4 Habits That Will Bring You Inner Peace

1. Put Away Your Phone

Research shows that even just checking your phone or computer can negatively impact your happiness. If you’re feeling anxious, it may be helpful to take a step back and set aside those things that bring stress into your life — and keep them out of sight for a while.

The next time you feel yourself getting worked up, leave whatever is bothering you in another room and focus on something that brings you joy. With a little bit of practice, it will become easier to put away your worries as soon as they start to trickle in.

Like any new habit, it may take some conscious effort to remember every time at first but after a while, you’ll find that it comes naturally and frees up space in your mind so that happy thoughts can make their way in.

In an age where we’re constantly distracted by our smartphones, it’s sometimes hard to find inner peace. But to develop a healthy sense of peace and calm, you need to learn how to set boundaries and step away from your phone.

Start small — turn off notifications on your phone so that you aren’t tempted to check your email or respond right away. If you take one thing away from all of these suggestions, make it by putting down your phone! By removing distractions, you’ll help create space for true inner peace.

Your phone is a tool, but it’s also your portal to social media and other things that are likely causing you stress.

Put your phone away when you’re not using it. It will bring inner peace because no one is going to message or email or text you while you’re away. (This doesn’t apply if you work in communications.)

2. Stop Judging Others

Judging others is a sign of our own insecurities and self-doubt. When we judge others, we often come from a place of fear or dislike about ourselves. When we refrain from judging others, it forces us to look inwardly at our own lives.

Many people find that once they stop judging others, they begin to enjoy more inner peace because they’re not worrying so much about what other people are doing or saying.

Instead, they’re living their own lives without constantly focusing on everyone else’s actions. As Henry David Thoreau wrote: Judge not lest ye be judged.

If you want inner peace, it’s very important to stop judging others. Once you’re able to remove your judgments, then you’ll be able to walk around with a smile on your face all day long.

Remember, if you judge someone else, it doesn’t define who they are, it defines who you are. By judging others and gossiping about them, you have negative energy.

Will come back around tenfold when people gossip about you later down the road. If you want inner peace then don’t judge others because their actions don’t define them — only your judgment of those actions does that.

One of these days you’re going to realize that being right all of the time doesn’t make you feel good; it just makes you feel self-righteous. Try to stop judging others in your life and focus more on yourself.

There will always be people who disagree with you, so don’t take it personally when they do. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but there is no reason to force them upon someone else.

3. Observe Silence

It’s easy to get lost in your thoughts when you try to find inner peace. Meditation and other exercises are helpful, but perhaps nothing is as powerful as silence.

The habit of observing silence means taking time every day to simply be present. It’s not thinking about what happened yesterday or preparing for tomorrow, it’s just being.

Silence creates space between where you are and where you want to be and that space leads directly to inner peace. One of the biggest habits you can adopt to improve your inner peace is to create time each day that’s set aside for complete silence.

Even five minutes can have a significant impact on your mood and help you connect more deeply with yourself. Whether you meditate or not, sitting in silence helps bring clarity and focus to everything around you.

With any luck, it will also allow other people to really see you, rather than just listen to what you’re saying all of the time.

If quiet time isn’t your thing, try observing silence during a commute or on public transportation — you’ll still reap many of the same benefits without feeling like you’re missing out on anything important.

If you find yourself being too sensitive or emotional, or responding to situations inappropriately, try taking some time out to quiet your mind. Meditation and silence are incredibly powerful tools that will bring you inner peace.

For example, while meditation has long been accepted as a beneficial practice in Eastern cultures and religions, it is also a proven stress-reduction technique for Westerners.

Our minds are constantly thinking about stuff (hence: stuff), and that busyness can create unnecessary stress on our nervous system — leaving us feeling anxious and frustrated.

If you find yourself struggling with anxiety or depression, regular meditation might be worth exploring as an option. Spending time in silence by listening to relaxing music or sitting quietly with your eyes closed can help quiet your mind without requiring any special skill set.

4. Cultivate Gratitude

Inner peace may sound like a New Age cliché, but it’s a real thing. The idea that you can be at peace in your own head is not always easy to achieve, especially with all of our modern-day stresses and anxieties weighing on us.

But by learning how to train your brain, you can find balance on your own terms. Here are four habits that will bring you inner peace.

Too often, we focus on what’s going wrong in our lives rather than on what’s going right. One simple way to bring more gratitude into your life is to make a list of things you’re grateful for every night before bed.

If that feels too ambitious, start small: Keep a stack of Post-it notes nearby and write down something each day that you feel thankful for.

If we can acknowledge and appreciate all that’s good around us, we create space to be open to new ideas and opportunities that will ultimately lead us toward greater happiness.

The simple act of showing gratitude on a daily basis — even if you have to force yourself to do it at first — has been shown to increase happiness and well-being.

It also prompts people to notice and appreciate all that’s right in their lives, instead of ruminating on what they don’t have. According to research by psychologist Robert Emmons of UC Davis, gratitude improves physical health, mental health, social relationships, and spiritual well-being.

So start now! Write down five things you’re grateful for today — or simply take some time every day to reflect on how fortunate you are. Remind yourself how lucky you are at home, work, and play — and how many good people surround you in your life.