5 Abundant Ways to Keep Calm and Carry On

The past few months have been really stressful for me. My Dad has been in the process of dying, and finally left his body recently after succumbing to complications from the late stages of Alzheimers.

He’s at peace now, I pray. And for those of us left behind, well,  life goes on. It’ll never quite be the same again. He’s left behind a huge hole that can never be filled, but also a legacy that we’ll always be proud of. And somehow experiencing the death of a parent has made me feel, in amongst all the grief, a greater appreciation for life.

So… even though I normally write about abundance, today I sat down at my desk and all I wanted to write about was peace.

Then it struck me: peace and abundance are very strongly linked. Because the more abundance we create in our lives the more we experience freedom, and there’s less fear and more peace.

Only, that’s not the direction of the causality.

What?

Really, that’s not the way it goes. At least not initially. Let me explain…

More Peace = More Abundance

It’s not that more abundance leads to less fear and more peace  – it’s that actively creating the conditions and cultivating the habits that reduce and temper our fear response, and promote internal peace, are the very things that open the door for more abundance to show up in our lives.

The thing is: we’re battling our evolutionary wiring here. As human beings we’re wired to be alert to danger. Our nervous systems, our adrenals, the information filtering systems in our brains all go into a hyper alert and vigilant state very easily in the presence of danger – both real and imaginary. In fact, our bodies don’t really know the difference between real and imaginary danger. The chemical response is pretty much the same either way.

When we live in this hyper vigilant fear state, we get a kind of tunnel vision. We are really alert to danger, but not so much to opportunity. And that’s why living this way can cut us off from being able to create abundance in our lives. We just can’t see how.

What can trigger our evolutionary fear circuitry? Lots of things that we come across every day that are not necessarily life or death situations like: stress, when you’re running late and having to rush around, traffic, getting annoyed at that driver who cuts you off for no good reason, pushing to complete work deadlines, missing your train, getting offended because someone you don’t even know was being rude to you, having arguments, juggling commitments like kids, elderly parents, even social engagements… not to mention watching violence on TV, playing violent video games, or even some sports.

Life can be stressful! You can’t avoid all of these things in life (nor may you want to), so some active counter-balancing is key.

Take steps to dampen down your fears, to stop feeding them, to create a sense of calm, and then abundance and opportunities can start to flow.

The Upward Spiral We Want to Be On

Once that happens, then we get on a positive feedback loop where less fear leads to more abundance, and then that abundance further reduces our fears and financial insecurities, opening the door to an even greater level of abundance and opportunities… and so on.

That’s the kind of upward spiral we want to be on. And it all starts by disconnecting from fear and cultivating some peace.

The big mistake a lot of us make, is to expect we’ll find peace AFTER we’ve sorted everything else out. After we’ve achieved a state of abundance, freedom and choice. Nope. Peace is the state of mind, the initial condition if you like, that allows all the other good stuff to flow.

So how can we cultivate a peaceful state of mind? These are my top tips:

5 Abundant Ways to Keep Calm and Carry On

1. Do a negativity detox. Really try to reduce the amount of negative news, violent shows or video games you consume. It affects you more than you know (it actually changes your brain wiring and activates your brain’s fear circuitry). Also, dial down the number of interactions you have with people who love to talk about fearful, negative things. Send them love, be kind … but set some healthy boundaries. Without boundaries, there’s no peace.
2. Meditate. Even just a few minutes a day can make a huge difference. Try an app called Headspace if you don’t know where to start with that.
3. Take steps to enhance your productivity. The more you get done in less time, the more you’ll have time for your own self-care… and the more effective you’ll feel. You’ll feel more confident, capable and in control. And that will really boost the calm factor. Check out the Pomodoro technique (Google it) for a simple, effective and easy-to-use daily productivity enhancement. It’s been around since the 1980’s and it still rocks.
4. Move your body. Go for a relaxing stroll. Or do some stretching. Not because you think you’re unfit. Not because you think you need to lose weight. Not because you’re pushing yourself in any way. Just because it feels good. Just because we carry so much stress and tension in our bodies and the easiest way to release that is to move.
5. Practice gratitude. No discussion of abundance would be complete without mentioning the power of gratitude. AND practicing gratitude promotes a greater sense of peace. When we actively acknowledge and appreciate all the good things in our lives, we automatically feel safer. We acknowledge what we’ve already received, and suddenly our situation seems a little less dire. That helps us to tap into an experience of more calm, and more peace.

Practice these tips to keep calm and carry on… and watch how the opportunities and abundance in your life, as well as your sense of vitality and optimism, open up when you do.

These steps sound pretty simple, right? Don’t underestimate their ability to create a powerful transformation in your life. Simple is good. You don’t even have to do them all at once. I get easily overwhelmed if I try to make too many changes all at once. So pick one, make it a new habit, solidify that change in your life (research says it takes about 3-4 weeks to establish a new daily habit) and then move on to the next one.

Every little bit counts.  Aim for 1% improvement each day and within a couple of months your life will be headed down a new, more abundant track.

Let me know in the comments if this post has helped you!

To YOUR Abundance,

Julie Ann Cairns

P.S. This article first appeared in LivingNow Magazine. You can check the original article out here:

http://livingnow.com.au/5-abundant-ways-to-keep-calm-and-carry-on/