Overflow: The Internal Current

Peace Begins Within

Before someone can build peaceful relationships with others, it is important for them to make peace with themselves – physically, emotionally, and spiritually. It is impossible to grow and change without engaging in conflict. How we respond to that conflict determines how we grow.

Often, when we imagine the process of Peace work, we see just the first two dimensions: Peace-Keeping (stopping fights as they are happening), or Peace-Making (resolving those conflicts after the fact). What we fail to see in immediacy are the deeper dimensions of Peace-Building (creating structures of dialogue and conflict transformation oriented toward the greater good), and Peace-Sowing (creating environments in which violence fails to thrive and peace-building is considered “normal”.)

As women, we often neglect this critical work of Peace within ourselves, because we have been conditioned – by our wiring, by our families, by society, by our own expectations – to put others first. When we first ground ourselves in Peace, however, we are able to create environments in which others thrive and fail to depend on violence as the first response to conflict.

Take advantage of one of our workshops on building internal Peace, or join the community at Keeper of the Well to learn more about nurturing these aspects of Peace within yourself.