Living in Peace, Dying in Peace: A Provocative Reflection

A stylish individual in a red coat and polka dot tights poses against an urban backdrop, merging fashion with the cityscape atmosphere.

How do we live in peace? How do we die in peace?

These are not abstract questions. They demand that we look into the mirror of our lives with ruthless honesty.

We may say we want peace, yet we continue to feed the fires of conflict through the things we consume, the leaders we support, the anger we allow to seed in our own hearts. If peace is truly our goal, then what we refrain from is just as important as what we pursue.

To live in peace is to refuse distraction from our purpose.

Not every fight belongs to us. Not every outrage deserves our energy. There is a time to resist, yes, but there is also a time to conserve our spirit, to refrain from indulging in what only poisons us.

But then comes the harder question: Can we die in peace if we have lived watching the cries of war and suffering, choosing silence?

Every day, wars rage. Children go hungry. Families are shattered. And yet we keep scrolling, buying, pretending it is all far away.

Do we truly believe that our peace is untainted by their suffering?

Or is our “peace” merely numbness, a convenient escape?

So...what can we do to end war?

Is it even up to us?

No, one person alone cannot end all wars. But one person can refuse to be a soldier in the daily wars of bitterness, cruelty, and indifference. One person can plant seeds of peace, in the home, in the workplace, in the community. One person can choose not to feed the cycle of hate. And when thousands, millions, make that same choice, war loses its teeth.

Peace is not passive. It is active, daily, and demanding. It requires the courage to say no to the easy path of blame, the seductive pull of anger. It requires us to be composed in the center of storms.

A Calming Practice: Finding the Center

Here is a simple but profound daily practice to balance both sides of existence, the chaos and the calm, the storm and the stillness:

1. Sit quietly where you will not be disturbed. Close your eyes.

2. Place one hand on your heart, one on your belly. Breathe in slowly for a count of four, feeling both rise. Exhale for a count of six, feeling the release.

3. As you breathe, picture a storm around you, the noise of war, fear, conflict, worry.

4. Now, see yourself in the center of it all, calm, grounded, unshaken. Each exhale releases the storm further away from your body.

5. Repeat silently:

“I am the stillness within the storm. I choose peace within, so I may create peace without.”

6. Continue for at least 5 minutes.

This practice rewires the nervous system to recognize that calm is not the absence of conflict, but a choice we anchor inside ourselves.

We cannot end every war in the world. But we can end the war within ourselves, and from that place, act in integrity, compassion, and courage. Living in peace and dying in peace are not separate, they are one continuous act of how we meet this life.

With a heart for it all,

Claudette Renee Lyons

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