9 Ways to Create Peace in Your Life When the World Is Pure Chaos

As Dickens wrote in A Tale of Two Cities in 1859, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness."

Doesn't this ring so true today, too?

There are many views and perceptions for us in this world. If you watch and read the news you may become inundated with the negative, the sensational, the political, and  feel incredibly stressed or anxious.

 

And yet the whole world is not that. There are many great and  wonderful acts and human stories. You may have to search for them, but they are so uplifting.

 From  Falling Awake , Dave Ellis writes, "Moment by moment, we get to choose our conversations and community. What's at stake is enormous - everything we say, hear, watch, listen to, read, and see. No choices are more powerful than these."

Here are nine things you can do on purpose in order to have an extraordinary life - no matter what chaos exists outside of yourself:

1. Have a target, a personal mission statement, a life purpose, or a compelling future that draws you toward your desired life.
2. Have an uncluttered life. This includes physical and emotional clutter. Do a clean sweep of unwanted things, and then work on where and with whom you can be comfortable.
3. Live in the present. It has been said, "The past is history, the future but a mystery. The present is a gift. That is why it's called the present."
4. Give yourself extreme self-care. Be good to yourself. Not just nice, but extreme. Reward yourself with something that gives you energy rather than drains you of energy.
5. Understand the myth of work/life balance. Have a center point to come back to. Balance is temporary, but a practice of daily centering and coming back to balance creates a more sturdy sense of security.
6. Say no and yes with conviction. Many people do not tell the truth when others ask them to commit to something or help another, and that lack of naked communication costs them dearly.
7. Choose to under-promise and over-deliver. It does not mean to make promises or commitments that are not well-conceived or important. But it does allow one to have some leeway.
8. Respond, do not react. This is tantamount to living less a stressful life on purpose. As humans, we have a natural, built-in reaction of fight-or-flight. But our evolution also allows us to pause for a brief moment and survey the options that may be available to choose instead of a knee-jerk reaction immediately.

Read more here!

A review published in the Journal of Environmental and Public Health looked at a number of studies that highlight how drawing electrons from the earth improves health. In one, chronic pain patients using grounded carbon fiber mattresses slept better and experienced less pain. 

Another study found that earthing changed the electrical activity in the brain, as measured by electroencephalograms. Still other research found that grounding benefitted skin conductivity, moderated heart rate variability, improved glucose regulation, reduced stress and boosted immunity. 

One particularly compelling investigation, published in The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, found that earthing increases the surface charge of red blood cells. As a result, the cells avoid clumping, which decreases blood viscosity. High viscosity is a significant factor in  heart disease, which is why so many people take blood thinning aspirin each day to improve their heart health. Another study in the same journal found that earthing may help regulate both the endocrine and nervous systems.