HOW TO BE AT PEACE AMIDST CHALLENGING SITUATIONS

It is safe to say that we’ve all had challenging situations in our lives. The question is how to be at peace amidst these challenging situations?

There will always be challenging situations in our lives that are very frustrating; it is not about getting rid of challenges but accepting them.

The key to being at peace and harmony amidst challenging situations is by coming to that point of acceptance, and we come to that point of acceptance by finding that inner peace.

And that inner peace is within you. You cannot find it outside of yourself; it’s not out there; it is in you.

Use the challenges in your life as opportunities

The thing about a challenging situation is that when we face a challenge, we tend to lose our consciousness. This is why we often hear people say: “I lost it.”

But it does not have to be this way; there is another way, and you can use the challenges you encounter in your life as opportunities to make you more conscious. 

For this to happen, you need to have a certain level of presence in your life. You don’t have to be an enlightened Guru, but you have to have some level of awareness and presence. 

This means you are not 100% identified with the thoughts that pass through your mind, and you are not 100% identified with the emotions that come and go; there is some degree of presence in you.

That is the key to using an external challenge to make you more alert and present rather than make you more unconscious. In other words, you use it as an opportunity to become more conscious, more alert, more present, and less reactive.

Often, people regret what they said and what they did when they are in the grip of complete unconsciousness. People then say: “it’s like I wasn’t even there; I didn’t do it; something took over and possessed me.”  

A challenge can therefore make you more conscious and more alert. And when you are alert, you do the right thing and make the right decision without any premedication.

What to do during a challenging situation?

When you face a situation of physical danger, you have two options:

• You can allow the intense fear to paralyze you or make you do and say the absolute wrong thing
• Or you can use it as an opportunity to be in a state of heightened alert presence. 

As challenging situations arise as they always do, your task is to use these challenges in your life to transcend the reactive patterns and habits, by choosing the state of alert presence instead.

Thoughts and emotions will always come and go, but there is a continuous awareness in the background that never leaves you. Unfortunately, most people are not aware of that.

Five key points to remember to remain at peace amidst challenging situations

Key point # 1 to be at peace amidst challenging situations

Life is happening, always changing, moving, passing through your awareness; everything in life is impermanent. You are the consciousness in which things appear and disappear.

Movement of energy is happening all the time. But we are utterly oblivious to this because we get so overstimulated by the five senses that we get lost in the world of seeing, touching, tasting, smelling, hearing, and tasting. 

Most of you are outwardly focused; you need to be inwardly focused, observing the subtle phenomenon that is always happening inside of you.

Key point # 2 to be at peace amidst challenging situations

Whatever is happening in your outer world is triggering the thoughts, emotions, feelings, and sensations you are experiencing.

You have to understand that there are many subtle phenomena that make you feel the way you do.

• It could be the five elements of nature. One element could be more predominant; for example, fire element is dominant, or earth element is prominent, that is what is making you feel a certain way.
• You could have eaten the wrong food, which is making you feel a certain way. 
• The gunas can affect the way you feel. Click here to learn more about the gunas.
• It could be your Ayurveda constitution kapha, vata, pitta that makes you feel a certain way.
• It could be the constellation of the stars, the planets, making you feel a certain way.

If you are always focusing on something outside of you, you will never move forward in your life.

Take responsibility for your feelings. For whatever reason, the feelings are there; they are there; it is what it is. So feel your feelings and be done with it, but don’t project it on another person.

So, whether you are feeling miserable or you are feeling amazing, don’t sever the relationship; cherish the relationship.

1. Feel your feelings
2. Take responsibility for your feelings and keep the love flowing

Whatever is happening, accept whatever is happening. Don’t fight with yourself.

Key point # 3 to be at peace amidst challenging situations

The key is not to push your feelings away or hide from situations that trigger certain thoughts.

Total acceptance of whatever is arising in your awareness; this is what is happening right now; it is what it is. I am the witness of whatever is passing through my consciousness; I am the observer; I don’t need to identify with this movement of energy or make a story out of it.

Develop the skill of observation. And next time you have an emotional reaction, instead of hooking it onto something external, bring your attention back to yourself and observe what those subtle sensations are.

Observation is going inward and experiencing the inner phenomenon. Feel your feelings, allow yourself to feel your emotion, try to identify where you feel it in your body, is it in your throat area, is it in your naval, is it moving, is it hard to identify? Where is it? Go inward! 

Don’t force yourself to have an emotional experience. You don’t have to have an experience because you feel something; let the energy move by itself, don’t make a mood out of it, don’t make it into a concept, and experience the emotions as pure energy moving through you.

When you are hurt, the mind, instead of going outward, it turns inward.

You have to work your emotions; you have to feel your feelings fully and transcend the feelings through breathing exercises, and observing the energy rise and fall. 

Key point # 4 to be at peace amidst challenging situations

Watch your thoughts, feeling, sensations, and the movement of energy rising and falling in your awareness without identifying with them.

Observe it as a movement of energy, do not link it to anything, do not cling to it, do not identify with it, notice them as if you are an outside witness.

Every emotion and even every thought is just energy, but we don’t know how to identify that energy in our system.

Don’t fight with your body; the most important thing is to let go, relax, without any effort.

How can you do this? 

By being in the present moment, this means you are not thinking about the past or the future. You are with all your attention here and now.

And the key to being in the present moment is the breath. Focus on your breath. Because when you do, the breath gets very soft and gentle, and then the mind can turn inward.

Once the mind turns inward, you can start to experience all that subtle phenomenon and observe the sensations, energy rising and falling, tingling sensations in your hands, feet, and the top of your head. 

Key point # 5 to be at peace amidst challenging situations

During challenging times, you want to be more alert not to lose yourself in the old habitual patterns of the mind.  

Conclusion

Five key points to be ar peace amidst challenging situations:

• Everything in life is impermanent. You are the consciousness in which it is all happening.
• Understand that there are many subtle phenomena that make you feel the way you feel.
• The key is not to push your feelings away or hide from situations that trigger certain thoughts.
• Watch your thoughts, feeling, sensations, and the movement of energy rising and falling in your awareness without identifying with them.
• During challenging times, you want to be more alert not to lose yourself in the old habitual patterns of the mind.

Helpful Resources

• A beginner’s guide to the seve chakras and your emotions
• Best quick fix for quieting the monkey mind
• Stunning benefits of alternate nostril breathing
• How to reduce stress fast

If this message inspired you please make sure to leave a comment below. I would love to hear from you.