This is an opinion post.

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In a society that predominantly measures worth by productivity and output (quantity), rather than integrity and intent (quality), it’s no wonder if people are burnt out, anxious and lonely.

Economic pressures at home might mean you have to do more with less, workplace culture might threaten you must turn up to do your job even when you’re sick – or else, and many feel they have to race around every day, despite the costs to their health, just to be considered a valuable human being.

What’s the impact? In 2025, the World Health Organisation (WHO) reported that “mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression are highly prevalent in all countries and communities, affecting people of all ages and income levels”, with serious mental illness thought to now affect around one billion people.

What else might be a factor?

Well, tensions are rising around the world, and the world feels less safe than it used to – safety is a key component to our wellbeing.

Global freedom declined for the 20th consecutive year. According to the Freedom of the World report, a total of 54 countries experienced deterioration in their political rights and civil liberties during 2025, while only 35 countries registered improvements. To put that into context, compared with 20 years ago, more countries have moved from “Partly Free” to “Not Free” than have moved from “Partly Free” to “Free”.

The UK fell from 35th to 39th on the Global Peace Index (to give that context, the United States is ranked 134 out of 163 countries). The UK has also dropped six places on the World Happiness Report.

Meanwhile UK news outlets are asking if we are we psychologically ready for war…

It’s not sustainable.

What if, instead of measuring value by how busy we are or how much we produce with our time, we thought about contribution as acts of community, we looked at value through intention to keep learning, and considered wealth in meaningful connection.

What if we asked if we are ready for peace instead, both individually and collectively? It feels like it’s time we made that a priority.

Are we living peacefully?

It makes sense that there’s a direct relationship between feeling peaceful and our wellbeing. The question is though, are we ready to talk about that, and whether we are living peacefully now.

Violence (whether direct, cultural or structural) has become so normalised in every day life, it would be easy to assume that’s just the way it is; even just the idea of peace seems like a utopia.

But if we are serious about our own health, and that of our communities, even our planet, peace must be part of that discussion, whether in our homes, schools or workplaces.

It might mean prioritising wellbeing through learning about inner peace, or looking through a system-wide lens about what needs to change to normalise peaceful living for all of us.

Peace is part of our spiritual health, an important dimension that’s often forgotten when we talk about wellbeing. The space between how we feel and how we want the world to be – to move from harm to harmony – is an example of what I call The Peace Gap.

With this in mind, I’ve offered below some reflection questions, in case that’s your thing.

If you choose to look at some or all of these, remember not to judge yourself, but show compassionate curiosity for your answers and see if there’s deeper work that evolves. (Always speak to someone you can trust if anything brings up anything intense or painful – these links may be useful).

Most of all take care of yourself. Choosing peace every day isn’t always easy – especially if others don’t. As well as being a rewarding journey of personal development, it may require some unlearning too.

You could run through these in your mind, grab a pen and paper if you prefer, or make notes in your phone if that’s an easier option.

Here we go:

• What does the word peace mean to you?
• What would peace look like for you, whether that’s internal (“inner peace”) or external (eg, peaceful living: what do we, our families, communities, even our leaders need to commit to, to make the world a more peaceful and caring place for all of us)?
• What would bring more peace into your world, but also what peace can you give back to it? If each of us wants a world that’s more peaceful and caring, are we showing up as peaceful and caring as often as possible? (This isn’t about pretending you’re ok when you’re not, and skills like emotion regulation matter. This is more about the choices we make and the energy we bring into our interactions with ourself and others).
• How would you measure your peace and how would you know if/when it’s been achieved? What would your life look like? Where would you be? What would you be doing?
• Can you make space for discussions about peace, and if so what would that look like and with who? Could this include family, friends, schools or businesses? Could you ask people in positions of power to create space for peace and wellbeing that benefits all of us?
• What channels do you have available to you to promote peace, and who can help endorse peaceful living in your family or wider community? If you don’t know, who might?
• If people resist your attempts to talk about or prioritise your peace, what will you do, including how will you take care of yourself? What boundaries might you need to set?
• How much do you know about peace, pacifism and peaceful living, and where could you learn more? Peace is part of our spiritual health; my article about pacifism explains how it can help with building spiritual intelligence too.
• How might you have normalised violence in your thinking, right down to the words you use in every day life? How could you normalise peace instead?
• Can you embrace the idea of nonviolence as a daily practice, in the way you communicate and walk through life? (This doesn’t mean being happy all the time, just choosing not to verbally abuse or be mean, in what you say or do). If that feels hard, why is that?
• Can you create an action plan with any of these questions in mind, whether that’s creating your own inner peace, or with a wider community lens? If so, what will you include, who might help and when will you take your first steps?

To be clear, this doesn’t mean it’s up to one person to fix the world, and peace may look different to everyone. Some action will be within our control, but some may need more of a collective, collaborative effort, especially where some are living under the weight of oppression.

My point is each of us may be able to do something, even if it’s just an intention not to put any more harm into the world that’s already there. I think we can all do that. Don’t you?

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