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6-12-10 Practice Empathy as a Path to Peace...
June 12, 2010
The "Season for Peace in the Family" began on Mother's Day (May 9) and extends through Father's Day (June 20).
To honor these last few days of the 2010 "Season for Peace in the Family," we invite you to join in a family peacebuilding activity: make a genuine effort to express empathy to each member of your immediate family between now and Father's Day.
Dan Goleman, author of Social Intelligence, highlights three types of empathy:
1. The first is cognitive empathy. This is the ability to understand how another thinks, to "see" his or her point of view, even though it may be very different than our own.
2. The second is emotional empathy. This is the ability to feel the emotions of another while staying grounded in ourselves, leading to the experience of rapport and a wholehearted feeling of compassion.
3. The third is empathic concern. Built on an awareness of another's thoughts and feelings, empathic concern is the ability to take authentic action to help another when we sense a need.
Here's a 10-minute video you might find interesting that poses a critical question: "Can we imagine extending empathy to the entire human family?" This video highlights some important themes for all of us who care about peace.
A Father's Day Blessing
May all fathers grow in their ability to express empathy.
May they be renewed in courage and strength
to sustain lasting and loving commitments
to the well-being of their children, and
to share in the commitment to the safety and protection
of the children of the world.
5-5-10 Participate in the Season for Peace in the Family
May 5, 2010
The period of time from Mother's Day (May 9) through Father's Day (June 20) offers a special opportunity to highlight the importance of peacebuiliding in family life.
One of the most powerful peacebuilding actions we can take is to become a "transition" person in our families. What does this mean?
A transition person recognizes the negative family habits and attitudes that are being passed from generation to generation, often creating deep suffering and chronic conflicts. Fueled by a desire to contribute to the well-being of family members, a transition person makes the commitment to do the hard work that's necessary to overcome the negative scripting they've inherited, and to be the last link in the chain of these habits.
The gift a transition person gives to his or her family is enormous, as it frees younger and future generations to create healthy lives without the added burden of the toxic traits of a family lineage.
A tendency that's run through your family for generations can stop with you.
...your own change can affect many, many lives downstream.
Stephen Covey
(A good resource for becoming a transition person: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families by Stephen R. Covey.)
Meet Renee...
Renee Taylor is a volunteer staff member who has generously contributed time and resources to the Rhythm of Peace Project since we began.
This year, for Mother's Day, Renee is giving a memorial gift to the Rhythm of Peace Project in honor of her mother, Marcia, and her former mother-in-law, Olga, who died one day apart in February of 2008. Marcia lived with Renee during the last three years of her life while she was being treated for cancer. During this time Renee became painfully aware of how family patterns were being passed unknowingly from generation to generation. For Renee, a memorial gift is a meaningful way to honor the past, heal the present, and contribute to the future.
"I will do whatever I can so that the cold wars and chronic criticisms that have caused so much suffering for at least 4 generations of my family will not be passed on through me. There is nothing more important than peace in families."
Thank you Renee, for your loving support of our efforts to educate about peacebuilding in daily life, and for your inspiring commitment to be a "transition" person in your family!
Marcia Olga
4-22-10 Celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day
April 21, 2010
Any genuine vision of peace must also include peace with the earth. April 22 marks the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. On this day, we join with others from every country to affirm the importance of living in harmony with the natural world.
Earth Day offers us an opportunity to renew and strengthen our commitment to finding a healthy balance between the needs of human beings and the needs of our living planet, for ourselves and for future generations.
I'll make it my habit to go outdoors each day and pause...
to notice the light and the colors and the sounds of the season,
to feel my feet on the earth,
to breathe deeply of the life that springs forth all around me,
to be grateful,
and to listen...
Share your Earth Day thoughts on Facebook
4-1-10 Visit Rhythm of Peace on Facebook...
April 1, 2010
We're just getting started on Facebook, and we're excited about the opportunity to reach new friends and communicate about making peace a priority.
We'll be posting the Rhythm of Peace daily themes as a gentle reminder to remember peace each day. The community of people dedicated to making peace a habit in a world that so often makes war a habit is growing. If you like using Facebook, we hope you'll visit us and share your thoughts about cultivating peace in your life...
2-14-10 A Wish for Valentine's Day
February 14, 2010
Sometimes, we greet the day with a broken heart.
On other days, our engagement with life is only
faint-hearted or half-hearted.
And there are those days when our hearts are cold,
and we feel utterly overwhelmed by personal demands
or the grief of the world.
Let today be the day that rekindles the desire to live whole-heartedly,
to bring as much heart and soul as you can manage to all that you do.
On this day, may you
feel a wave of compassion flow through your heart
embracing each one of your challenges,
renewing you for tomorrow's tasks.
May you express love to someone who means the world to you...
let go of an old resentment that's taking up space...
find beauty...
acknowledge what's most alive in your heart...
and believe that your willingness to live wholeheartedly
makes a difference to a world so in need of peace.
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