News Center
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.
1-26-10 Participate in the Season for Nonviolence (January 30 - April 4, 2010)
January 26, 2010
The Season for Nonviolence is an opportunity for each of us to contribute to peace by using the principles and practices of nonviolence in our daily interactions. With awareness and thoughtful actions, we can reduce our personal "wars" and help to promote nonviolence as a way of life for our world.
As Wayne Muller reminds us in his excellent book Sabbath: Restoring the Sacred Rhythm of Rest:
A "successful" life has become a violent enterprise.
We make war on our bodies, pushing them beyond their limits;
war on our children, because we cannot find enough time to be with them
when they are hurt and afraid, and need our company;
war on our spirit, because we are too preoccupied to listen to the quiet voices
that seek to nourish and refresh us;
war on our communities, because we are fearfully protecting what we have,
and do not feel safe enough to be kind and generous;
war on the earth, because we cannot take the time to place our feet on the ground
and allow it to feed us, to taste its blessings and give thanks.
Here are a few actions to consider for the 2010 Season for Nonviolence:
1. Say a prayer for peace every day from January 30 to April 4 and dedicate it to the people of Haiti. Hold in your heart the recognition of our common humanity.
May the outpouring of compassion, support, and critical aid
from the global community continue with such strength and good will that it will
overcome the forces that seek
to divert the aid away from those who need it, and
to exploit this tragedy for political gain.
May the power of goodness in human hearts prevail.
2. Join the Rhythm of Peace community meditations during the Season for Nonviolence on:
February 13
February 28
March 15
March 29
from 7:00 - 7:30 pm in your time zone
Affirm the power of community meditations and prayers,
uniting many of the world's traditions in a shared focus on peace,
to guide us in transforming violence, opening a path of healing in the face of disaster,
restoring hope, and reducing suffering.
3. Join us as we continue our commitment to a daily focus on peace throughout 2010. Use the daily themes at www.rhythmofpeace.org to help focus your attention on peace.
4. Practice nonviolence by reducing or eliminating gossip and destructive criticism from your social conversations, and see what results you notice.
5. Practice the skill of Deep Listening. Choose one person with whom you have conflict and tension, and make the effort to really listen to his or her needs and perceptions throughout the Season for Nonviolence.
Let's join together to make tangible progress for peace during this season...
12-31-2009 Start the New Year with a Vision of Peace
December 31, 2009
The history of 2010 is not yet written. Many new and enriching possibilities lie ahead for all of us. At the threshold of a New Year, we have a unique opportunity to create a guiding vision for the year, to actively shape our lives in the direction of what's most important to us.
New Year's "resolutions" are a common theme in our daily conversations at the close of a year. Yet, as we resume our daily routines, they can easily fade. A true vision, however, energized by the heart's longing, will grow in strength, and sustain us through periods of challenge and change.
We invite you to start the New Year by renewing your vision of peace, and to let it influence your choices and actions in 2010. Read one of our favorite visions for peace.
full of things that have never been...
Rainer Maria Rilke
12-19-09 Pause ... and reflect on the Light of the Winter Solstice
December 19, 2009
Since ancient times, human beings have been drawn to celebrate the return of the Light and the hopeful anticipation of new beginnings. December 21 marks the beginning of winter in the Northern Hemisphere. The winter solstice offers a special gift for those of us who strive for peace and seek to reduce the inner and outer turmoil in our lives.
Solstice means "sun stands still." If we pause and reflect on this stillness, we're reminded of the profound harmony of the sun's passage through the heavens, and that our lives depend on the perfect certainty of this rhythm.
After the winter solstice, the days begin to lengthen. No one doubts this. We have confidence in the sun's annual victory over darkness. If we take this experience to heart, we find a renewed confidence in our own inner Light. This confidence restores our strength to transform the darkness within and around us, and restores our hope in the possibility of peace.
This is a busy time of year for many of us. We invite all of you who live in the Northern Hemisphere to pause with us on December 21, and reflect on the gift of the winter solstice. Here's the exact time of the solstice in the US:
9:47 AM (PST), 10:47 AM (MST), 11:47 AM (CST), 12:47 PM (EST)
The members of the Rhythm of Peace community represent many of the world's spiritual traditions. During this season, we celebrate our diversity and our shared commitment to peace. We extend our heartfelt wishes that you experience a renewal of your inner Light and that it enlivens all of your holiday traditions...
Who would think that those branches would turn green again and blossom?
We hope it...
We know it...
Goethe
12-14-09 Requesting your partnership for peace in 2010...
December 14, 2009
The holiday season highlights the deep longing for peace in the human family, and also its tragic absence. Our attention is drawn to the millions of people around the world living in shockingly violent conditions. During this season, candles are lit in homes around the world in hopeful anticipation that new possibilities for peace, both personal and global, will be realized in the coming months.
Conflict is part of the fabric of daily life. We find it within our own hearts, in our families, workplaces, communities, and throughout the world. Our work with the Rhythm of Peace Project is dedicated to empowering people of all ages to actively engage in the day-to-day work of cultivating peace in the midst of these conflicts.
As each of us embraces the peacebuilding challenge in a personal way, we move closer to realizing the possibility of a sustainable peace in the world. We respect individual needs and choices. Together, our efforts address the entire spectrum of peacebuilding--from cultivating inner peace to cultivating peace within and among nations to living in harmony with the earth.
As the Rhythm of Peace community steadily grows, we're inspired by the willingness of so many to make peace a guiding principle in daily life. We're encouraged by the results we've seen since we began our outreach efforts earlier this year. Here's a brief summary of the results we reported in our October Community News.
Participation in a daily focus on peace is growing...
Grassroots activity is healthy and expanding...
Rhythm of Peace community has global reach...
Meditation and prayers for peace create tangible results...
Read the details.
We have much work ahead of us. There are thousands ... tens of thousands ... of men and women who care about peace, but have yet to find their unique path of action and do not have a community to encourage them. Our goal is to connect with them and invite them to make 2010 an active year of peacebuilding, each in their own ways.
Will you join us in a commitment to peace as we approach 2010 and support the Rhythm of Peace Project with a financial gift? What we've learned about people, again and again, is that there is so much natural generosity, especially in difficult times, and we sincerely appreciate all the support we receive.
Your gift will help ignite the spark in many others who are ready to embrace the peacebuilding challenge and make peace a priority in their daily circumstances.
The need to give,
to be engaged,
to be part of a community
is a natural expression of human nature.
When we stand together,
committed to creating a positive future
we feel more connected to the human family.
Thank you so much for your partnership...
Deborah Aikens, PhD
and the Rhythm of Peace staff
» View older Articles
