“One must marry one’s feelings to one’s beliefs and ideas. That is probably the only way to achieve a measure of harmony in one’s life.” Napoleon Hill.

It’s sad that there is so much negativity, disagreement and conflict in the world. Opinions seem to be getting more and more polarised. This was very evident in the recent General Election campaign here in the UK and Donald Trump’s impeachment hearing in the USA. I believe the world needs to move to a more harmonious state.

When there’s more harmony people are more peaceful and tend to agree with each other more. It means that things seem to be right in the world and perspectives seem to be more balanced.

Some of the challenges in the world are outside of our sphere of control and influence. It’s difficult for us to persuade people with deeply held beliefs and views to look at things in a different way and maybe see things from other people’s perspectives.

Whilst we may not be able to influence some of the cultural and political conflicts, we can seek to ensure that we help to create and promote harmony within the environments we operate in and in our relationships. This is something we can give special attention to during the upcoming festive period.

We are the conductors of our own life and the relationships we have are like an orchestra.   When all the instruments are in sync, tuned and in harmony with one another it creates a great sound. When one instrument happens to be out of tune, it has a negative impact on the sound and things become discordant.

It’s important that we spend time ensuring that we are in harmony with those important people in our life. Occasionally we may need to take some time out to ensure that we are in tune with ourselves. This includes ensuring that our actions are aligned with our values and beliefs. When they are, life flows effortlessly and we feel at peace.

Creating harmony in groups requires effort, commitment and practice. When you’re able to encourage and influence a group of people to be in harmony then they become a very powerful unit.

We create greater harmony in our relationships by accepting people as they are rather than how we would like them to be. We can reinforce this by encouraging people to express their unique talents and grow and evolve in the way that they wish to.

When we show greater empathy and compassion towards people we automatically signal our desire for peaceful and harmonious relationships. Different opinions and points of view can be aired in this way without things becoming too heated or tense.

We also create more harmony by releasing our expectations about the standards we expect people to follow. When we do this, we don’t set ourselves up for disappointment further down the line.

Harmony in relationships also flows from having an intention to create clarity in communication. We do this by committing to developing an understanding of where people are coming from rather than sticking to our own point of view rigidly.

When we are inflexible in our thinking and approach we can fall into the trap of always thinking “I’m right, you’re wrong.”

Quite often there isn’t a right or wrong just a different perspective and view.

Business and teams can be challenging. However, an approach that often helps to promote greater team spirit and harmony is to encourage people to leave their egos at the door of meeting rooms.

We can adopt an open mind to projects, goals and relationships. In doing so, we soak up knowledge and carry the assumption that we don’t know everything. By being curious we ask questions to develop our knowledge and to learn.

When conflict does arise in teams, we can navigate it calmly by listening deeply to what people have to say and asking questions to get to the heart of what they are feeling and thinking.

Imagine how the world would be positively transformed if we were all to make a commitment to create more harmony in it.

This week, why not pause for a moment and consider what action you can take to create and promote greater harmony in your life.

To arrange a free no obligation consultation, please contact Stephen Pauley via the contact form or by e mail: Stephen@befirstclass.co.uk