Be Still My Soul

We all want to experience a sense of peace. We all want to live day to day in a state of relaxation and feel that all is right with the world. 

In a perfect world, that would be the case. Unfortunately, no matter what our social or financial status, we do not live in a perfect world. Everyone has struggles and everyone finds themselves dealing with some conflict. 

It's easy to tell ourselves "Well, they are good, they have a good marriage." "They have a lot of money so they have no worries." "They have a great job that they love, so they must not struggle at all." 

Lies. Lies. Lies. They are all lies that we are telling ourselves to make our situation seem worse. 


No one, let me say that again, NO ONE is living struggle or stress free. 

For many years, people thought I was living the perfect life. I'm sure they did not have a clue how wrong they were. On the outside everything can seem like all is well. On the inside, though, there's sure to be a much different story. 

Just like with our hearts, our lives cannot contain all the pain without beginning to slowly show symptoms of a much bigger problem. 


Every issue is a heart issue. 


People acting out in anger, people lying, people manipulating, people degrading, people judging, and people gossiping are really just reflections of their heart. They are showing you that something is really wrong. Their actions are really just small indications that they need to fix something bigger.


Typically, these people will deny any issue and blame the first person they can. 


Over the weekend, I was the target of blame. I could feel the anger, I could hear the anger, and I could see the anger. I was caught off guard by the actions that followed the anger and terrified of what might happen because of the anger. 


Fortunately, several people were able to be present and could serve as mediators. 

So how can our souls possibly be still with random situations of conflict popping up? How can we recover from being thrown off by others' rants? How can we respond with honor yet not be walked all over like a mat? 


It all starts with calming your soul when you're not in those situations. It's like a race that you must prepare for weeks prior. You can't expect to run a 5K without having a little bit of training first.


Here's my list of things that might be helpful. Start disciplining yourself now each day so that you will be better equipped to deal with the unplanned conflicts in your life. 

Be Still My Soul

1. Exercise 3-5 times a week. Whatever you choose. High impact, low impact, but be sure to focus your energy on digging deep to finish and strive to be better and faster. This helps focus your negative, angry energy on something else and keeps you fit in the process. Exercise also tends to make you want to eat better and drink more water. It's a WIN,WIN!
2. Add music to your daily regime. Listen in the AM, on the drive to work, while cooking, or before bed. Find tunes that calm your soul and remind you what life is about in a positive way. For me, it's KLOVE! :) 
3. Stay connected to friends. Whether you call them, email, text, FB or tweet - stay connected to those who lift you up and value you. Don't push people away. It will only isolate you and make you feel more alone.
4. Daily Affirmations. If you train your mind, heart and soul to affirm who you are, what you believe, and honor and remind yourself daily, you won't lose your cool when someone tries to throw you off. You'll be less likely to act out yourself, because you know honoring yourself means more than spewing out things you don't mean to God or anyone else. Church, for me, is a great place and great way to stay balanced and focused each week on the TRUTH. 
5. Gratitude You knew I would throw this in somewhere, right? It's true. A heart of gratitude is not by default. You must train your heart to be grateful at all times. When you train your heart and mind to be grateful, then those crazy outbursts or situations from others won't seem so big and will be less likely to derail you from a good day.