Benefits of Staying Calm & Everyday Calm Journal
Calmness is the cradle of power - JG Holland
Have you ever been in a situation where you feel like you just want to burst out of stress or frustration? If yes, how did you go about it? Did you lose your temper? Or were you able to keep your composure?
I once read from one of James Allen’s books that “self-control is strength, right thought is mastery, and calmness is power”. It’s one of the many words in his work that I keep going back to because it’s a simple, powerful line that reminds me about the importance of mastering oneself by managing one’s thoughts and emotions. It sums up what one needs to enjoy a peaceful life.
What is Calmness?
Calmness is a mental state in which one is free from agitation or disturbance. It also refers to being tranquil even during testing times. It is usually achieved after training the mind by means of prayer, meditation, doing something creative, or managing one’s responses when faced with distractions and negative emotions.
There are many ways to cultivate calmness; you can get into the habit of meditation, start doing affirmations, or write regularly in your journal to understand what irritates you, makes you anxious, or inspires you. You can also relax while listening to calming music or do something you find therapeutic. Keep doing this until such a time that when you’re confronted with a stressful situation, you're able to stop and pause for a while instead of reacting immediately based on your emotions.
For today’s post, we’ll take a quick look at this journal from Rock Point called Everyday Calm. It's a great journaling tool my cousin Clarisse gave me as a gift, (I just thought it would be nice to show you). After that, we’ll take a look at the benefits of being calm.
The Journal | Everyday Calm: Peaceful Prompts for Tranquil Moments
This journal comes in a beautiful Sea Green color which in itself is already relaxing. The pages aren’t numbered, so I can’t tell you exactly how many pages it has, but it has enough to keep you writing for almost a year. It has daily meditation guides, habit trackers, and reflective questions printed in thick full-color pages that are wonderful to look at. I’ve only included these photos because these are basically what you’ll see inside.
Now, let’s proceed with the benefits of staying calm. Once you’ve achieved the state of calmness, it’s time to remember maintaining the habits that led you to that state. Emotional management (which is at the core of calmness) is a skill that’s developed over time and through experience. It’s also something that you should practice constantly if you wish to remain calm. The more you spend time working on it, the better you get at managing difficult people and situations. Here are the benefits of keeping your cool:
Benefits of Staying Calm
You become mindful of your words and actions
People are most likely to "lose it" during extremely stressful situations or heated arguments, where everyone wants to prove their points and be right. By staying calm, you avoid doing or saying things you’ll eventually regret later on. If you’re not part of the squabble, you can even mediate the situation, which is a good thing.
You become reliable
When stressful situations arise, have you noticed that people usually turn to whoever is the calmest in the room? That’s because calmness indicates one’s resilience and ability to take a step back to make reasonable judgments. The best leaders know how to maintain grace under pressure because they know that would enable them to come up with the best solutions.
You get to have a better sense of self
Learning how to keep calm will give you a better sense of self in the knowledge that while you have no control over situations, you know that you’re capable of choosing how you respond.
You learn not to give energy to opinions that don’t serve you
Fear of opinions or criticism is a natural human fear that stops one from accomplishing more. Criticism, of course, is usually verbal and negative. In the instance that someone criticizes you negatively (not constructively), you learn how to take it and just let it be. You don’t dwell on it.
You become a great person to be around with
Since focusing on stress or drama is not your thing, you become someone your friends want to be around with. Who wants to hang out with someone who always freaks out and stresses out even about the simplest things after all?
Remember that stress is something that we all have to deal with; it's part of life. The only way to go about it is to manage it, and what better way to do it than learn how to be calm.
