Often there is a way forward, even if we do not know it. Here today I am sharing an ancient way to peace with you all.

A deer knows it’s a deer. The deer has no inner conflict about its purpose, its past, its needs, its destiny. Deer lives in the moment and is 100 per cent resourceful at all times, minute by minute, its senses completely keen. Its focus pure and unburdened.

Is your day spent like this? Maybe a few minutes – an hour or not even………. In our world of constant notifications – devices pinging at us for attention, some may say it is impossible. It isn’t. A little more challenging, maybe – but very doable.

Today I am sharing a simple easy to do technique that is an ancient way to peace to help you extend the time of calm and peace in your busy life.

An Ancient Way To Peace

This technique or practice is about noticing and stopping yourself from being derailed emotionally and mentally. By this, I mean letting yourself be distracted by thoughts that aren’t serving you.

For example, morning – the skies and blue and the sun is shining until you catch see of yourself in the mirror and see notice something you don’t like. “Gosh, I’m getting… (fill in the blank with your personal negative story about yourself — stupid, failure, old, fat, skinny – you get the picture … ).”

Ka-Ching the neon light that calls you to stop walking and living your unique peaceful spiritual path and starts nagging negative self-talk. Often we don’t see neon shining – we drive right off the road down the downward spiral.

This can be as innocuous as 5 to 10-minute inner dialogue, filled with poor thoughts about yourself that drains your energy and joy for an hour, and sometimes the entire day(s).

The mirror story is just one example – there are many. Maybe a phone call, a minor inconvenience that triggers a stress response, a text message, or just over-thinking your life with constant brain chatter rather than simply be – for there is only this moment.

The destination is the same despite the multitude of ways to get there.

Derailed, feeling blue, anxious, depressed, unworthy.

As you work with them, you will see these mental detours for what they indeed are and invisible bars of a cage imprisoning your true self. There is a way forward and it is an ancient way to peace. 

A Way Forward

1. Choose an hour – any hour but be consistent every day. It doesn’t need to be quiet. This practice is done during your regular day to day life. Where ever you are at work, with family, doing household chores, out for a hike — the important thing is that you’re starting this hour in a positive and happy frame of mind.

2. The practice is simple. Spend the next 60 minutes, being as quiet and peaceful as you can manage. All you need to do is pay attention to your thoughts and note the times you find yourself falling into negative self-talk or getting derailed.

This derailing doesn’t need to be significant for it to qualify — it can be as subtle as a brief moment of anxiety or negative brain chatter.

This practice is not about working with negative thought patterns. It is about taking inventory of what comes up in our periphery over  60 minutes of your daily life. The more neutral you can be, the witness in your life – not lost in the drama and illusion the more information you will pick up.

3. Write them down as they come so that they can be worked with later.

Remember as a shaman:

“We are watching our thoughts just like a child on a riverbank takes note of what floats by. Curious, playful even, but unattached.”

• As we walk through life, these points of disruption are significant entryways or portals into more profound inner deep soul work.

• The act of be the observer and acknowledging what your triggers are with an open heart can bring deep healing to them in ways that your brain cannot quantify. The light of your awareness is in fact the true healing. Simply being.

Try one of these power hours of self-discovery today and set it up as a habit. No great skill is required and the benefits to body and soul can be extraordinary.

Yes, this is work; however, it is rewarding.