Attached to my kitchen door on a yellowing A4 sheet are the following words:

Did I win the day or lose it?
Was it well or poorly spent?
Did I leave a trail of kindness?
Or a scar of discontent?

I discovered these anonymous words in one of my late-night peregrinations on social media. I am a magpie collector of assorted sayings, mantras, affirmations and epigrams, all of which aim at reminding me to do my best; to be a person at peace with myself, others and the world around me. It is archived into my heart.

English poet Philip Larkin reminds us that we live in all our days.Credit:Hulton Archive/Getty Images

The poet Philip Larkin reminds us that we live in all our days. It is the shape of those days, the shape we make of them, that contours everything else around us.

If I take out my grumpiness or late night or disappointment or momentary misanthropy on someone else, I am shaping what happens not only to myself but to all those around me. I am creating a climate.

Teachers often talk about the classroom climate. This climate – and its change – can be engineered by the personal atmosphere the teacher carries into it. This, combined with the unique microclimate of each student in the class, can create fair and fine or choppy and capricious outlooks. The same applies to any workplace. Each of us can change the climate with the mood or temper or attitude we bring to it.

War or peace starts in our own hearts. It is no good preaching peace and goodwill to all if we continue to carry hurts and slights, the spiky shards of envy, the mean delight of schadenfreude, the petty victory over a colleague, the injustice we let go because we didn’t speak up. We do not carry peace if we have not forgiven others. We do not carry peace if we have not forgiven ourselves. We do not carry peace if we have not sought forgiveness from God.

Each of us can change the climate with the mood or temper or attitude we bring to it.

At mass each week we are reminded to go in peace to love and serve the Lord. That peace is not just for feeling good for a few hours and then resuming behaviours that are aggressive, discouraging or belittling of those around us.

If, on occasion, our hearts are war-torn because of domestic or workplace or other trials, or we are just gloomy and disenchanted about the world and the things we cannot change, we must try to find that personal peace and equanimity so that we can interact positively with others.

If we can win the day and leave a trail of kindness, we give peace a fighting chance.

Ann Rennie is a Melbourne writer. Her book, Blessed: Meditations on a Life of
Small Wonders, published by Laneway Press, is available now.

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