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“If everyone cleaned their own doorstep, we’d have a clean world” – Goethe

A couple of weeks ago (on an intuitive impulse), I went to Knock with my son. We both spent some time at the scene of the apparation and afterwards I asked him what he had prayed for. Much to my surprise, my nine-year-old said “peace of mind,” and it struck me how this represents such a yearning in the hearts of so many of us. We yearn for peace in our lives, our world and most of all in ourselves. So how do we attain peace? There are no easy answers although what I suggest here are techniques that have helped me attain a greater degree of peace than I ever expected.

1. Peace is a journey, not a destination. I always thought that at some stage in my life that I would arrive at the Peace station and that that would be it. However I’m discovering it’s more like choosing to get on the Peace airline and being prepared to put up with turbulence and detours on the way. Peace is a choice.
2. Detox your mind. One of the most useful tools I have found for detoxing my mind, getting rid of the non-stop critic is to do a brain-dump. That means simply writing down what your inner critic says just as you hear it. Write with a pen and paper and write until you stop. Be prepared to do this nearly every day. And then, my favourite part…burn it!
3. Resistance is futile! I’m a very impatient driver, but one of the practices I have incorporated into my daily routine is graciously (OK, sometimes graciously!) letting other drivers out. I work on accepting the circumstances and situations life gives me and seeing them as perfect. Believe me, that’s a very different place to come from when faced with “problems.” That includes accepting that sometimes I feel petrified with fear.
4. Narrow down to the Now. I work constantly to get my mind back to the now, back to the task in front of me now. Eckhart Tolle describes this as narrowing down our focus to a powerful beam so we can see the next step clearly instead of driving ourselves crazy by looking at our past or trying to imagine our future and within that, there is great peace.
5. Daily Spiritual Practice: I believe that one of the keys to creating a peaceful mind is some sort of daily spiritual practice. This is something that we can do every day that connects us with something greater to ourselves. Daily meditation and silence are a great way to do this…you can light a candle, sit still for 5 minutes (even if you think you can’t).