Simplify, simplify

Imagine how much more peaceful our lives would be if we lived more simply. “Most of what we say and do is not essential. If you can eliminate it, you'll have more time, and more tranquillity. Ask yourself at every moment, 'Is this necessary?'”said Marcus Aurelius. “Our life is frittered away by detail…simplify, simplify," wrote Henry David Thoreau.

So how do we simplify our lives so experience greater peace? Here are a few ideas:

Enjoy the moment. Notice the beauty around you: a flower, a butterfly, a smiling child, a cloud floating across the sky. Experience bliss as you focus on the simple beauties of living. Notice the sweetness of breathing in and breathing out. Savor the gifts of sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell.

Listen to something beautiful. Enjoy the song of a bird, the kind voice of a friend, the hum of the dishwasher. Choose to listen to music that soothes your spirit and nurtures your soul. Avoid music that encourages violence, immorality, or unkindness, for that creates disharmony in our spirits.

Eliminate distractions. Turn off your cell phone, computer, or television set whenever possible and do something creative. Write in your journal. Paint. Sing a song. Learn a new skill. Consider the endless possibilities of living more simply and fully.

Find ways to live on less. Make a simple meal for dinner. Donate unused clothes to charity. Choose something fun to do that is free: go for a walk, play a board game, visit with friends. A simpler life is a richer life, for it frees us from the burdens of debt, anxiety, and greed. Leonardo da Vinci aptly said, "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication."

Read something that inspires you. We can change our lives by reading a great book, and they are free for the reading at any public library. Find some authors can inspire you to live your best life. I have been inspired by Wayne Dyer, Henry David Thoreau, Marianne Williamson, Mother Teresa, Thich Nhat Hanh, Catherine Marshall, and countless other writers. The Psalms are masterpieces of peace. A Chinese proverbs states, " A book is like a garden carried in the pocket."

Choose peace. We either choose peace or something else. Our every thought, word, and deed either brings us closer to peace or to turmoil. Decide that you will be content with your life just as it is. As you live in a spirit of gratitude, you attract greater abundance and peace into your life. I have discovered I can be happy in both meager and magnificent circumstances as I choose peace.




© Carol Brown

Finding Peace in Stressful Times

Although healthy stress motivates us to accomplish our goals, care for our families, and become all that we can be, too much of it can be deadly. Unless we learn how to effectively deal with challenging, nerve-racking situations, they can shorten our lives or even end them. So here are a few more tips that can turn a tense time into a peaceful one.

• Create a positive affirmation or statement for your life and think about it during trying times. Here are a few sentences that could be included in an affirmation: “I am loveable and am loved.” “I am a beloved child of God who loves me just as I am.” “My life is peaceful and happy.” “I have all the time that I need to fulfill my destiny.”

• Tense then relax. If you are feeling stressed, tense a muscle group, such as your shoulder, arm or leg for a few seconds while breathing deeply and then relax those muscles. You can do this while waiting at a red light, while sitting in a business meeting, or whenever you find yourself in a stressful situation. This process has been proven to decrease stress and increase your peace of mind.

• Visualize peace. Imagine how you can react peacefully to a difficult situation. Picture how you can successfully navigate a difficult conversation, circumstance, or crisis. Think of ways you can inject love and understanding into your relationships and life experience. Envision yourself speaking words of kindness, wisdom, and insight. We can transform our lives as we see ourselves becoming a peaceful, happy person.

• Elminiate self-defeating thoughts and behaviors. Let go of self-critical thinking patterns by replacing them with thoughts of gratitude and compassion. If you find you are frustrated with things that you can’t do, focus on the think you can do. If you are upset because you are weak in some areas, focus on the ways in which you are strong and ask God to help you may your weak things strong. He will as you trust in Him.

• Create a peaceful environment. Listen to music that enhances peace, and turn off music or television programs that do not. Place a beautiful flower in a vase and focus on it during the day. Eliminate clutter and create a home that fosters harmony and peace.

• Choose friends that find happiness amid the challenges of life. Friends who love life will boost your sense of serenity and joy. Seek out friendships with people who love and respect you.

• Find ways to increase your peace of mind, such as reading inspirational and sacred literature, praying, or focusing on the beauties of nature. Massage, acupuncture, acupressure, tai chi, and aromatherapy can be helpful in reducing stress. Sprinkling a few drops of essential lavender oil on your pillow before you go to bed or rubbing a few drops on your temples before you go to work can be helpful. Finding an expert massage therapist who specializes in stress reduction can be invaluable. Sometimes we pay more attention to caring for our homes or cars than we do in caring for ourselves. Although stress reduction doesn’t have to cost a lot of money, a few dollars invested in taking a tai chi class or getting a massage can provide priceless results.


© Carol Brown

4 Stress-reduction Tips

Some people keep 72-hour emergency kits filled with easy-to-prepare food, water purifiers, and first-aid kits. Perhaps we also need to keep a stress-reduction kit on hand for times when life becomes stressful and difficult. Here are a few suggestions for the kit:

1. Meditation CD’s. Meditation CD's help the listeners calm their thinking and their bodies. My favorite meditation CD is by Dr. Brian Weiss, M.D. the CD is included at the end of his book, Meditation: Achieving Inner Peace and Tranquility in Your Life. The book isn't impressive, but the CD at the end is priceless. You can purchase the book on Amazon.com for $10.08 (used is much less.)

2. Meditation or peaceful music also reduces stress. Some free music downloads are available on the Internet and other inexpensive meditation music is widely available. Research indicates that meditation music can even calm our brain waves and ease tension.

3. A collection of a few meditations helps us to move our thoughts to a peaceful peace. These verses from the 27th Psalm are calming:

The LORD is my light and my salvation—
whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life—
of whom shall I be afraid?
For in the day of trouble
he will keep me safe in his dwelling;
he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle
and set me high upon a rock.

The 23rd Psalm is another soothing meditation:

The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters;
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for His name's sake.

Even though I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil;
for You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life;
and I shall dwell in the house of the
Lord forever.

Here is a website that contains some healing meditations: http://www.freemeditations.com/. This meditation site helps you experience greater peace: http://www.freemeditations.com/inner_peace.html. And,this one helps you relax: http://www.freemeditations.com/meditation-to-relax.html. You could copy one of these meditations and put it in your purse or planner to review when you're feeling stressed.

4. The last critical component for stress reduction is to breathe slowly and deeply, focusing your thoughts on a beautiful thought, scene or object. Relax your body, starting with your head and moving down to your neck, arms, and legs. Note where you are holding in tension and release the stress from that area of your body. Feel a healing power move from the top of your head throughout your body down to your toes. Picture this power as a bright light that lifts sorrow, pain, and fear from your heart and body.

These components make up a great (72-minute) emergency kit for stress-reduction. Then, whenever you feel tense, troubled or tired, you can center your mind in a healing place and find comfort and peace.

© Carol Brown

Results of the Negative Thought Fast

Okay, I’ve completed over 24 hours of the negative thought fast. Here’s what I've learned from doing it consciously:

• I’ve prayed wherever I started to worry or engage a negative thought. It worked! I’ve been very concerned about my son, who is really ill right now. Instead of stewing about his health, I’ve prayed for him every time I was tempted to worry about him. What a better use of my energy.

• I’ve turned off music and television wherever anything negative appeared, including commercials. I feel much more peaceful.

• I’ve spent more time pondering the scriptures. Oh, it feels so good.

• I’ve called a friend whose husband has cancer. We had a wonderful visit. I feel more compassionate today.

• I have been very selective about anything I’ve read online or in print.

• I’ve thought more about God and have been more grateful for His blessings.

• I’ve listened to some uplifting talks on CD. Oh, it’s been like heaven. I need to do this more.

• I’ve listened to some beautiful music.

• I’ve felt happier and calmer.

• I had a wonderful day.

• I slept peacefully last night, and I tend to have sleep issues.

Did you try the negative thought fast? Any comments?

© Carol Brown

Media and Mood

Recently, Susan Boyle, who sang with such beauty that millions were amazed, was called "frumpy" by the media. Instead of focusing on her incredible talent, the media criticized this beautiful woman for the shoes, nylons, and dress she worn. They ridiculed her hairstyle and her eyebrows. They suggested that she needed a makeover, and she complied. Now, I think it's great when we try to look and act our best, but sometimes it's easy to focus on what's wrong with ourselves and others instead of what's right.

What are the themes of most television shows and movies today? Do they celebrate violence, immorality, cruelty, or contention? Do they present a size 2 voluptuous Barbie look-alike as the epitome of beauty? Do they assume that if we aren't nipped and tucked, we're unattractive?

We live in a culture that would destroy our peace if we allow it to. It would convince us that we aren't skinny enough, sexy enough, stylish enough, or smart enough. It would brainwash us into believing that only the famous, wealthy, vicious, or voluptuous are worth anything.

What if for a day or a week (or a month or a year) we quit watching, listening to and reading anything that would destroy our peace. What if we stopped spending our dollars on movies that promote brutality or perversion.

I'm a news junkie, but for the past month, I quit taking the paper and listening to any news that is unsettling. I feel much better. I also turn off shows that make me feel less than whole. I refuse to listen to people argue or belittle others in any form of media. And I will not listen to lyrics that do not promote goodness and virtue.

I am turning on a lot of beautiful, uplifting music, watching movies that inspire me, and reading books that promote peace. Life is so short, and our time is so precious. Today choose media and promotes peace and notice the difference it makes in your mood.
© Carol Brown

Music and Mood

Tonight my husband and I attended an elementary school concert where our fifth grade grandson performed. The songs included country, pop, gospel, folk,and religious numbers, and each piece was melodic and inspirational. Both the performers and the listeners felt happy and edified from the experience. We gave the children a standing ovation and left with smiles on our faces.

The average American listens to more than 1300 hours of music each day. Music can either inspire or encourage us, enlighten or drag us down. One of my favorite writers, Kahlil Gibran, wrote, “Music is the language of the spirit. It opens the secret of life bringing peace, abolishing strife.”

When I was young, I listened to music without noticing what I was putting into my mind. Now, just as I try to avoid junk food, I try to avoid junk music which hardens my spiritual arteries and dulls my spirit. I seek out music that inspires me and feeds my soul.

Neuro-scientists describe the healing and harmful effects that music can have on the soul. Since music is a right-brain phenomenon, it powerfully influences our mood and our morality. Research has shown that youth and adults are greatly affected by the unfiltered music that enters their mind.

"Life can’t be all bad when for ten dollars you can buy all the Beethoven sonatas and listen to them for ten years," wrote William F. Buckley, Jr. As music becomes more affordable and available, we can find easy access to music that can calm our troubled hearts or that troubles our calm hearts. Today many lyrics are filled with profanity, obscenity, and vulgarity. They invite us to hate and hurt ourselves and others. They tempt us to lose ourselves to drugs, sex, or violence. They tell us that good is bad and bad is good. They lie.

King David, who soothed Saul as he played his lyre, said, "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth, rejoice, and sing praise." May we take time during our busy lives to listen to music that heals our hearts and makes us whole. Then, with Isaiah, we can exclaim, "Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the Lord hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted."
© Carol Brown