The Peace Index E-Book

Jeremie Kubicek

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 175

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

Without personal peace, we're at war with ourselves--and with the world Look around you. It doesn't take long to witness unrest, disruption, and chaos. We feel it in our bones, and we see it in our streets. Violent outbursts and market crashes take their toll. Journalism thrives on breaking news, and social media highlights broken lives. It's tempting to isolate and insulate. We often settle for cynical minds and calloused hearts as a means of coping with the chaos. Thankfully, there's a proven path to peace. Author Jeremie Kubicek serves as your tour guide on a path that yields practical solutions. His ground-breaking Peace Index equips you to identify your perceived level of peace in five critical areas: Purpose, People, Place, Personal Health, and Provision. But don't get comfortable or critical--your score is a moving target that changes every day, hour-by-hour, just like life. You need a solid strategy that keeps you grounded and growing, personally and professionally. Get ready to: * Experience a deeper understanding of the dangerous threats that aim to steal your authentic joy * Create a clear game plan to combat chaos and win bigger in work and life * Embody an undeniable peaceful presence in a world that desperately craves hope and healing The stakes are high. The cost is big. Now--more than ever--our society needs people of peace, modeling a different way and a different world. Be the change you wish to see--starting today!

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Introduction: The War

What Happens When There Is No Peace?

Avoidance

Understanding Peace

Dealing with the Crazies

Choosing Peace

Doing the Hard Work

Naming the Unrest

Notes

CHAPTER ONE: The Number over Your Head

The Reason “How are you?” Doesn't Work

Dealing with Reality

The Number

When to Measure

You Can't Give What You Don't Possess

Intentional Living Has Great Rewards

The Hope Meter

Back to the Number

CHAPTER TWO: Purpose: The Reason You Get out of Bed

Purpose Versus Responsibility

The Golden Years

Calling

Activating Purpose

Purpose Number

Knowing Yourself

Who Says We Can't?

Note

CHAPTER THREE: People: Those Who Make Us or Break Us

How People Affect You

Unlocking People

Your Who

The Highest Highs and the Lowest Lows

For, Against, or For Yourself

Relational Dynamics

Expectations Scale

Responding to Others

People Plan: You to Others

Notes

CHAPTER FOUR: Place: The Spaces That Supercharge Us

Making Place a Special Place

Reviewing Your Place and Space

Control the Controllable

Dealing with the Uncontrollable

CHAPTER FIVE: Personal Health: Choosing Something Better

One Thing Affects Another

Asset or Liability

You Affect Your Health Outcome

Trade Up

Find the Friend

Your Personal Health Plan

Note

CHAPTER SIX: Provision: Nothing to Fear

Needs Versus Wants

Where Pressure Resides

Contentment

Surviving to Thriving

Having Enough to Do What You Do

Knowing What You Want

Getting on the Same Page

Be Careful of the Purpose and Provision Clash

Notes

CHAPTER SEVEN: Your Peace Plan

Getting to Your Number

Your Driver

Work on Your Lowest %

Getting Results

What Happens If You Can't Make Any Changes?

Your Peace Plan

Year of Peace

CHAPTER EIGHT: Keeping the Peace

1. Call‐Up Session

2. The Examen

3. R.I.P. Sleep

CHAPTER NINE: Taking Care of Your People

Taking Responsibility

The Number

Leader Boundaries

Conquering Chaos

Note

Conclusion: It Is Up to You

Appendix

About the Author

Index

End User License Agreement

Guide

Cover Page

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Table of Contents

Begin Reading

Conclusion: It Is Up to You

Appendix

About the Author

Index

Wiley End User License Agreement

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The Peace Index

A Five-Part Framework to Conquer Chaos and Find Fulfillment

JEREMIE KUBICEK

Copyright © 2023 by Jeremie Kubicek. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Published simultaneously in Canada.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per‐copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750‐8400, fax (978) 750‐4470, or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748‐6011, fax (201) 748‐6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permission.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Further, readers should be aware that websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.

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Library of Congress Cataloging‐in‐Publication Data:

Names: Kubicek, Jeremie, author.

Title: The peace index : a five‐part framework to conquer chaos and find fulfillment / Jeremie Kubicek.

Description: Hoboken, New Jersey : John Wiley & Sons, Inc., [2023] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2022028738 (print) | LCCN 2022028739 (ebook) | ISBN 9781119985921 (cloth) | ISBN 9781119985976 (adobe pdf) | ISBN 9781119985914 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Peace of mind. | Peace—Psychological aspects. | Calmness.

Classification: LCC BF637.P3 K83 2023 (print) | LCC BF637.P3 (ebook) | DDC 158.1—dc23/eng/20220729

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022028738

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022028739

Cover Design: Paul McCarthy

This book is dedicated to my mom, Kianna Kubicek.

Your laugh is contagious, your smile is constant, and your peace is infectious.

Thank you for loving and caring for all of us, all the time. I love you!

Acknowledgments

I am so thankful for the following people who played a crucial role in creating the Peace Index. Without them, there wouldn't be an Index that helps so many people worldwide. I want to show appreciation to:

Frog Orr‐Ewing. I first heard the concept of Peace through Purpose, People, and Place at Latimer Minster when living in London. His sermon inspired conversations and the creation of a tool designed to help people understand their levels of Peace. Frog (yes, that is his name) is a Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow of Mission in the Department of Theology at the University of Winchester. He is full of energy and life, and I am thankful for his influence.

Steve Cockram. Steve and I began building visual tools together in the summer of 2013 as our families decided to move into a manor house on the outskirts of London. We launched GiANT Worldwide that year with the vision of training liberators to unlock people around the world. That vision is happening. Our work is in over 114 countries at current count, and I am grateful for our work together.

Dr. Joe Hill. Steve Cockram and I had been expanding the original Peace Index (Purpose, People, Place) to include Physical Health. Still, Joe pushed us to codify the tool to be more rounded by focusing on Personal Health and adding Provision. Thank you, Joe, for your input and challenge.

GiANT Worldwide. We currently have over 800 guides (coaches and consultants) who use the Peace Index regularly to unlock people and help them be more fruitful and free. Special thanks to all the guides for fighting for the highest possible good of the clients you serve. (If you want to learn how to be certified to do that, head on to

www.giantworldwide.com

.)

There is a plethora (my ode to Three Amigos there) of people who have contributed to this book by supporting me. I want to thank specifically:

My wife, Kelly. She allowed me to focus intensely for 30 days while she was building our event center/wedding venue at our family Farmstead.

My People. Special thanks to my kids (Addison, Will, and Kate) for being fabulous 20‐somethings. You make my world so peaceful because you are living in Peace. The same goes for my parents, Mike and Kianna. Thank you for working with Kelly doing manual labor while I was typing away!

Bronson Taylor. Thank you for running GiANT flawlessly, which allows me to create and be a passionate Connector for the movement.

Kevin DeShazo. Thanks for running so hard with me on our college athletics work (

www.culturewins.com

). So excited for OU athletics and the many other schools.

Tracy Rader. Thank you for working with me on several fronts, from speaking management to an excellent Summit Pack partner to a qualified GiANT HQ member. And friend!

Kary Oberbrunner. Thank you for being my pace car and pushing me to step into my identity quickly. Kary is amazing.

Andrea Ediger. Thanks for managing my schedule and fighting hard to help me carve out my writing time and order my world.

Andrew Robinson and Landon Lynch. Thanks for being amazing friends and for pushing me with your edits and inputs in record time. I am so proud of you both and your influence in this world.

GiANT Partners. Thanks for partnering with me and for giving feedback and for allowing me to call all of you up to higher levels.

Introduction: The War

Think about the time when you were completely at Peace. How long has it been since you experienced that feeling of freedom?

Real Peace. Most people want it, but it often feels unattainable—especially in the world we experience daily.

What is the opposite of Peace?

The answer is war. Conflict, hostility, or hatred as well. Ultimately, the opposite of Peace is chaotic unrest.

You can see chaos in the socioeconomic strains and geopolitical fractures that have led to a tsunami of global instability. We all know them as we review this partial list:

Nations at war

A global pandemic

Political chaos

Social unrest

The climate

Economic upheaval

Distrust of people

It's no wonder global stress is so high. A Harris Poll, on behalf of the American Psychology Association, revealed the following:

“More adults rated inflation and issues related to the invasion of Ukraine as stressors that are higher than any other issue asked about in the 15‐year history of the Stress in America poll. This comes on top of money stress at the highest recorded level since 2015, according to a broader Stress in America poll fielded last month.”1

The world is full of chaos, which leads to anxiety, gloom, and unrest.

What Happens When There Is No Peace?

A world of chaos camouflages Peace. In this state it is hard to see anything but turmoil.

The book Mind of the Athlete by Dr. Jarrod Spencer2 talks about the four primary negative emotions people tend to struggle with when there is conflict: anger, depression, hate, and anxiety.

He states, “The stronger the emotions are, the more time you are likely to spend thinking about life experiences that led to your feeling these emotions.”

Dr. Spencer goes on to explain the definition of each of these negative emotions:

Anger is emotional hurt.

Depression is hurt held inward.

Hate is feeling threatened by someone or something.

Anxiety is fear of the unknown.

It makes sense that so many people have globally struggled amidst discord and chaos. Lockdowns, lost jobs, inflation, and war can easily lead to emotional hurt—to anger. This leads people to the edge of their capacity to process change in a healthy way. That edginess leads to volatility. We wear our emotions on our sleeve, get hurt by others, and lash out in anger amidst the external uncertainty.

Long periods of anger and hopelessness lead to depression. Social and other media stoke that anger and cause people to implode or explode with self‐medication, isolation, and rage.

We can track hate as a result of being isolated for an extended period and not genuinely understanding others or building relational trust. Therefore, a person can quickly feel hatred for other political parties or personalities or persons in their life associated with those threatening people.

Without internal Peace, there will never be external Peace

Hate must encounter extreme love for it to be broken, and segregation or isolation doesn't help. This hatred tends to lead to the fear of the unknown, and that anxiety can lead to rampant worry, and worry is worthless.

The project of Peace begins within. We must calm the internal unrest. The alternatives are to continue to blame others or justify the actions that support our narrative. You must fight for Peace on the inside.

Negative emotions, self‐medicating addictions, and hatred fill the hole we create when we lack peace.

Avoidance

Could this be why so many people are focusing on futuristic escapes?

Will technology bring Peace by allowing us to live an alternative life, so we don't have to face and fix our present lives?

Maybe a life change will bring Peace. We sell our home and buy an RV, save money for that epic trip into orbit so we can see the world from a different perspective.

Avoidance isn't the answer. To conquer chaos and find Peace, we need to understand what Peace is and isn't.

Understanding Peace

There are two types of Peace in our world:

External Peace

Internal Peace

External Peace is what most people think about at first blink when they hear the word peace. At a speaking event, I surveyed a group of people by asking them, “What comes to mind when you hear the word ‘Peace'?” The overwhelming answer was, “War,” and stopping any future wars.

That is so interesting as Peace, by definition, is freedom from disturbance.

How many times have you said, “If I could just have some Peace and quiet around here!” The desire for freedom from being disturbed is a goal for many of us. And yet, most don't know how to find that because this level of Peace only occurs internally.

How do you find internal Peace with such a lack of external Peace? This book answers that question. I want to help you conquer the chaos that creates turmoil and improve your Peace Index. The tools you are about to experience will help you win the inner war for your own well‐being.

The word “Peace” contains numerous meanings. Phrases, symbols, and shared meanings make it less understood but still desirable. Symbols of Peace include:

Other examples from art, culture, and literature include:

War and Peace

by Leo Tolstoy.

“Peace Train” by Cat Stevens.

Peace like a river.

Peace talks.

Peace pipes.

“Keeping the Peace.”

Waging Peace.

Peace signs.

Peace out.

Peace, hope, and love.

Peace of mind, etc.

And one of the most potent phrases on Peace comes from Jesus of Nazareth, “Peace I leave with you. My Peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Don't let your heart be troubled or fearful.” (John 14:27 CSB)

Almost everyone has wanted world Peace—from activists to prayer warriors to pageant contestants sharing their heart's desires.

The idea of R.I.P.—Rest in Peace—at funerals is the hope that the deceased can finally be free of the chaos and turmoil in this world. RIP is kind of a way of “throwing up our hands” and saying, “Well, if it can't be had in life, then at least there's one place where peace is guaranteed.”

Internal Peace

“Never be in a hurry; do everything quietly and in a calm spirit. Do not lose your inner Peace for anything whatsoever, even if your whole world seems upset.”

– Saint Francis de Sales

External Peace is a state or period in which there is no war, or a war has ended. Internal Peace is when you experience calm in the mind, body, and spirit. You have become free from anxiety, worry, and drama.

Internal Peace is not the absence of conflict but the ability to handle issues in a way that makes you better, not worse.

Finding Peace of mind amidst chaos results in fewer worries, fears, and anxieties. Inner Peace has some fantastic benefits:

Better sleep.

Less drama with friends, coworkers, or family.

Security, confidence, humility.

Negatives not sticking to you.

Resolve amidst trials.

Increased energy levels and improved emotional management.

More external unrest calls for more inner Peace!

A person at war with themselves is at war with the world.

War with yourself leads to more struggle. Inner Peace brings tranquility irrespective of the external challenges. Some of you may think this is unrealistic. What follows will not only challenge your skepticism, but it may also even make you a believer. I don't believe that we can experience absolute Peace. Our experience of Peace fluctuates like a thermometer. Some seasons offer more Peace than others. The questions we each need to face are: 1) What is my relative sense of Peace at this moment? and 2) How can I increase my sense of Peace tomorrow?

Dealing with the Crazies

The external chaos may not have anything to do with things happening in the world around you. Your external issues may come from your crazy relative, who drives you insane every week. Or your external unrest could be from your teammate at work who behaves erratically or spews negative thoughts about everything daily.

The crazies might be making you crazy. The People in your life could be the ones causing your Peace Index to dip.

Can you be at Peace in a chaotic world? Can you be at ease when you have crazies in your daily life? Can you create an inner Peace when there is no outer Peace?

Can you create Peace when you are the crazy one?

You must choose to create an inner Peace when there is no outer Peace.

Choosing Peace

Inner Peace occurs when you are calm and at ease while irritants, annoyances, and stressors are all around you. Peace of mind happens when you can experience contentment, joy, and bliss when difficult things are happening in your life.

This book helps you find Peace by controlling the controllable moments of life. You'll find the tools you need to select Peace amidst unrest, quiet confidence over chaos, and contentment when there is little reason to be contented.

The path toward Peace begins when you identify the barriers between you and Peace. You'll identify these barriers and how to overcome them. You will learn how to experience Peace when:

Your Purpose is off, and your future looks grim.

Your People drive you crazy.

Your Place is less than ideal.

Your Personal Health falters.

Your lack of Provision keeps you awake wondering how you'll pay the bills.

I find the Isaac Wheadon song, “I'm at Peace While the World Isn't,” mesmerizing and cathartic. The lyrics repeat over and over:

“It's so amazing / I'm at Peace while the world isn't / I'm at Peace while the world isn't”