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It’s March 2026. A few weeks ago yet another war was initiated in the Middle East. Watching the barrage of headlines in the news brings up confusion about where to put my attention. I’m carefully watching my mental well-being by balancing between ‘being in the know and interested in what is happening‘ and ‘closing myself off from it all, for protection; I have no influence over it anyway‘. It’s like walking on a tight-rope between helplessness, despair or self-care and well-being; easy to tip over either way.

This picture sums it up for me [yes, I used AI to create it – and I want to reassure you that all the words here are 100% written by a living woman].

One of the strategies I have for times like this, with feelings of despair about a war, is to turn the attention to myself and ask the question: am I living peace in this world of conflict? Am I truly living the principles of nonviolence and compassion – towards myself, within my family, in our community and the community at large? Am I not just walking the talk… actually living the talk? And can I encourage the people I meet to do the same? Actually support them with tools to also strive to live peace? Because that is an area that I can influence. This way, despair and helplessness shifts to empowerment and hope.

In a foreword of Marshall Rosenberg’s 2005 book ‘Speak Peace in a World of Conflict’ I read these words:
“Nonviolent Communication is part of the solution to the problems we face today… I am strengthened by the work of Dr. Rosenberg and those like him all around the world who are not willing to accept the status quo of violent responses to conflict… Together, bit by bit, word by word, day by day, we can truly ‘Speak Peace in a World of Conflict’ and by so doing we can build a brighter future”.

Next time we share our feelings of disgust about what is happening in the Middle East, can we pause for a moment… and check how we have been showing up so far today? Did we yell at our child, when something they did was inconvenient? Did we have an instant judgment, when we saw someone drive 60km on a 80km road? Did we interrupt our partner mid-sentence and told them they got it wrong? These are the things we have influence over and I encourage us all (me definitely included!) to grab these opportunities so at least we can relate with each other peacefully.