A New Year's Recipe for Peace Pie!

Peace, like anything else we create in our lives, is a result of our actions. Our actions are a result of our commitments to it. Our commitments are a result of our intention to create it. Our intentions come from our thoughts, dreams and visions. And our thoughts, dreams and visions come from our learning and being awake to the thoughts, dreams and visions of others.

So, here's my recipe for Peace Pie 2009.

Attention + learning source
dreams and visions which source
intentions which source
commitments which source
action which source
Peace!

Bake at a temperature that is outside your comfort zone until it's done and enjoy! Yummy....AND zero calories! Hee, hee, hee!

Love,

Darlene

Stuff and Peace: An hommage to George Carlin!

When humans can't find meaning they often fill the empty space in their lives with stuff. They then attach meaning to the stuff. "My stuff is proof that I am a success or worthwhile". Unfortunately, keeping and maintaining lots of stuff can be a burden preventing us from engaging deeply with the world.

If having a lot of stuff points to a lack of deep meaning in life, I risk losing my meaning when my stuff disappears. Yikes! And many people celebrated for making a difference in the world have very little stuff. Fascinating!

Peace is available with or without stuff. The trick is, will you find deep meaning in your life, in simply being, and in other beings, so your life is not about your stuff or about making up stuff about your stuff?

A Peace practice today is to look at the meaning you have attached to your stuff. Who are you without it? Does having stuff create suffering for you? Does not having stuff create suffering? How can you be Peace with or without stuff?

Another Peace practice this Peace Tuesday is to stuff some stuff you don't use in a bag and give stuff away!

Love,

Darlene

Appreciating Peace!

I sat in my second story office yesterday looking out the window at the trees, the elm leaves yellow and the plumb tree still a gorgeous maroon despite all of the rain. And there was Peace! Right in front of me. Peace in the blue sky and the grey and white clouds; Peace in the dogs napping at my feet; Peace even in the distant rumble of a jet descending to land.

There is plenty of Peace in our world. All we need to do is stop regularly, open our eyes and hearts and acknowledge that it is there. Revel in it! Appreciate the Peace that is already present in your life. What you appreciate appreciates!

Have a Peaceful holiday.

Love,

Darlene

Peaceful Holidays!

Many people struggle with perfectionism or an internal conversation that goes, "Maybe if I do it perfectly they will love me". Then we discover that it's not what we do, but who we be that invites others to love us. They love us because we are lovable and loving, not because we are perfect!

This season folks drive themselves crazy trying to do the holidays perfectly. Peace happens when we realize we can experience the wonder of this loving season without doing it perfectly. It doesn't have to be perfect to be wonderful. More importantly, we don't have to be perfect to be wonderful!

Have wonderful, imperfect and Peaceful holidays!

Love,

Darlene

It's no mistake that Christ's birth, and many other spiritual and religious events are celebrated in the earth's northern hemisphere at this time of year. As winter approaches, with cold and scarcity of resources, human beings turn from independent activity to depending more on others - for warmth, company and often, survival. We become especially vulnerable in harsh physical conditions and it requires us to open our hearts to others, to get closer in order to get along. So, the very earth reminds us to set aside our perceived differences and snuggle together!

Peace is "heart work". It requires us to suspend our heavy reliance on our thinking selves and focus on our hearts. We bring the warmth of our hearts to our communities so that we may all survive. Most of us learn to do this in our spiritual communities. But for those of you without a spiritual community there is BePeace Training! Check out www.spiritpathonline.org if you are interested. I also recommend The Institute of Heart Math and the Center for Nonviolent Communication (Marshal Rosenberg's work)as places to start.

Focus on your heart this Peace Tuesday. What you focus on expands!

Love,

Darlene

'Tis the Season. Give the gift of Peace!

Tenzin Gyatso (the 14th Dalai Lama) says, "If you wish to experience Peace, provide Peace for another." What a lovely thought as this holiday season approaches. You can give Peace as a gift and receive the gift of Peace right back - without the shopping, the boxing and all that wrapping. How simple! How elegant! How timeless! How cheap!

And because you are brilliant, I'm certain you can think of many ways to do this. But, if you insist on spending money, you can give and receive two gifts for the price of one! "No way" you say. Way! By giving to third world causes you give both Peace AND JUSTICE! Now that's real value. Plus you will be giving credence to something that Plato, Socrates, Gandhi and Martin Luther King believed; that Peace is only possible when justice is present.

'Tis the time for Peace and Justice. Fa la la la la, la la la la!

Love,

Darlene

P.S. Please check out my blog site for places to give. My favorites are Oxfam, The Heffer Project and Kiva. But there are zillions of others. Really, zillions!