5 Ways to Sustain More Joy, Peace & Calm!

As the world begins to open up more & more, have you wondered how you're going to keep everything in balance?

While many of you are craving more social connection and the chance to see family, I've had a number of clients, friends and colleagues tell me that they've secretly been enjoying this slower pace of living.

Especially, if they resonate with being an introvert or have a hard time saying no to others. 

The truth is, creating and sustaining peace and calm in your life, so that you have more space for Joy, is 100% an intentional act. It has to be.

Otherwise, it's easy to fall right back into the trap of chaotic busy.

It got me thinking about the tool box of tricks that I use to help create more Joy in my life, while sustaining and sense of peace & calm.

I thought I would share just a few of my faves with you so that you can Keep Calm and Carry On! 

I hope you enjoy and don’t be shy to share some of your faves with me!

5 Simple Ways to Sustain More Peace and Calm…

1. Get Ruthless with Your Inbox

 A number of years ago I was traveling through Baja, Mexico with very little access to Wi-Fi. Being able to only check my email once, every few days, showed me how few emails I receive that actually required a response in the moment. The bulk of the emails were shiny object distractions from various lists I had subscribed or been subscribed to, which taught me the art of an “inbox cleanse”. To simplify things, I unsubscribed from every list I was on with the exception of three or four, the ones I most looked forward to reading every time they arrived in my inbox.

You only have so much bandwidth in a day to make decisions. Using your time and energy every day on deciding what to ignore, keep or delete, is an energy drain. Try taking 10-15 minutes once a quarter to do an unsubscribe cleanse. If you really miss receiving something, you can always re-subscribe. (Yes this does mean that you might unsubscribe from emails from me, but I do hope you stick around!)  

2. Get Rid of @#!$ you don’t use, wear or need

After graduating from university, I joined a friend on her trip to Switzerland to ski and snowboard for a season. This meant packing up all of my stuff and leaving it in a storage unit in Montreal. Turns out, I ended up staying in Switzerland for two years. When I was getting ready to come home, I was super excited to get my “stuff” back. More specifically, I was looking forward to having my blender, my slow cooker, my duvet and a couple of favorite items of clothes. When I opened my storage unit I was shocked! The 5 x 10 storage unit was packed floor to ceiling and wall to wall with stuff! Most of which I had completely forgotten about or didn’t even remember owning.

While I’m no minimalist, what this did teach me was the ritual of getting rid of stuff I don’t use, wear or need. Stuff creates clutter. Clutter creates chaos and an overwhelmed mind. If you’re feeling scattered and overwhelmed and want more peace of mind, try getting rid of “stuff” in your house. If you are afraid you’ll “need it later”, put it a large box for 6 months. If you don’t pull out anything from the box for 6 months, it’s time to let it go!

3. Sign up for a 1 thing that you’ve been “meaning to do forever”

A few years ago, I could feel the familiar signs of burnout creeping back into my system. I was working long days and teaching classes in the evening. I loved everything I was doing, so I hated to admit that the long days were taking a toll on my sleep, my energy and my passion for the work I was doing. I had lost sight of the need to balance work with fun and play and deep down, I knew I need to let go of teaching the evening classes, even if it meant that I had to disappoint people or let them down. I made the decision, to swap teaching classes, for taking classes. Dance classes to be exact. BEST decision ever! Sleep was restored, energy was restored and passion for work back to an all-time high!

What passion have you been putting off pursuing because you’re too busy? Can you make the decision to build it into your schedule, even if you have to let something else go? When you’re doing something you love, you’re totally in the moment where all negativity, worry, and doubt melts away. This in turn, raises your vibration which EQUALS more good things happening in your life, your relationships, your health and your abundance; which EQUALS an increase peace of mind. It’s definitely worth it!

4. Make a commitment to stop giving two hoots about what other people think

What other people think is none of your business. Your business is to do YOU, be YOU and show up as YOU in this lifetime. I can’t tell you how much time and energy I’ve wasted over the years worrying about what other people will think (and assuming it was something negative) only to find out I was way off base. Total waste of time. One of my favorite quotes that really drove this point home for me, was in Elizabeth Gilbert’s book Big Magic…

 “We all spend our twenties and thirties trying so hard to be perfect, because we’re so worried about what people will think of us. Then we get into our forties and fifties, and we finally start to be free, because we decide that we don’t give a damn what anyone thinks of us. But you won’t be completely free until you reach your sixties and seventies, when you finally realize this liberating truth—nobody was ever thinking about you, anyhow.” 

Why wait until your 60’s or 70’s. If you have a habit of wasting your precious time and energy caring too much about what other people think, it’s time to let that go! Just think about Elizabeth Bennett in Pride and Prejudice. Equal parts smart and silly without giving two hoots about what Mr. Darcy thought. Turned out pretty well for her in the end didn’t it?

5. Let go of a grudge that is well past its used by date

It is burdens that age us and lead to burnout. Hanging onto grudges is a burden. It’s like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die. Forgiveness is the antidote, and it is not for them, it’s for YOU. You’re not saying what happened was OK, you’re simply saying that you are no longer willing to let that experience create pain, sadness, hurt or emotional or physical upset for you anymore. Start with the easy stuff that you’re hanging on to, like the person who cut you off in traffic yesterday. Make a habit of saying I forgive you.

For the medium to big stuff from your past, ask yourself, will this really matter to me 5 years from now. If not, make the decision to let it go, just like the extra clutter in your house. You can journal it out of your system and burn the piece of paper, hit a pillow to release the pain, anger or hurt or seek out a coach or a counselor to help you release the burden of unforgiveness. Forgiveness is a practice and doesn’t have to be done in one fell swoop, but I promise you, it’s worth it!

Are you craving more more peace and calm in your life?

If you answered yes, I invite you to Kickstart your BLISS by booking a Bliss Breakthrough where we can clearly identify the top 3 reasons that keep you from experiencing the calm you’re craving and the best strategy to move forward!