Six Things You Can Do to Experience More Peace and Satisfaction in Your Life

What creates peace and satisfaction, and what destroys these experiences? Peace and satisfaction (or their opposite) are inner experiences that are the result of the way we live our lives.  They reflect choices we make daily in response to whatever life is bringing our way. The following six suggestions can be helpful in evaluating your life and becoming more conscious of ways in which you are enhancing or diminishing peace and satisfaction in your own life. Please feel free to comment and make additional suggestions.

1.   Consciously choose to live your life in integrity, and in congruence with your inner values. You cannot hide from your own consciousness. If you do something that you know is wrong, even if no one else knows about it, you are throwing away your hard-earned jewels of self-esteem. You can fool others regarding your integrity, but you cannot fool yourself. It is how you feel about yourself that matters most. In terms of life satisfaction, what happens on the inside of your life is more meaningful than what occurs in your outer life.

2.   Act in ways that leave you feeling good about yourself. This may seem obvious, but it bears some thought. Treat others the way you want to be treated. Do for others’ best interests. Look for opportunities to engage with whatever life is bringing your way in a manner that you can feel good about, whether it is a personal or professional interaction, your inner intentions, a written communication, or how you choose to spend your time.

3.   Take charge of your life. It is the most precious thing you own. Make sure you do not give it to someone else.  Surprising as it sounds, vacating, and/or giving away one’s life is not an uncommon practice.

In vacating our lives, we are not present and responsive to our inner sense of who we are, and what is most true for us. This can easily happen when we are lost, overwhelmed, unsupported, disconnected, or traumatized. 

We give our lives away when we think we need someone else’s approval.  Pay attention to that inner place (usually near the heart) where you have a sense of your own path, of what is right for you.

4.   Work to improve yourself; to grow in ways that you need to grow, to develop the skills and talents you have to offer the world, to love deeply, to follow that which has the most meaning to you. This is bound to leave you feeling satisfied with who you are, and how you have spent your precious time on this Earth.

5.   Pay attention to your inner life. It is hard to feel good about yourself if you are focused on negative thoughts about yourself or others. Practice detaching from negative thoughts as soon as you notice them. After detaching from the negative thoughts (including worries and fears) consciously choose to focus on something positive. 

Negative thinking robs you of your energy, your happiness, and the best that you have to offer and to experience in life. When you are in a negative place you are poisoning not only yourself, but the people and environment around you. 

Remember, positive thinking creates more positive in your life, while negative thinking attracts more negative.

6.   Watch the company you keep. I have heard it said that this has the greatest influence on your life. Notice the effect that someone’s company has on you. To do so, try asking yourself the following questions:

 -Is it uplifting to be with this person, or does it bring me down?

 -Does this person’s presence in my life foster positive habits, or negative ones?

-Is it draining, or enlivening to spend time with this person? 

-Am I able to be myself and be seen, or do I have to shelter myself and hide who I am? 

When you have a choice who you are spending time with, choose wisely. The company we keep has an immense effect upon our inner state, as well as who we become.

When you have no choice but to be around negative company, do not emotionally join in with them.