Letting go of unhealthy habits can be transformative in regaining inner peace. As I have begun my reflection practices on the year gone by, I made a note of all the unhealthy habits I let go of this year for my own inner peace.

You know that moment when you’re stuck in the supermarket line and the contents of your bag spill on the floor just as your phone starts ringing? That’s when I knew I needed to find inner peace within, right as I was suppressing the urge to unleash a stream of four-letter words(!)

I think we look for circumstances to help achieve a sense of inner peace. I know I do. I know I function better when I am at peace within. In fact, this calm, compassionate, deep awareness is actually within each of us. It’s like we have a deep reservoir of peacefulness and serenity within. What we have to learn to do is tap into it. ❤

The first step in tapping into that deep sense of peace is to dissolve the unhealthy habits that are a HUGE barrier to it.

Here are some common unhealthy habits that I recognize as barriers, and had to let go of this past year to regain inner calm, along with suggestions for how you can address them: