I am a firm believer that peace in the world starts with peace in our own lives.

As the Dalai Lama says, ‘We can never achieve peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves.’

How do we make peace in our own hearts?

How do we make peace with those who have wronged, judged us, hurt us and worse?

And yet we must.

We may as well admit we cannot do it on our own.

We need help.

But first, we have to be willing. Perhaps it is time to embark on a 12-step peace program. We can borrow from the Alcoholics Anonymous 12-step program. It has been so successful that it has become the foundation of other twelve-step programs.

It means that we will have to

• admit that we cannot bring peace to our own heart and life;
• recognize a higher power that can restore sanity;
• examine past errors, with the help of someone who has made progress along this path;
• make amends for these errors;
• learn to live a new life with a new code of behaviour;
• help others who cannot bring peace to their own lives.

And we can pray.

St. Francis of Assisi gave us this beautiful Peace Prayer:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy;
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

What will you do to make peace with yourself and have peace in your heart?