Peace of Mind

By Hughie Hines

This book is an insight into how to free your mind. Learn how to understand yourself better and change your ways. We all have ways to improve ourselves. Take the steps now and improve your life!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Hughie Hines
• Release date: Jun 10, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201627911

Book preview

Introduction: Born Free

We are all born in chaos. Ripped from the warmth and security of our mother’s womb, our very first breath is a cry of protest. In an instant, everything we once knew disappears, and life asserts itself as our tormentor. But there is a reprieve. We are rescued by the sweet sound of our mother’s voice and assured by those first drops of life-giving milk. At once, all our fear disappears and we remain present in that perfect moment of comfort. As we grow older, however, the responsibility to find inner peace becomes our own. Somehow, we fail to remember that we’ve been overcoming stress from our first minute of existence. All we need now is to become our own mothers and quiet the screaming baby inside our heads.

Living with stress has become society's norm. In the efforts to survive and excel in a results-driven world, we work ourselves to the bone and fight for any little scrap. Sometimes, we get lucky. Life hands us a break and we feel like we can conquer the universe. Most of the time, however, we feel the full weight of existence. We buckle and break under the pressure and are forced to retreat and lick our wounds. How we handle this breaking point is what sets us apart as individuals. Some of us are overwhelmed by the stress, hiding in corners and waiting for the worst to be over. For others, adversity is an opportunity to learn and grow. To become better than who you were the day before. It is the latter group of people that this book would like you to aspire to.

Stress is a part of our lives and there is no denying that. We have the choice, however, of how we want to react to that.

Chapter 1: Stress

Stress could be defined as the human body’s response to any tense or threatening situation or event. It may be physical, emotional, or psychological pressure that your body is responding to.

From an evolutionary perspective, stress has helped early humans avoid and overcome dangerous situations like starvation, predators, etc. If the cavemen had not experienced a healthy dose of stress, they would have probably sat about lounging in their caves all day long, lazing about until they starved or were eaten up by the wild animals if they ever ventured out to forage or hunt. Instead, stress brought about a feeling of constant vigilance, ensuring the survival of our species, enabling us to reach our full potential, and climbing to the top of the food chain, as we have today.

In modern times, stress, when experienced sparingly, can be a positive force and help us avoid situations that threaten our well-being, such as missing deadlines, and avoiding dangerous activities, such as breaking the law, breaking traffic rules, etc. However, when stress exceeds healthy levels, it can have a counterproductive effect on our well-being. In such cases, it is in our own interest to identify what is causing it and rectify it using appropriate measures.

What Causes Stress?

Stress may be caused by many factors, both external and internal. The external factors or environmental factors are the outside influences that put undue pressure on us and cause our systems to overload. The internal factors are those reasons that we are responsible for ourselves. Yes, you! You may be stressing yourself out. As unbelievable as this may sound, sometimes, we may not know what’s best for us, and put ourselves through unnecessary strain. You may ask: But why would I do that to myself? Well, the answer is that you may not be doing it intentionally. You may be completely unaware that some of your own actions are causing your body to be stressed out. This brings us back to why it is so important to correctly identify what is causing stress and quickly deal with it before it gets out of hand.

External Factors

As mentioned above, external factors are the influences that are outside of our body that cause us strain. These may be:

●  toxic work culture

●  toxic friendships and relationships

●  peer pressure

●  academic pressure

●  upcoming social events

●  physical injuries, health issues, or abuse

●  changes in lifestyle, such as changing homes, countries, workplace, marriage, parenthood, etc

●  financial insecurity, such as poverty, debt, etc

If it is not already obvious, most of these factors are not in our control. However, the good news is that there are proven, effective ways to deal with these (more on that later).

Internal Factors

As discussed, internal factors are some of the things that we may be doing unwittingly, resulting in undue strain in our lives. The good news, here, is that most of these are completely in our control. So if you are willing to let go of your ego, cross-examine yourself objectively, and accept that you may be contributing to these yourself, there is a pretty good chance that you will be able to overcome these in no time. These are:

●  unhealthy eating habits

●  consumption of unhealthy substances

●  toxic thinking patterns

●  lack of boundaries

●  low self-esteem

●  lack of self-awareness

●  low confidence levels

How Do You Know You Are Under Stress?

The most important question: How do I know if I’m under stress and I should be taking steps? Or this shall just pass? And this is a good question. Because, as mentioned earlier, some stress is good for you. And if you have asked this question to yourself, you are probably a stoic person who values resilience. However, while it is good to be resilient, it is also important that you acknowledge your body’s call for help. And when under stress, your body will cry out for help. Do not ignore these cries. Identify and respond to them. Remember, you are your own mother now. These calls for help may be in the form of:

●  persistent pain, such as headaches or stomach aches, muscular cramps, etc

●  trouble sleeping

●  decreased libido

●  digestive issues

●  eating disorders or upheavals in eating patterns

●  lingering exhaustion

●  issues with concentrating or decision-making

Now, while we all experience these every once in a while, recurrence of more than three of these issues frequently–and by frequently, I mean more often than once in a month–could be a cause for concern.

Chapter 2: Baggage

Let’s face it. We all have our share of baggage. Be it from childhood or our teenage years. And if we haven’t learned our lessons by then and worked through our issues, it