"Spend the next 24 hours quietly and in silent reflection. Listen with all the senses. Respond to others when needed, but quickly return to stillness. Pay attention to the types of seeds being planted by others. Go about your daily activities but do it with calm attentiveness. Quietly attend the world around you. Each time the mind moves toward worry, anxiety, anger or fear, come back to tranquility and love. Stop the war in your mind by giving full attention to the peaceful love within the heart."

The action above is one of 108 daily activities offered in a new book by Anton "Tony" Somlai titled "Peace Vigil: Living Without Hesitation." A spiritual guide designed for people of all faiths, "Peace Vigil" is an interactive book meant to not only be read but to be used as a tool for bringing peace into our lives and, in turn, into the world around us.

Each of us is responsible for the actions that lead to peace and harmony, the author tells us in his introduction.

"Your job as a human being, is to express love by helping others. It is this act of helping that is at the root of peace," Somlai says

And, it will take some effort to create such serene balance in our minds and bodies.

"The mind is a powerful tool: it can create destructive ideas that lead to war or helpful guides that direct us to peace," he says.

To help people find their path to peace, Somlai has created a 108-day vigil - each day of which focuses on two related words and the concepts that they represent. The above action, for example, comes under the main heading of "Free," and the activity follows the word "Reflect." In between are brief teachings that connect the two words and explain how the day's action relates to peace.

Understanding and awareness

"Peace Vigil" is designed to work on three levels, the first of which is understanding, explained Somlai, who is a Zen Buddhist Master Teacher and co-founder of Racine's Original Root Zen Center.

"We all understand peace, but sometimes we look at it as an object that's out there somewhere," he said. "We may think that if other people would behave the way we want them to, all would be peaceful. Or, if the economy was better, we'd all have peace. But that is the external approach."

Instead, we need to search for peace within ourselves, says Somlai, and developing such awareness is the second level that the book deals with.

"That's when peace becomes the subject, rather than an object," he said. "Where does the peace reside within you?"

Equally important is the final level of the "Peace Vigil," which is the activity offered for each day. These can range from something as simple as taking a walk around your neighborhood and being present in that journey to exploring the concept of humility within yourself over a period of time.

"You can have all the understanding in the world, but without action it is worth nothing," Somlai said.

The author, who is also a professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin, said he hopes the book will engage readers on all three levels and that it will be something people will come back to again and again, finding something different each time they do. The activities involved are not cost intensive for the reader, he said, but they do involve some effort and time.

"I don't know if we can have peace without that," Somlai said.

Time for peace

Ideally, "Peace Vigil" is meant to be used as a daily practice in a 108-day journey toward peace. It can also serve as a reference guide for people to use throughout their lives, Somlai said.

"I wanted it to be a little book you could carry with yourself and, even in busy times, flip it open to any page and have something on that page just hit you."

The vigil is meant to fit within today's busy world, he said, and its message of peace is more important now than ever. By finding peace internally and then connecting it with our external side, each of us can do our part in bringing peace to chaotic, difficult times.

While some of the teachings of "Peace Vigil" may have a Buddhist flavor, they are not particular to any one religion, Somlai said.

"I am hoping that if someone of the Catholic faith were to do the vigil, for example, it would help deepen their peaceful appreciation of Catholicism."

Whether the reader is Catholic, Jewish, Unitarian or an atheist, they should be able to apply the words and actions in "Peace Vigil" to their lives, he said.

"We Buddhists do have something to say about peace, but it is not special or more important than what anyone else is saying. Peace is bigger than the 'ism'."

Copies of "Peace Vigil" will be available in mid-March from Dragon Mountain Press. They will be available for sale at Sheepish, 326 Main St., as well as online at http://www.dragonmountainpress.com

Pre-orders are being taken now on the Dragon Mountain Press Web site. The cost is $19.95

A Peace Appears party will be held at the Original Root Zen Center, 600 21st St. (on the DeKoven Center grounds) from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on March 19. All are invited to this free gathering, which will feature a peace activity based on one of the actions in Tony Somlai's book "Peace Vigil." Food will be served, and copies of "Peace Vigil" will be available for sale.