Cultivating Peace

We are busy people living in a very fast time. Through our work at NBC Camps we encounter many people living on the edge, responding to crisis with very little margin. The more stress and effort we place into our schedule, the more we can tip the scales into chaos. We must develop the skill to living more peacefully.

Five Ways to have more peace.

Schedule:  Bottom line our schedules are too full. It takes 18 months to build a bridge. How much time have you spent evaluating what you are doing every day? Take time to examine your schedule. What are your talents and passions, what can you eliminate? Be purposeful about what you put and do not put into your schedule.

Slow down: We eat fast, we live fast, we are racing through life. Slowing down means to dramatically alter our thoughts and lifestyle. We are too quick to be angry, to jump to poor conclusions. Slowing down means to go to bed before sending an angry email , think before you say something foolish, to stop before you say something harsh, to gather all the information before jumping to conclusions.

Simplify:
Many of us are drowning in too much stuff; too much stuff to keep track of, keep neat, keep in good working order. We are surrounded by things and possessions. They can drain our energy from creating, from growing, from becoming the best we can be.


Solitude:
Being alone and taking time to reflect during this time is vital to our ability to problem solve and to grow. We need time by ourselves to evaluate our lives, to listen, to pray, to regroup.

Silence:
How often are you in silence? Perhaps never. We live in a very noisy time, with ipods, cell phones, TVs we have little time for silence. The average person has over 60,000 words in his or her head each day, we need to have time to be still and listen, to sit in silence.

Which of the five do you need to work on the most?

Take 18 minutes a day this week to work on these five skills for cultivating peace.