Being at Peace/Being Peaceful

There is a very popular conception that peace means non-violence. Johan Galtung has coined that perception as negative peace. To be fully understanding of peace is to know that violence is part of life. If you disagree, I suggest you go ask any women that has given birth about that process. Then try to understand a world without that form of violence. Being at peace is very much a mental state of understanding and being. Peace is about finding the proper methods of releasing emotions in a manner that promotes a healthy, secure and balanced environment. A peaceful state of mind puts a person in the position to understand, we did not create violence nor did we create emotions. These are realities of which we do have control in an inner personal ground but no further. Peace is very much about personal control, knowing when to allow insanity to reign and when to be violent and always to love. To put this into a framework, think about sports, hockey and football (soccer). The competition is to beat the other team. The fans get excited and are often mentioned as going insane. During these time there are emotions of hatred, love, exuberance along with the glory of victory and the agony of defeat. There was also the 1969 Football war between Honduras and El Salvador. There was more to it than just a sporting match yet that match ignited a political war. Then there is the global impact of the 1972 hockey Summit Series between Canada and the USSR. That story of peace has rarely been researched deep enough to give it credit. Politics is a community parallel to the individual emotional turmoil that takes place everyday. Knowing how to ensure a peaceful balance is the goal of being peaceful. It is a chess match within your own mind. There are moments of frustration and both the individual and the community need to have outlets for that frustration. If there are no peaceful avenues for such outlets, unwanted/unneeded harm will be caused.