6 easy ways to regain peace of mind.

by Aoife Brown | Jul 12, 2016

Peace of mind is the holy grail in these chaotic busy times. If you can maintain a calm serenity in your day, then life is so much easier. Here are six simple actions you can take to encourage more peace of mind. I have found them incredibly helpful this year especially when I am out of sorts, exhausted and stressed.

1) Get organised.

Getting much more organised has improved my quality of life immensely this year. I have done this by starting to plan more effectively. I found that I constantly had a “to do” list bouncing around my head. Even if I had written down a list down for the day, there were always more things popping into my head about future events. This did not encourage a peaceful mind!

So, by chance, I came across the practice of Bullet Journaling. Because it helps me to list and prioritise my tasks for the day, it allows me to get so much more done. As well as a planner, it is also a space where you can be creative if you wish, adding doodling, colouring and fun collections of lists or projects. It really helps you get clear on your goals and the steps needed to achieve them. You can fully personalise it to your needs and there is an amazing online community of bullet journal fans out there, all happy to share their breakthroughs and tips. Kara of Bohoberry inspired me to give it a go, as she makes her journal so visually pleasing, but is still very clear about what is working effectively and what isn’t. There are of course many other planner styles and apps which can be useful but I do encourage you to check this out. I will be posting more about Bullet Journaling and what I have found helpful in days to come.

2) Avoid or reduce exposure to television and radio news.

As a sensitive person, I find the daily onslaught of depressing and upsetting bad news overwhelming. To be honest, I cut out TV news a very long time ago but even the radio news drains my energy and can leave me really upset at times, especially if a very emotive story comes on when I am not expecting it. The thing is that we don’t actually need to be updated every half an hour on distressing news stories. It causes our stress levels to rise and is so detrimental to a good night’s sleep if taken in just before bed.

I do buy a weekend newspaper and then I can choose what I wish to expose myself to … and when. I feel that this is a much gentler way for us to stay in touch with world events if that is what is desired. And let’s not forget how biased and subjective the media can be: whose truth are we really ingesting anyway? I think this is easily forgotten when you watch television news night after night, which is certainly not conducive to a relaxed state of mind.

How about turning the telly off and as the kids program used to say..go and do something more interesting instead!! Or even better: more relaxing!

3) Journaling.

It can be hard to know where to start with journaling. My first experience of it was with The Artist’s Way course by Julia Cameron many years ago, part of which entailed writing three pages of free-flowing words as they came, each morning. I wrote an enormous amount of drivel and it was really beneficial! There were eventually some Aha moments and my mind was so much clearer for other, more interesting and creative tasks.

Now I enjoy a mixture of journaling my emotions – as I really need to get them out sometimes – and Art journaling, a lovely combination of writing thoughts down and either painting over the top, or incorporating text into the arty page. It’s so therapeutic and in moments where I am really struggling with difficult situations and uncomfortable emotions, it’s so helpful to write them down and see where that stream of consciousness will take me. Even if you just want to make a massive frustrated scribble, that is beneficial too. It’s all about identifying emotions and getting them moving. After all they are just feelings “in motion” and we don’t want them getting stuck in our bodies as that leads to all sorts of imbalances. So write it out and get messy! For more about Art journaling see my links to amazing inspiring Art journal enthusiasts.

4) Tapping.

Tapping can seem a little strange at first, but it’s an effective way to quickly shift dense energy, uncomfortable emotions and stress in the body. Tapping ranges from the simple (eg. tapping with the fingers on the thymus gland area at the top of the sternum to stimulate immunity and increase life energy) to a more extensive round of tapping on acupressure points to fully free up a limiting pattern or trapped emotion (eg. A round of EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) or energy routine by Donna Eden). If you are new to EFT watch the video below with Jessica Ortner to get an introduction to the technique and much more information at her website

5) Conscious Breathing

Meditation is being hugely promoted at the moment – for good reason. It benefits us in so many ways physically, spiritually, mentally and emotionally. However, it doesn’t have to be a complicated technique or a strenuous activity taking immense concentration. Keep it really simple. Meditation can be just taking a few aware breaths into your belly whilst on a five minute work break. Even if you are a complete beginner and your brain is overactive with a million thoughts, this simple act will relax and restore you. If there is still background noise happening in your mind, don’t worry. At least you are still bringing conscious awareness to the breath for a few moments. This will calm stress hormones and increase oxygenation to the body as the breath becomes slower and deeper. With practice, this time can be extended, or you can just try to incorporate these moments of conscious breathing into your day numerous times. This will bring more peace of mind and it also feels good! For more simple meditation and breathing techniques, coming soon … my post on source meditation.

6) Get Grounded

Getting barefoot feels so damn good, it’s often a mystery to me why I don’t do it more often. When I was travelling in Australia, I was barefoot the majority of the time while staying in a particular hostel for three months. My feet started to become more robust and my health was the best it has ever been. Yes, the weather was often great, but more than that, being barefoot was more socially acceptable. It wasn’t unusual to see people barefoot in the supermarket or the street. Okay, I admit this was in the rather eclectic Byron Bay and not Sydney city centre but the point is that it was acceptable to walk around without shoes and it felt great. We spend so much of our lives insulated from the earth’s energies and we need those energies to be healthy and well.

Healing Frequencies

When astronauts first went into space, they became physically unwell as they were no longer exposed to the Schumann frequencies of the earth. This frequency emission (originally measured at 7.83Hz) is now installed in the spacecraft so that the astronauts stay well. The Schumann frequency is the frequency of the earth’s ionosphere. However, mother earth herself has her own healing frequencies and magnetic field. According to the HeartMath Institute, the Earth’s magnetic field carries biologically relevant information that connects all living systems. When we constantly insulate ourselves from that connection by wearing rubber soles and rarely sitting on the earth, we miss out on an enormously beneficial healing relationship. I feel so much better when I just get barefoot on the earth for 10 minutes.

However, another way to more consciously ground to earth’s energy is to do a simple visualisation. This allows us to let go of tension and stress and let that be absorbed by the huge living being that is our home. And once we have let go of all that density, we can then consciously ask for and allow earth’s beautiful healing frequencies to come back up into our bodies, revitalising and renewing us. How wonderful that we have this beautiful relationship with the planet available to us in every moment. After all, we come from the earth and we will return to her. Coming soon: a grounding meditation with solfeggio frequencies to bring you back into balance.