Finding Inner Peace and Joy in the noise

Inner peace and happiness are not prizes you earn when life finally calms down. They are inner capacities you can return to, even when the calendar is full, the kids are having a meltdown, the inbox is overflowing and the world feels loud.​

Inner Peace Isn’t Perfection

Eckhart Tolle reminds us in The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment that happiness often depends on “conditions being perceived as positive,” while inner peace does not. Chaos outside does not have to mean chaos inside; peace grows when you stop fighting what is, and start meeting it with awareness.

Instead of waiting for the perfect moment, notice the exact one you are in: your feet on the floor, your breath in your body, the sounds in your home. This simple act of presence signals to your nervous system that you are here, you are safe enough, and you can respond rather than react. In chasing these perfect moments, we often lose the many, many other moments in our lives that we’ll never get back. 

Find Joy in the Breath

Come Back to Your Breath and Body

When everything feels too much, you do not need to escape your life; you need one honest pause and sometimes, a guided space to help you find it again. I’m sharing some of the best practices from leading therapists. 

• Place a hand on your chest or belly and feel three slow breaths, slightly lengthening the exhale​

• Gently name what is here: “tired,” “anxious,” “overwhelmed,” without judging it​

• Soften your jaw, shoulders, and tongue, letting your body know it can let go a little

Dr Gabor Maté speaks about how much stress comes from abandoning our authentic needs to meet expectations. Each time you pause and ask, “What do I truly need in this moment?” you move a step closer to inner peace and honest happiness. Not chasing the happiness that social media shows us, the commercials sell us and the romanticising found in novels.

Choose One Tiny Joy

In the Joy and Gratitude series (click to download these journalling workbooks) you have been practising seeing the good that is already here. That does not mean pretending the hard stuff does not exist; it means letting one drop of joy land, even on a heavy day.

Today, choose one tiny, specific joy and actually savour it:

• The first sip of your coffee or tea. Or that tall glass of refreshing water.​

• Sunlight through a window, or the view from your bus stop or work desk.

• The sound of your child laughing, or the quiet once they finally sleep.

As psychologist Rick Hanson’s work shows, lingering with a pleasant moment for just a few extra breaths helps “rewire” the brain toward resilience and wellbeing. It is not about chasing big highs, it is about letting ordinary goodness register. Those goodness that we often take for granted. And the more we rewire our brain​, the more we start growing our stash of happiness or inner happiness jar.

Acceptance, Not Resignation

Through my inner work and healing journey, I have come to learn that inner peace is not passive. It does not appear just because you yearn for it. It is an active choice to stop arguing with reality so you can use your energy to respond wisely. As spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle teaches, when we resist our circumstances, we create extra suffering; when we work with them, life starts to feel more aligned and spacious.

Clinical psychologist, Dr Shefali, often teaches that our greatest power lies in meeting life, and our children, as they are instead of as we think they “should” be. From that place of presence, you can set boundaries, ask for help, and make changes from clarity rather than from panic. I cannot stress how much inner peace I have since come to embrace by accepting things as-is.

Carry Inner Peace & Joy Into the New Year

As you complete these two weeks of the practice of Joy and Gratitude, let them be a rehearsal for how you will walk into the new year. Not waiting for less chaos, but building more connection to yourself inside the chaos.

When the noise rises again, remember:

• Come back to your breath and body. This is where you reside.​

• Tell the truth about what you feel and need. Honesty to yourself opens your mind and body for change.

• Let one small moment of joy count.

The world may stay wild, but you get to cultivate a steadier centre. That is where your inner peace and your most authentic happiness quietly live. ​