Peace Promises

Here are several of the Peace promises people made last week. Feel free to adopt some of them if you have not made yours!

"I promise to bring Peace and positive actions to every situation."
"I promise to create more by using less, to go more lightly on this earth."
"I promise to work toward lasting inner Peace; to heal others by showing them their path to Peace."
"I promise to practice Peace in the face of upsets - mine, others and the world's.."
"I promise to let go of my judgments and to focus on the love I have for all people and express that every day."
"I promise to love what is."
"I promise to be less certain and ask more questions."

I love the possibilities each of these declarations create. If you have not made a Peace promise this year, would you be willing to? What possibility might that create? Willing to share your promise?

Peace to you this Peace Tuesday.

Love,

Darlene

A Peace Promise

Would you be willing to make a promise for Peace in 2009?

Our brand new President (yay!) has promised to move toward Peace by ending the war in Iraq, closing Guantanamo Bay and returning this country to a focus on diplomacy.

My Peace Promise to you is that I will continue this blog and continue to discover and share new ways to create Peace in our lives. I will also take on the daily practice of saying silently and out loud "I love this!" to each event that happens, regardless of how confronting. And then I will look to see how I can love it!

What is your promise for Peace this year? Willing to share?

Love,

Darlene

A Clearing for Peace

Imagine you are hiking through a dark forest. There is a sudden break in the trees and you come to a clearing, a sylvan meadow filled with the scent of wild crocus. The sun is shining. It is silent. You hold your breath and are overwhelmed with the sense that anything is possible in this moment. The certainty of it fills you with joy and a deep sense of the Peace and perfection in all things. You leave the meadow a different person, taking that sense of wonder with you as you continue your hike in the dark forest.

Happy hiking today. Oh, and Peace!

Sitting with the question of Peace

Peaceful New Year!

The purpose of this blog is to have us (as many of us as possible) focus on Peace each Tuesday AND to take one action to make Peace (personal, interpersonal,community, national, international) possible.

I hear people everywhere saying that Peace is hopeless, particularly given recent events in Gaza and Israel. They are right! Peace is not about hope. It is about vision, commitment and action. I also hear people asking, "Why can't we have Peace"?
We certainly haven't had sustained, pervasive Peace on this planet since the beginning of recorded history AND no one has ever answered that question to my satisfaction.

That's because they are asking the wrong question. It isn't "why isn't there Peace?" it is instead "How can I/we create Peace".

My invitation today is for you to SIT with the question, "How can I create Peace"?
Look for one thing you can do, or better yet stop doing, that would contribute to your personal sense of Peace. Then notice how that contributes to Peace on this planet.

Sit BooBoo! Sit!

Love you all,

Darlene

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