Peace by Harmony

It has come to me that perhaps the fastest way to PEACE is not by looking for PEACE, that it is LIVING IN HARMONY!! World PEACE is a very overwhelming thing to create. In order to have PEACE in the world, each and every person must first have PEACE within their own heart. If you have one grain of anger, hate, frustration, to name just a few, then you do not have total PEACE within you, and we can not experience World PEACE until EVERYONE has only PEACE within them. 

However, even if we still have some of those issues (anger, hate, frustration, envy, etc.) that I know we are all working at removing from our lives, we can still choose to LIVE IN HARMONY with those around us, and choose to not spend time with those that bring out that other stuff. Even if we spend time with them and do not feel totally loving and peaceful towards them, we can still choose to spend the time together HARMONIOUSLY! (For example: some things my mother says to me, so ways she treats me, hurt me... yet I choose to not fight, to just let it go.... to see it as her issues, and to get along rather than argue.... Harmony. There are so many other ways my 89 year old mom is wonderful, so I can choose to focus on them.)

I believe that if I choose to live in HARMONY with someone I do not know well or understand his or her ways (i.e., perhaps a store clerk of a different color, nationality, religious belief, etc.) then I put out HARMONY vibrations into the world, even though I may not get along with my sister, for example. By practicing HARMONY with all I meet, with all I live near, perhaps one day I can enjoy HARMONY with those I may choose to remove from my life at this time.... and by LIVING A LIFE OF HARMONY, I believe I help to create WORLD PEACE!!

Namasté

Alice G. Price

 

 

If you believe in fighting for peace, remember....

Affirmations

 I recently did a post titled Carfirmations.  I keep my Carfirmations CD in the CD player in my truck and every time I drive anywhere I get to listen to my dear friend Chris Madsen playing music while he shares positive affirmations and quotes, also on the CD there are songs he wrote and is singing. Of  course, they too are positive, spiritual songs.  I am so much enjoying listening to this each time I go anywhere, and it always brightens my day.

 

Peace Quote

Music is Soothing

I listen to the CBC Radio every time I drive my truck. I find it to be an interesting station with great talk shows and even some good music.  The local stations don't play music that I like, so I got into listening to the CBC and found that most days I enjoy it.  One of the interesting stories I heard on there recently was about a professional musician (I forget now who he was) who had gotten into legal trouble and went to jail for some time.  He is out now, but hasn't forgotten his experience and in some ways has turned this negative into a positive.  I respect anyone that can do that, change a negative into a positive.  Anyway, what he is doing is collecting guitars (Yamaha, Washburn, Gibson, Fender, even Michael Kelly Guitars, brand doesn't matter to him) and sending them into prisons for the inmates to use.  This is a kind and generous thing for him to do, in my opinion.  I think that it will help the inmates to find a good way to channel their excess energies that perhaps got them into trouble in the first place. Whether they know how to play a guitar already, or need to learn this skill, it could be a very positive thing for them.  Also, I believe that music is calming and healing to most of us. 

"Music hath charms to soothe a savage breast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak."  

William Congreve

Beautiful Lake

I clicked on a link to Branson real estate and came across this picture. Isn't it beautiful? I love the way the shoreline weaves in and out, creating several little coves where people can build their homes and dock their boats and be protected from wind storms. I love the way there are so many trees that have not been cut down, but allowed to grow. I would really enjoy relaxing on the beach in the foreground with a good book, or cruising down the lake in a nice boat. I wonder if this lake is good for fishing... hmmmm, that would be a great way to spend the day. Yes, I think I would love to live or even visit this beautiful lake.

More about Peace

When I think of true Peace within a person's heart, I think of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. This evening, I just read about this incredible man on Wikipedia, and now am not so sure that Peace is the right way to describe what Gandhi was about. He practiced Non-violence. Very close to the same as Peace, though I'm not sure it is the exact same thing, or at least in Gandhi's case. Can 'resistance to tyranny through mass civil disobedience' be Peaceful, even if/when 'firmly founded upon ahimsa or total nonviolence'? I'm not sure. However... I believe that Non-Violence and Non-Violent Communication can definitely lead to Peace.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was the pre-eminent political and spiritual leader of India during the Indian independence movement. He was the pioneer of satyagraha—resistance to tyranny through mass civil disobedience, firmly founded upon ahimsa or total nonviolence—which led India to independence and inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. Gandhi is commonly known around the world as Mahatma Gandhi ("Great Soul", an honorific first applied to him by Rabindranath Tagore), and in India also as Bapu ("Father"). He is officially honoured in India as the Father of the Nation; his birthday, 2 October, is commemorated there as Gandhi Jayanti, a national holiday, and worldwide as the International Day of Non-Violence.

Gandhi first employed non-violent civil disobedience while an expatriate lawyer in South Africa, during the resident Indian community's struggle for civil rights. After his return to India in 1915, he organized protests by peasants, farmers, and urban labourers concerning excessive land-tax and discrimination. After assuming leadership of the Indian National Congress in 1921, Gandhi led nationwide campaigns to ease poverty, expand women's rights, build religious and ethnic amity, end untouchability, and increase economic self-reliance. Above all, he aimed to achieve Swaraj or the independence of India from foreign domination. Gandhi famously led his followers in the Non-cooperation movement that protested the British-imposed salt tax with the 400 km (240 mi) Dandi Salt March in 1930. Later he campaigned against the British to Quit India. Gandhi spent a number of years in jail in both South Africa and India.

As a practitioner of ahimsa, he swore to speak the truth and advocated that others do the same. Gandhi lived modestly in a self-sufficient residential community and wore the traditional Indian dhoti and shawl, woven with yarn he had hand spun on a charkha. He ate simple vegetarian food, and also undertook long fasts as a means of both self-purification and social protest.

On the website of The Center for Nonviolent Communication, we are asked:

Have you ever wondered if there was a way all people could live in peace? Have you ever longed to reach a point of understanding with someone you care about when you find yourselves divided by disagreements or differences? Maybe you’ve longed to express what you really feel or what is important to you? Or, have you ever wanted to foster agreement with a group of people who was unable to agree with another group—especially when the disagreement became life-threatening?

If so, you may be interested in learning about Nonviolent Communication (NVC).

People I know study the book “Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Compassion” by Marshall B. Rosenberg, Ph.D. as well as hosting &/or attending NVC workshops. I have done a very small amount of this study and would like to do more. I can see how it would help a lot when it comes to finding the Peace within yourself and bring about Peaceful relationships. These could lead to World Peace in time.

“What I want in my life is compassion, a flow between myself and others based on a mutual giving from the heart.”
—Marshall B. Rosenberg

Peace Full

Earlier today (I'm still on Nov. 4th time even though it's after midnight... I've not yet gone to bed), as I was driving to town, I got stuck behind a very slow driver and I was in a hurry. I had to get to the Centre and open up and I was running late. I also had 6 bags of recycling in my truck, the Recycle Truck had already passed my place so I had to catch up, pass and get ahead, then put my bags out at someone else's driveway.... The speed limit on this road is 70 (since I'm in Canada, these are kilometers, not miles, per hour) and she was puttzing along at 60 or lower. Most people do 90 - 95 on this road and many even as much as 120 or higher, so why was this one going UNDER the speed limit? I wanted to go over it, thank you very much!! Some unkind thoughts came to my mind, and out through my mouth. I even started honking my horn in the hopes it would inspire her to 'move it'.

Does this happen to you? To someone you know? I would venture to say it is a high percentage of people that experience this kind of aggravation/anger/road rage. This kind of thing also happens in other areas of life when we are not driving.

Then, we talk about how much we would like to have World Peace!!

How can we expect to have Peace throughout the world if we don't have Peace in our own heart? It is impossible. We first must find that Peace and acceptance within our self, feel it and know it intimately. Then and only then will Peace begin to flow out into the world, to touch others around us helping them to find that inner Peace, to become Peaceful and Peace Full.

I am grateful to that woman today who was driving 'too slow', because she helped me to see, once again, an area where I need more work.

I want World Peace... therefor, I choose to have Peace within Myself!!

Here are some quotes on Peace that might help me to find it within myself. You may also enjoy them.

______________________________________________________________________

It isn't enough to talk about peace, one must believe it.
And it isn't enough to to believe in it, one must work for it.
- Eleanor Roosevelt

______________________________________________________________________

He who lives in harmony with himself lives in harmony with
the world.
- Marcus Aurelius
______________________________________________________________________

Love the moment and the energy of that moment will spread
beyond all boundaries into blissful, peaceful happiness.
______________________________________________________________________

Those who are at war with others are not at peace with
themselves.
- William Hazlett
______________________________________________________________________

In acceptance, there is peace.

______________________________________________________________________

We are never more discontented with others than when we are
discontented with ourselves.
- Henri Frederic Arnier
_____________________________________________________________

When your mind is tranquil, all your ill-thoughts cease.

______________________________________________________________________

Peace comes from living in the moment and looking for the good in others.
Peacefulness comes from facing our fears and letting them go - trusting that
things will turn out all right. Peacefulness is also a way of approaching conflict
with others so no one is made wrong. Everyone wins because we then work to
find a peaceful solution.

______________________________________________________________________

I wish you a Peaceful & Peace Full day!!

In Love & Light, Alice

Blog Blast For Peace

Here is an email I got from Mimi today. I`m sure you will all find it interesting to read and pass on to others. Have a wonderful, peace-filled day. To visit Mimi just click on her address below.




Hello Peace Bloggers,

BlogBlast For Peace will be here before you know it! The next launch is November 5, 2009. We are foregoing the summer event to give us time to promote, promote, promote. I thought you might like a graphic for your sidebar or blog, including a countdown clock.
If you need help with this, please let me know.

We are now on Facebook with over 500 new members, Twitter (please reTweet this link as often as possible) and Bloggers Unite. If the original core group of peace bloggers (that's you!) engage these links in your own blogs and social networks, we will see it explode as never before. We are 46 countries strong at this moment!

I believe we can - and should - take it into every country and every blog across the globe. Please join and support the groups mentioned above as well as other networking sites you belong to. I hear all the time, "I would have done this if I'd only known about it."

Thank you for your continued enthusiasm and love for the Peace Globe Movement. It still amazes me that nearly three years later our voices and creative globes are seen on the face of thousands of blog pages.

I will keep you posted every few weeks with an update of the exciting things that are happening. And thank you for helping me spread the word in your own corners of influence. It is my honor and joy to continue this project and try to expand what we have begun as a community of peace bloggers. You are awesome individuals.

Dona nobis pacem,

Mimi Lenox
Founder of BlogBlast For Peace
BlogBlastForPeace.com
Mimi Writes

Quote of the Day - Light Mail

Daily Inspiration: Be nice and smile to everyone you meet. You don't know what they are going through, and they may need that smile, and treasure it. ~ Christine M. Huppert

Today’s Affirmation: Wherever I go my goodwill goes first.

Today's Contemplation: In order to bring joy into the lives of others we must first establish our own intention to bring them joy. For this to be authenteic we must find our own joy so fully established that it naturally flows over.

Light Mail is put out by Rev. Dale Jukes of the Okanagan Centre For Spiritual Living.

Quote of the Day

When you become more peaceful you are more open, you are more able to hear, to listen.


--Huong Zu

World Healing Meditation

Every year, at 12 noon Greenwich time (4am where I live) on December 31, there is a World Healing Meditation. People all around the world come together at this same time to pray & meditate on World Peace. The Okanagan Centre for Spiritual Living always opens so people can come and join in a group 'thing' for an hour. I really enjoy doing this. For several years I did not go to the Centre so did the praying/meditating at home alone, set the alarm to get up for that hour from 4 to 5am, though I really do prefer to go join with others doing it all at the same time. It feels so much more powerful, though I know that even doing it at home alone I am really not alone as there are I don't know how many, but a LOT of people all around the world joining together in Spirit, in God, to meditate/pray for World Peace & Healing.

As well as other prayers & meditations from several different religious/spiritual beliefs, we read this:

World Healing Meditation From the book The Planetary Commission

by John Randolph Price

In the beginning
In the beginning God,
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
And God said Let there be light; and there was light.

Now is the time of the new beginning.
I am a co-creator with God, and it is a new Heaven that comes,
As the Good Will of God is expressed on Earth through me.
It is the Kingdom of Light, Love, Peace and Understanding.
And I am doing my part to reveal its Reality.

I begin with me.
I am a living Soul and the Spirit of God dwells in me, as me.
I and the Father are one, and all that the Father has is mine.
In Truth, I am the Christ of God.

What is true of me is true of everyone,
For God is all and all is God.
I see only the Spirit of God in every Soul.
And to every man, woman and child on Earth I say:
I love you, for you are me. You are my Holy Self.

I now open my heart,
And let the pure essence of Unconditional Love pour out.
I see it as a Golden Light radiating from the center of my being,
And I feel its Divine Vibration in and through me, above and below me.

I am one with the Light.
I am filled with the Light.
I am illumined by the Light.
I am the Light of the world.

With purpose of mind, I send forth the Light.
I let the radiance go before me to join the other Lights.
I know this is happening all over the world at this moment.
I see the merging Lights.
There is now one Light. We are the Light of the world.
The one Light of Love, Peace and Understanding is moving.
It flows across the face of the Earth,
Touching and illuminating every soul in the shadow of the illusion.
And where there was darkness, there is now the Light of Reality.

And the Radiance grows, permeating, saturating every form of life.
There is only the vibration of one Perfect Life now.
All the kingdoms of the Earth respond, and
The Planet is alive with Light and Love.

There is total Oneness,
And in this Oneness we speak the Word.
Let the sense of separation be dissolved.
Let mankind be returned to Godkind.

Let peace come forth in every mind.
Let Love flow forth from every heart.
Let forgiveness reign in every soul.
Let understanding be the common bond.

And now form the Light of the world,
The One Presence and Power of the Universe responds.
The Activity of God is healing and harmonizing Planet Earth.
Omnipotence is made manifest.

I am seeing the salvation of the planet before my very eyes
As all false beliefs and error patterns are dissolved.
The sense of separation is no more; the healing has taken place
And the world is restored to sanity.

This is the beginning of Peace on Earth and Good Will toward all,
As Love flows forth from every soul,
And all hearts and minds are one in perfect understanding.

It is done. And it is so.

This year I had planned to go to the Centre for this special event, and to a friend's home for a New Years Eve celebration. However, with having to care for Cherry Chinchilla with regular feedings and medications, and with the pain my body is going through on top of it, I think I will be staying home. I will set my alarm and will wake up to pray and meditate, to join in the World Healing.

daily GOOD

Day 29

I am a believer in nonviolence and I say that no peace or tranquility will descend upon the people of the world until nonviolence is practiced, because nonviolence is love and it stirs courage in people. There is advantage only in construction. I want to tell you categorically I will not support anybody in destruction. --Abdul Ghaffar (Badshah) Khan

Fact of the Day:
Little known in the West is a figure named Abdul Ghaffar Khan, who argued that religiously justified violence was "not God's religion." Known as Badshah Khan to his followers, the devoutly Muslim leader was called "The Frontier Gandhi" and built an Islamic parallel to Gandhi's violence-eschewing ideals of compassion for one's enemies and peaceful resistance to oppression as a means of overcoming it. [ more ]

Be The Change:
Let your thoughts, words and actions all be re-focused toward non-violence today.

Quote of the Day

If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.

-- Mother Teresa --

zzzzZZZZZzzzzZZzz

Day 23

Tonight I am so tired, have been most of the day. It was a very long board meeting today after the service. It was good and productive, yet very tiring. I will write more tomorrow. For tonight, I will just share some quotes with you.

Do I love you because you're beautiful,
Or are you beautiful because I love you?

~Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, Cinderella



Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future.

~Paul Boese


The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings.

~Eric Hoffer, Reflections On The Human Condition



A warless world will come as men develop warless hearts.

~Charles Wesley Burns

Various Quotes

Forgiveness:

There is no revenge so complete as forgiveness.

-- Josh Billings--


Gratitude:

The deepest craving of human nature is the need to be appreciated.

-- William James --


Love:

Love -- giving and receiving from the heart -- involves ... peace ...

-- Richard Carlson --


Peace:

Let us love the world to peace.

-- Quoted in The Angels' Little Instruction Book by Eileen Elias Freeman, 1994 --

The Creator

Quilly left me a message to one of my posts yesterday, and included a link to a post she'd written earlier this year, a beautiful story of her relationship with God, and how He saved her life one day. It is well worth going to have a read (after you finish here, of course). It reminded me of a couple things.

One being my friend Bev who goes to the Okanagan Centre for Spiritual Living, my Spiritual Centre, and is currently taking the same class I am taking on The Edenbourgh Lectures by Thomas Troward. One day Bev was driving her truck and I'm not sure what exactly happened except that she was out of control and about to go over a large bank. She said "Oh My God!" and suddenly, for no apparent reason, the truck shifted around and instead of rolling sideways down the back, it went backwards and simply slid down with no damage to either the truck or Bev. She felt the presence of God there with her, taking care of her.

The other thing is a mini poster type thing my Dad once gave me, many years ago. I don't even know where it got to, but I remember it well. It said:

I Know I'm Okay
Cuz God Don't Make No Junk

If you think you are "unworthy", or "unlovable" (as I thought for way too many years), or anything less than perfect, whole and complete, think about that. All that is, is made by God... the ONE CREATIVE FORCE IN THE UNIVERSE, and that includes you! God would not make anything less than perfect.

I send you love!
I send you Peace!

Peaceful Thoughts, etc.

Day 17

Yesterday, I posted a photo of my new-old telephone bench after I washed it and set it into place. That photo showed the old cushions that so need to be replaced. This photo is what the same bench looked like part way through today. It now has my answering machine on it too, so not a lot different. I put a cushion down, then covered all with this small blanket, added the phone book, the phone (handsfree cordless), a little stuffy bear, cat treats. Then, the cat (Mewsic) added herself. I just had to show you this, haha. I guess one could say this is a picture of PEACE.

I was having a lot of problems getting up out of my armchair... very painful, so I got my friend Dan to build a riser for me to put the chair on. It is about 4" high and helps me a lot. There is, however, a drawback to this. Today I was watching my parrot, DW, visiting one of my chinchillas, Charlie, through the wires of his cage. It was really cute and I decided to 'go for my camera'. After nearly breaking 2 or 3 toes on this riser, I got the camera and by then of course DW and Charlie had moved from their previous 'too cute' pose. This chair swivels and rocks and if I have it swivelled back to the front the riser doesn't stick out like that. (Note to self: be sure to swivel chair to front and save toes.)

Since I nearly broke my poor wee toes to get the photo of Charlie & DW, I ended up taking this instead. DW had moved around to the back to visit with Charlie who had moved up higher in his cage and to the back. Charlie sleeps in this black tube, some kind of PVC. DW seems to really love spending time near the chinchillas and Charlie is her favorite, though she also visits Daisy & Shari who share a cage. I've not seen her visit Cherry or Smudge though.

If a parrot and a chinchilla can become friends, why can't humans find a way to become friendly? I truly believe to the depth of my soul that my spiritual beliefs are right, and yet, I still accept and love other people who have different religious beliefs then I do. Why do so many other people wage war based on religious beliefs? We have, in this world, Christians killing Christians in the name of religion... killing each other in the name of Christ!! What would Jesus do? Not that I am sure. There is One God, we all worship that one God whether we call that Infinite, Creative Spirit by the word God, Jahovah, Allah, Christ, or any other name. Some call this "Energy" He, some call it She, and some even call it It... and it doesn't matter what we call the Creator because it all still boils down to the same thing.... There is One God, One Life, One Power & Presence. Each and every one of us is created by and of God. When you hate someone, you are hating God. When you are killing someone you are killing a creation of God.

When you love someone you love God. When you love yourself, you love God. When you love God, you are at Peace.

I wish you all Peace!!

Quote of the Day

When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible but in the end, they always fall -- think of it, ALWAYS.


-- Mahatma Gandhi --

Peace Quotes

Day 16

“When you find peace within yourself, you become the kind of person who can live at peace with others.”

-- Peace Pilgrim --



“Peace is not something you wish for; It's something you make, Something you do, Something you are, And something you give away.”

-- Robert Fulghum --



“Each one has to find his peace from within. And peace to be real must be unaffected by outside circumstances.”

-- Mahatma Gandhi --

A Spiritual Mind Treatment (Prayer) for Peace

Day 15

There is One infinite and creative power in the Universe, I call it God, Spirit, First Cause. It is the alpha and the omega. It is Omniscience, Omnipotence, Omnipresence, all that is. I know it is One with me now. As I relax into this awareness I am filled with a powerful awareness of my Oneness with all life, everywhere. This awareness awakens my senses and moves me into action. Today I choose peace in my life. Today I live peace in my life. Today I am peace in all that I do and all that I am. I am love, acceptance and light. This new reality is fully alive and working now. I am the peace seen and felt in the world. In an awakened state of power and potential I see peace everywhere I look and I am grateful. Grateful for unity, grateful for awakening, grateful for peace on earth today - NOW. It is done. And so it is.

Peace and Blessings,

Rev. Barbara Schreiner-Trudel

Spiritual Director

Centre for Spiritual Living, Toronto