Your phone alarm buzzes. Time to get up. Your ringtone is that song from Hairspray - the world keeps spinning round and round.' The lyrics convey exactly how you feel. Just with added upbeat rhythm. 

 Your version of 'the world keeps spinning round and round’ would be set to an exhausted, crippling beat. 

 Something which encouraged the listener to picture a hamster being flung round a wheel against its will. 

Little legs running as fast as they could. But struggling to keep up. Barely holding on. 

 That's how you feel. As though you're barely holding on. 

 Everything is moving so fast. You get out of bed and rush to make breakfast. You rush to catch the tube. You rush to work. At work you rush, rush, rush. All day long. 

 And as you leave work – many hours after your contracted finish time – the rushing stops abruptly. Like a car hitting a brick wall. But the rushing doesn’t give way to serenity. Only fatigue. Exhaustion. Dread at having to do it all again tomorrow.  

 You look forwards to the weekend. You look forwards to the holidays. You look forwards - at the age of thirty - to retirement. 

 But you know this isn't the way to live your life. 

 Maybe there are some drastic changes to be considered. A change of job. A change of location. A change of lifestyle. 

 But it's difficult to change those things overnight. 

 You need some way of finding calmness and peace. Now. In the present. 

5 Ways to Find Calmness and Peace. Now. 

 Sounds familiar, right? Many of us dream of that life where we just don't feel stressed. Where the days are all sunny and serenity washes over us with remarkable ease. Maybe that life lies in Spain, working as a barrister. Or maybe it's in the USA, having won the lottery. Or maybe it could be right here. Right now. 

 Ok, if you're after endless sunshine, you're not going to find that in the UK. But that feeling the sunshine invokes within you? You have the power to feel that anywhere. 

 It just takes practice. 

 Learning to be at peace is a skill. And like any skill, it takes practice. Oodles of it. 

 And before you practice, you need to be taught.  

 We'll teach you. 

 Task One. Jump off the hamster wheel for five minutes. Read our top five ways to find calmness and peace. 

 Now. 

 1. Practice Gratitude 

 We've all seen the sparkly Gratitude Journals in the bookshops. We might even have bought one. But on the fifth day of writing 'I am grateful for the food on the table and the roof over my head, the novelty wears off. And you've yet to find this inner peace. You're not convinced by this gratitude thing. 

 But you have to practice gratitude. Practice it. Yes, the first day, be grateful for the food on your table. 

 But the second day, branch out. Be more precise. What exactly is it about the food you’re grateful for? Is it the beautiful smell of the loaf of bread as you open it? Is it the feeling of the strawberry bursting in your mouth as you chew? Is it the chat you had at lunchtime with your colleagues about what you were all munching? 

Be precise. And be different each day. You'll be surprised how many little things you find to be grateful for.  

 2. Meditate the Day Away 

 The word 'meditate' invokes feelings of 'nope, I can't do it’ in practically everyone. But the fact of the matter is, you can. Like gratitude, it just takes practice. 

 We all have an image of meditation. It's probably involves someone sitting cross-legged on the floor at sunrise, hands on their knees, motionless for hours on end. That is meditation. But there are other ways to meditate too. 

Meditation means clearing your mind. It doesn't mean criticizing yourself for not being a master Zen. The secret to meditation is acknowledging thoughts but not judging them. Let them pass. Focus on your breathing. Feel the air coming in and out of your lungs. But if a thought wriggles in, don't beat yourself up.  

Wave at the thought. But tell it you'll speak to it later.  

Now, you're focusing on just being. 

3. The Power of No 

We're taught to say yes to every opportunity. But if you say yes to EVERYTHING, you will find yourself very busy indeed. And you will find yourself doing lots of things you don't really enjoy. Extra project at work? 

Looks good on the CV. Additional gym class? Sign me up. Volunteer for charity? Probably should do. 

It all looks great on paper. But it quickly becomes exhausting. There are endless opportunities in the world. And we're all scared of missing out. What if that extra project is the one that gets you the promotion? What if that gym class is where you meet your future husband? Shouldn't you be less self-obsessed and be out there changing lives? 

 We feel ourselves pulled in countless directions. But sometimes less is more. Put your energy into what matters most to you NOW. Prioritise. If you’re stressed, burnt out or frazzled, it doesn’t matter how many things you want to be involved in. You won’t be able to tackle any of them with your best.  

 4. You Time 

 You Time. Self-care. A timetabled period of do not disturb. Whatever you want to call it, giving yourself time to be with yourself, doing whatever makes you feel the most content, is so important. 

It's time to do that thing you wish you had time to do. The thing you used to love doing. The thing that makes you feel just a tiny bit happier. 

Remember what it felt like to play as a child? That's what we're aiming for here. It probably no longer is going down to the local play area and swinging on the monkey bars. If it is, that's really cool. But there will be something that makes you feel a little contented buzz inside.  

It could be reading. playing guitar. Walking. Doing your nails. Watching a movie. Baking. The list goes on. 

But you don't have time, remember?  

You don't need hours. Ten minutes a day to read a few pages. Strum a few chords. Walk to the end of the street and back.  

5. Let Yourself Feel 

Stress is addictive. You probably don't feel like you're craving more of it as you work your way through your endless to-do list, but science has shown that to be the way. The more stressed we get, the more we feel we need to be stressed. And like most addictions, the need for stress often covers something deeper. 

Having an honest, unfiltered look inside is hard. Like, really hard. We don't enjoy doing it. We hate feeling uncomfortable. We hate facing reality. We hate being alone with our thoughts. 

But working through your emotions can provide such power. Knowing yourself is a beautiful, freeing thing. 

What is it about your life you don’t like? Do you really want to change these things? Why do you feel the way you do?  

This is a great chance to invest in another sparkly notebook. Writing stuff down makes it feel a whole less overwhelming. Thoughts look less scary on paper. 

Be honest, are you feeling just a tiny bit calmer already? 

These changes don't require a mass injection of money. They don't require you to move home. They don't require you to quit your job. 

They simply require a few minutes a day. Some time dedicated to you. Your health. Your wellbeing. Your happiness. 

Ultimately, that happier, healthier, calmer version of you is the one that can thrive in this spinning modern world. 

So, go out there and be calm. Remember, it's a journey. Don't judge yourself for not becoming a Zen tomorrow.  

You'll get there one day. 

Comment below to let us know how you get on. Do you have any other tips to share?