10 Steps to Finding Your Inner Calm

How do you find inner calm on a busy day? Start with small habits that cost no time, such as giving thanks and being kind, then make room for the ones that do: time outside, exercise and sleep.

Sometimes just zoning out and having a zen moment can help you to achieve the kind of inner peace that is necessary to have a healthy mind and body. But how do you find the time to do it?

Small changes add up. The ten steps below start with habits that cost no time, then the ones worth scheduling, such as time outside, exercise and the 7 or more hours of sleep CDC recommends for adults.

Things that Cost No Time

• Get Perspective

We often have a tendency of making mountains out of molehills. When facing a situation, consider two things:

• Does someone on the planet have it worse than me right now?
• In 5 years, is this really going to matter?
• Accept and Let It Go

As much as you can, live in the now. If your mind keeps turning to things from the past, perhaps what someone might have done or said, then accept that feeling instead of trying to push it away. Accepting it causes it to lose power. Though you might still think of the incident from time to time, the negative feelings become a lot less powerful.

• Give Thanks Often

Beginning when you wake up in the morning, take a moment during your daily routine to think of the multitude of ways that you are blessed. Think of the small ways in which you have it good. When you acknowledge the good things that happen to you, you begin to feel more positive and calm overall.

• Be Kind to Others

There is virtually no situation where being mean to anyone will benefit you. While being mean or nasty might feel cathartic, it will also poison you. As the saying goes, what goes around comes around. By being kind to others and building them up, you can gain peace in your relationships.

• Be Kind to Yourself

We’re often harder on ourselves than anyone else. Sometimes, you’ve got to tell your inner critic to just be quiet. Challenge your brain with contradictory evidence that you are well on the way to accomplishing your goals. If your inner critic is screaming, talk to a trusted friend or a therapist to get a different perspective.

Carve Out Time for These Tips to Increase Your Inner Calm

• Spend time in nature.

Most of us spend the workday indoors and the evening in front of a screen. Take time to get outside at least once a day. Not only will you notice a difference in how you feel, seeing the wider world can help you gain perspective.

• Get moving.

Regular exercise keeps the body healthy and can lift your mood, too. Notice how good you feel when you leave the gym? NHLBI lists daily physical activity among its healthy sleep habits, and better sleep makes calm easier to reach.

• Get enough sleep.

Our minds need to be rested to think clearly. Think about a toddler who has missed naptime. While we may not be able to throw ourselves on the floor and scream if we’re overly tired, we can lash out in other ways. Go to bed at a time that fits your wake-up call; CDC recommends 7 or more hours of sleep a night for adults aged 18 to 60.

• Enjoy the silence.

We often turn on our televisions and radios because we are uncomfortable. Either we are uncomfortable with ourselves or our families, so we want to try and drown that out with noise. Take time each day to just sit in silence.

• Find time for meditation.

Meditation can help you with mindfulness and can help keep you in the now. It can teach you to banish negative thoughts from your brain. When you start to feel stressed beyond compare, stop and sit for a few minutes while focusing on your breathing. Even a few minutes count.

Cannabis and Your Daily Routine: What to Know

Changing your daily routine is the first step, and some adults also ask about cannabis. If it is legal in your state, some adults try using cannabis to downshift at the end of the day, but CDC links cannabis use to social anxiety and depression. Below are strains that sellers describe as calming; a 2022 study found strain names do not reliably predict a product’s chemistry.

• Blue Dream: A popular strain name that sellers market for relaxation; these are user descriptions, not tested effects.
• Laughing Buddha: Sold as an uplifting strain; any effect on stress is anecdotal, and in a 2017 trial of 42 adults a higher THC dose worsened mood.
• Hindu Kush: Described by sellers as deeply relaxing; NIDA notes strong products can instead cause anxiety or panic.

Sometimes, you just can’t take the time out to meditate. If you do use cannabis, note that NIH reports the FDA has warned against THC vaping products because of serious lung injuries. The strains below are sold for daytime calm; their names describe marketing, not tested effects.

• Juliet: Marketed as calm but alert, a seller description; NIDA notes THC can impair thinking and memory.
• Frosted Freak: Sellers say it relaxes and raises appetite; NIDA lists increased appetite as a common effect of cannabis.
• Super Jack: Sold as an uplifting daytime strain; CDC links cannabis use to depression and social anxiety, so it is no substitute for care.

There are lots of ways to bust stress and find inner peace. Habits such as time outside, exercise and a regular sleep schedule are the steps here that health agencies such as NHLBI recommend. If you use medical marijuana, ask the physician who certified you before adding a product, especially if you take other medicines.