Purposeful Growth

What Does it Mean to Live Peace?

What is peace? We tend to think in terms of what it’s not–war. But peace is not the absence of war, nor the absence of hostilities, conflicts, and insurgencies. Just as health is more than the absence of cancer or diabetes, peace is more than a cessation of hostility. We must begin thinking of peace in terms of what it is. At its core, peace is a state of quiet or tranquility, inner contentment, and harmony with all that is. Peace, by its nature, cannot be attained by conquest nor by violent retaliation.

Individuals seeking peace in life must shift their thinking and behaviors from getting ahead to getting calm; from getting even to getting in harmony; from external conquest to inner contentment.

Living peace is living tranquilly and harmoniously at all times. Picture yourself on a mild summer day with a light breeze blowing through tall flowers around a placid lake. You are alone with your thoughts or sitting quietly with a loved one or cherished friend. This place is tranquility. Further, picture yourself filled with love and connected to all that surrounds you: bright yellow flowers, deep green grass, soft blue-green water, and blue sky punctuated by fluffy white clouds. You are tranquility and harmony. You are living peace.

Now take this vision with you as you re-enter your day. The TV is blaring, the dog is barking, two people are quarreling, your phone is ringing, and some electronic gadget is beeping. Turn off the disharmony you can control - in this example, the TV, the phone, and the electronic gizmo if you can find it. Pet the dog or feed it if it’s time. If the quarreling people are within your sphere of influence, project your love to them, touch both lightly and lovingly on an arm or shoulder, and ask them to resolve their disagreement immediately and quietly or take it away from your space. If you are not able to influence them, remove yourself physically. If this isn’t possible, then remove yourself mentally–tune out the conflict.

Do you share our goal of living a peaceful life? If so, it isn’t enough to state a generality. You must clarify what living a peaceful life means to you and do so in some detail.
For me, to live peace means to live with tranquility and harmony. When I find myself in the midst of turmoil and disharmony, I will either bring harmony and tranquility to the situation or remove myself. I choose to avoid CNN, Jerry Springer, and “reality’ shows. I choose to read, listen to, and discuss topics from a perspective of peace. Am I ignoring reality? I’m choosing to put my energy into peace, no more ignoring reality than if I focused primarily on conflict and tumult. Reality is only what I perceive it to be.

What does living peace look like for you?
Please share your view of living peace at Jerry@PurposefulGrowth.com. I hope to hear from you.

Jerry

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 19th, 2005 at 7:44 am and is filed under Peacefulness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.