Practice Peace to Change Your Climate - Dona Nobis Pacem
I used to think if we could just reach peace, everything would be perfect. We'd somehow transform into utopia. But, at the same time, I didn't believe peace could ever be truly achieved.
In my search for peace both in my own life and in the world around me, I've come to see peace as more about how we live, think, and interact than it is about checking off a box as a mission accomplished. That shift in perspective has made my goal to cultivate a climate of peace in my life much easier.
If we live in a climate of chaos, then chaos is what prevails in our lives. If we live chaotic lives, we bring chaos to the world around us. If we allow the chaos in the world to dictate our lives, we bring chaos to our lives.
Early in my life, I thought life was chaotic and there was always some catastrophe lurking around every corner. I accepted that as a reality that could never be changed. I never felt a moment's peace while in that state of mind even in what were the happiest events in my life.
I cultivated a climate of chaos because it was all I knew.
As I began to seek out the ever elusive peace I desired, I started to see the chaos around me and inside me more clearly. Chaos didn't have permeate my climate.
Practicing peace started with a shift in attitude. It started with seeing the good in the world around me and in the people in my life.
As I shifted toward practice peace, I finally recognized I had to leave behind my comfort zone of chaos. Chaos was familiar. Drama felt protective. Frenzy felt productive. Yet, I was always exhausted and on edge and infinitely distanced from peace.
Peace felt like a fairy tale, or at least the ending to a fairy tale, that was never quite finished.
Practicing peace started with a shift in attitude. It started with seeing the good in the world around me and in the people in my life.
As I shifted toward practice peace, I finally recognized I had to leave behind my comfort zone of chaos. Chaos was familiar. Drama felt protective. Frenzy felt productive. Yet, I was always exhausted and on edge and infinitely distanced from peace.
Peace felt like a fairy tale, or at least the ending to a fairy tale, that was never quite finished.
I started to research things other people claimed brought them peace. Some worked. Others didn't.
Mostly, I started paying attention to what brought me a sense of peace, even if it only lasted a few minutes. I started paying attention when I felt peaceful. I started to invite the people and experiences that felt peaceful into my life more often. Slowly, I started to embrace those moments even though at first I was always cautious. I didn't trust peace to stay.
Often, peace didn't stay because I would stop practicing peace. I achieved it. What more was there to do? Then I would begin to feel unsettled again.
Then I would practice peace and there it would be again.
I started practicing living from a place of love. I wanted love to be my foundation for life. I wanted to interact with the world with an attitude of love. I sought to understand rather than judge. It wasn't always easy. I sought to listen rather than to yell. It wasn't always easy. I sought to connect rather than condemn. It wasn't always easy. In fact, these attitude shifts were all difficult in the beginning. I failed repeatedly. These shifts in attitude and behavior, like the peace they brought, required practice.
Meditation helped, particularly loving-kindness meditations, where I learned to send loving thoughts to myself, to people I loved, and to the wider world. I also learned to focus better on what I wanted to focus on. I learned to take a meditative breath or two or ten when confronted with chaos.
Yoga helped because it was an act of loving myself. It helped me feel centered and grounded and like I could fly all at once. As I practiced yoga, I saw the benefits of being in the moment instead of looking outside the moment for what could go wrong because as soon as you think about falling when practicing a balancing pose, you end up on either your head or your butt. That's how you end up injured. But, if you're in the moment, your body finds a peaceful balance that rejects the chaos around you.
Hiking helped me reconnect to nature in a way that reminded me that the Earth is much more powerful than I'll ever be but also heightened my awareness of my responsibility to treat the Earth with respect and appreciation because it is my home and my provider. Without the Earth, we all cease to exist.
I started letting go of people who brought chaos to my life, or at least limiting contact with them. I started paying attention to who brought peace and joy to my life. I started appreciating the little moments in my life I hadn't quite noticed before. I focused on the good in my life instead of always focusing on what went wrong. I looked for solutions rather than for someone or something to blame.
I sought to change the climate of chaos I'd long lived in to a climate where peace was welcomed. The more I invited peace in, the more peaceful I felt. The more peaceful I felt, the easier it was to deal with people in a loving manner. The more I dealt with people in a loving manner, the more peaceful I felt.
I became protective of that climate because it was far too easy to get sucked back into the chaotic climate if I allowed myself to be around people and situations that were mired in chaos and drama.
Peace requires diligent practice. Peace isn't perfect. Peace isn't a goal we can achieve once. Peace is the practice of putting love into the world and accepting love from the world. Peace is the practice of connecting and setting boundaries. Peace is the practice of compassion and justice. Peace is the practice of holding ourselves when no one else can and forgiving those incapable of giving us what we need. Peace is helping whenever we can and lifting others up when they fall.
Peace requires us to practice it every day in any way we can and to share that practice with the world around us.
When we practice peace every day, we shift from a climate of chaos to a climate of peace. We must show up and we must practice because we will make mistakes. We can create a climate of peace that surrounds us and spreads out to all those around us if we continue to practice the peace we desire.
First, we must give up the notion of perfection and of peace being a goal we can achieve once and understand that peace is and always will be something we actively practice.
Often, peace didn't stay because I would stop practicing peace. I achieved it. What more was there to do? Then I would begin to feel unsettled again.
Then I would practice peace and there it would be again.
I started practicing living from a place of love. I wanted love to be my foundation for life. I wanted to interact with the world with an attitude of love. I sought to understand rather than judge. It wasn't always easy. I sought to listen rather than to yell. It wasn't always easy. I sought to connect rather than condemn. It wasn't always easy. In fact, these attitude shifts were all difficult in the beginning. I failed repeatedly. These shifts in attitude and behavior, like the peace they brought, required practice.
Meditation helped, particularly loving-kindness meditations, where I learned to send loving thoughts to myself, to people I loved, and to the wider world. I also learned to focus better on what I wanted to focus on. I learned to take a meditative breath or two or ten when confronted with chaos.
Yoga helped because it was an act of loving myself. It helped me feel centered and grounded and like I could fly all at once. As I practiced yoga, I saw the benefits of being in the moment instead of looking outside the moment for what could go wrong because as soon as you think about falling when practicing a balancing pose, you end up on either your head or your butt. That's how you end up injured. But, if you're in the moment, your body finds a peaceful balance that rejects the chaos around you.
Hiking helped me reconnect to nature in a way that reminded me that the Earth is much more powerful than I'll ever be but also heightened my awareness of my responsibility to treat the Earth with respect and appreciation because it is my home and my provider. Without the Earth, we all cease to exist.
I started letting go of people who brought chaos to my life, or at least limiting contact with them. I started paying attention to who brought peace and joy to my life. I started appreciating the little moments in my life I hadn't quite noticed before. I focused on the good in my life instead of always focusing on what went wrong. I looked for solutions rather than for someone or something to blame.
I sought to change the climate of chaos I'd long lived in to a climate where peace was welcomed. The more I invited peace in, the more peaceful I felt. The more peaceful I felt, the easier it was to deal with people in a loving manner. The more I dealt with people in a loving manner, the more peaceful I felt.
I became protective of that climate because it was far too easy to get sucked back into the chaotic climate if I allowed myself to be around people and situations that were mired in chaos and drama.
Peace requires diligent practice. Peace isn't perfect. Peace isn't a goal we can achieve once. Peace is the practice of putting love into the world and accepting love from the world. Peace is the practice of connecting and setting boundaries. Peace is the practice of compassion and justice. Peace is the practice of holding ourselves when no one else can and forgiving those incapable of giving us what we need. Peace is helping whenever we can and lifting others up when they fall.
Peace requires us to practice it every day in any way we can and to share that practice with the world around us.
When we practice peace every day, we shift from a climate of chaos to a climate of peace. We must show up and we must practice because we will make mistakes. We can create a climate of peace that surrounds us and spreads out to all those around us if we continue to practice the peace we desire.
First, we must give up the notion of perfection and of peace being a goal we can achieve once and understand that peace is and always will be something we actively practice.
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