Peace room

Is there a peace room in your home?

Is there a war room? (Check where you have the television.)

Alice Walker inspired me this week, “War will stop when we no longer praise it, or give it any attention at all. Peace will come wherever it is sincerely invited.”

You know, of course, that whatever we praise increases. How much time are you spending praising war? We don’t mean to do it most of the time. It’s just what’s on the news, you say?

I’m reading Steve Pavlina’s new book, Personal Development for Smart People. In it, one of the practices he suggests is a 30-day Media Fast. It’s one way to stop “praising” war. Pavlina says further, “Peace arises naturally from the principle-centered path.”

Are you living by your principles?

In place of your news time, what if you were to invite peace sincerely to fill the space instead? The key is sincerity. Do we really, sincerely, want peace? Enough to invite it into our lives on a daily basis?

It’s a good question.

Barbara Leger writing in the July 2008 issue of Science of Mind Magazine writes, “Peace will come if we give it room.”

Could it really be that simple?

For many years, I lived in less-than-generously-sized New York City apartments. The suggestions of well-meaning writers that I dedicate a room to meditation or peace or whatever always made me laugh. It’s okay. Start small. I started with one chair, and created a “trigger” for myself. Every time I sat in it, I told myself that I was in a State of Peace. Eventually, Peace washed over me whenever I sat in the chair.

Can’t make a chair dedicated to peace? Try a toothbrush. A glass. A tea cup. A candle.

If Peace really will come if we give it room, it is incumbent upon all of us to not only invite it sincerely but to give it room.

Visit Susan Corso’s spiritual blog or subscribe to Seeds at www.susancorso.com.