How often in a given day do you feel rushed, judged, put upon, or ignored? It's tempting to respond to the slights and indignities of life with bitterness, resentment, frustration, or sadness. But what if there's a better way? Enter The Peace Project and its potent mixture of practicing thankfulness, kindness, and mercy. With short, digestible chapters and plenty of practical application, The Peace Project demonstrates that lasting inner peace comes from outward practices--seeing others, as well as ourselves, not as obstacles to overcome or objects against which to compete or compare but as people of great worth. This is no if-then theology where God's grace is earned by our actions. It's a chance to dive headfirst into the endless depths of his peace where we can actually, finally, somehow breathe. Welcome to the less-than-perfect, sometimes hilarious, consistently magical journey of practicing thankfulness, kindness, and mercy with Kay, her kids, and some brave friends.

Diana Oestreich, a combat medic in the Army National Guard, enlisted like both her parents before her. But when she was commanded to run over an Iraqi child to keep her convoy rolling and keep her battle buddies safe, she was confronted with a choice she never thought she'd have to make. Torn between God's call to love her enemy and her country's command to be willing to kill, Diana chose to wage peace in a place of war. For the remainder of her tour of duty, Diana sought to be a peacemaker--leading to an unlikely and beautiful friendship with an Iraqi family. A beautiful and gut-wrenching memoir, Waging Peace exposes the false divide between loving our country and living out our faith's call to love our enemies--whether we perceive our enemy as the neighbor with an opposing political viewpoint, the clerk wearing a head-covering, or the refugee from a war-torn country. By showing that us-versus-them is a false choice, this book will inspire each of us to choose love over fear.

When battlefield prowess and political manipulation are not enough to achieve peace through victory, we summon our best and brightest to negotiate an end; we celebrate peace settlements; and we give prizes, if not to victors, then to visionaries. We exalt peace as a human achievement, and justly so. But the reality of peace is flawed. The rewards of peace are elusive for the men and women who live in the post-conflict societies of our time. Why is it so difficult to make a good peace when it is so easy to imagine? That is the question behind Imagine: Reflections on Peace. In this stunning collection, photographic essays make grippingly palpable the stakes during war and peace. Samantha Power, former US Ambassador to the United Nations, Justice Richard Goldstone, and Jonathan Powell, chief negotiator for the Northern Ireland Good Friday agreement, are joined by world-renown writers in revealing the complexities of redemption and rebuilding in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, Colombia, Lebanon, Northern Ireland, and Rwanda. We hear first person accounts of survival and the search for inner peace, bringing the big picture to a personal level. With added insights from scholars and practitioners, the book offers a rare and fascinating glimpse into the unvarnished story of peace and a window into what it takes for societies and individuals to move forward after unspeakable brutality.

Too much to manage and not enough time or energy to do it? Join the club. Life is a pressure cooker and, more and more, being overwhelmed is just considered normal. But, truth be told, life's stresses and circumstances aren't the boss of us. What if we could take Overwhelmed and diffuse it--or, better yet, reframe it to good? Author, blogger, and mother of five Kay Wills Wyma has learned that if we're going to be overwhelmed by anything, let's have it be Truth with all its grace, hope, peace, and love. In this freeing book, she shares how to confront life's pressures we face--at home, online, at work, in our relationships, on our calendars--and replace all those heavy expectations with the liberating truth that we were made for something better. Through her inspiring personal stories sprinkled with a dash of humor, she gives readers permission to step back, let go, and find fulfillment and freedom in a life lived in light of eternity.

Making the Peace is written to help high school students break away from violence, develop self-esteem, and regain a sense of community. It provides photographs, illustrations, exercises, role-plays, in-class handouts, homework sheets, and discussion guidelines to explore issues such as dating violence, gangs, interracial tension, suicide, sexual harassment, and the social roots of violence.

At turns surprising, funny, and gut-wrenching, this is the hopeful story of the ordinary yet extraordinary people who have figured out how to build lasting peace in their communities The word "peacebuilding" evokes a story we've all heard over and over: violence breaks out, foreign nations are scandalized, peacekeepers and million-dollar donors come rushing in, warring parties sign a peace agreement and, sadly, within months the situation is back to where it started--sometimes worse. But what strategies have worked to build lasting peace in conflict zones, particularly for ordinary citizens on the ground? And why should other ordinary citizens, thousands of miles away, care? In The Frontlines of Peace, Séverine Autesserre, award-winning researcher and peacebuilder, examines the well-intentioned but inherently flawed peace industry. With examples drawn from across the globe, she reveals that peace can grow in the most unlikely circumstances. Contrary to what most politicians preach, building peace doesn't require billions in aid or massive international interventions. Real, lasting peace requires giving power to local citizens. Now including teaching and book club discussion guides, The Frontlines of Peace tells the stories of the ordinary yet extraordinary individuals and organizations that are confronting violence in their communities effectively. One thing is clear: successful examples of peacebuilding around the world, in countries at war or at peace, have involved innovative grassroots initiatives led by local people, at times supported by foreigners, often employing methods shunned by the international elite. By narrating success stories of this kind, Autesserre shows the radical changes we must take in our approach if we hope to build lasting peace around us--whether we live in Congo, the United States, or elsewhere.

**Winner Creative Child Magazine 2018 Preferred Choice Award** Origami Peace Cranes is a multicultural children's book about the capacity for friendship in all of us, and the power of small, but meaningful actions. When Emma moves to a new town, she's afraid she'll never make friends. She tries her hardest to make a good impression on her new classmates. Through a paper crane origami project, her classmates show her that they really want to get to know her. Later, when a new family moves into her neighborhood, Emma has a great idea how to make them feel welcome! Filled with fun pictures and ideas, this story addresses the anxiety that comes with new beginnings and introduces kids to moving, making new friends, and starting at a new school. This book also includes: Step-by-step instructions for making a paper crane 12 sheets of printable origami paper, so that kids can make their own cranes to share! Proceeds support the Peace Crane Project--originally created for the United Nations International Day of Peace, it aims to expand students' understanding of and appreciation for other cultures, people and countries.

In our progressively changing environment, it is of crucial importance to deepen our understanding of peace between people and how leadership can enhance that by 'leading for peace'. This book proposes a useful framework for all leaders (including business, political leaders and peace developers) on how to attain peace between people. The book is presented in four sections: 1. Peace leadership in perspective: Discussions on the nature and meaning of peace leadership, important building blocks for peace leadership (emotional, social and communal intelligence), and a peace leadership-in-action model (which forms the basis of the book). 2. Implementation strategies focus on lead self, lead with others and lead communities. Lead self includes: leading peace through self, others and the community, the role of wisdom and spirituality in leading self and others, and individual, social and cultural inertia preventing humanity from attaining peace. Lead others includes: leadership theories which support peace leadership, the improvement of cultural intelligence amongst peace leaders, and women's role in peace building. Lead communities includes: peace leadership in the public and private sectors, healthcare for the vulnerable and its meaning and contribution towards peace leadership, and working from helplessness to serving the community. 3. Tools and initiatives to become a highly effective peace leader, including information and communication technological innovations for peace leaders and sport as a tool for peace building. 4. Concluding thoughts. Concluding thoughts are given, with the emphasis on what we have learned and looking ahead. This editorial book provides a significant contribution within the emerging peace leadership discipline as the international community, non-governmental organisations, and the public and private sectors struggle to formulate sustainable peace initiatives at the tribal, local and communal societal level.

The US prison industrial complex is in desperate need of repair. Corrections has become big business in America and a young, misguided generation is fueling a system built to fail. More and more kids are hitting the streets and lining up to go behind the razor wire. What is the solution? What if reformed felons could change the future of the next generation? Kit Cummings' bold vision-borne out of twelve years working with more than ten thousand offenders-flips the script on prison reform and disrupts the pipeline from schools to prisons. He replaces the current gang-inspired convict code with one that integrates respect, integrity, and dignity, giving prisoners the freedom to dream big dreams and become positive role models to a young generation at risk. Brothers who have been behind the wire share powerful lessons with our youth, redirecting their path and ending the violence in the streets and in their hearts. The proven success of Kit's Power of Peace Project lays the groundwork for a future with less violence, declining prison populations, and a more sound and just prison system.In 2010, Kit Cummings founded the Power of Peace Project. Using the experience he gained resolving conflict in some of the most dangerous areas in the world, he applies his principles to bring about change in prisons, schools, corporations, and the faith-based community. Kit has worked with the incarcerated in over a hundred prisons, jails, detention centers, and rehab facilities and served over ten thousand prisoners. The New Convict Code brings solutions to the growing epidemic of crime and violence we are witnessing among today's youth.