Finding Peace in your Inner Landscape

Jan31

An inner landscape is a life you lead inside of yourself; a place no one else can go unless invited. Although it looks different for each of us, all inner landscapes have this in common: they are a place of refuge. If you look deep enough, you will be able to find images of your inner landscape in your mind; your own place of power and peace.

Today is a day where being able to tap into my inner landscape and find peace is how I need to stay grounded.

My inner landscape is multi-dimensional and serves more than one purpose depending on how I need to restore, rest, empower and breathe. One part of my inner landscape is a field of flowers. That’s where I go when I need to feel at peace. It’s a place where I can rest and restore my inner resources because I feel safe and protected there, with very little noise coming from the busy monkey-mind that tends to nag at me during the day.

Mostly my inner landscape is peaceful, warm and sunny; although, I also have a cliff I go to that is rugged and barren. There is one leaf-less tree there with a few wisps of grass growing up around it, but otherwise, it is bare. The cliff is jagged, gray and very rocky with the sound of a turbulent sea splashing thunderous waves against the rocks. That’s the inner landscape I go to when my life is stormy and I’m dealing with challenges that I’m not quite ready to confront.

When I’m there, I hear my inner voice of self-doubt, self-judgment, and shame. It’s a place I go to when I know I need to look at things about myself that are comfortably uncomfortable but I’m not yet ready to change. I sit on the edge of my cliff and listen to the water crashing up against the rocks. Even though it is a place I go to when my life is stormy, I love my rocky cliffs and the crashing water that surrounds me.

My inner landscape is different from my happy place.

My happy place is where I go to help me face the typical stresses of daily life. Sitting in a traffic jam, going to the dentist, standing in a long line sends me to my happy place. That quick take a deep breath to stave off the frustration place that we go to. My inner landscape is a place I go to for reflection. A place where I go deep inside of myself.

Can you visualize your inner landscape, your own place where of power and peace?

Image: Pixabay

Thank you for reading my books: If I Could Tell You How It Feels, and Untangled, A Story of Resilience, Courage, and Triumph    

 

46 thoughts on “Finding Peace in your Inner Landscape”

  7. Thank you so much for sharing where you’re at. That is very brave and I appreciate that. I think everyone deals with fear, grief, and loss differently. There is no one right way. We just do the best we can in our situations. Im sure your mom knows you love her, and that you are coping as best you can. Be gentle with yourself. Maybe you will find some comfort when you discover your inner landscape. Im sending you prayers of comfort and peace. 🙏🏼❤️

    Like

  9. Alexis,
    This is a beautifully written post.
    In all honesty, I never thought about having an inner landscape, a place to go to when I’m not feeling at my best emotionally or mentally. I can relate to the self-doubt, shame, and self-judgement, as well as, not wanting to confront things. My father told me when I was younger, maybe about 15, that I block things out especially. I thought that I fully understood what he meant at the time, but I didn’t. I thought that it was my body keeping me from dealing with whatever it was that I was going through, but I have realized of late that it is more than that it is a mental action. Our thoughts really are powerful not more powerful than prayer, but still powerful. Denial or avoidance is mental action. You choose not to face something, and with some people, it can be both physical and mental. I hope that makes sense. I look at it in my current situation with my mom having cancer, if I don’t think about it, don’t talk about it, and keep my distance from her via phone and with my current cold now I can’t go see her, it doesn’t exist. I know that it seems cold like I’m in living in a crazy world, but this is how I need to deal with it. There have been times when I have tried to face it, but it breaks me enough that I have to suck it up and keep it bottled inside because if I have fully embraced this, I won’t function, I will be of no use to her or anyone else. When I’m feeling brave, I bottle it up the best I can. Anyway, Sorry Alexis for venting here and using your blog to pour out my dark space, it was not my intent. You are in my thoughts and prayers.

    Liked by 1 person

  18. Thank you so much for your feedback and sharing Mabel. I like to think of home-sweet-home when I get stressed too. The thought of snuggling with my cat and the dog brings a lot of peace to me. 😊

    Liked by 1 person

  19. Such an important topic, Alexis. That inner peace within us is our sanctuary, a space where we can retreat to to feel less stress and regroup. Good on you for recognising your inner voice and your doubts – and by recognising them you acknowledge reality and deal with it accordingly. Usually when I am stressed, I like to think of home and my bed, knowing that at the end of each day, I get to go back to it and everything will be okay 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  21. Pingback: Finding Peace in your Inner Landscape — Untangled #repost – ~*~tightlines and sunshine~*~

  28. I remember a time in my life when all was not well. I prayed to God and ask Him for a scripture—something to uplift me, and He gave me Psalm 23. Then at times throughout my life when things weren’t going as they should I would find myself walking into green pastures, where I would see the Lord as my Shepherd. He was rather big and I was like a small child. Sometimes we would walk hand in hand beside the still waters, His voice and His presence restored my soul and my mind and I was not afraid for anything, because He was there.

    Liked by 1 person

  29. I just remember something, Alexis, one of my favourite stories/metaphors is “The Man WHo PLanted Trees”.

    Search on YouTube, it’s about 30min long and in full version with several translations even.

    The landscape in this and how the story unfolds is a beautiful picture of how it is in us sometimes, but how it can change as well.

    Every few years or sometimes twice in a year I watch it again. Good old-fashioned drawings and a story well told.

    Liked by 1 person

  34. Beautiful metaphor.

    My inner landscape is still like a wasteland after a storm. Debris is scattered all over the dried, crusty earth.

    Nut when in search with patience and dig, I will eventually find water and may have a chance to grow the land again with fruit and colour.

    Liked by 2 people

  35. We have a safe place inside. It’s a real place we have been: wooded, earthy path. Sun penetrates gently with green-leafy hues. Birds inside with us. Calling from above or deep in forest. Safe.

    Liked by 2 people

  37. I believe my inner landscape is somewhere green, somewhere where the air is crisp, the ground is warm and comforting and the sun is radiating from every angle, each sun ray cuddling my body like a loving hug

    Liked by 2 people

  39. I’ve never really thought about this… But now that you’ve brought it to my attention, my inner landscape would be at the top of a hill. Surrounded by green grass, animals grazing and the warm sun beaming down on us. With a view as far as my eyes can see… Beauty & tranquil, that’s my inner landscape. Thank you for allowing me to vision it… X

    Liked by 2 people

  41. I’m not a particularly visual person, but perhaps a water analogy would work for me. My happy place would be floating in warm, shallow water, but sometimes I need to make my way out to deeper water to really work things through.

    Liked by 2 people

  44. It has been when I have used it. If anything has changed with it, it might just be the colour of the sun at times.
    I especially used it when having treatment at dentists.

    Liked by 1 person

  46. I like your inner landscapes. I have never thought about having more than one.
    My inner landscape which I have not used a while was sitting on the beach looking at the sun set. Visualising the reds in the sun and taking in the calmness.

    Liked by 2 people

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Google photo

You are commenting using your Google account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s