The International Day of Peace is Monday September 21. And I’m so ready to talk about what we can do to heal our organizations, communities, nations and world – instead of continuing to feed the fires that divide us.
This is the first post in a series.
- The second is: One way YOU can create a more peaceful world. (Really!)
- The third is: PEACE: A Leadership Strategy, Not Pixie Dust!
- The fourth is by Jane Perdue and titled How to reject divisiveness and make people feel valued.
Yes – Conflict is messy, painful and destructive!
- When it appears in our personal lives, it is tempting to flee from it or to add to it.
- When it appears on our televisions it’s easy to begin to believe that there is nothing we can do.
[Tweet ” The Truth Is: Change never begins “out there”. It ALWAYS begins within us. “]
If current events across our world that emphasize fear, hate, violence, chaos, and division cause you to ache for others, worry or feel helpless…
There is something that YOU can do!
Pause and examine your behavior.
Peace FAKERS
…Really believe that they are peace makers. In reality they are experts at letting little irritations build up over time. And as little irritations build up, they eventually blow. And Holy cow – can they blow! (Yes I am a recovering Peace FAKER.)
When they errupt, people around them are usually SHOCKED, and wonder what just happened and often begin to question if they really knew the person that just blew up all over them or not.
Peace BREAKERS
At best: Are good people that enjoy being “in the know about everything” -so much that they don’t realize the damage that their gossip spreading causes.
At worst: Are manipulators that intentionally divide others for power, control, and/or financial gain.
Peace MAKERS
- Care deeply about others.
- Seek to heal instead of destroy.
- Summon courage and walk into discomfort.
- Ask questions.
- Listen.
- Seek to understand.
- Speak truth with grace.
- Listen again.
If you choose to be a Peace-Maker check out the dream in the SlideShare below.
And then summon your courage. Change Your Behavior. And watch how that begins to change every part of the world that you touch!
Learn more about Peacemaking from Ken Sande Here
I’m honored to co-host a #peopleskills Tweet Chat Sunday October 20th at 10 AM EST!
You’re invited to bring your thoughts to this chat and join people from across the world as we discuss Peace Making v.s. Peace Breaking.
This chat takes place the day prior to The International Day of Peace.
(And yes, this conversation applies to families and companies as much as it does to communities and nations!)
Please join us! Click Here For More Information About The #PeopleSkills #PeaceDay Chat
Image Credit: iStock
I love this Chery. A few years ago our Ladies Bible study got into the subject of Peacemakers vs Peacekeepers. I had never thought of the distinctions between those two terms and certainly never considered the drastic differences between them. You brought up a new term: Peace Fakers Your description makes sense. I wonder if an extension of that could be people who think, like I did, that if you have a peace mindset you are a peacemaker, when in fact peacekeeper is closer to the truth.
By the way, I didn’t know about the International Day of Peace on September 21. I hope everyone around the world pays attention.
Hi Jane,
Thank you for your comment. The Peace-Faker expression came from Peacemakers Ministries which is linked at the bottom of the post. It really resonated with me when I took the course – because I recognized myself. For years I had been fooling myself into thinking I was a peacemaker. Duh – Boiling inside while smiling on the outside and eventually blowing like a volcano does not = peacemaker!
I didn’t really know about the day either. It’s on a calendar I got as a gift and I had to do some research.
As a friend and I were discussing this AM my desire to write about it is not from an idealistic “I want world peace” – Pageant Contestant.
It’s from a place of being deeply concerned about our world, and the reporting and so-called leaders that intentionally manipulate to cause more division.
None of us can change someone else. But we can change ourselves and our behavior can be a light to others. …Which can change our world!
Hi Chery,
Wonderful post. You are making a difference by highlighting the International Day of Peace, by writing this post, and by inviting others to share their stories and ideas.
To me, peace comes through a couple of universal steps:
a)Questioning, learning, understanding.
b)Belief in something other than our own individual needs. It’s a part of emotional intelligence and yet we see even in religions that very rigid beliefs breed selfish inflexibility. That breeds conflict.
When we keep our minds open, learn, discuss, and work through issues to a reasonable win/win — peace is at hand.
I am going to feature your blog post in the G+ People Skills community and ask others to add their ideas as well. Hope you will participate in that discussion.
Also I would love to have this topic of peace makers be a #Peopleskills global Twitter chat topic. If you would like to co-host with me, let me know. The chat runs every Sunday 10amET.
Lastly, we are doing an online rally to #Stopbullying on Sunday Oct. 4th 10amET in the chat. We do one every few months and it is one step to advance peace.
Bravo and best regards,
Kate
Kate Nasser, The People Skills Coach™
Thank you so much Kate!
I appreciate your additions and will share them in the future posts as well.
Thank you for reposting in G+!
And yes – I’d love to co-host a future chat!
And thank you for your efforts to #Stopbullying. It is the reason I thought to reach out to you with this topic. You are making a difference!
When I first started my blog it was because I was so heartbroken at bullying. Somehow I got away from that theme and ended up going back and deleting my earliest posts. I am still passionately anti-bullying though. I am in church at the time of Kate’s online chats but I’m thankful they exist. Nobody deserves to be bullied.