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Our job is not to convert others but to transform ourselves. As each
of us finds peace in our hearts, we begin to radiate a light that warms
and heals everyone we contact. This is the way of the planetary healer." - Alan
Cohen, Joy Is My Compass
I am so grateful to have been a child of the 60's and 70's. It was such a profoundly influential experience for
many of us baby boomers now in midlife. The values and dreams of that
time -- peace, love, acceptance and understanding-- feel even more urgent
today with the fear, conflict and violence so prevalent in our world.
Over the intervening decades, I have come to see that movement towards
peace really begins with an inner journey. The notion that "peace begins at home" really hit home for me. I began to see that to be
a peace worker, I had to begin with myself and my loved ones, to foster
peace within my own home and community. In this way, I could begin to
contribute to peace in the world. And I could walk my talk where it
really counts.
After 911, I began to reckon with the terrorist within my own
consciousness that had been condemning, threatening and beating me up for
years -- my inner self-critic. I could see that what was so frightening
in the outside world was actually going on in my own mind! Through meditation,
yoga, various healing modalities, self-forgiveness and a real desire for
peace, I have developed much more loving ways of treating myself. My
early morning meditation practice allows me to regularly reconnect with
that peaceful place within and sets a positive tone for my whole day.
I also promote peace by trying to speak with kindness to everyone I meet
whether it is my child, my neighbor, the grocery store clerk, or the
homeless person on the street. I once read that the Dalai Lama treats
everyone from cab drivers to heads of state the same way, with
loving-kindness and respect. They are all equal in his view. That's been a great inspiration.
As I practice greater acceptance of the events in my life, even those
involving change and letting go, I feel a growing sense of peace despite
sometimes challenging outside circumstances. As the quote on my
refrigerator magnet says: "Peace does
not mean to be in a place where there is no noise,
trouble or hard work, it means to be in the midst of those things and
still be calm in your heart" (Author
unknown).
This month my precious, older daughter is leaving home for the first time
to go to college 3,000 miles away. Over the last year, my daughter and I
have both felt the poignancy, sweetness and importance of these last
months of being at home together. It's brought us to a greater appreciation and love for each other,
and I have been much less inclined to "sweat the
small stuff." That has felt like a real gift.
As we head into these final emotional weeks at home together, I am
committed to staying present to this often uncomfortable process of
letting go, to feeling my feelings, to expressing my love for her and to
approaching this transition with as much peace and acceptance as I can
muster. I believe that the more I can be peaceful and loving with this
transition, the more my daughters can feel good and confident about these
changes as well.
Mother Theresa said, "We can do no great
things; only small things with great love." And as we continue to do small things
with great love, we continue to sow seeds of peace in the world.
I invite you to consider what small thing you might do with great love
today that would bring you joy and be an offering of peace to the world
we all share.
*******
While we could probably all use a Department of Peace in our own minds
(!), if you're interested in exploring what you can do on a larger scale to
promote peace, there is currently a grassroots movement afoot to create a
Department of Peace within the United States government,
establishing a full cabinet position dedicated solely to the interest of
PEACE. (To find out more, go to www.thepeacealliance.org)
Many blessings,
Carol
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