The most essential skill linked to peace of mind…
Wednesday, November 22, 2023. This one is for my son Dan, the bravest man I know…
Breaking research from Finland and the USA is trying to take the elusive notion of peace of mind, and reverse engineer it to its most fundamental elements.
For the sake of this study, peace of mind is the attainment of harmony and balance …both within a human and also within their environment.
Here’s a pivotal finding from this research: the ability to reframe your thoughts to achieve the goal of emotional regulation is linked to greater peace of mind.
The power of cognitive reappraisal
The process of reinterpreting thoughts — known as cognitive reappraisal in neuroscience, and reframing on the therapy couch— can help humans increase their peace of mind by changing the meaning they give to a given experience.
For example, imagine you’re a helping professional, you might feel anxious about a speaking on a podcast, but you might reframe your anxiety by thinking of it as an opportunity to discuss important topics that can help human live better lives.
Cognitive reappraisal is also linked to lower levels of emotional suppression, according to this new research.
Humans who possess the ability to regulate their emotions do not need to rely on suppressing so much, as they feel able to deal with them more effectively.
How the study was conducted
Over 700 participants were asked what strategies they typically used to regulate their emotions and about their peace of mind.
The study’s authors describe peace of mind as:
“…the presence of the feelings of peace, stability, contentment, and comfort, having peace and harmony in one’s mind, and as the absence of anxiety and uneasiness.”
7 signs that you ‘re moving toward peace of mind
To assess the study subjects peace of mind, they were surveyed to what degree they agreed with these seven questions:
My mind is free and at ease.
I feel content and comfortable with myself in daily life.
My lifestyle gives me feelings of peace and stability.
I have peace and harmony in my mind.
It is difficult for me to feel settled. (–)
The way I live brings me feelings of peace and comfort.
I feel anxious and uneasy in my mind. (–)
The items marked (–) are reverse coded, in other words, a higher agreement indicates a lower level of peace of mind.
At the heart of well-being is a respect for emotion…
Some researchers believe that peace of mind may lie at the core of human well-being.
Peace of mind is instructive of a human’s mental state. it’s more significant than just their overall levels of happiness or sadness or how satisfied they are with life.
The research indicates that the humans with higher peace of mind were more likely to use healthy emotional regulation strategies, such as reappraisal, and reframing, and were less likely to stuff their feelings down.
Dr. Pilleriin Sikka, the study’s first author, said:
“The ability to regulate our emotions may be important for having more peace of mind and, therefore, interventions focused on teaching effective emotion regulation skills may help enhance peace of mind.”
Humans who enjoy more peace of mind tend to accept that life is filled with positive as well as negative experiences. Acceptance of the hardships that visit us, provides the bandwith to deal with them. Fighting your feelings is a losing strategy.
It is unsurprising, therefore, that practices such as mindfulness and meditation are linked to higher levels of peace of mind, since these tend to encourage acceptance of the full range of human experience.
Be well, stay kind, and Godspeed.
RESEARCH:
Pilleriin Sikka, Antti Revonsuo, James J. Gross, Individual differences in peace of mind reflect adaptive emotion regulation, Personality and Individual Differences, Volume 215, 2023, 112378, ISSN 0191-8869, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2023.112378.
(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S019188692300301X)
