Unity Project: September - Peace

Our subject this month came to me reading an article on peace around the world from the website: www.gratefulness.org.

It goes almost without saying that we will not be able to give more peace than we have. And yet, we have to remind ourselves of this again and again. All our peacemaking efforts will have no effect if they make us lose our own peace. If we become more peaceful, we will radiate peace around us effortlessly.

Here is the exercise that I am suggesting to do this month:

Find yourself a spot where you're relatively free from distractions, sit down, and breathe deeply for a little while. Let yourself sink into that place within you where peace is already a reality and not something you need to achieve. When distracting thoughts arise, you should neither entertain them nor chase them away. Just let these clouds pass, and keep your focus on the blue sky within. Stay there just long enough to get a taste of inner peace. Don't force anything; just be. If distractions are all that you find, accept even that peacefully.

Let your imagination bring into this peaceful realm people you care about. Hold them there for a moment, one by one. Now bring in people who tend to irritate you or who you know are not at peace, and imagine them enveloped in this great serenity.

If you do this just for a few moments, you may be sure of having really influenced the world. We are all interconnected, and peace in one heart spreads peace to others. This is as real as any outward action. But it also readies you for outward action.

As you remember the people you brought into your realm of peace, is there one who might need a little encouragement at this time? It takes only a moment to send an e-card. How often you yourself were drawn out of isolation by a gesture like this. After all, the very word "peace" comes from a root that means "to fasten, hold together, join closely." Peace is what holds us together. That is why we find its purest source at that depth where we are all one.

Conclude your session with a brief ritual: Focus on an area in the world where turmoil and violence abound. Name the place out loud, and then speak the word "Peace." This sends peaceful energy to your sisters and brothers there, the perpetrators no less than the victims. If you are not alone, a whisper will do. Voicing your wish for peace gives it power.

I'm wishing you peace in your heart,

Namasté,
Francine Corbeil
Can-East Coordinator