By Steve Wickham -

Robert Louis Stevenson said, “Quiet minds cannot be perplexed or frightened but go on in fortune or misfortune at their own private pace, like a clock in a thunderstorm.”

This is resilience is it not? No matter what comes against it, the mind of such a person responds the same way. It continues on. It treats both extremes of triumph and disaster the same way — as the impostors they are — thanks Rudyard Kipling. This resilient life is not dependent on external circumstances for its peace. Peace is an internal construct, entirely independent of earthly condition; even set apart from it.

These are some ways toward gaining a ‘quiet mind’:

1. Keep a simple life. De-clutter your life and learn to live with less… fewer possessions (especially “toys”); a focused time schedule; and, less on your mind, which equals less stress and fewer distractions.

2. Study resilience. Become more optimistic and forward-looking. Find and develop ways of coping with life stressors naturally.

3. Get quiet time each day. Quiet time to be alone and thoughtful and reflective. Being still in our society in the twenty-first century is never easy to do but the rewards are worth it.

4. Commit to becoming and ‘overcomer.’ Don’t venture down the ‘complaint path,’ instead find the good out of every life circumstance — good, bad or indifferent. (There is GOOD in every thing that happens to us — our task is to find it.) You’ll be surprised how easy it is to overcome things when you learn the biggest battle’s in the mind.

5. Be disciplined regarding self-talk. Make it constructive and fair, but commit to quieting your mind.

6. When we feel like giving up, we should simply express faith by being patient and enduring through the difficulty before us. We can endure more than we think we can.

7. Lastly, the Shaman’s use the rule of momentary retreat when odds can’t be dealt with. Be wise: when things get unworkable simply let the mind wander — we can occupy our time with something else — anything else.

As the clock ticks, never stopping — never going backwards, only ever steadily forwards — so does the person who remains unruffled in all circumstances — thanks Thomas Jefferson. All the while the thunderstorms of life approach, hit, and leave. The clock still ticks. And we cope. There’s an innate strength that pervades the soul here; generating energy for the restless souls that this resilient life touches — it is ‘God strength.’ It is immutable, all-conquering.

The quiet mind is not only resilient and peace-filled, it is free to ponder what might be — it is finally creative! It has reserves in store to both power thinking processes, and, to explore the vast landscape of possibilities before it. This is utter freedom. If we want to achieve anything of real note we ought to realise that simplicity, resilience, faith, peace, and creativity are genuine keys to success.

Copyright © 2008, Steven John Wickham. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

Steve Wickham is a safety and health professional (BSc) and a qualified lay Christian minister (GradDipDiv). He is also has training and leadership Diplomas. His passion in vocation is facilitation and coaching; encouraging people to soar to a higher value of their potential. Steve’s key passion is work / life balance and re-creating value for living, and an exploration of the person within us.