In modern society, I see that we’ve given up responsibility. We no longer feel connected to other people, the environment, the sources of our food, or ourselves. It’s scary to think about, but we don’t even take responsibility for our own health — many of us are so disconnected from the process of digestion, for instance, that we don’t even think about the direct effects of our eating habits on our bodies. When health fails, we don’t see it as related to our choices. We are so used to believing that we are entitled to live in whatever way we want. This also applies to mental health. But we have to understand that inner work is required in order to know how to find inner peace.
If your inner world is a mess, you have to fix the mess yourself. Just as you had to learn to clean up your room as a kid, you have to learn to clean up your mind. When you are a slave to your emotions and your thoughts are out of control, it becomes urgent to take back the driver’s seat of your life. Your mind should not have power over you; you should have power over it instead. But emotions and thoughts can be strong and the ego-mind can become your dictator if you’re not vigilant.
Some examples of negative emotions are:
- fear
- sadness
- anxiety
- anger
Some examples of negative thoughts are:
- “I am not good enough”
- “Nothing matters”
- “The future is doomed”
- “Nothing ever works out for me”
- “I have to struggle to survive”
- “Other people are beneath me”
These emotions and thoughts make your life quite difficult if they gain the upper hand in your mind.
Learn How Your Mind Operates
There are plenty of temporary fixes that can numb the mind for you, but when they wear off, you’re back to the inner hell you were trying to escape. The only true solution is to learn how your own mind works and then put in sustained effort to conquer its negative tendencies. Become intimately familiar with its processes.
Understand how you become depressed, angry, scared, or stressed, and then use this knowledge to choose a different path. It is the greatest skill you can learn in your lifetime. But it is one of the most difficult things to learn — at first.
Create Your Own Peace
Knowing about your toxic mental tendencies is just the first step. You have to then take control back. Find your way toward sovereignty. You don’t have to live like a slave to your mind, bending to its whims. Be strong. Stand up against what we call the ego-mind and tell it how you want to live. Create your own peace.
Meditation is the only way I know that can take you to inner peace and mental sovereignty. There may be other ways that work, but I think what they all boil down to is the same thing: you have to turn your focus within. You have to spend time getting to know yourself.
There has to be inner awareness for it to happen. You can’t just hope that you’ll gain mental strength one day by accident.
Take Responsibility
Your mental breakdowns aren’t anyone else’s fault. You may be able to cause havoc in many other people’s lives because of your stress, sadness, and anger, but you can’t blame other people for the source of these emotions. Your thoughts are your responsibility. This realization is one of the biggest steps toward mental sovereignty.
When you look within and gain a higher perspective on what’s been going on in your mind, then it all makes sense. You can see the strong emotions and negative thoughts coming, and you can stop them in their path. Imagine how much peace and harmony you can cause in the world if you do this. Instead of creating a ripple effect of discord throughout your social networks, you can start to witness the happiness that you bring to others.
Learning about yourself and taking responsibility are the first steps, and they are important steps. Take control of your life back — this choice can create a better world.
Tarot Readings
Emily offers tarot readings to help you understand your spiritual journey. Ask questions on any topic you like!
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Find inner peace with Emily by learning to meditate with a personal mantra.
About Emily
Emily is a writer, coach, intuitive reader, and content creator with a background in philosophy.
