Our lives have become very busy and frantic: we seldom eat meals as a family, we seem rushed all the time to do something or get somewhere, that by the end of the day, we feel exhausted and overwhelmed that the things we need to do still haven't been done. So, we put off for tomorrow what we feel should have been done today. This pattern continues until that day we feel we cannot handle any more of this and we have an outburst on someone we love, or an important deadline gets missed and our personal and professional lives suffer.
We all long for peace in many forms to avoid this danger of emotional, physical and spiritual turmoil. Whether it is inner peace, peace in our relationships, peace in our neighbourhoods and in our schools, or peace between nations, it is recognized that peace begins within the individual heart.
Taking from a little book, Peace Therapy, written by Carol Ann Morrow, following are 35 tips to we can incorporate into our lives to be more peace-filled people. This sort of transformation does not happen overnight, so be gentle with yourselves with the process. If we take this to heart, then gradually, we will find ourselves becoming the people we long to be: as Gandhi so aptly put it: "be the change you wish to see in the world." In our Catholic faith, we know that as we pray to God, we slowly become the answered prayers for the various needs in our world.
1. Be at peace with yourself. Even as God calls you to growth and progress, God loves you as you are. You have worth beyond measure, for you are a child of God.
2. Don't make war with parts of yourself that you can't change. Accept your shadow side, your brokenness, your weaknesses, as well as your strengths. Inner peace unifies the parts into wholeness.
3. Ground yourself in values that you've chosen with intent and deliberation. Then determine where your own attitudes and actions are at war with those values. Only you can end the conflict.
4. Recognize if you've made resentment, distrust, hostility...your armor against a world that has hurt you in the past. Commit yourself to remove this armor, piece by piece.
5. Unclench your jaw and your fists and drop your weapons. When your posture is tense, guarded, and wary, you are preparing for battle, not for peace. Let your body be a diplomatic envoy in a world seeking peace.
6. Maintaining an enemies list taxes your energy and hardens your heart. Look for the good that God sees; love your enemies. When there are no enemies left, there will be peace.
7. Disturbing the peace is a crime. When you rant and rave and stomp and fret over life's petty grievances, stop yourself!
8. When there's someone with whom you have conflicts, begin to make peace in your imagination. Picture yourself at peace. Slowly enlarge the image to include the other person. Put that picture in your mind's pocket and look at it with love now and then.
9. Work through your anger. Those who hurt you do so out of their own insecurity, ignorance and weakness, not strength. Be strong and move beyond your anger toward forgiveness.
10. Accept responsibility for the times when you've hurt others because you lacked inner peace. Make amends to them when you can.
11. Kicking the cat, slamming the door, honking your horn in complaint or rage are not postures of peace. Be aware of how your unexamined feelings burst forth in inappropriate ways. Deal with those feelings.
12. Peace sees similarities among people, not threatening differences that form barriers. Identify a difference--a value, an attitude, a choice--that threatens you. Don't judge that difference, but seek to understand it.
13. Terrible wars have begun over the control of territory and the exercise of power. Consider your own need to possess and have power over others. The more you can let go of this need, the less reason you have to disturb the peace by acts of violence. You can become a bridge instead of a border patrol.
14. Speak gently. If you hear violence in your speech, it comes from a place within your heart. Choose the vocabulary of peace and serenity over words of damnation, curses, woe and complaint.
15. Use a gentle voice when speaking with family: whether calling them to dinner, from play or for a task. Invite rather than command; anticipate cooperation rather than resistance. Be patient. Peace comes on soft wings, not in a thundering stampede.
16. Measure your words of judgment. People seldom benefit from harsh criticism of their character or actions. Choose words of praise and acceptance, words that build peace.
17. Be at peace with your circumstances. Allow what you have no power over to just be as it is. Where you do have power and something needs changing, do what you can then let go. You don't have to fix everything.
18. Declare a personal buffer zone. Make one corner of your home a haven, a sanctuary. When you feel your temper fraying and hear your voice rising, take time out there--perhaps with a book, a poster, or an object that whispers peace to your heart.
19. Treasure the peace of your past. Remember the times and places you have known peace, and return there in reality or in your heart. Bring the feeling, the grace of those moments to today's challenges.
20. Let your heart be untroubled. Even though you can't see the end of a difficult time, soothe your heart with confidence in a Power (God) beyond yourself.
21. Peace can be disturbed by too much coming and going. Decide which people and projects you want to invite into your day. Give other "visitors" appointments for tomorrow, next week, or next year. Then enjoy what you've chosen to give your attention to.
22. Passive acceptance of injustice is not peace; it is a threat to peace. Recognize the threat and work for justice. But take care to avoid methods that are as unpeaceful and unjust as what you are trying to eliminate.
23. Being at peace is not the same as being placid. You can be assertive, firm, even passionate and bold, yet remain at peace. Peace is deeper than the quiet of inaction. Peace requires your participation.
24. Listening to others express their feelings--including anger--is an act of peace. Don't hear just to determine when you can inject your own words. When you are fully present in your listening, you invite another to locate the peace within.
25. Peace is not simply a bouquet you can hand to a friend. You can, however, be that bouquet yourself! And the effects may entice others to incorporate peace in their own lives and hearts.
26. You don't have to "make" peace yourself, but simply allow the peace of God--already present--to flow through you to others. If you block its gentle current, you force it to chart a course around you. Be a channel of peace. (St. Francis of Assisi...)
27. Call a day's truce if peace seems too much to achieve. For twenty-four hours, hold your fire, lower your weapons, let down your guard, and relax. Practice peace one day at a time, one moment at a time.
28. Your peacekeeping may be local, but it's the same as an international mission: to stop sniping, lay down arms, talk face-to-face, agree on basic principles, honour the agreement. With practice, you can declare your life a demilitarized zone.
29. Practice random (deliberate) acts of kindness. These acts of kindness will strengthen the faint-hearted, confuse the hard-hearted, and comfort the disheartened.
30. Choose your own peace theme--a favourite song, poem, prayer or hymn. Hum, sing, pray, read or say it when you feel under siege.
31. Just as First Nations peoples share the pipe of peace, you can create a moment of peace by sharing something of your own: a flower, a cookie, a handwritten note, a greeting card. Your act builds a positive and peaceful atmosphere.
32. Search for signs of peace: conflicts resolved, families reunited, people helping people, people joining arms instead of bearing them. The angels' chorus of "Peace on Earth" still resounds. Let its melody sustain your hope...dare to believe.
33. Every day, imagine the world at peace. Imagine open borders, free and fair trade, weapons melted into plows and garden tools. Every invention, every action, was first imagined. Think peace.
34. Peace is as real as the clouds, which--though they appear wispy and unsubstantial--hold power and blessings for the earth. As they grace the sky, so will peace grace the earth. Believe in the possibility, the reality of peace.
35. To make peace, you must be at peace. Peace begins in each individual heart. Blessed are the peacemakers.
We all long for peace in many forms to avoid this danger of emotional, physical and spiritual turmoil. Whether it is inner peace, peace in our relationships, peace in our neighbourhoods and in our schools, or peace between nations, it is recognized that peace begins within the individual heart.
Taking from a little book, Peace Therapy, written by Carol Ann Morrow, following are 35 tips to we can incorporate into our lives to be more peace-filled people. This sort of transformation does not happen overnight, so be gentle with yourselves with the process. If we take this to heart, then gradually, we will find ourselves becoming the people we long to be: as Gandhi so aptly put it: "be the change you wish to see in the world." In our Catholic faith, we know that as we pray to God, we slowly become the answered prayers for the various needs in our world.
1. Be at peace with yourself. Even as God calls you to growth and progress, God loves you as you are. You have worth beyond measure, for you are a child of God.
2. Don't make war with parts of yourself that you can't change. Accept your shadow side, your brokenness, your weaknesses, as well as your strengths. Inner peace unifies the parts into wholeness.
3. Ground yourself in values that you've chosen with intent and deliberation. Then determine where your own attitudes and actions are at war with those values. Only you can end the conflict.
4. Recognize if you've made resentment, distrust, hostility...your armor against a world that has hurt you in the past. Commit yourself to remove this armor, piece by piece.
5. Unclench your jaw and your fists and drop your weapons. When your posture is tense, guarded, and wary, you are preparing for battle, not for peace. Let your body be a diplomatic envoy in a world seeking peace.
6. Maintaining an enemies list taxes your energy and hardens your heart. Look for the good that God sees; love your enemies. When there are no enemies left, there will be peace.
7. Disturbing the peace is a crime. When you rant and rave and stomp and fret over life's petty grievances, stop yourself!
8. When there's someone with whom you have conflicts, begin to make peace in your imagination. Picture yourself at peace. Slowly enlarge the image to include the other person. Put that picture in your mind's pocket and look at it with love now and then.
9. Work through your anger. Those who hurt you do so out of their own insecurity, ignorance and weakness, not strength. Be strong and move beyond your anger toward forgiveness.
10. Accept responsibility for the times when you've hurt others because you lacked inner peace. Make amends to them when you can.
11. Kicking the cat, slamming the door, honking your horn in complaint or rage are not postures of peace. Be aware of how your unexamined feelings burst forth in inappropriate ways. Deal with those feelings.
12. Peace sees similarities among people, not threatening differences that form barriers. Identify a difference--a value, an attitude, a choice--that threatens you. Don't judge that difference, but seek to understand it.
13. Terrible wars have begun over the control of territory and the exercise of power. Consider your own need to possess and have power over others. The more you can let go of this need, the less reason you have to disturb the peace by acts of violence. You can become a bridge instead of a border patrol.
14. Speak gently. If you hear violence in your speech, it comes from a place within your heart. Choose the vocabulary of peace and serenity over words of damnation, curses, woe and complaint.
15. Use a gentle voice when speaking with family: whether calling them to dinner, from play or for a task. Invite rather than command; anticipate cooperation rather than resistance. Be patient. Peace comes on soft wings, not in a thundering stampede.
16. Measure your words of judgment. People seldom benefit from harsh criticism of their character or actions. Choose words of praise and acceptance, words that build peace.
17. Be at peace with your circumstances. Allow what you have no power over to just be as it is. Where you do have power and something needs changing, do what you can then let go. You don't have to fix everything.
18. Declare a personal buffer zone. Make one corner of your home a haven, a sanctuary. When you feel your temper fraying and hear your voice rising, take time out there--perhaps with a book, a poster, or an object that whispers peace to your heart.
19. Treasure the peace of your past. Remember the times and places you have known peace, and return there in reality or in your heart. Bring the feeling, the grace of those moments to today's challenges.
20. Let your heart be untroubled. Even though you can't see the end of a difficult time, soothe your heart with confidence in a Power (God) beyond yourself.
21. Peace can be disturbed by too much coming and going. Decide which people and projects you want to invite into your day. Give other "visitors" appointments for tomorrow, next week, or next year. Then enjoy what you've chosen to give your attention to.
22. Passive acceptance of injustice is not peace; it is a threat to peace. Recognize the threat and work for justice. But take care to avoid methods that are as unpeaceful and unjust as what you are trying to eliminate.
23. Being at peace is not the same as being placid. You can be assertive, firm, even passionate and bold, yet remain at peace. Peace is deeper than the quiet of inaction. Peace requires your participation.
24. Listening to others express their feelings--including anger--is an act of peace. Don't hear just to determine when you can inject your own words. When you are fully present in your listening, you invite another to locate the peace within.
25. Peace is not simply a bouquet you can hand to a friend. You can, however, be that bouquet yourself! And the effects may entice others to incorporate peace in their own lives and hearts.
26. You don't have to "make" peace yourself, but simply allow the peace of God--already present--to flow through you to others. If you block its gentle current, you force it to chart a course around you. Be a channel of peace. (St. Francis of Assisi...)
27. Call a day's truce if peace seems too much to achieve. For twenty-four hours, hold your fire, lower your weapons, let down your guard, and relax. Practice peace one day at a time, one moment at a time.
28. Your peacekeeping may be local, but it's the same as an international mission: to stop sniping, lay down arms, talk face-to-face, agree on basic principles, honour the agreement. With practice, you can declare your life a demilitarized zone.
29. Practice random (deliberate) acts of kindness. These acts of kindness will strengthen the faint-hearted, confuse the hard-hearted, and comfort the disheartened.
30. Choose your own peace theme--a favourite song, poem, prayer or hymn. Hum, sing, pray, read or say it when you feel under siege.
31. Just as First Nations peoples share the pipe of peace, you can create a moment of peace by sharing something of your own: a flower, a cookie, a handwritten note, a greeting card. Your act builds a positive and peaceful atmosphere.
32. Search for signs of peace: conflicts resolved, families reunited, people helping people, people joining arms instead of bearing them. The angels' chorus of "Peace on Earth" still resounds. Let its melody sustain your hope...dare to believe.
33. Every day, imagine the world at peace. Imagine open borders, free and fair trade, weapons melted into plows and garden tools. Every invention, every action, was first imagined. Think peace.
34. Peace is as real as the clouds, which--though they appear wispy and unsubstantial--hold power and blessings for the earth. As they grace the sky, so will peace grace the earth. Believe in the possibility, the reality of peace.
35. To make peace, you must be at peace. Peace begins in each individual heart. Blessed are the peacemakers.