Journal Writing Prompt: Peace

“Every day we do things, we are things, that have to do with peace.? If we are aware of our life…, our way of looking at things, we will know how to make peace right in the moment, we are alive.”

~Thich Nhat Hanh

In your journal, recount your day (or recount yesterday if you are journaling in the mornings).? Look for little encounters throughout your day, and list them.? The list doesn’t need to be long – maybe 10 encounters or so.? These can be anything from going through the checkout at a local store, passing a co-worker, or talking on the phone with someone.? If you are struggling to come up with 10 things, think hard on this – usually we have hundreds of encounters a day…most are just so commonplace that we don’t even take notice.

Now, for each encounter, write a short description.? Did you smile at the checker?? Say a kind word?? Were you gruff and hurried?

Next, evaluate each encounter in the light of today’s quote.? Was it a peace-promoting encounter?? If it was not, why not?? How could you change the encounter to make it a peace promoter?

Daily journal writing prompt:? I consider myself, most of the time, a “peace activist”.? No, I’m not carrying a placard promoting the usual peace activist causes, nor am I participating in marches.? However, I do make an effort to be kind and promote peace one person at a time.? Every interaction, no matter how insignificant gives you the opportunity to potentially change someone else’s entire day.? Think about it – have you ever had someone yell at you (or be gruff) first thing in the morning, and your entire day seems to go downhill?? What about the flip side – have you ever had someone say something kind and it “picked you up” for the entire day?? I really believe that is how we all can be “peace activists” – regardless of political affiliation or our opinions on hot button topics.

In your journal, write about a few things you can do today (or tomorrow) that will promote peace for those around you.? Make a plan to do them…if you need to, write them out on a slip of paper that you will carry with you – not so much to refer to, but, just to remind you of your goal.? Come back to this entry after you carry out some of those things, and write about how you felt and how you suspect it made that person feel (if you didn’t get immediate oral feedback).

Happy Journaling!