Peace Is the Only Gold

by Marilyn King

Want peace?

Think it's not possible?

Maybe a detailed map would help?

The field of exceptional human performance tells us that in order to achieve any lofty/worthwhile goal (including world peace!) there are three key elements. When people begin to consciously incorporate these elements into their daily life, they are able, not just to achieve one peak moment, but to maintain this level of performance over time, and systematically evoke this level of performance in others.

3 Key elements:

  • Passion -- Having a strong desire to achieve the objective which gives rise to tremendous energy and creativity

  • Vision -- Knowing in detail what the goal looks like, where we are relative to that and the skills and steps needed to achieve the goal

  • Action -- Having daily mental and physical practices with coaching, feedback and recognition regarding how they are progressing

Notes on how to think about peace like an Olympian

You are invited and encouraged to make an important contribution to peace by responding to this global survey, designed to reveal where people are in their thinking about peace and their willingness to do their part to achieve peace in our lifetime.

The Gold Standard for Peace Day

The International Day of Peace (Peace Day) has the potential to inspire, inform, mobilize and support people worldwide so that they use their resources effectively and strategically to accelerate the evolution of a culture of peace.

The Gold Standard for Peace Day is designed to engage people community-wide in being clear on:

• what the goal of peace looks like

• the history, status and current trends of peace

• successful peace-building strategies

• their individual roles

In this way, ordinary people are able to engage their time and resources efficiently and effectively to achieve something that most people desire, but many mistakenly believe to be impossible. The four-year Gold Standard evolution presented here is more than about how to have a great Peace Day. It is about how to use Peace Day as a strategy to increase the Peace.

The Gold Standard for Peace Day makes it easy for people to see themselves as part of a Global Peace Team. When people can see their efforts successfully advancing the near-universal desire for peace they also satisfy their need for belonging and meaningful contribution. Participating in the team experience reinforces the high level of motivation, creativity and support needed for navigating through setbacks and difficulties.

GO PLANET!

Since the establishment of Peace Day in 1981, organizations around the world have developed events and activities designed “to promote the ideals of peace and to give positive evidence of their commitment to peace in all viable ways,” as articulated in the original peace day declaration.

The level of organization being offered in the Gold Standard for Peace Day is to create a strategic sequence of activities for accelerating the next evolution of peace. The four categories of activity repeated in each year (Inform, Inspire, Mobilize, and Support) are designed to engage the body, mind and spirit of people who want to be part of a team and make real their vision of a better world.

By Year Four, Peace Day celebrations make it easy for people to engage year around in effective action to advance personal, local and global peace. As a member of The Peace Team members are engaged strategically in daily practices, scoring points each day contributing to the newly visible peace wave circling the planet every 24 hours.

The research done in the eight domains of The Peace Wheel (developed by Pathways to Peace) make it possible to take the complex idea of peace and make it concrete and actionable. By discovering the building blocks, history, status and prognosis of peace people can then easily be supported to access global and local organizations that are working in those domains..

Years one, two and three need to be outlined in a way that is easy for people to understand, has flexibility and options but culminates in the goal of people throughout the community being inspired, informed, mobilized and supported to fulfill their role as part of The Peace Team.