Finding a peaceful place...

When you think of a peaceful place, one usually thinks of a place or environment without stress, without discord, without drama and without any negativity. And if we could have that I think we would all choose that peaceful place...(thought I do have to wonder a bit since I do know some folks who live, no, no -- let me say thrive on drama). But let's just say for now, people would choose a peaceful place. As I as driving home from work last night, and I'm fortunate enough to have an hour long commute (and sometimes longer) for my mind to race, rehash things from the day and try to find some organization in my mind. And through the racing of thoughts, flashing here and there, of what had occurred and how I reacted, I didn't find too many of those peaceful moments let alone a place. Unfortunately it carried on through the night -- moments of calm -- a pause to watch a fun movie with my son and eat unhealthy party food -- but the thoughts and racing carried on resulting in a tremendous stress-induced headache in a land far, far away from peace. With a clearer mind, I was able to think about it again this morning. An okay night's sleep was able to temper the racing, temper the thoughts and provide some clarity in what type of peaceful place I was seeking. In the end, I found my peaceful place was just knowing I did my best, knowing I stood up for myself and knowing if nothing changes, it wasn't for lack of trying. My peaceful place is within myself. You've probably heard over and over again that situation are made of of 10% of what actually happened and 90% of what you think about it and how you react. So in letting my mind racing and the racing for the period it did, that fell straight into the 90% of the situation. I will admit I am usually looking for better ways to respond to such situations and I did let the racing and rehashing happen far longer than needed. So how do you stop the racing and negative rehashing. This I truly have been practicing since it will help me get back to my peaceful place faster in the past. Sometimes "immediately fast" and other times "days fast" --and while that may not seem to make a whole lot of sense with the latter not being fast at all, I am holding on to the term and hope to truly be fast as in the former instance. So what is this practice? What has worked? I would say it sums up to 3 things. 1. Conscious thought. Am I in control of my thought or has my ego taken over? 2. Desire to get back to peace. Do I want to get back to peace or do I subconsciously want to live in the drama for a bit to feed my ego? 3.Ready to take action. Am I willing to take action to curb the ego and get back to peace? Conscious thought is just that -- being fully aware of what you are telling yourself about the situation, the statements, the reactions and am I being honest with myself about that thought. Only you can answer that -- truthfully. Do I want to get back to peace. I'd like to think everyone would say yes but the reality is that some aren't in a rush. Sometimes the drama justifies the actions and that feels good -- temporarily. But for those who wish to get back to peace, the road is a little painful at times - being honest about the situation, seeing where my actions contributed to it and how can I fix it going forward. Again, only you can do that - truthfully. Am I willing to take action to curb the ego and get back to peace. This is a combo of the first two - knowing when the ego has taken over and what the ego is feeding off of. Being aware of when this is happening is the first point to stopping that thought process and being able to take action to move in a positive direction. Once more, only you can do that - truthfully. With practice of these steps, with each situation that causes you stress and pulls you away from your peaceful place, you find that it will be come easier to do. Easier to recognize the triggers. Easier to see when the ego is rearing its ugly head. Easier to identify what needs to be done to change and get back to peace. Wishing you a peaceful journey to you peaceful place.