4 Inner Peace Quotes To Live By

They say that finding inner peace is the key to a happy and fulfilling life. While it sounds easy enough, most of us find that it is way harder to achieve than we realise!

It’s only natural that sometimes you may over-analyse things, feel frustrated or be angry at yourself or external occurrences. It’s important to understand that feeling a range of emotions is healthy and that inner peace doesn’t mean always feeling a state of zen. However, sometimes when we hold onto unwanted emotions or let them impact our life in the long-term, this can have negative consequences on us and may limit our overall happiness.Jump to:

• How to find inner peace

• Quotes from inspirational women

• Maya Angelou

• Oprah Winfrey

• Emma Watson

• Rosa Parks

How to find inner peace

Part of finding inner peace —and improving your overall wellbeing  — involves learning to react less, as well as learning to have more confidence in yourself and your decisions. 

To finish off our Mental Health Month series, we wanted to share some quotes on inner peace to help lift you up, inspire you and remind you that your wellbeing can be improved by trying to adjust your mindset and how you tackle challenges in life. In doing this, you can be one step closer to feeling at peace with yourself.

4 inner peace quotes by inspirational women

If you like, write down these four inner peace quotes by inspirational women — then, when you are faced with daily challenges, reread them to help ground you, to remind you that you are in charge of your life and to let them become your foundation for inner peace!

1. “It’s one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself, to forgive. Forgive everybody" — Maya Angelou 

Often, the actions of others have nothing to do with you or your worth. People who do hurtful things or act in hurtful ways may do these things because of their own issues or insecurities — by truly recognising this, you can totally transform your mindset and get you one step closer to finding inner peace. 

Once you understand this and try to live by this mindset, you will quickly realise how easy forgiveness can be. That other person may never acknowledge that their actions were hurtful or wrong and it’s not your role in life to make them do this. Keeping this in mind, we’re not saying that you should let people walk all over you! It’s important to communicate how you feel, to stand up for yourself and for what you believe in — however, if you have toxic influences in your life, perhaps it’s time to consider letting them go. 

What this quote suggests is that you should not wait around for an apology and should not let the situation bring you down in the long-term. Regardless of whether you choose to keep that person in your life or not, forgiveness is the way to help you move forward and be at peace. This doesn’t mean that you are excusing their behaviour; rather, you are acknowledging the situation and letting it go so that it doesn’t impact you or your happiness. 

Next time you feel betrayed, don’t feel as though you need to examine what you did wrong. While self-awareness is important, sometimes you need to acknowledge that the other person’s actions may be a reflection of them and not you. You will be amazed at how liberating it can be to live by this quote! 

2. Whatever someone did to you in the past has no power over the present. Only you give it power” —  Oprah Winfrey

This quote links back to what we’ve just said above about forgiveness. No matter what someone has done to you in the past, a reason it may still be affecting your life is that you choose to let it. You know when you start rehashing something that happened months ago or let a past hurt influence your present decision? Both of these are examples of you giving that past situation or person power over you. 

Try to remember that only you control how you feel about yourself. For example, how often do we say to loved ones, “You upset me” or “You hurt my feelings”? 

Let’s get deep for a moment and really think about this: can you see how you may have chosen to be upset by that person’s actions or words? Whatever their intention was in their actions doesn’t matter. ultimately, you are the one who has allowed yourself to feel an unwanted emotion as a result of their action. 

When you begin to try and adapt your mindset to understand that we choose how we feel, then you can truly change your life! 

3. “I don’t want other people to decide what I am. I want to decide that for myself” — Emma Watson

The same thing applies to how you feel about yourself. Only you should determine who you are and what you stand for. No one can change that. It can be so easy to get caught up in what other people think of us, of how we are going to come across to others or to listen to other people’s words and opinions! Sometimes, even when people have the best intentions, their words can influence us to take a path that isn’t true to who we are; it can be so easy for us to fall into a trap of doing what is expected of us, or what we think other people want. 

Once we learn to let go of that and stop wondering what others think of us, a huge weight can be lifted and we can be one step closer to inner peace.

4. “Knowing what must be done does away with fear”  — Rosa Parks 

Everybody feels fear at some point in their life and sometimes this feeling can prevent us from doing the right thing, or pursuing what we truly want. Whether it be starting a new fitness routine, chasing that dream job, or asking someone out on a date — fear is not necessarily a bad thing! If you feel fear in a situation like this, it can actually be considered a good thing because it means that you truly care about that situation. 

Even when fear is felt because of something negative, rather than channelling into that fear, ask yourself: what does my heart know needs to be done? Perhaps you might feel miserable in your current job and deep down you know that you need to leave for your own wellbeing. Dig deep and listen to your gut — you’ll know what the right thing for you to do is. Then, you can use this fear to your advantage and take charge of your life. 

Although it may seem scary at the time, you might be surprised by how much inner peace you will feel when you know you’ve followed your heart or made a decision you know is right.

Finding inner peace

The more actively you try to adjust your mindset and the way that you respond to stress in life, the closer you can come to achieving inner peace in your lifetime!

By being kind to ourselves, as well as taking responsibility for our decisions and actions in life, we can get one step closer to achieving inner peace and positive wellbeing. If you want to find inner peace, you can work toward it in little steps each and every day by following some of the tips we’ve just discussed.

What’s a favourite quote that you love to live by? Let us know in the comments below!