What do you think is the key to inner peace and happiness?

Question

It's Christmas!!! I. Things haven't been going right in my personal life with friends but, I was happy to see my family opening their presents and exchanging tidings of Christmas and a Happy New Year =). I know we don't live forever but I just want to be happy, but every year has its fair share of pain and struggle. Must the good always come with the bad? What do you think is the key to inner peace and happiness?

Answer 1

Key to happiness is inner peace I would say.

The greatest obstacles to inner peace are disturbing emotions such as anger, attachment, fear and suspicion.

I have found some tips which I felt were good and would be of some help for you also.

1. Listen to your body’s wisdom, which expresses itself through signals of comfort and discomfort. When choosing a certain behavior, ask your body, “How do you feel about this?” If your body sends a signal of physical or emotional distress, watch out. If your body sends a signal of comfort and eagerness, proceed.

2. Live in the present, for it is the only moment you have. Keep your attention on what is here and now; look for the fullness in every moment. Accept what comes to you totally and completely so that you can appreciate it, learn from it, and then let it go. The present is as it should be. It reflects infinite laws of Nature that have brought you this exact thought, this exact physical response. This moment is as it is because the universe is as it is. Don’t struggle against the infinite scheme of things; instead, be at one with it.

3. Take time to be silent, to meditate, to quiet the internal dialogue. In moments of silence, realize that you are recontacting your source of pure awareness. Pay attention to your inner life so that you can be guided by intuition rather than externally imposed interpretations of what is or isn’t good for you.

4. Relinquish your need for external approval. You alone are the judge of your worth, and your goal is to discover infinite worth in yourself, no matter what anyone else thinks. There is great freedom in this realization.

5. When you find yourself reacting with anger or opposition to any person or circumstance, realize that you are only struggling with yourself. Putting up resistance is the response of defenses created by old hurts. When you relinquish this anger, you will be healing yourself and cooperating with the flow of the universe.

6. Know that the world “out there” reflects your reality “in here.” The people you react to most strongly, whether with love or hate, are projections of your inner world. What you most hate is what you most deny in yourself. What you most love is what you most wish for in yourself. Use the mirror of relationships to guide your evolution. The goal is total self-knowledge. When you achieve that, what you most want will automatically be there, and what you most dislike will disappear.

7. Shed the burden of judgment – you will feel much lighter. Judgment imposes right and wrong on situations that just are. Everything can be understood and forgiven, but when you judge, you cut off understanding and shut down the process of learning to love. In judging others, you reflect your lack of self-acceptance. Remember that every person you forgive adds to your self-love.

8. Don’t contaminate your body with toxins, either through food, drink, or toxic emotions. Your body is more than a life-support system. It is the vehicle that will carry you on the journey of your evolution. The health of every cell directly contributes to your state of well being, because every cell is a point of awareness within the field of awareness that is you.

9. Replace fear-motivated behavior with love-motivated behavior. Fear is the product of memory, which dwells in the past. Remembering what hurt us before, we direct our energies toward making certain that an old hurt will not repeat itself. But trying to impose the past on the present will never wipe out the threat of being hurt. That happens only when you find the security of your own being, which is love. Motivated by the truth inside you, you can face any threat because your inner strength is invulnerable to fear.

10. Understand that the physical world is just a mirror of a deeper intelligence. Intelligence is the invisible organizer of all matter and energy, and since a portion of this intelligence resides in you, you share in the organizing power of the cosmos. Because you are inseparably linked to everything, you cannot afford to foul the planet’s air and water. But at a deeper level, you cannot afford to live with a toxic mind, because every thought makes an impression on the whole field of intelligence. Living in balance and purity is the highest good for you and the Earth.

Answer 2

can be pretty difficult to find inner peace when the world is what it is, and our lives are so stressed and busy.I believe that the very purpose of life is to be happy. From the very core of our being, we desire contentment.Inner peace and happiness not only is right attitude and perspective, but also learning to recognize that you are one with God.
Another aspect of inner peace and happiness is learning to quiet the mind. One does not have to think to be happy. Just being or not thinking at all and enjoying what I will call here a quiet mind is incredibly peaceful. So happiness and inner peace comes from thinking and learning not to think when appropriate.

Answer 3

My inner peace comes from living by spiritual principles. I found my happiness and inner peace through 2 books, the first was the
Bible and the second was Alcoholics Anonymous Big Book - But there are alot of other ways to find spiritual principles to live by!

Answer 4

Dear one, you have mixed up two polar issues into one question...You talked of "inner peace" in the caption and ended with good and bad of day to day life (the externals) in the details portion of the question...

Inner peace and happiness lies in disregarding the changing externalities - the ups and downs of life - in the firm faith that it is all the will of the Lord... Did not the Lord say "blessed are the meek.... those persecuted for the sake of righteousness..." and all.. In the acts of sacrifice and suffering lies the seeds of inner peace and joy.... More and more craving for possession of wealth and power do not give any real joy... as much as in sharing the love and toil with our fraternity...

In closing I shall like to say that I am not a Xian but appreciate the significance of that religion - as my religion has taught me to do..

Merry Xmas to all of you.

Answer 5

To do the Will of the One True God is the source of all good: inner peace, joy, progress...
In order to know the Will of God we must read the Holy Books revealed by His Divine Messengers, meditate on the the sacred verses and put them into practice.
Inner peace does not mean things to be occured as we wish, but the true light that guides us through all difficulties, troubles, failures...And this consequently leading to joy and progress. We wish not for God to do our works, but we wish Him to show us how to solve our problems and even problems of other people.

Answer 6

love as is mentioned in the answer above this one is a component but I think you need to be at peace with yourself over who you are what youre and where you and your partner fate are guiding you in your life. Fate has at times been called the predeterminer of how our life happens but this is not the case. Fate is our partner who helps guide us to our destination with a gentle hand while me make choices that affect our future and that are in turn affected by our past actions. Fate works hand n hand with you helping guide you down the path you take through life and for better or worse helps us become what we will be when we pass on to whatever after life we move on to when we become unable to respond to mortal body stimuli.

Answer 7

Learn to accept yourself and love yourself even with your flaws, accept that everyone else has them also ( and wonders pretty much the same thing as you do ) and you will start to feel peace. The key is letting go of your insecurity about yourself and allowing that feeling of contentment to grow.

Answer 8

Self-acceptence.

Answer 9

Take life as it comes, dont regret your failures too much nor over celebrate your truimphs. If you think and do good to those around you I firmly believe that good will come your way (karma principle) - and like the others say - find love!

Answer 10

Its probably different for every person. For me, its knowing that life isn't perfect and that yes the ups do come with the downs. But thats ok.