The word ‘peace’ has been used too many a times that majority of us truly don’t know what it means. People talk about peace every now and then and one might presume that we are gurus in mastering this concept. On the contrary, none of us have truly attained or understood peace. We all, only take up its bits and pieces.

Many of us relate peace with the absence of conflict or challenges in our life. Hence, we associate peace with happiness to such an extent that if we buy good food, clothes, houses, cars or have no qualms with anybody then we believe we are at peace. It is not that while doing all these things we will not experience peace but rather they constitute a small portion of what it entails.

So then, what is peace? I believe that peace is a state mind in which an individual finds contentment in as such there might be the presence or absence of conflict or challenges whose response either way is calmness. I always considered that if I pay my bills in time, then I would peaceful. Nonetheless, I would still find myself stressed out, anxious or just worried. It was as if even though I eliminated or solved one issue- to be at peace- two hours later I would find myself at the same spot of worrying all over again. Evidently, we all struggle attaining or being at peace and only experience it for a few seconds or minutes at any given point. Considering the political, economic and social climate in the contemporary society, it is definitely difficult to be at peace. We are either frustrated at work, with bills, civil wars, inflation or social injustices such as racism among other issues.

"Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it." 1st Peter 3:10-11

The construct of peace is beyond and not limited to the presence or absence of these externalities. Wherein meeting our objectives in life might bring a degree of peace, it necessarily does not assure its sustenance in our lives. It is quintessential to understand that we do not need- and even though we wanted we couldn’t – eliminate all problems or solve all conflicts for us to be at peace. Having peace is bringing ourselves to a point where we accept the flaws – problems, conflicts and challenges- around and within us but being intentional to remain calm and still.

Taking this into perspective, it is essential to be intentional in seeking peace. Thus, here are two ways through which we can achieve this.

1.Be proactive in seeking peace

Stephen Covey’s book, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, lists being proactive as the first habit of attaining effectiveness as an individual. Covey emphasizes that this habit requires a person to be ‘response-able’ for every action they undertake. In so doing they deviate from blaming external factors or circumstances for their behavior. Instead, a proactive person is aware that they have power or control on how they respond to external stimuli, thus, their actions are not affected by changes in their environment. They focus on self-improvement and growth consistently regardless of the circumstances that surround them.

Using Covey’s proactive context, peace can only be attained and sustained in a person if it is proactively sought after. It requires that one constantly focuses on structuring their thoughts, actions or behavior to a point where they have peace. How an individual thinks and responds to the environment determines if they are proactive in seeking peace. Covey’s argument is further backed by the Bible. As seen in the verse above, God also calls us to earnestly pursue peace as a means to experience good life. We are in control of being at peace and we permit ourselves to be in chaos, confusion, strife, discord or in disarray.

2. Focus on good things

The reason why most of us fail to experience peace is because we pay attention to the bad things that happen around and within us. Society has preconditioned our thoughts on life to be negative. Hence, we unconsciously find ourselves complaining throughout the day about the weather, our children’s behavior, the bills we have to pay, the strict boss and the money that we lost here and there among other concerns. More often than not, the attention we give to what went wrong, slowly seeps into our subconscious and we slowly evolve towards being grumpy people. At this point we have no peace, we do not even think about it, we are unconcerned about it and when we see people who are at peace we become more grumpier and angry at them as we perceive peace as non existential.

Focusing on good things is also derived from the aspect of being proactive person. You can constantly choose to view life from the good side. There are good things happening in our lives even when the bad things appear to be the majority. Rather than seeing you’re fat, consider you are healthy and alive and rather than my job pays low wages consider that you have a job. Looking at life from the positive perspective constantly puts you on the path of experiencing peace on the long-term.

The best gift you can award yourself is seeking peace proactively despite and in spite of all internal and external factors.