Peace, starts here, with you, with me, with all of us, one stitch at a time...
Year's ago I attended a leadership conference and the speaker asked "who wants world peace?" We all raised our hands. Then, we were asked "how many of you choose peace each day?" No one raised their hand. It was one of those moments... a game-changer if you will.
Peace, it's my choice. It's your choice. Somehow, somewhere I think we've come to expect that world peace is created by people in powerful positions. There's foreign policy, diplomats, peace treaties, etc. It's at a level above us as individuals, right? Yes, that's one version of peace but not the only one. Maybe an additional consideration when it comes to world peace is that it's up to us...we are the drivers in this scenario. We need not wait for someone to do this for us.
We can be that voice of peace. Let's build this from the ground-up...it's a grass-roots effort or perhaps a knitted-roots effort on creating a culture of peace.
“All of us can work for peace. We can work right where we are, right within ourselves, because the more peace we have within our own lives, the more we can reflect into the outer situation. ”
For the next 21 days, I'm asking you to choose peace. Choose you. That doesn't mean ignore others, no, not at all. It means make time for you. As each one of us chooses peace, it extends to reach others. Project Peace is about choosing peace and slowing down. Your peaceful actions will positively influence others. I know, we are busy but if we truly want a peaceful world, we need to make the time.
Here's what you can expect from me over the next 21 days.
A daily tip will arrive in your email inbox each day. These tips will come in the form of a reflection, activities, stories, music, quotes, readings, etc. There will be a few guest posts and at least two give-aways near the beginning and the end of PP17. There's a pattern I designed called "Project Peace 2017" available on Ravelry so you can knit along in peace through the month of December.
As I mentioned, peace has many definitions and multiple types. Peace is complicated. I find this graphic from The Peace Alliance to be quite insightful. The focus for the next 21 days is "cultivating personal peace." Don't worry, cultivating "inner peace" is not selfish... it will magnify and positively influence others. You never know, perhaps as a result, you'll find yourself getting more engaged in your community, teaching peace in schools, maybe teaching kids to knit, etc. If peace begins with each of us, it'll ripple.
And as you knit the shawl, you'll see this captured in the design. The shawl begins with a point (that's you) and then it extends outward ending with waves of ripples.
The 5 cornerstones of peacebuilding from The Peace Alliance
Day 1. Peaceful tip
Consider starting a journal or some other way to capture your thoughts for the next 21 days. I kept a little peace-log last year to keep track of thoughts, quotes, ideas, questions, reflections. Today, pour yourself a wee cuppa of something, ponder the following questions and perhaps jot down a few things that come to mind.
- What does peace mean to me?
- What simple little ritual can I establish each day to give myself some peaceful time?
I'll be providing some suggestions about how to create daily rituals to cultivate peace during the peace-along but let's see what great ideas all of you have. Please post any ideas; you never know what new insights might be generated that will be useful to others.
Peace...stitch by stitch, row by row.
Christina