Got Peace?

Our world needs more peace... That almost seems like a ridiculous thing to say. It's so obvious... right?

And yet... do we really think about where peace begins? Does it need to start 'out there' where the bombs are going off? Or does it need to start with us? Is it any use to want global peace, to want the killing and violence to stop, if we are living in our own war zone?

Let's think about this for a moment. What if the condition of the world around us is simply an out-picturing of the world within. With all this talk about 'the law of attraction' and how we create what we think about, that would add up.

So, what if those times we have been critical and judgmental of ourselves, those times we have been ashamed or felt unworthy, or those times we've simply had a limiting belief about ourselves, what if those moments are the roots of war?

That place inside each of us, where we relate to ourselves, is perhaps the place where conflict has to be resolved. When we actively settle the differences within our own being and come to a friendly understanding, this then would be the place peace has it's roots. And let's not forget the love that sits before the peace, urging it on.

Peace and love show up in how we talk to ourselves, what we believe and how we honor our deepest needs and values. Peace comes out of each of us finding the center of love again. If every person loved themselves, there would be peace in our relationships and peace on our planet.

So, the question is, can we commit to beginning here, inside, with ourselves? Can we commit to finding congruence and understanding within? Can we commit to compassion? Can we commit to communication and patience? Can we commit to unconditional kindness? Can we commit to love?

The journey we take toward love is the most important journey of all. The journey back to self-love is the first step. Only then can we begin to love another in ways that feel like love to them. Only then can we begin to tend to each other with a compassion and understanding that comes from a deeper and more central experience. And when that happens, the world opens up and we remember that there is really only one of us here... The only thing possible, then, is peace.

© 2007 Justina Vail Evans. All rights reserved.