The Anatomy of Peace

by Arbinger Institute

{ 2006 | Berrett-Koehler Publishers | 231 pgs }

I was originally planning to take a class on campus this semester, titled Self & Society. It examines how we form our identities and how we interact with other people, among other things. This was one of the assigned texts, and I figured I might as well read something before I got busy with school and the Bwun and so on. It took me about an hour and a half – it isn’t a textbook, and on top of that, it’s fiction. Ea-sy read.

At a wilderness camp for out-of-control teenagers, parents are asked to stay two days with the camp’s leaders and learn how to resolve the conflict in their homes – not by fixing the teenagers’ behavior, but by adjusting their own attitudes and behaviors. The philosophy of the book is that when we act with our hearts at peace towards ourselves and those around us, harmony is possible; when we act otherwise, we invite conflict.

Definitely an interesting book, and I’d recommend it to those who feel angry, bitter, slighted, or resentful – so, to all of us, at times.