The first peace

March 15th, 2008

“The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness, with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the center of the universe dwells Wakan-Taka (the Great Spirit), and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us. 

This is the real peace, and the others are but reflections of this. The second peace is that which is made between two individuals, and the third is that which is made between two nations. But above all you should understand that there can never be peace between nations until there is known that true peace, which, as I have often said, is within the souls of men.” 

Black Elk - Oglala Sioux

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Invitation - Councils for Peace

March 14th, 2008

Hi, we’re Mike and Patricia Bell and we are part of an international group that is planning the launch of the World Foundation for the Discipline of Peace. The founders of the Foundation, WindEagle and RainbowHawk, are Elders and Keepers of a body of timeless wisdom tools and practices that have their roots in the Mayan and pre-Mayan cultures, and that teach us how to live in peace and harmony with ourselves and with each other.

We see that the opposite of war is not peace but vigilance, and that it takes more intention and energy to create peace than it does to wage war. We understand, as reflected in other spiritual traditions, the need for inner peace before we can achieve world peace.

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Who will teach him?

March 2nd, 2008

Who will teach him?

He stood outside in shirt sleeves

At 2 in the morning in the cold and drizzle

Like drunken Geordies often do

Proclaiming his love for her and

Not understanding what he had done

As I guess many young men might find themselves

She had been out with him a few times

But did not really know him

Until he was drunk

He had pushed her in his frustration

So she threw him out and

Called him a taxi

“I love you and just want to talk”

He kept repeating to the front door

But got nowhere

The intense feeling of rejection

Even penetrated his drunkenness

Although he did not experience it as this

He was so convinced he was right

And everyone else was to blame

It was the only way he could escape intact

When challenged, he denied doing anything and mouthed obsenities

At those who were really to blame until

The taxi came and took him away.

Who will teach him to be self responsible

That whether he knows it or likes it or not

Moment by moment it is he who is creating his life?

Who will teach him respect

For the self first and then for others who are

Innocently affected by his righteousness?

Who will teach him that finding inner peace

Is the path of the true man, the real warrior

Living in balance with all his relations?

Who will tell him the story of the two wolves?

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Need Re-inspiring at work?

October 22nd, 2007

Are you one of a growing number of busy, successful managers who have lost their enthusiasm for work? It just does not seem to engage or excite you in the way it once did.

Increasingly managers are stressed and, despite how much they have to do, they often feel bored. They have lost their zest for work and even face anxiety, burn out and depression.

In “Personal Renewal”, John Gardner tells the story of the barnacle. He says “The barnacle is confronted with an existential decision about where it’s going to live. Once it decides…  it spends the rest of its life with its head cemented to a rock.” For a good many managers, it comes to that.

We’ve all seen men and women, even ones in fortunate circumstances with responsible positions who seem to run out of steam in midcareer. They stop learning in important areas of their lives and find themselves in a rut that they don’t know how to get out of.

You know how it is, you have problems motivating yourself to go to work in a morning, and when you get there you procrastinate a lot, spend your time on level ‘c’ priorities, surf the net or talk with colleagues about non-work subjects. You know this is happening but you don’t understand the causes or know how to cope.

Read Green Lightning now and learn how to regain your enthusiasm and energy for work.

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Not if but when …

December 28th, 2006
Here’s a wonderful poem from a new friend:
‘Not if but when …’
 
Bush ‘n’ Blair say: It’s not if but when there will be a major terrorist attack.
 
The World Health Organisation says: It’s not if but when there will be a global pandemic.
 
The World Bank says: It’s not if but when house prices will fall and the economy will crash.
                           
                             ***
We say: It’s not if but when poverty will be history.
 
We say: It’s not if but when there will be peace of mind.
 
We say: It’s not if but when consciousness will rise.
 
Brian Davis
creative dream company

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Elders are the cultural glue

November 14th, 2006

Harvard gerontologist tells group of seniors about their value to the community

There’s a reason humans live twice as long as our nearest biological cousins, says a Harvard-trained gerontologist who visited Medford Thursday.

Old people are “the glue that holds us together,” Dr. Bill Thomas told a crowd of nearly 400 seniors gathered at Medford’s Red Lion Inn. He said humans passed on their accumulated wisdom through elders for thousands of years before there was writing.

“You cannot have a healthy human community that does not have the voice of elders in it,” he said. “You cannot teach young people how to live without elders.”

Thomas spoke during a seniors’ health and wellness conference organized by Sen. Gordon Smith and at least a dozen local sponsors. Thomas writes and speaks widely on the role of seniors in modern society and the need to create a new elderhood that fits the way we live now. He’s also a visiting scholar at AARP.

Smith chairs the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging. Kimberly Collins, committee spokesperson, said Smith plans to make the senior wellness conference an annual event that will be scheduled in a different city every year.
Other speakers have seniors tips for keeping the brain young and encouraged them to share the stories of their lives with family members.

Thomas illustrated the intergenerational role of grandparenting by asking his audience how many of them had a close relationship with a grandparent. When at least half the elders in the room raised a hand, he observed “Those men and women long gone are still in this room. Their influence is with you even now in this room.”

Story source

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