Inner Peace and Joy Tip # 96: Play the Hand That Life Has Dealt You Like a Winner

Inner Peace and Joy Daily Meditation Tip: The Book of Psalms will uplift your soul. Read Psalms chapters 26-30 for a Spirit Booster!




What Does Being Happy Have To Do With The Card Game Spades?
I am not great at playing cards, in fact some people would say that I am a sore loser, but it is from playing cards that I have learned one of life's most valuable lessons and that is "How to be Happy no Matter What Hand I am Dealt With in Life."

Are you familiar with the card game 'Spades'? Basically, Spades is a game of chance that is played for fun between four people who are paired in two's. The dealer deals each player thirteen cards from a fifty two card deck. You never know which cards you are going to get. You may get a winner's hand or a loser's hand but no matter what hand you get you have to give the impression that you are playing with a winner's hand.

What is A Winner's Hand
When I am dealt a hand that consists of all the high cards and a few low cards, I get excited because I know that I have a winner's hand. As a matter of fact, every one who is playing at the table also knows that I have a winner's hand because my attitude and my emotions change. You can see it written on my face; I get excited and I started talking and playing with confidence.

Now on the other hand if I am dealt a hand with a lot of low cards and a few high cards, immediately I know that I have a loser's hand. Again everyone at the table also knows that I am playing with a loser's hand because my face expression changes and I start frowning. I may even throw in my hand and shuffle all of my cards with every one else cards. Remember, I told you that I am a sore loser.

How to be Happy With the Hand Life Has Dealt You
Life is like playing cards because just like the card game 'Spades' life is a game of chance. Some people have more advantages than others, this is a fact, however if you dwell on that you will never be able to fully live a happy life. Instead of pouting over your hand, you have to take the hand that has been dealt to you and play it to the best of your ability.

The wonderful thing about life is, nobody knows your hand. Think about it, nobody would ever know how well or how bad things are going in your life unless you tell them, give it away with your emotions or you display it with your attitude.

3 Tips for Playing Like a Winner

• Keep a straight face: Try to try not to show too much emotions. You do not want to come across as too happy or too unhappy. The best way that you can live your life like a winner is to try to be calm and relaxed at all times.

• Have a positive attitude: You will be a lot happier if you focus on the good things about your life instead of complaining about all of the things that are not right. If you do not like the hand that life has dealt you, do something about it but complaining is not going to make it any better.
  

• Dress like a winner: Always try to dress your best and keep your hygiene up to par. When people see you they should see a winner. You clothes should be ironed and your shirt should be tucked in.

More Useful Tips:
Dress Your Best
Maintain a Positive Self-Image

Inner Peace and Joy Tip #95: Manage Your Time

Inner Peace and Joy Daily Meditation Tip: The Book of Psalms will uplift your soul. Read Psalms chapters 21-25 for a Spirit Booster!



Inner Peace and Time Management
The purpose of maintaining your mental state of peace is being able to be joyful, peaceful, calm and relaxed at all times instead of being agitated, frustrated, overwhelmed and confused most of the time. A great tip to help you to be able to maintain your mental state of peace is to have order in your life. I have found that when I have order in my life, I am better able to maintain my Inner Peace because things go smoothly and I am not stressed out. I have listed 5 tips that you can do to help you manage your time in order to keep your Inner Peace:

5 Time Management Tips
1. Prioritize : It is easy to become frustrated and overwhelmed when you have a lot of things to do and so little time to get them done. A great tip to help you maintain your Inner Peace is to prioritize. When you prioritize you are going to feel relieved and calm at the end of the day because you took care of the most important things first.

2. Write a to-do-list daily: Another thing that you can do to keep order in your day is to daily write out on a piece of paper all of the things that you need to accomplish in the course of a day. This will help you to maintain your Inner Peace because it will eliminate the frustration of operating based on your memory or impulse.

3. Work according to your biological time line: Are you a morning, evening or night person? You will be surprised how much more peaceful and at ease you will be when you set your schedule to work during the times that are best suited for you biological time line.

4. Set a time limit on your tasks:In order to make the best use of your time you are going to have to set time limits on your tasks and stick to them. What's going to happen if you do not set a time limit to your tasks you may work for hours at a time on one project and not get anything else done.

5. Set a Routine: You should get in the habit of setting a schedule and following your schedule. When you follow your schedule you will be able to effectively manage your time and you will be more productive. The more order that you can have in your day the more peaceful, calm and joyful you will be.

More Useful Tips
Prioritize
Make a to-do-list

Inner Peace and Joy Tip # 94: Praise God

Inner Peace and Joy Daily Meditation Tip: The Book of Psalms will uplift your soul. Read Psalms chapters 21-25 for a Spirit Booster!



I am working on maintaining my Inner Peace but I have to confess that sometimes if I do not watch it, I will slip into a state of being discouraged.

Discouragement and Inner Peace
When I am discouraged God always sends me a word to give me hope and encouragement. This Word can come in the form of my reading a scripture, books, watching television or listening to the radio etc.

My word of encouragement came at a much needed time today because when I start thinking about where I am in my life as compared to where I hoped to be I start feeling sad, I do not want to leave my home and I feel drained. I am normally an upbeat and joyful person so when I am discouraged my mind is not at a peaceful state of being.

Encouraging Words
I was riding in my car and listening to an interview that Big Tigger was having with the singer Omarion about his latest CD "Illusion". What stood out for me about this interview was that when Big Tigger asked Omarion what was the biggest illusion in the music industry he replied (paraphrased) "People give the illusion to have more than they got instead of appreciating the quality of life that they do have"

I said to myself, Wow! I may not have all that I want to have but I have a pretty good life and then immediately I began to Praise God. The more I praised God for the good things in my life the better I felt about myself and the more encouraged I was to keep working on maintaining my Inner Peace.

What to do when you are discouraged
When you are working on maintaining your Inner Peace you have to be conscious of all of the ways that your Inner Peace may be threatened. Your Inner Peace may be attacked subtly in the form of discouragement.

Once you become aware that you are not at a mental state of peace due to being discouraged you can get encouraged by :

• Thanking God for waking you up this morning
• Thanking God for having a good night sleep
• Thanking God for your body and good mental and physical health
• Thanking God for running water and a roof over your head
• Thanking God for having food to eat
• Thanking God for your family being alive and healthy
• Thanking God for having a car with gas
• Thanking God for having a job
• Etc.
  

And then start praising God

• Praise God for being a God who is forgiving (Reflect)
  
• Praise God for God's unconditional love for you (Reflect)
  
• Praise God for being a Provider (Reflect)
  
• Praise God for taking an interest in you (Reflect)
  
• Praise God for being a Healing God (Reflect)
  
• Praise God for never leaving you or forsaking you (reflect)
  
• Praise God for alone being God (Reflect)
  
• Praise God for God is working things out for your good (Reflect)
• Etc

I have found that praising God when you are discouraged will help you to maintain your Inner Peace because it will help you change your perspective from focusing on what is going wrong in your life to what is going right. When you get into the habit of praising God throughout the day, you can not help but get encouraged.

I look forward to reading your comments on how Praising God has helped you to maintain your Inner Peace.

More Useful Tips
Pray
Change Your Perspective

Inner and Joy Tip #93: Identify Trigger Events

Inner Peace and Joy Daily Meditation Tip: The Book of Psalms will uplift your soul. Read Psalms chapters 16-20 for a Spirit Booster!

A great tip on how to maintain a peaceful and calm state of mind is to identify the events that causes you to become upset in the first place. When you are able to identify the events that triggers you to become upset, then you can work on developing a "Plan of Action" or ways that you can respond in a calm, peaceful manner the next time you are in that particular situation.


What are your triggers? What gets you to escalate to become angry?

• Is it long waits in a line at a grocery store, department store or the place where you pay your bills?
  
• Is it being on a crowded elevator, on a crowded bus or in a crowded building?
• If a friend were to joke about a sensitive topic, would that trigger you to become upset?
• What if you were wrongly accused, would you get upset?
• If you continually had to clean up someone's mess, how would you react?
• What if you had an untidy roommate, would that upset you?
• How would you respond if you had a neighbor who plays their music way too loud?
• Do you get upset when you are on a telephone call and you are placed on hold for long periods of time?
• How would you respond if you asked someone for directions but you later found that they gave you the wrong directions?
• If someone was to spread a false rumor about you, would that trigger you to become upset?
• Would you respond peacefully if you found out that your money or property was stolen from you?

The event that use to trigger me to get upset before I started working on maintaining my Inner Peace was being around mean spirited people who would say things to intentionally hurt my feelings. My normal response was to shut down and think negative thoughts about the person such as "They are so mean, I am not going to talk to them any more" or "I can not wait for them to say something to me again because when they do I am going to give them a piece of my mind"


It was not until I started paying attention to all of the things that caused me to become upset that I was able to actually pin point the events that triggered me to get upset. After that, I was able to practice positive ways that I could respond the next time I was face to face with a mean spirited person who tried to hurt my feelings .

I have came in contact with many mean spirited people since I have been on my journey to maintain my Inner Peace and the way that I respond now is instead of shutting down when someone tries to hurt my feelings, I just say to myself, "They are mean but I will pray for them" or "Thank God, I do not have to live in the house with that person".

What Events Triggers You to Become Upset?

More Useful Tips
Practice to Maintain Your Inner Peace
Know Your Triggers

Inner Peace and Joy Tip #92: Volunteer

Inner Peace and Joy Daily Meditation Tip: The Book of Psalms will uplift your soul. Read Psalms chapters 11-15 for a Spirit Booster!



When I was studying Divinity at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, Georgia, I learned a valuable lesson on how to maintain my Inner Peace and that is,"As long as you are busy helping somebody else you will not have time to focus on what is going wrong in your life."

As a theological student, we were required to take a pastoral care class. The clinical portion of this class required each student to volunteer a certain amount of hours twice a week at a hospital, prison or church. The students were suppose to engage with the people who frequented the facilities and listen to what they had to say about their problems or what ever they were going through in their lives.You did not necessarily have to offer advice but if anyone wanted prayer, you were welcome to pray for them.

I decided to do my clinical hours at a nearby church in Atlanta, Georgia. At the church, I helped with the food bank and I was responsible for helping with the signing in process, bagging up the food, distributing the food and cleaning up. It did not take me long to notice that the majority of the people who came to get the free food were homeless people.

The food bank was opened from around 1o:00 am - 3pm on Mondays. Many of the homeless people would come to the church hours before the food bank actually opened to receive prayer. The others would come early in order to be the first in line and get the better choices of food.

I looked at the people's early arrival as my opportunity to get acquainted with them and earn my clinical hours. I was able to befriended a few people during the three months that I volunteered. Some people were eager to talk to me and others were standoffish.

I thought that working at the food bank was going to be stressful because at the time I was a full-time student, I had a full-time job and I still had to squeeze in the time to do my clinical. Instead of being stressed, something wonderful happened to me as I befriended and served the homeless. I discovered that as long as I was helping them, I was not concentrating on any of my problems.

Volunteering is a great way to help you maintain your Inner Peace because it keeps your mind focused on giving and when you are giving you are not focusing on "self." If you would like to volunteer, you can look in your local phone book for tons of opportunities.

More Useful Tips
Honest Work
Clear Your Mind

Inner Peace and Joy Tip # 91: Just Say "Okay"

Inner Peace and Joy Daily Meditation Tip: The Book of Psalms will uplift your soul. Read Psalms chapters 6-10 for a Spirit Booster!



Have you ever lost your cool because you were trying to win an argument or convince someone that you were right and that they were wrong? How did it make you feel? I bet you probably got upset when the person stood fast on their opinion or when the person tried to contradict your opinion.

I can remember before I started practicing Inner Peace Tips, how I use to get hot-headed when someone told me that I was wrong especially when I knew that I was right. I would not stop trying to defend my position until I gathered and presented all of the facts to prove to the other person that I was right and that they were wrong. At the end of the argument, I would have a look of victory on my face and then I would say "I told you so!"

Well, when you are working on maintaining your Inner Peace you are going to have to learn how to be level headed in all situations. Remember that your state of inner peace is a calm, serene state and when you get all bent out of shape just because somebody does not agree with you then you are the loser even if you win the argument because you have lost your most valuable prize which is your "Inner Peace".

How to Win an Argument
The way that you can keep your cool when you are in a conversation and you know that the other person is wrong, is just by saying "okay". When you willingly concede, then you are not allowing yourself to be pulled into an argument. I am telling you right now, that it is not going to be easy to always concede and say "Okay" especially when you know that you are right, but with enough discipline and with the foresight that you are maintaining your Inner Peace every time that you concede to an argument, you will be able to do it.

If I were near you now, I bet I could hear you saying, "Why should I concede to an argument when I know that I am right?" Well, the reason is because it is not about who is right and who is wrong it is about maintaining your Inner Peace and when you concede and allow the other person to speak, your mental state will remain calm and peaceful.

Now, let me ask you a question, what is your motive, especially if you know for a fact that you are right and by proving the other person wrong you are just going to make that person feel bad? The reason why you should just say "Okay" when you are around a person who you know does not have all of their facts together is because you do not have to prove to anyone that you are right if it is going to cause an argument but you are responsible for maintaining your Inner Peace.

More Useful Tips
How to Discipline Yourself
Bury Your Grudges

Inner Peace and Joy Tip # 90: Call Your Mother

Inner Peace and Joy Daily Meditation Tip: The Book of Psalms will uplift your soul. Read Psalms chapters 1-5 for a Spirit Booster!


Release Your Frustrations
Have you ever had a bad day at work, school or just a plain ole bad day in general? How did you feel? What did you do to release the energy that you were feeling? Did you release the energy in the form of frustration, agitation or anger?

When you are working on maintaining a mental state of peace you are going to have to find positive ways of expressing your energy when you are feeling stressed out. You should not keep all of your frustrations bottled up inside because what ends up happening when you keep your emotions bottled up is that they will just keep building up and building up until one day you will have an emotional explosion.

Talk to Someone/Call Your Mother
One positive way that you can release your energy and maintain your Inner Peace is by talking to someone. When you talk to someone it will help you to remain calm and peaceful because it will give you a chance to let off some of your steam. When I am in a stressful situation, sometimes all that I really need to do to keep my peace is to have someone who I can vent to. Usually after I vent I feel a lot better.

One person in particular that stands out as a great person to talk to is your mother. Mom's are great because they seem to have a natural tendency to listen and to understand their children when they are upset. Mother's always seem to know the right words to say to calm their children down. If you do not have access to your mother you should work on building a circle of friends that you can confide in.

Build A Network Of Friends
It is going to be a good idea to start developing an inner circle of friends that you can talk to when you are having a stressful day. Call up a few of your friends and ask them if it will be okay if you could call them from time to time when necessary just to vent. You need to make sure that your circle of friends will be patient with you, will sincerely listen to you and will not judge you when you are releasing your frustration to them.

Here is a suggested list of people you can call to help you calm down:

• Your Mother
• Your Parents
• Your Spouse
• Your Siblings
• Your Pastor
• Your Significant Other
• Your Best Friend
• Your Spiritual Adviser


If you have someone who you confide in and they help you to calm down, please feel free to add to this list.



More Useful Tips
Know Your Triggers
Surround Yourself Around Positive People