Peace is not the Absence of Conflict

María Jesús Marín López

I often hear people say "I´ll do anything to keep the PEACE" and somehow the energy behind this statement sometimes feels unsettling to me. Often when I hear this statement what I hear is "I´ll do anything to avoid confrontation". In my eyes there is a big difference between bringing PEACE and avoiding confrontation.

When we avoid something it comes from a place of fear within ourselves. When we put energy into avoiding things we are hiding and/or running away from our truth. We abandon ourselves.

There  are many reasons why we have learnt to abandoned ourselves, sometimes is an automatic response to anything that we might find uncomfortable.

It might be that we were never giving the chance to express our truth, it might be that we never truly felt seen and heard and as a coping mechanism we have learnt to not rock the boat.

Every time we abandon ourselves we move farther away form our worth and integrity. 

I feel that integrity is a key element in creating real peace. To be in a state of integrity we need to be honest with ourselves and to raise above the inner pull that brings divide. Integrity demands that we become in alignment and aware of our wounds, thoughts and feelings.

When we are connected with our true voice (easier said than done) justice is created. Only when we are connected to that voice and have gone through the sorting process of eliminating any internalized voices from the outside, we can then bring peace.

A lot of us have been raised under the belief that if we truly claim our individuality and our right to be who we are, uncensored, we are being selfish. I think it´s selfish when the group asks the individual to abandon themselves to please and fit in the group. Ultimately, I believe that the group will thrive when allowing everyone to be who they are.

We put people into boxes so we can relate to them. We put them into "boxes of people that we like and understand" and into  "boxes of people that we dislike and can´t understand". The problem with this is that in order to have people into boxes we also place ourselves in one. That diminishes our freedom and we disconnect from our true self. We loose sight of who we are and of who they are.

I feel we all have responsibility towards each other. To create peace within ourselves, in our communities, in the world we must look after our wellbeing. We must work on our own healing. When someone gifts us their love, perception, voice, feelings and thoughts, they are offering the most intimate part of themselves. They are letting us see them in a privilege way. When someone makes themselves seen they are taking the risk to be hurt by us. They are placing themselves in the position of been rejected and betrayed. When someone lets us see their true nature they are giving us the key that opens the door to their heart. When someone shows themselves to us like this, we must believe in their potential and we must support their dreams. We might not understand or agree with their vision but peace believes in what is important for the other person.

Peace is never created through separation and division. Peace is achieved trough accepting and allowing individuality. Conscious individuality is what gels the group together. 

We are all carriers of the flame of peace. Peace begins within. Your freedom is directly linked to the choices you make. Choose from your inner voice. Choose from what is authentic to you. Choose from love. Choose from unity. Choose YOU!