Peace Inspiration and our Next Kit: Possibility

If you'd like to keep exploring the PEACE theme, here's the inspiration page from the fantastic month we've just completed using the PEACE kit at Scrapbooking from the Inside Out. You can also see all of our amazing DT's sample pages and projects in the gallery here: PEACE Design Team Layouts.

Journaling Prompts

Peace on Earth:
All throughout history, people have gone to war to claim land, to promote their beliefs and to protect their values. Yet, all throughout history, we’ve wished for a way to peace. Why do you think this dichotomy exists? Do you think that Peace on Earth is possible? What would have to change in order to bring about a lasting peace? Prosperity? Not just tolerance, but understanding and valuing difference? Freedom? Is it actually possible to FIGHT for peace? What do you think goes on in the minds and hearts of those involved in making the decision to wage war vs. the reality of those who serve?

Inner Peace:
This may be to most elusive of individual desires…a feeling that everything is going to be alright. To me, the opposite of inner peace is restlessness. What would you need to know or to believe to have a lasting inner peace? Have you ever felt it? What were the conditions that brought you that feeling? How much do you think you create inner peace as separate from your life circumstances?

Serenity Prayer:
God grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
And wisdom to know the difference.

Many of us know these words from our own experience, or that of a friend or family member in a 12-step program, but the prayer actually came from a 1934 sermon by Reinhold Neibuhr…or may have much earlier origins…at any rate, the words are powerful. Is there peace and serenity in accepting the things you cannot change? Are you able to put this idea into practice, or do you struggle with trying to make change, even when things may look unchangeable? Is it wise to know the difference, or is the world made up of those who push and those who ride the currents? What are your limits? Do they bring you peace or take it away?

Shalom:
The Hebrew word for peace, Shalom, actually comes from the root 'shaleym', or 'whole'. What, if anything, feels broken and not whole in your life or in the lives of those you love? What are the missing pieces in your orbit that might bring you the feeling of wholeness and peace? What do you do to close the gaps and cracks? Is the whole greater than the sum of its parts? What other words for peace have interesting roots and a deeper meaning?

Rest, Calm and Quiet:
Sleep is so important to our day to day functioning. What's your quality of sleep? Is it restful or fitful? Do you remember your dreams? Are they peaceful images of a lovely past or future, or are your dreams your way of exorcising your demons? Even your resting hours while awake contribute to a healthy self. Is your home a restful place, or is there strife in your family, or perhaps a cluttered environment that is less than restful to see? How does noise affect you? Do you need quiet space, or are you energized or comforted by background sounds?

Worry:
When we are truly at peace, worry isn't in our vocabulary. What do you worry about? Do you worry excessively? What do you do to calm yourself and reduce worry? Have you ever used medication to reduce worry and anxiety? What about meditation, breathing exercises…have those techniques helped, and if so, how did you use that assistance - for the short term or long term?

Music

Quotes

Nothing is more conducive to peace of mind than not having any opinions at all. Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

If man does find the solution for world peace it will be the most revolutionary reversal of his record we have ever known. George C. Marshall

There is no need to go to India or anywhere else to find peace. You will find that deep place of silence right in your room, your garden or even your bathtub. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

Courage is the price that Life exacts for granting peace. Amelia Earhart

Out of the strain of the Doing, into the peace of the Done. Julia Louise Woodruff

Not merely an absence of noise, Real Silence begins when a reasonable being withdraws from the noise in order to find peace and order in his inner sanctuary. Peter Minard

Have courage for the great sorrows of life and patience for the small ones; and when you have laboriously accomplished your daily task, go to sleep in peace. God is awake. Victor Hugo

If you want to make peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies. Moshe Dayan

Let tears flow of their own accord: their flowing is not inconsistent with inward peace and harmony. Seneca

Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop away from you like the leaves of Autumn. John Muir

Living apart and at peace with myself, I came to realize more vividly the meaning of the doctrine of acceptance. To refrain from giving advice, to refrain from meddling in the affairs of others, to refrain, even though the motives be the highest, from tampering with another's way of life - so simple, yet so difficult for an active spirit. Hands off! Henry Miller

First keep the peace within yourself, then you can also bring peace to others. Thomas Kempis

Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. Ralph Waldo Emerson

We shall find peace. We shall hear the angels, we shall see the sky sparkling with diamonds. Anton Chekhov

Learning to ignore things is one of the great paths to inner peace. Robert J. Sawyer

If you want peace, stop fighting. If you want peace of mind, stop fighting with your thoughts. Peter McWilliams

Peace of mind is that mental condition in which you have accepted the worst. Lin Yutang

One cannot find peace in work or in pleasure, in the world or in a convent, but only in one's soul. W. Somerset Maugham

When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will finally know peace. Jimi Hendrix

For the sake of peace one may lie, but peace itself should never be a lie. The Talmud

He that would live in peace and at ease, must not speak all he knows nor judge all he sees. Benjamin Franklin

I do not want the peace which passeth understanding, I want the understanding which bringeth peace. Helen Keller

Until he extends his circle of compassion to include all living things, man will not himself find peace. Albert Schweitzer

Peace can be reached through meditation on the knowledge which dreams give. Peace can also be reached through concentration upon that which is dearest to the heart. Patanjali


When we are capable of living in the moment free from the tyranny of "shoulds," free from the nagging sensation that this moment isn't right, we will have peaceful hearts. Joan Borysenko

I dream of wayward gulls and all landless lovers, rare moments of winter sun, peace, privacy, for everyone. William F. Claire

If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other. Mother Teresa

Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without. Buddha

Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace. Buddha

Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding. Albert Einstein

One can not reflect in streaming water. Only those who know internal peace can give it to others. Lao Tzu

A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. Abraham Maslow

He is happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Forgiveness is not always easy. At times, it feels more painful than the wound we suffered, to forgive the one that inflicted it. And yet, there is no peace without forgiveness. Marianne Williamson

I am at peace with God. My conflict is with Man. Charlie Chaplin

The happiness and peace attained by those satisfied by the nectar of spiritual tranquility is not attained by greedy persons restlessly moving here and there. Chanakya

Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love. Francis of Assisi

If there is to be any peace it will come through being, not having. Henry Miller

Never continue in a job you don't enjoy. If you're happy in what you're doing, you'll like yourself, you'll have inner peace. And if you have that, along with physical health, you will have had more success than you could possibly have imagined. Johnny Carson

Hope is like peace. It is not a gift from God. It is a gift only we can give one another. Elie Wiesel

Peace of mind comes from not wanting to change others. Gerald Jampolsky

Dedicate yourself to the good you deserve and desire for yourself. Give yourself peace of mind. You deserve to be happy. You deserve delight. Hannah Arendt

The most valuable possession you can own is an open heart. The most powerful weapon you can be is an instrument of peace. Carlos Santana

The man who has gotten everything he wants is all in favor of peace and order. Jawaharlal Nehru

You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist. Indira Gandhi

But then peace, peace! I am so mistrustful of it: so much afraid that it means a sort of weakness and giving in. D. H. Lawrence


Words were never invented to fully explain the peaceful aura that surrounds us when we are in communion with minds of the same thoughts. Eddie Myers

Keep Exploring Your Inner World!

Make sure you come on by tomorow for the launch of January's theme:

POSSIBILITY!



Love,

Rachel