Peace within...

As I was wandering around Google+, watching the things that were posted about #peace, I came across this short post. A young woman visited Thailand on a meditation retreat, and came back changed. In the post, she shared her story about how she realized that peace starts inside and is spread upon others around her.

That, my friends, is the basis of peace. You can't just buy a box of Peace off the shelf in your local store. You might find some Peace on the side of the road while you are out for a walk one day. And you can be gifted a small amount of Peace from a friend... but in the end, it is up to YOU to keep that Peace growing and moving onward and outward.

Start by finding the peace within yourself, then focus on nurturing it. Once it has grown to a point where you can no longer contain it, you need to share it and let it spread.


When you are ready to spread the peace outward from yourself, consider picking something of the handcrafted variety, available for purchase on Zibbet. Don't see exactly what you want? That's okay! We encourage uniqueness and willingly accept custom requests - just ask and we will do our best to bring your idea to life.

Oh, and if you aren't following us on Google+ yet, you should be! Watch for shares and posts there that may not appear here.

Understanding and Respect

Here's another quote regarding peace that really made me stop and think...  

"It is understanding that gives us an ability to have peace. When we understand the other fellow's viewpoint, and he understands ours, then we can sit down and work out our differences."  ~  Harry S. Truman

If this is truly the case, then I fear we will never have world peace. It seems there is always someone (usually the US, dare I say it) who has to be pushy about their own beliefs and completely disregard the beliefs of others. It's not just the people we fight against, but also the people we try to help. When you try to understand a culture for what it is, you are showing disrespect to that culture and all of its people.

An example for your consideration.... I served in the US Navy for 5 years. 2 of the years I spent in Yokosuka, Japan. I loved it there! The scenery was gorgeous, the hustle and bustle of a tight-knit city was infectious, and I loved learning about the Japanese culture. However, being that I am an American, not all Japanese people were nice to me. They had a very valid stigma of American Sailors - loud and obnoxious. Most sailors from my base would go out into town to get drunk and be silly. They did not respect the culture of the Japanese people. And so the Japanese didn't like us. The further I got away from that town (similar to any Navy town in the US), the more friendly and receptive the locals were to me and my friends (the not-so-annoying ones). By understanding the culture and respecting the people and practices, we had many peaceful travels in that country.

I just wish this sort of mentality could expand... Think about how things could be different, even in our own country, if men were intelligent enough to respect their fellow man, and mature enough to sit down and "act like adults" to settle any given quarrel. There'd be fewer fights, fewer crimes, maybe even fewer people locked in prison. There'd be happier people and more pleasant communities. There may not be peace, but we'd be able to work things out so that everyone gets something positive...

What are your thoughts on this?

Ending war, creating peace...

 As I was perusing a site with a bunch of quotes related to peace, this one struck at me...
 

The late Martin Luther King, Jr.

"We must concentrate not merely on the negative expulsion of war but the positive affirmation of peace." ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

This is exactly the message I am trying to spread here - the bad, the negative, the things we don't want are not the things we should be focusing on. We also need to put just as much energy into creating and implementing peace, the positive, exactly what we DO want.

He knew it back in the 50's and 60's, even before the 'peace sign' came into existence. I sure wish more people today could also see it this way...


Remember, it's not about ending war, it's about creating peace.