With absolute delight, I introduce you to our guest writer, Annie. Not only has Annie traveled the world, but she’s only 13-years-old! As we get ready for the holiday season, now is a great time to stop and reflect on ways to stay peaceful during our busy schedules. Learn about the yoga, meditation, community service, healthy eating, and gratitude practices that Annie has adopted to help her live a peaceful life. Enjoy these sage words from a wise young woman.
5 Ways to Live a Peaceful Life
Here are five ways to stay peaceful in a busy life:
1. Meditation
Meditation to me means to be self-disciplined, calm, peaceful, and stress-free. It is a way to let not only our body relax, but also our thoughts.
Many people go to work at around 7:30 a.m., work all day, come back to their home, eat, and go to bed. This is not a healthy lifestyle because we have no time to reflect on our lives or ourselves. We tend to do things like watch television before bed which does not keep us calm and peaceful.
Meditation is a way for people to calm their life down and acknowledge what they are thankful for. Once we step back and accept our challenges, our life becomes significantly happier and smoother. Meditation only takes five minutes or even two, as long as people let their thoughts go by as clouds and let their body surrender.
Violence is a problem for the whole world and it is a fact that if every person learned how to meditate by the age of eight, we would eliminate violence in one generation. Peace is so important to humans and we can take the time to meditate to help the world become calmer and peaceful.
2. Yoga
Yoga is not just stretching out your muscles for a minute and then going on in your daily life. Yoga incorporates meditation, mindfulness, stress-relieving, and body relaxation.
In my mornings, I generally wake up early and lay my mat down in front of a fire or candle to help keep me calm.
Before going on to a busy day at school or work where we usually sit down for the majority of the day, yoga is a helpful tool to get healthy movement. Mornings are the most common times for people to be sore, especially in places like their shoulders or back.
Yoga is a way for our aches to stretch and heal with slow, soothing movements. It may only take a few minutes, but it will set you up for a tranquil and comfortable day ahead. Below is a photo of one of the common moves in yoga called Warrior 2 Pose.
My friend practicing Warrior 2 Pose.
3. Community service
Community service means for someone to help out someone else in their community without this being a requirement.
There are community service groups like City Year which has been a common one around the Boston, Massachusetts area. I generally work with City Year around the region to try and support the people around me in need. At times, you might be doing manual work like building a garden, and others when you will be painting.
Community service is a way for our the society to come together to assist one another. It is easy to get involved with this, for instance you can just look up on on the internet what community service projects occur around your area.
Community service is calming, joyful, prideful, and most of all exciting knowing that you are doing something to help out others in need. This does not need to be a thing that takes all day, but simply maybe an hour of painting a school around you that needs support.
Community service can even involve just holding the door for someone, but as long as our intentions are virtuous and we are doing everything in our ability to make our community a better place.
My favorite quote that involves community service and life in general is, “leave the world a better place than where you found it.”
4. Healthy Eating
Eating healthy is currently a large conflict in our country of the United States.
Our bodies are meant to eat sugar, calories, wheat, meat, vegetables, and fruits. The key is to have a balance of all of those components. Especially calories and sugar are two foods that do not serve our bodies after eating large amounts of foods containing these ingredients.
Healthy eating is a way for our body to feel better with more energy, and generally happier. It is a fact that those who eat healthy live longer than those who don’t.
My mom tells me that, I am what I eat. After hearing this, my life changed as I began to realize the dramatic change when I started eating healthier.
Even in a busy life, when you are making yourself a sandwich, or eating from the cafeteria, there are most likely options like vegetables and fruits which are two healthy options.
A picture that I took in Greece last summer.
5. Gratitude
What are you thankful for?
A great way to stay peaceful in a busy life is saying or even thinking what you are grateful for throughout the day. People tend to take things for granted, not realizing that something is very important in their life.
Every night, I say, think, or write what I am thankful for that day. This varies from family, friends, school, or even just a beautiful tree that I saw outside.
As long as we are being aware and acknowledging what we appreciate and what is important. No matter how busy things get in your life, there are always ways to value and be thankful for the things and people around us.
What are your tips for living a peaceful life? Tell us in the comments below.
About our Guest Writer
My name is Annie and I am 13 years old. I have two older brothers and one older sister, so I am the youngest. Brooke and Will are my two parents who support me every day along with the rest of my family. I have two cats and one dog. Something that I have struggled with has been stomach cramps for the past two years and am currently meditating, healing, doing yoga, and mindfulness to feel better. I go to the school just west of Boston, Massachusetts and play basketball, lacrosse, and golf. Other hobbies of mine are playing the guitar, photography, mountain biking, waves, yoga, mindfulness, and meditation. My goal in life is to leave the world a better place than where I found it.
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Enjoy this yoga book trailer from our Anna and her Rainbow-Colored Yoga Mats. Anna’s mom says to her, “Be true to yourself, Anna. If you want to be happy, then you must be happy for others around you.”
