While many of us yearn for it, Peace of Mind is not a state that’s easy to achieve in our modern, bustling world. Yet without Peace of Mind, it’s difficult to be truly happy and to enjoy living our lives.
Petrea King is a very wise and compassionate woman who founded the Quest for Life Foundation. She has spent the last 28 years working with people battling with cancer and other life threatening diseases, so she knows a thing or two about Peace of Mind. She wrote a lengthy article for our book “How to Stay Healthy, Active and Sharp in Retirement” which included her advice on what we needed to find peace in our lives. Following are the four qualities she believes we need in order to find this illusive state of mind.
1. Control
The first is that we have a sense of control over our life. We consciously choose our response to life’s challenges rather than habitually react. We are active participators rather than helpless victims. This recognises that whilst we can’t always change what happens to us, we can change our response to what happens to us.
2. Commitment
Secondly, we feel committed to living – we’re willing to get emotionally up-to-date with our lives. This may involve a re-focusing of priorities, issues of forgiveness of both ourselves and others or resolving relationship or communication difficulties. To live wholeheartedly in the present we must resolve the issues of the past. In this way, we glean the wisdom from the past but don’t live with the woundedness of it.
3. Challenge
The third quality is that we feel challenged and excited by our lives. What is it that gets our ‘juices’ flowing and our eyes sparkling? Can we make meaning of our suffering? We need our limiting beliefs to be challenged or we will not grow. Are we living our dream? Do we feel that we’re living the lives we came here to live?
4. Connection
The final quality is that we feel a sense of connection – that we’re loved and supported by those we share our life with or that we have a sense of belonging or place, or that we’re connected to what we consider sacred or divine.
Petrea’s full article is inspiring and particularly valuable for anyone who is facing a serious challenge in their life. The book “How to Stay Healthy, Active and Sharp in Retirement” is available on the Home Page of our web site.