The Balance Beam From Success Builders Inc.

This is From The Balance Beam

[TheBalanceBeam] - Let There Be Peace on Earth

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THE BALANCE BEAM
Ideas and Inspiration for Creating a Life that Works
Vol. 3 No. 21, December 21, 2001
Published by Success Builders, Inc.
http://www.SuccessBuildersInc.com
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"He who knows others is wise; he who knows himself is enlightened."
Lao-tzu
In this issue: LET THERE BE PEACE ON EARTH
====================================================================== Dear Friends:
I hope this issue of The Balance Beam finds you wrapping up business for the year and putting it aside in order to focus on holidays, loved ones, and traditions - new and old. As I go about my preparations, I want to share with you some thoughts that have been spinning around in my head about something that has been in the forefront for all of us in recent months - finding peace.
If you are interested in reading earlier editions of The Balance Beam, you can easily retrieve them by clicking on http://www.successbuildersinc.com/newsletter.html and going to the Archives section. If you are not yet a regular subscriber to The Balance Beam, you can also enter your subscription information at this location.
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Today's Topic: LET THERE BE PEACE ON EARTH
Like most people, I've been spending a lot of time this holiday season thinking about peace. All kinds of peace: inner peace, world peace, spiritual peace, peace and quiet. Webster offers many definitions for peace. Among them: "a state of tranquility or calm," "a state or period of mutual concord between governments," "freedom from disquieting or oppressive thoughts and emotions," "harmony in personal relations."
I guess one way to look at it is that there's big peace and little peace. Big peace is the grand-scale variety, and alludes to things like absence of wars and terrorism, disarmament, treaties, and international accord. Little peace is about feeling that all is right with the world, being able to sleep at night, and playing with your friends without fighting.
As with most things in life, if you want to get to the big stuff, you've got to start with the little stuff. Which is to say that world peace really starts with sharing your cookies and inviting the new kid in class to sit with you at lunch. If you look at it in this manner, each one of us is directly responsible for world peace.
So how do we get from here to there? What are the conditions, behaviors and ways of being that lead us to a place of peace, and hence, a peaceful world? Here are some of my thoughts about the building blocks for peace:
- The ability to acknowledge and accept others' experiences of life and the universe as valid. By and large, we're an egocentric species with a huge need to be right. Peace requires a shift in mindset that honors the notion that we create our own realities. For the most part, there is no absolute right with a capital "R".
- Living mindfully in the present. Although we know intellectually that the present moment is all we can really count on, we're all over the map when it comes to where we psychically hang out. We stew about the past and harbor resentments and regret; we worry about the future and stress over what could happen. Peace requires the ability to live mindfully in the moment, and to be grateful for the enormous privilege of simply being alive.
- Eliminating fear around what is different. Another thing about people is that while we profess to like variety and new things, we're comforted by what is known and predictable. A precursor to peace is being able to encounter differences with an open mind and heart, avoiding the unconscious assumption that different is bad.
- Self-acceptance. Before we can make peace in the world, we must first make peace with ourselves. This means embracing the totality of who we are, warts and all. Much of the conflict in the world comes from a tendency to deny our dark sides and project these shadows onto others. The really wonderful thing about human beings is that we are all perfectly imperfect. As they say, 'ya gotta love it.
- The Golden Rule. In many ways, achieving peace is really pretty simple. It comes down to the guideline we were all taught when we were little: Do unto others, as you would want them to do unto you. That means ALL others, even those you don't necessarily like. One of the most potent elixirs for peace we have at our disposal is basic civility and respect.
In this season of miracles, I wish you peace. The little kind and the big kind. May we all meet each other on the road of life with open minds and loving hearts.
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Words to live by:
"Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal."
-- Martin Luther King, Jr.
"Imagine all the people living life in peace.
You may say I'm a dreamer,
but I'm not the only one.
I hope someday you'll join us,
and the world will be as one."
-- John Lennon
"The course of human history is determined, not by what happens in the skies, but by what takes place in our hearts."
-- Sir Arthur Kent
"A peace above all earthly dignities, a still and quiet conscience."
-- William Shakespeare
"Better than a thousand hollow words,
Is one word that brings peace."
-- Buddha
"Peace is not an absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice."
-- Baruch Spinoza
"Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace."
-- St. Francis of Assisi