started consciously telling ourselves new thoughts like

• “God will give me all the strength I need to do the essential things I need to do in this moment”
• I am blessed beyond measure and God doesn’t give my anything I cannot handle.
• I am in charge of how I show up and I am choosing to show up with peaceful and calm energy.
• I have intuitive discernment to know what I really need to do and what I can let go of.
• I can calmly do the things I need to do, there’s no need to rush or push, I can simply be and do.
• My accomplishments and productivity are not what make me worthy, God has already made me worthy and I can calmly go about my business.
• I don’t need to prove anything to anyone. I can simply just be present with my task at hand.

Step #2: Become the eye of the storm by becoming present. Being “present” sounds so cliche and I honestly debated writing this, BUT it is really so very vital to becoming internally calmer and more at peace. All change in our lives starts with us, and our thoughts and our own inner world before anything outward can change. I’m also quite sure this isnt’ news to you as it is common knowledge, but not common practice: just breathe. When we focus on our inhalation and then the subsequent flowing exhalation we can become present, moment by moment. We are not in the past or in the future, but the present moment where all meaningful things happen … from present moment to present moment, in the flow. God’s eternal and everlasting presence and be-ing is the safe backbone where we can rest in from moment to moment. When we realize we are actually not “in the moment” but preoccupied with worries or our mind spinning, we have actually become present in that moment that we become aware and catch ourselves! Eckhart Tolle has written books on this matter , such as ‘The Power of Now” and “Stillness Speaks”, and this is my core understanding of what it means to be present and the power of presence has to bring us peace, lightness and freedom. The present moment is a completely free and wonderful life-giving gift from God, that He can offer to us at any moment we can be still …. at peace, and it needs nothing more than our awareness and attention at any given moment! So powerful!

Step #3: Give your cares and stress away to God.

So often, as mothers and working women, we feel we have so very much responsibility on our shoulders, so much “weight” to carry. Truth to be told, we carry so much weight that we do not have to. We feel heavy and overwhelmed, burdened by responsibilities, self-made to-do lists, work and mothering and home tasks … the list goes on. Often, some of that weight is emotional weights, anxieties and worries. Worrying about our kids, our finances, repairs that need to get done, wondering if we are doing the right things for our kids or if we are causing them unintentional harm, feeling like we are simply inadequate or shaming ourselves with mom guilt, or feeling like we are “dropping the ball” in one or more areas of our life (like our own self care and our own health, for example!). So , so much we can beat ourselves up for and so much we take on and carry.