When I ask people what they want out of this experience we call life, most of the answers include health, happiness and inner peace. Inner peace must be one of the most universally sought after states of being.

However, most of us are looking in the wrong place for it. Lasting inner peace is not something you’ll find once you finish a project, start a relationship, find a job, or solve a problem. The sense of inner peace that we find in things that are external to us is, for the most part, unstable, ephemeral and sporadic.

Lasting, stable and consistent inner peace is found within us. It is our natural state of being. True inner peace is not dependent on circumstances or external situations. This state of being is deeply ingrained in our inner self.

To access this state of calmness and balance, we only need to still our mind. Whether through practising meditation, mindfulness or breath awareness, a calm mind will bring us inner peace in the moment at your beck and call.

Try these practices – they are free and available to you at every waking moment. Don’t look outside for what you already have inside.

As the words of Rumi remind us “I have lived on the lip of insanity, wanting to know reasons, knocking on a door. It opens. I’ve been knocking from the inside.”