Why do we wait for a designated holiday to start celebrating?

I know the daily grind sometimes doesn’t seem like a lot to celebrate about, but when you really consider it, isn’t the fact that you’re breathing in and out worth celebrating?! I think so.

Yes, it can take some serious effort to celebrate some days. Some days you just plain won’t feel like it, and well, that’s ok too. It’s more the mindset and ATTITUDE of daily celebration that is the key to living well, in my opinion.

Ok, daily celebration maybe sounds a little hokey, a little evangelical, a little new age, a little unrealistic – whatever that dark cloud above you is saying – so here’s another way to think about it:

• Did you wake up this morning? That’s a good start for celebrating.
• Were you able to see the sky? Cloudy or not, being able to see the sky is a wonderful thing. It’s a great reminder of the freedom of your soul.
• Were you lucky enough to have food available for you?
• Did you get to put on clean clothes – or any clothes for that matter?
• Were you free to walk outside and go somewhere?
• Did you communicate openly with your neighbour or anyone else on the planet?

There are six reasons to celebrate right now. Consider that millions of people in the world don’t have some of those simple things to count on every day . . .

Looking at life from a positive perspective is different than through rose coloured glasses.

Some of the people I’ve met in my life have dismissed my attitude with that “yeah, right, you’re living in a dreamworld” roll of their eyes and flip of their hand. I’ll bet you $1million that no matter how much money or things they may acquire in their lifetime, I’ll still always be happier… because I choose to celebrate every day. I choose NOT to spend my time being angry about what I don’t have, being annoyed at things not going my way, getting disheartened because my expectations are not being met by someone else.

Now, let me clarify, when I say “celebrate” it’s not like I having a big party and blowing my lucky horn all over the place. I’m simply internally grateful and happy.

Sure, maintaining a positive attitude has its trials. It’s not always easy.

It’s not always easy because it’s not about denial. Many people who DON’T live positively like to accuse those of us who do that we’re in denial – that we don’t want to accept the nasty, horrible, depressing truths that surround us and so we just ignore them and hope they’ll go away. DENIAL IS NOT CELEBRATING.

I can deny that there are bad things in the world, and yes, eventually I’ll get smacked in the head with one and I’ll be devastated. OR, I can live positively, acknowledge the horror, and through that do even the smallest bit to change some of those bad things in the world. Simply smiling at someone new every day makes a difference.

• Share your knowledge with no strings attached.
• Give someone the benefit of the doubt, or do something helpful without expectation of reward.
• Make a donation.
• Look after your neighbour’s kids for the night so they can have a moment to themselves.
• Go to your local high school’s holiday celebration.
•  Tell your boss you appreciate having a job.
• If you subscribe to a religion, say a prayer for someone you don’t know.
• If you buy groceries, pick up a couple extra cans for your local food bank.
• If you drive a car, walk somewhere today or give a stranded stranger a lift.

 Just do SOMETHING to celebrate being alive.

And don’t wait for Christmas.

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People like to get ahead of each other. Why is that?

Here is sunny San Diego, California, we have to depend on our freeways. There are very few other roads that can get us where we want to go through canyons, over lakes and around mountains.

Today–an unfortunately typical day on the road–I was stopped at a freeway onramp, waiting for the light to turn green. Just as it did and I proceeded onto the highway, a big white pickup truck ignored the requirements of the HOV lane, ignored the light there, and shot past both me and the car in front of me.  I instinctively hit the horn. He waved in his rear view mirror and continued on at great speed.

You’ve likely experienced this phenomena: you see a green light and accelerate to cross the road. Seemingly, the driver waiting in the lane next to you takes your leaving the stop as a personal affront to his or her slower reflexes or preoccupation with the cell phone.  The response: to accelerate past you and pull in front of you just in time  to be caught by the next red light.

Or, you’ve been involved in the great Lane Change Wars. It seems that the extra ten or twenty seconds someone gains on you by passing you is a matter of life or death to them. Unfortunately, such behavior has often been life or death.  Too frequently, death.

Why do we play out our insecurities on the highways? Why are reflex speed and acceleration seen as indications of moral superiority and/or the opportunity or need to compete? What are we really doing out there?

Driving is an opportunities to practice sowing peace. My California license plate is SOWPEAC.  If I were to engage in this mindless competitive driving free-for-all–and, believe me, I’m often tempted, I would be in direct contradiction of my license plate.  I invite you to mentally share my license plate so that we can all remind ourselves that the highways and byways we’re driving on are a great metaphor for the highways and byways we live.

Competing while commuting? We cannot simultaneously sow peace and focus on getting ahead of someone else, on the road or in our daily relationships. Let’s use our driving as a practice field to teach ourselves to sow peace everywhere!

The post Can you sow peace and focus on getting ahead of others? appeared first on Sow Peace International.

I hope you’ll take the 25-minutes to watch it and leave a little quiet time after watching to consider the implications for your life. It is well worth taking the time for.

Then, write a comment below to share your own insights, feelings and commitments after watching.  Invite others to the blog to share the video as well so that they can have the opportunity to be a part of the Sow Peace community, too.  Enjoy!

Continue to Sow Peace…in every moment & in every relationship.

Rhoberta

Here’s the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gg4Kh_MVJbk

The post Don’t miss the Inspiration, Information & Insights in this Video appeared first on Sow Peace International.

It was a glorification of two notorious bandits who were extremely engaging in their banter, their demeanor and entertaining to an audience.

We did not think of the victims of their “antics,” because they were not mean spirited in their lawlessness. America, perhaps always, but especially during prohibition, exhibited a great deal of tolerance/admiration for some pretty bad hombres, similar to Redford and Newman. So, as an audience we found it amusing when Butch kept saying of the Pinkertons who were chasing them, “Who are those guys?” They were relentless in their pursuit, so that in the end the bandits had to flee the country and take up their lawlessness in South America. They came to a very bad end.

That’s the way it is in the world of “frontier” justice. Bad guys will be hunted down and exterminated or brought to justice, or both. We Americans, would have a difficult time equating Osama Bin Laden with Butch Cassidy, yet to many throughout the world OBL was a semi heroic figure. That he evaded the relentless pursuit of the military might of the United States of America for nearly a decade was the stuff of legend in some parts of the world. However, just like in the movies, he came to a very bad end because of relentless pursuit.

There are a number of ways to view the extermination of OBL: on a political level, on a moral level, and on a spiritual level. Some will say the killing of Bin Laden was necessary and justified. Others will say that such action reflects poorly on the values and conduct of the US. Others will say it was long overdue. And others will say what others always say, something else. There are no end to the opinions, analyses, and advice that people offer at such times, all with great profundity and all completely without merit.

The only thing worthy of such a painful, difficult, and complicated moment is complete silence in the face of a dreadful, unwanted reality. The insanity of 9/11 and the insanity that ensued has ensnared us all in the unrelenting jaws of a monster so terrible, we dare not look at it. We respond to the creation of widows and orphans by creating more widows and orphans, in the end benefitting no one, except the undertakers and morticians. We must rid the world of the Sadaam Hussein’s and the Osama Bin Laden’s so that others will take their place, perhaps even more monstrous than they. But we shall feel relief that frontier justice has been administered. In the film, “Unforgiven,” Clint Eastwood is looking down the barrel of a shot gun pointed at Gene Hackman, who says to Eastwood, I don’t deserve to die like this.” Eastwood squints at him and says, “Deserve’s got nothin to do with it,” and then pulls the trigger.

The world does not conform to our expectations of it, no matter what those expectations might be. Words will not bring sanity to any of the actions. The actions will not change anything that has happened and will unleash more unintended consequences on all of us and the cycle of insanity will continue.

I remember once, sitting in my office next door to the church burning down. Outside of my window there was the most beautiful rose dancing in the mist and spray from the fire hoses. It was a great day for that rose, and it made quite an impression on me. Everything seemed so surreal. The events of life are just too big to get much of a handle on them, so we reduce things as best we can in order to pretend that we have some understanding. We have principles and values, beliefs, and paradigms for how the world is or ought to be–none of which actually have anything to do with the world, they are all about us. There is no magic algorithm we can apply in advance to any circumstance or event that give us even a glimmer of understanding, because our vision is never totally clear, complete, or cognizant of the consequences that will ensue. But, we happily provide input as to how others should have acted or not, and what the meaning of it all will be for the future. We are ever so wise and clever.

Death comes to us all, whether we deserve it or not–it is just the way things are. Every life has value, purpose, and meaning–some of which we realize and some of which we do not. In 2006, a terrible tragedy occurred at an Amish school in Pennsylvania–ten children were brutally gunned down, half of them died from their wounds. There were some who criticized the community for their haste to forgive, indicating that forgiveness could be inappropriate when no remorse has been expressed, and that such an attitude runs the risk of denying the existence of evil. Where people came up with such nonsense is difficult to surmise, but they apparently needed to capitalize on the moment and sell books. They merely comforted the family of the perpetrator, and the families of the victims. Even mercy is not beyond reproach.

There will most likely be books written about the heroic exploits of the Navy Seals who undertook the mission of taking out OBL–and probably a movie or two. The President and all involved deserve credit for making hard choices that were required of them because of their duties and obligations to the larger good of the country. Regardless of the demands of narrative and the gratitude of the country, we are still mired in an insane world that has not changed because of the death of one man and the courage of so many who set out to get him. We are no closer to peace in the world, and for many of us, no closer to peace within our own psyche.

The important thing to me, seems to be, that we cannot expect to find peace in the world–because the world is mired in a collective form of insanity, which is commonly referred to as drama. Peace comes from recognizing such insanity and no longer participating in it. The drama comes from questioning whether or not the United States should or should not have done such and such. Sanity arises when we accept that life is painful, difficult, and complicated–and whatever pain, difficulty, or complication that arises is just one more in an endless stream of life. We can participate in life without participating in the drama. Conversely, if we participate in the drama, we are not actually participating in life, but the illusion of life. Illusions will never comfort us or bring us peace. Peace will always comfort us, but will never change the world. Perhaps if we bring sanity to ourselves, we then bring it into the world.

Peace be with you.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS:

G. Charles Andersen, MA and Rhoberta Shaler, PhD, are co-authors of Soul Solitude: Taking Time for Our Souls to Catch Up. Rhoberta, trained as both a psychologist and professional mediator, is the founder of Sow Peace® International, www.SowPeace.com and Charles is a foremost metamythologist and just world advocate. Learn more about the book at www.SoulSolitude.com

The post Reflection on the Death of Osama bin Laden appeared first on Sow Peace International.

We all have the ability and the opportunity to make a difference by how we demonstrate alignment with our vision, values, beliefs and principles. Whether or not you do that by why some would think are extreme measures, or you do that by taking the time to know who you are and living that alignment in your current life,  you are expressing the change you want to see in the world by BEING it.

The post Making the decision to make a difference appeared first on Sow Peace International.

What Jill Bolte Taylor experienced by going through her stroke with the “consciousness” she describes, helps us understand the power of the right hemisphere, processing information globally and creatively. When we suspend our left hemisphere’s linearity and “must’s, should’s and supposed to’s,” we allow ourselves the joy of connecting…and making connections…in the silence, with ourselves, with humanity, with all that is.

Of course, that requires that we love ourselves enough to matter! We demonstrate that we matter to ourselves by taking time to reflect and listen in that silence. We talk about that extensively in our book, Soul Solitude: Taking Time for Our Souls to Catch Up. We live in a world that calls us to run far ahead of our feet, staying far too busy to think, or as Robert Frost says, “…to stop and stare.” In fact, others often measure us by how busy we are. That’s crazymaking: both the running and the measuring stick, but that’s a topic for another time. Today’s point is that we want to be pro-active and consciously take the time for quiet reflection and connection, not wait for a massive stroke to give us a wake-up call, right?

We like science, don’t we? If something has a scientific basis, there are many people who are much happier to engage with the ideas. So, when Jill, a neuro-scientist, describes her learning, we tend to give it more credibility than simply someone’s profound experience. That is often harder to give credence to, for some. Why? They like proof, facts and credentials. So, it is a blessing for many that Jill had this experience, and recovered to share the amazing depths of insight that she offers.

Taking time out for yourself to sit quietly, to reflect and connect, only takes mattering enough to yourself to do it, and some patience with yourself. The brain will do it, but, will you?

I advise trying it without having the stroke! The recovery time is much less.

And, thank you to www.pixelsforpeace.com for the article, and to Jill for her perseverance, understanding and willingness to share her journey. We can all benefit from her story.

HERE’S THE ORIGINAL STORY:

Peace on Earth – It’s Only a Breath Away

Jill Bolte Taylor, a 37-year-old Harvard-trained Neuroscientist, had a research opportunity few would wish for when a blood vessel exploded in her brain causing a massive stroke. In the video below she talks about how she watched as her brain functions — motion, speech, self-awareness — shut down one by one, and about the spiritual and medical metamorphosis she experienced after.

Taylor explains how the brain is split into two hemispheres, and how each processes information differently and thinks and cares about different things, essentially having it’s own personality.

The right hemisphere thinks visually and learns kinesthetically. It is all about the present: “right here, right now,” which is the basic teaching of Zen philosophy; Zen meaning to wake up to present moment. It is empathetic and sees that “we are energy beings connected through the consciousness of our right hemispheres as one human family.”

The left hemisphere thinks linearly and methodically and is all about the past and the future. It thinks in language and creates on-going brain-chatter, being the source of the little voice that says, “I am,” giving the sense of ego and separateness.

On the morning of her stroke, Taylor’s left-brain was knocked out of action by a blood clot the size of a golf ball. She lost the ability to speak and read as her left-brain began to shut down. At the same time she stepped into the right-brain world of connectedness and empathy which she affectionately calls “la la land”.

When she woke in hospital later that afternoon she was shocked to still be alive.

“I’m still alive, and I have found Nirvana, and if I have found Nirvana and I am still alive, then everyone can find Nirvana! I pictured a world filled with beautiful, peaceful, compassionate, loving people who knew that they could come to this space at any time and that they could purposely choose to step to the right of their left hemispheres and find this peace, and then I realized what a tremendous gift this could be, what a stroke of insight this could be, and it motivated me to recover.”

Fortunately, her left hemisphere was not permanently destroyed, and over the course of eight years, with an angel of a mother by her side, she made an awe-inspiring complete recovery.

Today, she says she is a new person, one who can step into the consciousness of her right hemisphere on command and be “one with all that is.”

I was deeply moved by her astonishing story which brought me to tears when watching the video for the first time. Taylor’s drive and enthusiasm is infectious, and the combination of her science expertise and personal stroke of insight was profound and penetrative. It allowed my left-brained way of thinking to be utterly convinced of the reality of something else, something natural, something that was “part of the potential experience of every person.”

Through the process of meditation – a right brain activity – we can each cultivate a greater sense of peace, teaching our right-brains to dominate our left, and thus really harness the power of the left-brain, with the ego being tamed; perhaps converted from a perceived enemy into a friend.

Jill Bolte Taylor believes that “the more time we spend choosing to run the deep inner peace circuitry of our right hemispheres, the more peace we will project into the world, and the more peaceful our planet will be.”

What an amazing insight she’s brought to us by means of her own personal, somewhat traumatic experience! I’m tremendously grateful for the blessing and see it as an incredibly important message that really needs to shared with our world.

I hope one day everyone on our planet will embrace these profound insights and begin to develop their own sense of inner peace, for which meditation is an invaluable key…

Peace on Earth – it’s only a breath away.

This post was written for the fabulous Shire at www.renewfixyou.com :) check it out!

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As the new year approaches, I’ve been thinking of a word for 2011. I’m not quite decided yet–after all, I do have thirty-six hours before it begins–but, one thing I do know: I will accumulate the words over the years, adding each new one while maintaining the previous ones. Having spent this past year focused on receptivity, I never want to lose or diminish that. I simply want to add to it.

• What will be your word for 2011?

I put my word up on my bathroom mirror to keep it in mind, as well as on my computer monitor. I also wrote it in the front of my notebook. This year, tho, I’m adding a little punch to it by making it a screensaver that I will see frequently. You might want to do that, too.

A good way to keep your commitment to sow peace within, at work and at home in mind is to sign the Commitment to Sow Peace, print it out and place it near your word. You’ll find it at SowPeace.com/commitment

You are invited to the Sow Peace page on Facebook: http://facebook.com/SowPeace where you can join in a discussion on our words for 2011.

The post Transforming your new year… appeared first on Sow Peace International.

Narayanan Krishnan, of Madurai, India, gave up his career as a 5-star executive chef to bring love, food & peace to the hungry and abandoned on the streets of India.

According to Wikipedia, “Krishnan founded his nonprofit Akshaya Trust in 2003. Every day, he wakes up at 4 a.m., cooks a simple hot meal and then, along with his team, loads it in a van and travels about 200 kilometres (120 mi) feeding the homeless in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. He serves breakfast, lunch and dinner to 400 indigent and elderly people in Madurai. Since 2003, he has served more than 1.2 million meals.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htVQbc7XnPs

Read more about him at Gimundo, the Good News Daily

Or read the comments on facebook, where I first found out about him…

How can you sow peace on your street today? It doesn’t have to be on as grand a scale as Narayanan… not all of us are capable of that. But, each of us is capable of showing kindness to a stranger on our street.

Photo Credit: Vivek’s Blog

The post Sowing Peace from the heart appeared first on Sow Peace International.

Sadly, it only seems to last the season, then far too many people forget about it.

Take a moment and make a conscious decision – and declaration – to REMEMBER to sow peace, this holiday season and beyond.

Sign the Declaration to Sow Peace today… then invite you friends & family to do the same.

The post Sow Peace this holiday season… and beyond. appeared first on Sow Peace International.

I’ve never really been that enamoured with her, and admit, never particularly paid that much attention. I’m not all that into pop music… but lately… there are some huge things happening in pop music from a social justice perspective. Musicians are taking on the task of getting the message of sowing peace – in every conceivable way – out to the populace.

The lyrics in this song are powerful – sure, there’s some poetic & artistic license taken with some metaphors & grammar – the message is strong, the images are heart-rending..

just watch and listen. then share it. it could just make a difference, and it surely can’t hurt.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGJuMBdaqIw

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