REAL PEACE

"If we are not peaceful, if we are not feeling well in our skin, we cannot demonstrate real peace, and we cannot raise our children well either." - Thich Nhat Hanh

Real peace begins with inner peace. Inner peace is built upon self-acceptance. Unhappy people need constant reassurance that they are accepted, whereas happy people are grounded in self-acceptance. Self-acceptance embraces both pride in oneself and humbleness in relation to the world. Self-acceptance improves our relationships with others, including her children.

Our Relatedness to Others

"We learn to listen better to ourselves and to others. As we do that, we enhance our capacity for learning, for seeing things as they are, for loving, and for making a more significant contribution to the well-being of the world. The quality of life does change as we do these practices, both in terms of increased inner peace and in terms of our capacity to deepen our relatedness to each other." - Francis Vaughan

Vaughn recognizes the wonderful paradox that our relatedness to others is increased as we do our own inner work. The more we delve into our own spirituality the closer we become to those around us. As we reflect on our own experience, we discover that it is often a microcosm of the whole human experience.