Society as a whole has come a long way in terms of knowledge and acceptance, but one aspect of our biological heritage that we have yet to transcend is violence. We are constantly reminded of the violence that occurs in the world, and sadly, we’ve become far too accustomed to it. Violence cannot be stopped by you alone, but what you can do is replace feelings of stress, anger, and hostility with reason, patience and compassion to make sure violence doesn’t occur in your life. Here are five practices to deepen your sense of peace.