If fear and confusion is in the driver’s seat, James Baraz and Michele Lilyanna have some tips for inner peace

James Baraz shares a blog post for adults on how to  slow down and make choices from a calm and centered place. Michele offers a sweet audio to send you off to sleep. Nurturing ourselves as adults is the key to Awakening Joy in Children. Take good care of yourself.

The Choice That Makes All the Difference
Have you ever said something hurtful in a moment of frustration and later felt awful about it with self-talk like: How could I have said that? What was I thinking?! Although it’s important to acknowledge and honor difficult emotions when they arise, if they run the show the results are usually disastrous. If fear or confusion is in the driver’s seat, you’re sure to be headed for trouble. That’s why integrity—acting in alignment with your values—is one of the essential components to awakening joy.

A key to inner peace is learning the power of delayed gratification with regard to impulse control. We often don’t realize that we can choose a longer lasting well-being by foregoing the quick gratification of hastily acting in unhealthy ways. Although it may feel good in the moment, the action is usually followed by many moments of regret.

If you can pause and slow down to use some wise awareness before engaging in a questionable action—like the moment before clicking the send button of a charged email—you give yourself the space to choose wisely. Take a moment to ask: How will this action feel looking back in retrospect? Will it support my intention to allow more joy in my life? Or will I regret it whenever I think about what I’ve done? If you truly want to find happiness and joy keep reflecting in this way so your wisdom has a chance to guide you.

Being able to ask yourself these questions means you’re slowing down enough not to act on every impulse. You might experiment with a particular unhealthy pattern that you easily fall into or you sense you’re about to do something that you could later regret.

How can you remember to give yourself the space to choose wisely? One way is to pay attention to how certain decisions feel in your body. Your body doesn’t lie. It will reveal when you’re choices are rooted in stress or confusion. Start to notice when you feel tense, contracted, fearful or confused. Those are usually the conditions for acting unskillfully. If it’s apparent that you’re feeling disconnected or anxious, that’s when you need to give yourself a time out—go for a walk, meditate or do some exercise—whatever helps you get enough space to re-connect. This gives your natural wisdom a chance to guide your actions.- James Baraz

You can connect with us on our facebook page .
Michele offers an audio for parents to relax with.

Relaxation for Muma and Papa at the end of the day. Sit back, put your head phones on and breathe into the end of a day.

Thanks to Pixabay for the images this week.