Hello fellow Peace enthusiasts!
I have two things for you this Peace Tuesday. The first is a brief look at systemic Peace in the world or peace trends. The second looks at a simple way to bring Peace into your life!
I found an informative website created by the Center for Systemic Peace. They gather information on war, the nature and location of conflict, and look at trends over time. I'm not going to spend a lot of time on that in this blog because the graphs on this site are worth thousands of my words. And you will get the point quickly from looking at the pictures these graphs create.
So, go to http://members.aol.com/cspmgm/conflict.htm and you will see a broader picture of what's been happening in the world since 1950/1960, one that may balance the picture you get from your local newspaper or the evening news (yes, even The News Hour).
And this brings me to the second topic of this weeks blog. And that is how to bring Peace into your life. I am going to give you two practices to take on, practices I give my clients. Consider, as you take them on, that you just saved yourself some bucks by not hiring a coach!
The first practice is to avoid media, newspapers, tv or online news, all of Peace Tuesday! If you're feeling really bodacious you can extend that to days, weeks or months. "What, not read the paper? Are you nuts?" Yes, many people think I've completely lost my mind. And they are right. I've walked away from that portion of my mind that wasn't serving me and made a bee line for my heart, where I now spend as much time as possible! My mind was a jumble of shoulds, and don'ts, and what ifs and the source of great unrest until I stumbled into the Peace that comes from spending time in my heart.
Media is grist for the mill in your mind. You can still stay informed. I dare you to find out how! And I double dare you to take on this practice for as long as you can manage it. Notice what happens in your life when you stay away from media. You might think of yourself as a media-aholic, someone who can't go a day without knowing the details of every last thing President Bush did or Angelina Jolie did! What would your life be like without that?
The second practice is Buddhist based. And it's purpose is to have you let go of your attachment to doing, so that you can begin to experience your being, or who you are separate from what you do!
Sound like fun? The practice is: Go 1/2 speed for an hour, two hours, 1/2 day or all day. You can start with a day off if that seems less confronting. Or you can throw caution to the wind (I highly recommend that) and do it today on Peace Tuesday, or tomorrow, since this blog is going out a bit late (I apologize)! Go 1/2 speed and then notice what happens to your thoughts as you do this. Notice how you seem to automatically return to your previous speed. Catch yourself speeding!
You will need some structures to support you in remembering this practice. I recommend you wear a rubber band on your wrist to snap when you find yourself back at your normal speed. Enroll others in reminding you to go 1/2 speed. Pay them a nickel if they catch you speeding! Or put post it notes around to remind you to "Go 1/2 speed". Or put money in your Peace Pot, money you can donate to an organization promoting Peace!
For me the benefits of slowing down are that I am more in touch with my body, my emotions and my thoughts. And I am more in touch with other people, noticing their facial expressions, their speed, their language, tone, etc. I am simply more present, awake and aware.
"But I won't get stuff done," you cry! Well, give it a go and see. I can tell you that I am more productive now that I was when I took on this practice. I stop myself from doing things quickly and then having to redo them. I get more pleasure from the doing of them also and that's a lovely bonus. And really, that's the point. If we speed through life trying to do as much as possible, we miss the experience of what we do. We miss opportunities to connect with ourselves and with others and to experience events deeply.
So, practice slowing down, noticing if the gradient is too steep and lowering it. Oh, and if you notice that you keep forgetting to do it, that's perfect. It's part of the process of beginning something right? You start by forgetting, then you learn to remember, then you experience the benefits of this new thing and then the behavior begins to reinforce itself. It feels good to slow down. It is Peaceful. And it affects those around you, just as seeing everyone else speeding on the freeway invites you to match their speed. You don't want to be left behind, do you?
Well, slowing down, going half speed (or, if you're really adventurous, try going NO speed!), invites others to notice what you are doing, see that you are peaceful doing this, and want to join you in that lovely space.
Thank you to all of you who have left comments on the blog. I am inspired by the feedback I am getting and welcome more of it. I also welcome contributions and love giving credit to new thoughts and ideas. And for those of you who don't want to receive my blog mailing, please let me know. I will love you and remove you from my list.
Love,
Darlene
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment