The EQ4Peace Story
Life Hurts
Life can be painful, and frustrating, and (especially lately with Covid), scary, disconnected, depressing, and alone. The mental health of the world is in a critical place, with worsening numbers in domestic violence, child abuse, divorces, and worst of all, suicides (now the #2 leading cause of death in 10-24year olds, worldwide). We as humans do not function well being separated, isolated, alone, and scared.
We don’t know how to deal with our heart, to bring us peace.
As a child, we didn’t learn how to deal with our inner thoughts and feelings. We weren’t taught emotional literacy at schools, and our parents didn’t know, so we had nobody to talk to about our feelings (especially the difficult ones). We were left alone to work through our pain, anger, and fears, alone, without instruction, direction, or company, in the School of Hard Knocks (a very painful, and ineffective way to learn). I’m sorry if you had to learn about you that way. I/we did, too.
GOOD NEWS!
That type of non-education does NOT need to continue. We can do better. We can create peace in and around us. EQ is not a ‘secret’, it’s a set of skills, language, and competencies we just never learned. It’s time to learn and the world seems to be ready to listen.
Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is one of the missing pieces
Over the past 10-20 years, we’ve found that learning to deal with our inner world requires a conscious effort. Without instruction and guidance, our thoughts, feelings, and emotions can go badly, sometimes very badly, causing us to wonder whether we can ‘handle’ our lives at all. With instruction, we can gain confidence, and direction, and LEARN how to understand, accept, and manage our inner world. Sometimes, we feel negative, painful, unpleasant thoughts and feelings. Rather than avoid and hide from them out of ignorance, with the right tools we can turn those negative emotions into positive, life-enhancing, educational INFORMATION that we can use to improve and enhance our lives! Emotions are far more important than we ever imagined. In fact, using our emotions wisely turns out to be the key to our happiness, sanity, survival, and success in life.
EQ provides the tools, Peace is the objective
Now that we have some emotional literacy, it’s critical that we encourage people to spend some conscious time and effort to learn more about themselves, their inner world, and how emotions apply to other humans, at home, school, and work. (HINT: It turns out that people’s inner world is just as important to them as ours is to us.)
Peace is attainable, beginning with Inner Peace
In order to create inner peace within us, we must learn how to master our thoughts, feelings, decisions, and actions (EQ). In order to create peace around us, we must learn how others’ thoughts, feelings, decisions, and actions work inside of ourselves, and them, and be able to communicate this understanding to them to create warm, intimate, loving, supportive relationships (empathy, compassion, understanding, acceptance, tolerance, communication skills, conflict resolution, forgiveness, etc.).
Through inner peace, genuine world peace can be achieved. Peace must first be created within ourselves, then gradually expanded to include our families, our communities, and ultimately the whole planet.“
~ Tenzin Gyatso, the current 14th Dalai Lama
EQ4Peace
- Peace begins with emotional intelligence (EQ).
- EQ entails becoming aware of, accepting, and learning to master our thoughts, feelings, emotions, decisions, values, and actions. This includes the willingness and ability to do conflict resolution.
- Emotional mastery begins with opening our hearts, and to take our feelings into account in everything we do.
Peace is not a Destination, it’s a Movement
- Most people don’t know that EQ exists and that emotions are the key. We need to tell them.
- Most people don’t know they can be ‘smart’ about their feelings. We need to show them.
- Most people, even after they learn these basic truths, don’t know HOW to go from a life of ‘logic-only’, non-feeling, disconnectedness to place where they can safely and wisely, open their heart, both to themselves and others, in a way that brings us warm, positive relationships. (so we don’t feel alone and lonely).
Pathway2Peace
Without knowing how to create peace inside us, how can we create global peace? At EQ4Peace, we believe that the pathway to world peace — from where we are now, to where we want to be — starts by educating enough people in how to create peace in and around them — inner peace, interpersonal peace, and social peace. When enough people are able to create in their lives, we’ll be able to create peace on a larger, national, even global scale.
Big Ask
If we are going to ask people to open up and feel — to be more authentic, more transparent, and more vulnerable — we are asking them to face some of the scariest things in their lives (their emotions). We are asking them to have ‘faith’ that things will be better because of it, and to ‘trust’ us that this is a good thing to do (even tho’ it can be painful and uncomfortable). We are asking them to risk more, to connect faster and deeper, and to add their heart into everything they do, say, and are. That’s a pretty big ask, we had better give them a very safe place to do so.
- What?
We can live a more satisfying, open, inspired, integrated, successful, longer, more fruitful, more peaceful life by learning emotional literacy and becoming more emotionally intelligent.
- Why?
Because our feelings add power, color, peace, love, joy, and purpose to life!
- Who?
You, me, us, everyone! It is wrong, wrong, wrong that we didn’t, and kids don’t, learn these basic truths in school and at home, growing up. We believe all kids deserve to know this information, so we aim to change that, worldwide.
- How?
Decide. Open your heart (wisely), consult and control your emotions in all your decisions and actions (intelligently), connect deeply and powerfully with others (even though you’ve been hurt), learn from your past (to build a more pleasant present, and the best future you can, for yourself, and those you love), consciously choose positives (like gratitude, appreciation, and thankfulness), and add awareness, ACCEPTANCE, willingness, courage, intention, values, empathy, compassion, understanding, and a growth-oriented, peace-centered mindset.
- When?
NOW! SOON! Let’s Go! This effort is urgent! People are dying, quite literally, to know what we know about EQ, SEL, and inner peace — and we need to teach/share/tell/show them ASAP!
- Where?
Everywhere, in all homes, schools, and workplaces. Online and in-person. Starting with EQ4Peace.org.
This is a huge Job — Maybe the Largest Project, ever!
To affect everyone, all around, from every direction, we will be addressing this problem with everyone, all around, from every direction. We call it a 360-approach, coming from every angle — top-down, bottom-up, and side-to-side.
More Good News! There is much going on in the world re: EQ/SEL & Peace
There is no central repository for all that is happening around EQ. Someone needs to bring all this together into a concerted effort, so we can make maximum progress, as quickly as possible. We will bring all this information together in a global family of peace-makers. We’ll create a central storehouse of all the EQ-teaching and Peace-building ideas, people, products, services, and research. EQ4Peace.org will be the central point for the peace movement via EQ in the world. We will have:
- Peace Family: a safe, warm, loving place/community/family where people can learn about, practice, and use their emotional skills — together.
- Peace Database: a searchable list of the many, many, many tools, classes, books, concepts, webinars, conferences, coaches, therapists, ideas,
- Peace University: a school where people of all ages can learn, explore, and grow their emotional toolbox. To help people get started, the initial classes will be free to all — Peace101: Inner Peace (1), Peace201: Interpersonal (1:1), and Peace301: Social Peace (1:Many). We will also offer additional beginner, intermediate, and advanced instruction, guidance, and wisdom (that may or may not be free).
We are willing to Lead the world toward peace, via EQ
We are willing to take a leadership role (since no one else has/will). There are many people and organizations working toward peace. We will work with them to show them how EQ could be a powerful contributor to peace-making, peace-building, and peace-keeping. We will also network them together, to help them/us be most effective.
There are many, many people and organizations working toward EQ. We will work with them to show them how to add Peace as the goals, objectives, and intent of their emotional journey. We will also network them together, to help them/us be most effective.
Funding is required to build the Environments
So far, we’ve been able to accomplish some pretty amazing things with almost no funding whatsoever. However, to create the hub for Peace and EQ, the ‘environment’, the headquarters, this will require some funding. We can design the sites, but we must hire professional web developers and database programmers to make it happen. We don’t need a lot, but we do need some. Any donation you might consider will go toward building, testing, deploying, and maintaining the online (and off-line) global environment. We have started the design, and we’re ready to take the next step(s) to make this a reality.
Goals for 2022
This is a long-term project, but we are started. We have a long list of accomplishments for 2021 & 2022, and we are gaining momentum. Below are our upcoming goals for 2022.
- Design and build the 3 environments, so people will have a safe place to go
Building the Environment is step 1 of the Movement. Together, these sites will offer the what, why, how, where, and who questions for everyone. Business-wise, the environments will be income-generating and self-sustaining. We’ll be receiving most of our funding through foundations and corporate sponsorships so we won’t need to keep asking (bugging) our members for donations and hand-outs.
We’ll provide outreach at the following levels:
- Awareness: First, the Why. We can’t do anything until we are aware, so awareness is always the first key to change. Most people have never even heard the concept that we can be smart with our feelings & emotions, so they will need to be introduced to this new idea, from scratch.
- Education: The How. Instruction, education, information, knowledge, wisdom, sharing, understanding, practice, skills, language, and competencies.
- Coaching and Sharing: Education + support, how + connection, emotional encouragement, & not alone
- On-going support: a safe place to connect, share, vent, learn, grow — together
- Top-down Strategy
To make the largest impact on formal education, we’re starting at the highest levels and working down. We’re bringing EQ, SEL, & Peace Education to the UN, country governments (Directors/ministers of education), universities, school districts (public & private), schools, teachers, parents, and students. Even small children can ‘get’ EQ, so we’ll be working at all levels, from pre-school to PhD. We’ve already impacted a number of universities, colleges, schools, and teachers, and we’ve been encouraged (and thrilled) to find that most teachers and schools are aware that emotional education is lacking and are willing to actively pursue adding this subject matter and curricula to their schedules.
One of the most critical components of the top-down strategy is the training of teachers on EQ and SEL, and not just on what to teach (‘scripted’ curricula), but more importantly, how to teach/share/model emotional education in the classroom. Rather than ‘teacher training’, we’re calling it ‘teacher development’, as it requires that the teachers themselves have a good grasp of their own emotions before inspiring students to do the same.
- Bottom-up Strategy
Starting with individuals, kids, students, adults and working up, we have specific trainings, curricula, videos, audio, articles, online classes, assessment, and more to help individuals and families learn and grow their EQ and Peace education. We’ll develop more, and network with others who offer these services, so we can have a concerted product and service offering for those ready and willing to move forward with their growth.
- Side-by-Side Strategy
Outreach through our EQ4Peace Ambassador program. We’re recruiting, orienting, and training a world-wide team of EQ4Peace Ambassadors and Affiliates, starting the Each1-Teach1-Peace movement. Some Ambassadors will affect just a few people around them locally, while others will reach out to higher levels of ripple-makers (teachers, parents, bosses, leaders) in formal education and in social media.
In addition, once the Family site is built, it will offer side-by-side mentorship, buddy programs, support groups, emergency services, and more to help people become aware of, understand, and manage their emotions, and help lead them to peace, inside and around them.
Help us Bring Peace to the World
If we can bring enough people to Peace, we believe we can bring peace to our world. Please help us make this a reality by offering your time, finances, and/or love. Thank you.
Find out more, get involved, and stay in touch here: EQ4Peace.org/connect.
