Why Peace Matters: The Peaceful Planet Manifesto
Beyond happiness and unhappiness is peace. —Eckhart Tolle
Twenty-eight pages. Eighteen photos. Two pages of recommended reading and online videos. Three sections devoted to where I’ve been and why I believe “we’re all peaceful underneath all the crap.” Plus ten facts about interpersonal communication, emotion, thinking, and beliefs that are the source of our conflicts and arguments–and the choices we’re making.
It’s the foundation of what you read here on Peaceful Planet. And it’s free.
It’s the culmination of a year’s worth of thinking since I started this blog and a lifetime of work.
“It’s not a how-to manual and it’s not instructions, though I offer some advice. It’s about my path, the philosophy that guides me, and the beliefs that are interwoven in every post you read on Peaceful Planet. My main goal is to tell you what I’ve learned as inspiration and to share some ideas for your journey.”
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Be the change: for yourself, for the world.
A few excerpts:
Part I: Where you’ve been and where you’re going
I’ve been thinking about the relationship between personal peace and world peace since I was a kid. I grew up in a chaotic family situation that was a rollercoaster of sunshine and storms with dark clouds always brewing on the horizon, and I couldn’t help but wonder about things…
Part II: We’re all peaceful underneath all the crap
Finding inner peace—and making your life more peaceful—isn’t just a matter of resolving to be more compassionate, learning some new skills, and keeping your mouth shut when you’re mad as all hell and want to dump it on other people and make them suffer too. Sometimes peace is about opening your mouth and speaking up to resolve problems—compassionately— that you might feel uncomfortable discussing. Either way, it’s not about willpower or determination…
Part III: We Have Choices
1. Communication is learned
No matter where we’re born, we learn the primary language, dialect, and accent of the people around us most: our families or caretakers. Not only that, we learn the subtleties of communication including body language, gestures, and tone. Still deeper are the things we communicate about: what we share, what we request, how we respond to others, and how we interact with intimate others, relatives, friends, and strangers. As a part of that learning process, beliefs develop, patterns and habits form, and emotional responses become so automatic that we’re barely aware of them….
6. Emotion often drives communication
If we’re not consciously making choices, and if we don’t practice awareness and mindfulness, the things we say in response to our emotions—which are based on our thinking—might not make any sense whatsoever. If my dog pees on the rug because he’s in excruciating pain that makes it hard for him to go outside, it makes no sense to yell at him. Why should I unleash anger on a dog reacting to pain? If a car startles me as it suddenly whizzes by at a high speed, I may feel stressed and angry. I see that a young man is driving and, as he weaves through heavy traffic ahead, I might think “What a jerk. Who does he think he is? I hope he gets a ticket.” I flip him a finger and shout, “Idiot!” A mile down the road, I feel smug and smile when I see that two police cars have, in fact, pulled him over. As I get closer, though, my anger turns to embarrassment and compassion as I see the officers delivering a baby in the back seat. When we get into arguments with our loved ones or friends, it’s very common to say or do hurtful things….
9. Our communication and our lives can be far happier if we are peaceful
Why waste time not being peaceful? There are many aspects of peace, but if we think of compassion, that covers a lot of ground. Take a look at some examples of what our lives might look like if we make a commitment to learning how to be peaceful with one another: We can solve problems, resolve conflicts, and find compromises much more quickly when we’re peaceful….
10. The only way the world can be peaceful is if we are peaceful. We are the world.
The world cannot be peaceful if we aren’t. If no one thinks of violence as a way to solve problems, and if we resolve our differences with compassionate, non-violent communication, why would there be wars? That’s theory, of course, and it hardly seems possible. But imagine this: if a large number of people decided to make the world a better place by deciding, right now, to learn how to be peaceful and do it, even the people who don’t want to do it would be influenced….
An argument requires at least two people. I don’t discount the fact that sometimes we need to protect ourselves from violent individuals who insist on having violent arguments, violent conflicts, and wars. But over time, that would decrease as the whole world changes its response to those people.
Restraint, self-defense, and protection is different from an “I’ll show you” kind of violent response. A movement for peace started in a big way back in the 1960s. Why not keep it moving?
John Lennon sang, Imagine all the people, living life in peace… Ghandi gave us a way to make that a reality: You must be the change you want to see in the world.
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{ 2 comments }
I found reading this Manifesto : The Peaceful Planet, a delightful change from so many books i have read on healing and growing spiritually and emotionally.
Why? Because Leah who has written this Manifesto, has written her personal experiences and lessons down and what she has learnt. It is not just a book telling us what to do and how to do it by someone who seems to know it all. Therefore when reading The Peaceful Planet, it is easy to relate and learn as you read each page.
The writing and language used is very readable and easy to grasp what is being said, without needing to think and ponder seriously upon each suggestion.
I fully relate to Leah’s idea about happiness being elusive, i have always said to people, that i aim for peace and contentment, which to me seems more centred and concrete and balanced. Meditation too is amazing how it changes our thinking. I also do the simple meditation Leah speaks of on my bed, just watching my thoughts pass, and breathing, and wait till i enter that state of complete peace. I practise other meditations too, depending on my mood. Meditation helps us control our minds and our thoughts and hence our responses to situations.
I intend to read this Manifesto often and will give it to my daughter to read too, as she has expressed an interest in such things.
Thank you Leah for all the work you have done to create such a wonderful piece of work,
suellen, Australia.
Hi Suellen,
Thank you so much for taking the time to share your thoughts about the manifesto. I really appreciate the feedback, and I’m so glad you can relate to it and find it useful. Wonderful that you’ll be sharing it with your daughter–I hope everyone knows that they’re free to share it and I hope they do.
Interesting that you practice different types of meditation. Very cool, too, to know I’m not the only one who practices “lying down on the bed meditation.”
Even though I know why we should sit–and I do–sometimes we have to do things in our own way and evaluate what works for us and just do it, regardless of what the experts say we should do.
Thanks again!
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