The Importance of a Positive Peace Mentality
Introduction
For decades, self-help resources have been telling us to adapt a positive mindset, to look on the bright side and filter out the negative. For the same amount of time, we have been trying to figure out what that means. What is positivity? How does one simply “think positive”? And, why is it easier said than done?
In this post, we’ll discuss what it means to have a positive peace mindset, how you can get there, and how this mentality will benefit you, and those around you in the long run.
What is positive peace?
Positive Peace is essentially the creation of peace through positive actions and interactions. A simpler way to understand this concept is by discussing its opposite: Negative Peace. According to Norweigan sociologist, Johan Galtung, Negative Peace is the attempt to create peace through an absence of violence. While the concept of negative peace is still an attempt to achieve peace, it can often be more difficult to achieve peace in this way, rather than by having actions, interactions, societies and institutions that promote and advocate for peace.
An example of positive peace would be aiming to create a more inclusive and supportive workplace through education and value restructuring, which in turn results in a more peaceful workplace. On the other hand, negative peace in this scenario would be trying to remove toxic people or values from that workplace in an attempt to make it more peaceful. Notice how the former method aims to proactively restructure for a sustainable positive outcome, while the latter is in response to conflict or negativity, and seeks to neutralize the situation, leading to a more temporary outcome.
How to Create and Sustain a Positive Peace Mindset
Now that we have a better understanding of positive peace, how can we make it a mindset? Since positive peace is the attempt to create peace through positive action, a mindset of such would include thinking thoughts and doing actions that will contribute to peace within yourself and through your interactions with others. Contrary to popular belief, you should not avoid negative thoughts - that would create a negative peace mindset, which will not lead to long term impact.
According to Positivepsychology.com, some characteristics of a positive (peace) mindset are optimism, acceptance, resilience, gratitude, mindfulness and integrity. It’s quite possible that when people try to adopt a positive mindset, they try implementing only one or a few of these characteristics exclusively, which can lead to an unsustainable mindset. Rather, you should attempt to implement as many of these characteristics as possible, especially mindfulness, acceptance and resilience - which will be important in negative situations and shortcomings.
Stanford University Behavioral Scientist, Dr. BJ Fogg, explains that real, sustainable positive change must come from tiny, feasible habits that you can do everyday. Fogg explains that most of the time, you already know how to do the thing you are aiming for; you just need to be able to make it an automatic thing that you can do habitually to sustain your change.
Some simple tiny habits you can do for a positive peace mindset are:
Telling yourself a few words of affirmation upon waking up in the morning
Practicing mindfulness through a minute of deep breathing
Accepting tiny things that you have no control over
Break down daunting tasks to set small, attainable goals for yourself each day or week
Keeping track of your accomplishments, no matter how small
Journaling at least once per week to jot down thoughts, goals, blocks, things you are grateful for, etc.
Once you are able to create tiny, positive thinking habits that require little thought and energy, this change to your mindset will become easier and more sustainable.
Benefits of Adopting a Positive Peace Mentality
First and foremost, adopting a positive peace mindset will overall improve and clear your headspace. Working on your mindset will also help you improve your coping skills and overall mental and physical health, as well as your critical thinking skills
Where the positive peace mentality really comes into effect is beyond yourself; in order to affect sustainable positive peace in our societies and in the world, we must use our positive peace thinking to be creative and solve problems in our everyday life. With the clarity that comes with this mentality, you will be able to productively and positively communicate your ideas with others, which allows for things such as: higher job satisfaction, productivity, efficiency and better interpersonal relationships. Ultimately, the hope is that this clearer, positive peace headspace will lead to the cultivation of structures and changes that result in positive peace in your workplace, society, or beyond.
Conclusion
Adopting a positive mentality has been a goal for many individuals for as long as humans have faced adversities. In order to successfully hold such a mindset and be able to see benefits from it, we must understand what positive peace is and it’s goal. Then, through tiny, positive habits in our everyday life, we can create a sustainable positive headspace that will benefit us and those around us, to ultimately create positive peace in your environment and beyond.
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