6 Ways to Create Peace and Harmony in Your Life

All of us desire peace and harmony in our lives.  We want our lives to have the right balance between work and free time.  And we want our free time to have the right balance between caring for ourselves and caring for others.  We also want our relationships with others to be peaceful.  In short, we all are seeking a life in which everything just “clicks.”  But creating a life of peace and harmony is challenging!

The problem is that when we don’t have peace and harmony, our lives feel out of whack.  So, we may be tired all the time.  Our mental and physical health may suffer.  Or our relationships may drain us.  

But when we have peace and harmony in our lives, all parts of our lives are working together for our good.  We have the right balance of work and free time.  Our bodies and our brains feel good.  And we are blessed with relationships that enrich and support us.

Admittedly, creating a life peace and harmony in your life isn’t easy.  For instance, for many years, I did not have peace and harmony in my life. As a result, I lived in a state of imbalance and stress.  My work and many of my personal relationships were stressful.  And I didn’t have sufficient time for myself.  So, I was tired all the time. 

Then one day I had an epiphany and realized that I wasn’t stuck, but rather, I had the ability to create a life of peace and harmony.  I just had to make the “right” choices about how I was going to live my life.

Below are choices that you can make to create greater peace and harmony in your life.  Realize that you have the power to create a life that “clicks,” in which all aspects work well together.  Make some of the good choices below and see how much more peaceful and harmonious your life can be!    

Find Your “Sweet Spot” Between Work and Compensation

We all have different needs from our jobs.  Some people want high compensation and a career that they can really attack.  Other folks desire a 9 to 5 job that pays just enough to cover their bills.  And others need a job that offers something somewhere in-between.

The key to having harmony in your life is to find your employment “sweet spot” where you are getting your desired compensation, and you are working the number of hours that feels right to you.  Of course, that sweet spot will be different for each of us. 

Realize that there is no job where you get paid a lot of money for working only a few hours.  I know that there are authors who will tell you otherwise.  But they are telling you that to sell books.  The reality is that there’s a correlation between the number of hours we work and our compensation.

So, work and compensation are a balancing act.  If you love your career, you may very well want to devote the bulk of your time to working and making money.  But if your career isn’t rewarding and is just a way to make money to pay the bills, you may want to work the bare minimum of hours.  That way you have more free time each day to devote to doing what you truly love.

So, if you are seeking harmony in your life, figure out where your work-compensation sweet spot is.  Then find employment that provides you with the right balance of effort and desired compensation.

Insist on Peace in Your Relationships

One of the most important ways to create peace and harmony in your life is to insist on peace in your relationships.  How do you do that?  The simplest approach is to not engage with others who are being argumentative. 

Realize that you don’t have to respond simply because someone says something to you that is insulting or rude.  Unfortunately, we tend to believe that we do have to respond when others are being unkind.  However, just because someone is trying to provoke a response from you, that doesn’t mean that you have to oblige them with one.

A couple of years ago, a friend of mine turned 50.  And on his birthday, I asked him what he most wanted.  His answer was, “Peace.”  He meant for his response to be funny.  But it also was true.  We all want peace.  We want peaceful relationships with our friends, family members and work colleagues. 

But to live in peace and harmony with others, you have to make a choice.  You have to decide that peace is more important than winning arguments or getting your way.  The good news is that a life of peace and harmony feels far better than a life in which you are constantly in conflict with others.

Declutter Your Home

An important aspect of harmonious living is having a well-organized living space.  We often forget how important it is to keep our homes tidy and clutter free.  The problem is that if you allow your home to be messy and full of stuff, you won’t be able to relax. 

The best way to keep your home tidy and organized is to have less stuff.  One quick way to figure out if a room has too much stuff is to take a picture of the room.  For some reason, when you are standing in a room, it’s hard to see what’s wrong with the contents of the room.  However, when you take a picture of a room, it becomes glaringly obvious where the clutter is or which areas would benefit from less stuff. 

To declutter, decide to have stuff in your home for only two reasons – either something is beautiful, or it is functional and used regularly.  If an item falls in neither category, get rid of it! Then organize your belongings in a harmonious manner. If you do so, you’ll be so much more at peace in your home.

Take Care of Your Body

When we live in harmony, we take care of not just our brains, but also our bodies.  And caring for our bodies means getting the right amount of sleep, eating the right foods, and doing the right amount of exercise.

Realize that these “right” amounts will be different for everyone.  For example, if you are an athlete, the way you take care of your body will be very different from a retiree. 

If you are wondering what is the “right way” to take care of your body, here are some good rules of thumb:  Conventional wisdom says that we all need somewhere between 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night to be properly rested.  If you are looking for a good diet, the most highly regarded diet is the Mediterranean Diet which focuses on eating plant-based foods and fish.  And as for exercise, it is recommended that you exercise for 30 minutes each day.

Of course, none of those are hard and fast rules.  But they are a good place to start if you are wondering, “How exactly do I take care of this body of mine?”  And if you have health issues, your doctor will gladly set you up with a regime that is just right for you!

The key thing to remember is that in order to live in harmony, we can’t forget to take care of our physical health.  When we take care of both our bodies and brains, we truly feel good! 

Set Aside Time for Daily Prayer or Meditation

In order to create a life of peace and harmony, you have to have a calm mind.  And the best way to develop a consistently calm mind is through daily prayer or meditation. 

Daily prayer or meditation essentially is training for your brain.  When you pray or meditate, you are training your brain to be in a calm state for a certain period of time, whether that is 10 minutes or 1 hour. 

If you keep up a daily practice of prayer or meditation, you’ll find that your brain will start to crave being in that calm state all the time.  As a result, when something upsetting happens around you, your feathers will be momentarily ruffled.  But soon you’ll revert to a calm state of mind.  Because being calm will be your default state of mind.

I know for myself that my brain desires to be calm.  In fact, I am happiest when my day runs smoothly and my relationships are peaceful.  But on occasion, I have to face bumps in the road.  That is when I truly benefit from my daily prayer and meditation practice.

Due to prayer and meditation, I’ve been able to train my brain to be like a still pond.  Most of the time, my mind is calm like a still pond.  But on occasion, life may throw in a pebble.  That pebble could be someone’s rudeness.  Or that pebble might be an unexpected work issue.  And the pebble will cause a momentary ripple of concern.  But then my “still pond” mind quickly reverts back to its calm state.

So, to create peace and harmony in your life, work on having a calm mind.  By simply sitting quietly and meditating or praying for just 10 minutes a day, I promise that you will grow to be calmer and more serene.  And your brain will thank you!

Live Gently

In order to live in harmony with the rest of the world, you need to live gently in the world. That means treating others and all of God’s creatures with kindness and compassion.

Unfortunately, when we are caught up in ourselves and our needs, we forget to be kind and compassionate.  So, we’ll stomp all over other people to get what we want.  Or we’ll stomp on other creatures and the earth, so that our needs can be satisfied.  Sadly, when we are obsessed with ourselves, we stop being kind and compassionate. That is because we forget to consider what it must be like to be at the bottom of the social totem pole or at the bottom of the food chain. 

But if you want to live in harmony with others and the world, you have to stop thinking solely about yourself and your own needs.  Instead, you need to switch your focus to how you are impacting others and the world around you.  

One of the many promises that doctors make when they take the Hippocratic oath is to “Do no harm.”  I often think that we should all take that oath.  What if everyone on this earth made a pledge to do no harm?  How different would our world be?

When we treat others and all creatures in the world with kindness and compassion, we start to live in harmony with the world.  In fact, when we seek the best for the world and all its creatures, that is when we are engaged in true harmonious living.

If you are seeking to create peace and harmony in your life, consider following the approaches above.  If you do, you’ll find that your life will just “click.”  And you’ll end up being happier than you ever could have imagined. (To read about ways to find inner peace, click here.)