Peace begins and ends with ourselves. Since the beginning of time, humans have tried to create peace by changing others.
But peace can only come when we change ourselves. If we have anger in our hearts, if we continue to judge others, and if we cannot forgive, there will always be conflict in the world. As Yoko Ono once said, “Think peace, act peace, spread peace, imagine peace. Your thoughts will soon cover the planet. The most important thing is to believe in your power. It works.”
No one was born to hate or destroy others. We came from love and will one day return to love. Our job is to live from that love in the time we have in between. Look within, beyond all the noise, to that field of silence, the reservoir of pure peace and harmony that we all carry within us. Find the peace within and then allow it to flow forth as a blessing to the whole world. When we live from our own peace, we will bring lasting peace to our beautiful planet earth.
We have to begin from the inside and move outwards.
Everything and everyone is connected at a subtle level, and everything we do affects everything else to some greater or lesser degree.
I had a revelation a few years ago. I was driving on the highway when someone cut right in front of me, causing me to brake hard. I had the knee-jerk reaction to yell, “You idiot, we could have been killed!” Fortunately, I quickly caught myself and let it go. Who knows? He might have been rushing to an emergency.
But then I thought, where did that flash of anger go? All emotions have energy, so that angry energy had to go off into the cosmos. Then I thought of all the other people who had flashes of angry energy that morning. When the anger goes into the cosmos, it attracts all those other angers moments and forms a large cloud of anger. This cloud will continue to grow as other angers are added to it, and one day it might descend back to Earth in the form of a terrorist attack or similar act of violence.
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To be clear, this doesn’t mean that every time we hear of a major act of violence we collapse in a pile of guilt. But it does mean that we all need to take responsibility and be conscious of our actions and our emotions. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “For every minute you are angry, you lose 60 seconds of happiness.”
And that’s not only for yourself, but for the whole world.
So, what can we do on a daily basis to live from peace? Here are a few suggestions.
1. Set the Tone for the Day: Mother Teresa said that “peace begins with a smile.” First thing in the morning, set the tone for the day. When you go into the bathroom, look into your eyes in the mirror, smile, and say (silently or aloud), “I am peace. I am harmony. I am joy. I am love.”
2. Repeat This Before You Meditate: When you sit to meditate, begin by silently repeating this prayer from the Native American Cheyenne: “Let us know peace. For as long as the moon shall rise, for as long as the rivers shall flow, for as long as the sun shall shine, for as long as the grass shall grow, let us know peace.” Then close your eyes, carry its essence, and plant it in your silence.
3. Help Someone in Need: One day a week, make a point of selflessly helping someone in need. This could be a regular volunteer commitment, or helping a family member, friend, or work colleague who needs some support.
4. Live Each Day Consciously: Pause and take a breath before you act or respond to a situation. Don’t always be the first to speak, and don’t have the need to have the last word. Practice listening to the other’s point of view with an open mind. Remember that peace is found in silence. Angry people shout at each other because although they are close physically, their hearts are far apart. Lovers only need to whisper. As the poet Rumi said, “Raise your words, not your voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder.”
5. Replace Hostility With Trust: Whenever you encounter a conflict in your personal life or among family, friends, or co-workers, take the time to come up with a creative idea to help resolve it by replacing hostility and suspicion with trust. The Dalai Lama told us, “Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them.”
6. Share Your Ideas for Peacemaking: As more people live from peace, the world will automatically grow in harmony and love.
7. Recite This at the End of the Day: Before you go to sleep, silently repeat these lines: “O Lord, grant that this night we may sleep in peace, and that in the morning, our awakening may also be in peace.”
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Since the beginning of time, we have tried to create peace by fighting each other. It hasn’t worked, and sadly there is still violence all across the globe. We no sooner end it in one place than it rises up somewhere else. The Vedas tell us that the gateways to hell are anger, lust, and greed. If we look around today’s world, we see those in so many places, and in so many lives. What happens in the world is a result of the collective consciousness of us all. If we change this, we change the world.
Oscar Wilde said, “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” When enough people raise their consciousness by looking within, through such practices as meditation, we will break free from this prison of suffering that we have created for ourselves.
We will all rise up into the stars, ready to enjoy the dawn of a Golden Age of love, compassion, and peace.
Roger Gabriel is Chopra Global’s Chief Meditation Officer and a member of the Chopra Center Certifications’ Advisory Board. Want to learn from him directly? Enroll in the Chopra Meditation Certification, the Chopra Meditation Enrichment course, or the Chopra Meditation Foundations course.