Blog

Create an angel of peace in 6 steps

Posted on December 19, 2022

Create an angel of peace in 6 steps

Inspirations for everyday life to create peace

by Jutta Goldammer

1. Expose yourself to the cold

Creating peace does not always mean spreading harmony and living a friendly life with a kind smile. Peacemaking can also mean saying STOP! where injustice is happening to you or others, standing up and standing by people who are experiencing violence. This sometimes feels very uncomfortable and it takes courage and overcoming to face the cold wind of confrontation, especially if you consider yourself a peace-loving, kind person. Are there moments in your life when you could go on living your own cosy life unmolested and yet feel: this is where I am needed, this is where I should get involved, this is where I must not look away? 

2. Dare to go into the fresh snow

Sometimes making peace requires forgiving the old and thus giving our counterpart the chance to start again without the past burdening the present and future. Are there old grudges, hurts, disputes that you are willing to feel again in order to forgive and let go of them afterwards?

3. Let the earth touch you

Living peace is not limited to respectful relations among people. It means respect for the whole world, including animals and plants. Let yourself be touched and amazed by the earth, by nature, by the breathtaking creatures with whom we share this planet! Maybe you would like to try to remember this wonder on your next walk in the woods, on your next way to work or when you look out of the window in the morning? Or, next time you go shopping, incorporate your respect for life on this planet into your purchasing decisions?

4. Get moving

It's easier to make peace with open arms, and it produces far more beautiful snow angels of peace. So: spread your arms. And then get moving - reach out to others, share your ideas for a successful peaceful society, contribute with your actions. Where can you encounter people with open arms and an open heart? Where can you give with open hands? Where can you already start today to live and foster what you wish for a friendly, livable and peaceful society of tomorrow? 

5. Leave your peace signature

Perhaps you know this: you walk into a room or sit in a meeting and sense tension, fear, mistrust or simply an indefinable bad mood among the people. It is easy to get infected by these feelings yourself. However, it doesn't take much to change the atmosphere for the better. Try it yourself and you will notice how much you can change as a single person. First ask yourself what would do this group of people good. Maybe it is confidence, courage, ease or goodwill. Then put yourself in that mood. If you don't succeed immediately, you can recall a memory in which you felt confident or courageous, etc. - depending on what mood you have chosen. Loll about in this mood so that you are completely filled and permeated by it. You can do this quietly and unnoticed, you don't have to talk about it or behave in a special way towards the others. And yet you will notice how your own personal mood signature changes the atmosphere in the room. 

6. rejoice in beauty

Celebrate and honour yourself and others in your efforts to be angels of peace. Appreciate yourself and the people around you for what is already working well and also for continuing and persevering in spite of setbacks and the perception of your own limitations. Show others that you see these efforts. Creating peace also means not expecting more from yourself than what is possible at the moment, and not beating yourself up for not being perfect and not being as generous, forgiving, courageous, calm etc. as you would like to be. Perfect angels are boring and cheesy and guaranteed not to be real. Rejoice in the angels with quirks, in those who set out alive, full of longing and with an open heart to bring peace, who stumble over their own human limitations, fail, ck on their feet again, keep trying, grope in the dark, are insecure, perhaps even make fools of themselves at times. Because these angels are real and they are the ones who leave traces of peace in our world.