Peace Offerings

Posted under General by Linda F. Torres

PEACE OFFERINGS – 101 WAYS TO ACHIEVE AND MAINTAIN INNER PEACE by Rev. Jayne H. Feldman

 Peace tools to ponder.  I believe these can bring us the inner peace that we at some time yearn for…

Let Peace Begin with Me 

1. Believe in God. Energizing belief in God daily through your thoughts, faithfulness and spiritual exercises is the key to unlocking inner peace. Know that God believes in you, too.

2. Look for goodness in all you encounter. Be a seeker of all that is good.

3. Spend time daily observing yourself – your thoughts and emotions. Reflection upon yourself brings you understanding about yourself and your patterns. Be truthful with yourself about patterns that are unhealthy. Changing negative life skills to positive life skills changes the world for the better.

4. Meditate. Meditation allows you to be a disciple to your Higher Self – the “you” that is conscious of its connection with God – the source of all. Make time to be still and be in oneness with God through meditation. Meditating is putting yourself in peace space.

5. Serve others. When you give peace to others through being helpful and of service, you will be the recipient of peace, too.

6. Stretch your imagination through knowledge. Give your spirit wings to soar through wisdom. Make peace with yourself that you do not know everything and fill each day with learning experiences.

7. Keep a daily peace journal making note of beautiful moments of peace you experienced during the day. Create a peace book filled with images, i.e. photographs – quotations – that instill you with peace. Ponder upon peace.

8. Believe in yourself as a peacemaker. Live your life knowing that the peaceful choices you make in your own life make a difference in the world.
Get acquainted with your neighbors. Take the first step to start building a neighborhood of peace.

9. Limit the time you spend watching television news programs; reading newspapers. Fill your free time with life enriching activities that help strengthen you so you are able to maintain peace easily in your life – even in chaotic times.

10. Live in the now fully, abundantly and peacefully. Don’t worry about tomorrow. God is already there.

11. Pray. Make time for prayer. In your “talking to God” time, ask for support for peace in your life and peace on earth. In St. Padre Pio’s words: Don’t worry; pray. Join the World Peace Prayer Society (www.worldpeace.org).

12. Affirm peace. Say affirmations proclaiming peace in your life, i.e. “I am one with God’s peace.” Cultivate positive thinking habits. Develop a positive peaceful outlook.

13. Get quality sleep time. Enjoy a peaceful sleep. Create an atmosphere of peace in your bedroom through colors, art, bedding and pillows.

14. Declare peace intentions. When you wake up in the morning, express your intent to live a life of peace. Start your day with the intent that in all that you do, you will be a peacemaker, i.e. “Today is a new day and it is my intent to fill all my waking moments being peace filled.”

15. Play peace songs such as “Let Peace Begin With Me;” and John Lennon’s “Imagine” in your car; in your home. Fill your life with sounds that soothes your soul and make you feel at peace.

16. Use the word “together”. Together is a magical word. Use it in your life to solve problems, i.e., How can we resolve this together? Use it in your life in your relationships? How can we work together? How can we play together?

17. Pursue peace in all you do. Look for ways to embody Martin Luther King’s words: “We must pursue peaceful ends through peaceful means.” Look for alternatives to fighting and quarreling that occurs in your life and family’s life. Look for peaceful resolutions.

18. Be God’s peace angel to those whose worlds are in turmoil. Be an angel of hope to those who are feeling hopeless perhaps over a lost job or relationship ending.

19. Talk to a child about what peace means to them. Learn from children the truths about peace. Ask children to paint a picture of what peace looks like.

21. Discover, imagine, explore peacemaking through the book Peace Quest (www.celebratingpeace.com/book/html) which promotes four basic themes: Peace for Me, Peace for Us, Peace for Everyone, Peace for the Planet.

22. Take a class in peace solutions for conflicts. Sign up for a peace studies program. Learn about peace; teach peace to your family. Sponsor a peace speaker to come to your town.

23. Plant a peace pole on your property or in your community as part of a Children’s Peace Festival (www.peacepoles.com).

24. Learn about people who have been champions of peace; i.e Peace Pilgrim; Mattie Stepanek. Learn quotations about peace.

25. Speak up for peace’s sake. Be the voice of peace.

26. Write a letter to someone currently in the armed forces and thank them for being a peacekeeper.

27. Practice peace daily. Just like playing the piano, peace takes practice.

28. Visualize a TV news program with the words: Breaking News! See the newsperson telling the listening audience: “We’ve just received this breaking news. There’s peace on earth!”

29. Live a peaceful life by living simply. Uncomplicate your life. Have just what you need.

30. Make time to study the stars and connect with the peacefulness of the night sky.

31. Think of peace as in important ingredient in the recipe of life. Stir in an abundant helping of peace in all your experiences rather than stirring in trouble. Be a peacemaker not a troublemaker.

32. Say a blessing daily upon your home. “God bless our home with peace and all those who reside within.”

33. Walk in peace. Whenever you are walking, visualize that yours is a peace path. Visualize that your walk is sacred and that God’s peace flows through you and to the earth. Your walk blesses the earth with peace.

34. Create peace time in your life with those living in your home with you. Peace on earth begins with times of peace at the supper table; sharing a bathroom; sharing chores.

35. Write our government a letter encouraging the creation of a Department of Peace.

36. Create and celebrate your own special BE A PEACEMAKER DAY – a day to spread the message of peace.

37. Learn origami and create a dove of peace and hang in your home. Have a basket of origami doves and give as gifts to visitors of your home.

38. Be realistic when making plans and setting goals. Don’t sabotage your inner peace by unrealistic expectations.

39. Do a web search by typing in the word “peace” and explore websites dedicated to promoting peace.

40. Nurture children with peaceful environments. Plant trees in your community; clean up trash.

41. Record a message of peace for your answering machine message.

42. Stamp your letters and checks with a peace statement, ie. Peace is not an absence; it is the presence of God.

43. Make peace with yourself and the way things happen in your life. Take the pressure off yourself in recognizing there’s a lot that you can’t control. You can, however, choose your response to all your life’s happenings. Choose to respond with peace.

44. Make an appointment with yourself to have a day, an evening where you are free of the stress of having to be somewhere doing something.

45. Enjoy the peacefulness of solitude. Spend time alone to replenish your soul. Remember the great masters of life who have mirrored to us the importance of spending time alone with God.

46. Make peace with stressful demands by prioritizing your workload. Ask yourself, “What do I need to do now?” After you complete the task, give yourself a respite.

47. Practice patience. Practicing patience is practicing peace. When something is not happening fast enough for you, pause and breathe in the peace of living your life on God’s watch.

48. Be happy with what you have. Have an attitude of gratitude and thanksgiving. Appreciate the life God has given you. Thinking about what you are grateful for in your life keeps things peaceful in your soul.

49. Walk a gentle path through life. Walk in oneness with your integrity. Don’t compromise your values. Peace comes with living in oneness with your ideals.

50. Smile. Peace starts with a smile.

51. Embrace St. Francis of Assisi’s words: “Lord , make me an instrument of Thy Peace.”  Be a peace instrument in God’s orchestra of life. Keep yourself tuned to spreading peace in the key of you.

Angel Blessings,

Linda.