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7 Simple Steps to Stay Positive on the Road to Inner Peace

Lifestyle | Love

What most yogis seek in this world is inner peace. We get on our mats, work on our chakras, do our sun salutations, inhale and exhale with our poses, and eventually hope peace will kick in.

And more often than not, it does. But inner peace is more than just a byproduct of asana. It’s a journey. And like yoga, it works its magic from the inside out.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

That single step is positive attitude. Toxic emotions fest on your soul. And the defense mechanism that you should always rely on is your positivity. Anger can be resisted with forgiveness; forgiving yourself and others.

Resentment can be resisted with understanding—understanding the basic flaws in human beings. Regret can be fought with acceptance; accepting your past and mistakes. They made you the unique person you are now today, and taught you valuable lessons for tomorrow.

The Butterfly Effect

“Selfishness must always be forgiven, because there is no hope of a cure.”-Jane Austen

This is easier said than done. But we yogis understand more than anyone else the concept of butterfly effect—small changes in one state can result in large differences later.

We learn the magic of accumulated effort and the small steps that we take every day to master our practice. We stretch ourselves every time a little bit more for a little bit longer, and suddenly, a pose that seemed impossible one day, becomes easy and perfect.

Your positive attitude will not be developed overnight. But when you practice it as much as you can, it will come as a second nature to you at some point. Believe in the power of positive thinking, and it will nip the ugly negativity in the bud and help you reach inner peace.

Your Spot in the Universe

In yoga, we learn to be unified with nature. We see the world through the eyes of all creatures. We learned our poses from cats, dogs, cows, frogs, pigeons, etc. We do our meditation in Lotus pose. We press our foot firmly on the ground to soak earth energy in Warrior. We lift our head up to the sun to receive its warmth in Mountain.

We know for sure that Nirvana is never accomplished when we cling to our ego. We do not separate ourselves from the universe. We are more grounded and powerful this way.

“The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”~Aristotle

That’s why we should put our problems in the overall context; see it relative to the big picture and acknowledge our position in the universe. When we zoom out in outer space, we will likely see earth as tiny blue dot. If we estimated human lifetime, it will probably be nothing compared to the age of the universe.

When we become truly aware of our spot in the universe, no negative thought or emotion seem worth the pain.~Shaymaa Hafez

You start to ask how big your problems really are, and is your anger worth holding on to for that long. The life we have been blessed with, the little time we have on this earth, are worth living fully, worth living right.

You deserve to live ridiculously happy and enjoy inner peace. To achieve that, you need to maintain a positive attitude. Try these steps and practice them often to stay positive:

  1. Write all your negative thoughts and feelings as soon as they hit you.
  2. Break down what you wrote into clear points.
  3. For every point, find a positive aspect.
  4. Consider the importance of little things (the butterfly effect)—the small positive steps and create a habit of happiness.
  5. Reflect on your place in the universe. Putting things in perspective can dissolve negativity faster than anything else.
  6. Keep positivity all around you. Download a daily wise quotes app. Read inspirational blogs, use positive wallpapers on your phone, surround yourself with happy positive people, etc.
  7. And finally, do yoga every day.

Remember, life is insanely short, and the world will not stop spinning because you have regrets or bottled up anger towards anyone. The only thing that will happen is you will just miss on living.

Featured in New York Magazine, The Guardian, and The Washington Post
Featured in the Huffington Post, USA Today, and VOGUE

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