30 Things You Can Do to Create a More Peaceful World

Volunteer at a homeless shelter, nursing center, or food kitchen or hospital.

Share your voice and sing a beautiful song.

Offer comfort to a friend in need.

Write anonymous notes to people, thanking them or telling them how wonderful they are—a colleague, a waitress, a friend.

Accept everyone you meet for who they are—no matter what color, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, or religion.

Adopt a child, or become a foster parent.

Listen to your language for an entire day; think about what you would change, if anything, in how you speak and how you address people.

Treat everyone the way you wish to be treated.

Expand the music in your home to include world tunes and rhythms from different cultures.

Volunteer for a suicide, rape crisis, or abuse hotline.

Donate all of the things you get rid of to a shelter, children’s home or other charitable organization.

When someone cuts you off in traffic, smile and wave instead of getting angry.

Share a meal with someone less fortunate, or with a neighbor.

Raise money and donate it to your favorite cause.

Try a new ethnic food every month. Do this at an authentic restaurant if you can, and converse with the people who work there.

Bless your enemies. Remember that they are people, too.

Help an elderly neighbor with errands or household tasks.

Watch a G-rated movie with your kids instead of the latest action flick. Better yet, read a book together.

Adopt a pet from a shelter; have your pets neutered or spayed.

Never accept or teach violence as an answer.

Give out hugs for no reason, all of the time.

Write your favorite loving quotes on scraps of paper and leave them in random places—bathrooms, doctor’s offices, your bus seat.

Learn a new language.

Acknowledge that it’s okay to be different. Share this with others.

Do not tolerate racist or other derogatory jokes.

Tip as generously as you can.

Every time you feel yourself getting angry, breathe, count to ten, say a mantra of peace—do whatever you need to release the angry feelings. Acknowledge their presence, and simply let them go.

Love and respect all forms of life.

Write a list of everything you have to be grateful for and reflect on it; repeat this daily.

Tell the people you love how much they mean to you—by phone, email, fax, card, whatever—right now.