I just got back from something called the Wisdom 2.0 conference.  If you haven’t heard of it, it’s where thousands of people talk about the interplay of three main topics: meditation, business, and technology. This is a place where spiritual teachers such as Byron Katie and Jack Kornfield rub elbows with Linked In CEO  Jeff Weiner, or rock star Alanis Morissette.   Needless to say, it attracts a fascinating group of people.

I went there partly because I wanted to know whether or not there was hope for humanity.  I’m glad to report that there is.  Despite all the problems the world faces, and despite how fast everyone is rushing around nowadays, people still have hearts.   Sure, our hearts are often buried beneath our smartphone screens, but humanity’s deeper heart is an irrepressible force. At the conference, I met a lot of good people sincerely looking for ways to bring more peace on Earth.

Being that I’m a gadget guy, I’m always looking for simple things that can help me to be kinder, more relaxed, and more aware.  At Wisdom 2.0, I felt like a kid in a candy store.   I talked with a dozen app developers who created apps to help with meditation, or ways to remind yourself to do an act of kindness. Anyway, what I got from the conference, (other than some new friends), was a sense of the importance of daily spiritual practice.

In an age when there is always too much to do, and too little time to do it in, most of us feel pretty stressed.   In fact, studies suggest that 40% of Americans report they are “severely stressed.”  If you’re not doing some daily practice to reduce stress and find peace within, you’re basically screwed.   We all end up taking in a daily megadose of stress.  Therefore, it’s necessary to “flush” your past stress down the “toilet.”   Imagine not going to the toilet for several days.   You would surely end up feeling very stressed!  Being that stressed sure doesn’t feel very good.

So if we need to handle stress on a daily basis, a good question to ask is “How?”   More specifically, how can we get the most de-stressing bang for our buck (i.e. the smallest effort).  There is no single answer to that.   People can let go of stress and find peace within in a vast variety of ways.  For example, it can be as easy as taking a few deep breaths or listening to a favorite song.   Or, as I mentioned previously, you can now get an app or gadget that can help you de-stress. At the Wisdom 2.0 conference, I bought a gadget called “Spire” that tracks your stress level by monitoring your breath.  If you haven’t taken a relaxing breath in awhile, it vibrates and sends you a text to remind you to breathe more deeply.  It’s a bit of a kooky idea, but I’ve been trying it the last few days and it really helps!

While gadgets can help, I’ve see that there are also a lot of simple methods that immediately lead to more relaxation, happiness, and peace.  As a psychotherapist, I’ve seen that the best practices for finding peace seem to be those that take under two minutes to do.  Sitting down to meditate or do yoga are good practices, but not many people will do them everyday to handle their daily stress.  Yet, I’ve seen that people will use something that only takes a minute or two to do if it feels good and it really works.

In my book “Find Happiness Now” or my audio program, “Deeper Happiness,” I offer a lot of such methods.   Once you find a technique or two that truly works for you, you’ve got a friend for life.   I use one such method many times a day and it has made an immense positive impact on the quality of my life.

At the conference, I had a chance to have a one-on-one talk with spiritual teacher Byron Katie. She is known for her many bestselling books and for a method she developed called “the work.”   I asked her, “What can people do to help change the world?”  Without hesitation she said, “They can work on themselves.  That’s the way the world will become a more peaceful place—by each person finding it within.”  I couldn’t agree more.   So my question to you is simple:  “Do you have a quick method you can use daily to help you de-stress and find peace within?”