All posts by author

17 Days Until Deparature

Posted by / January 14, 2010 / Categories: Uganda 2010 Peace Exchange / -
The Count-Down has begun. T-minus 17 days until departure.

Create Peace Project is preparing to take its first step out into the world and explore the grand experiment of Peace Pals in Uganda, Africa.

Postcards are returning from schools around the country. Workshops in Bay Area schools continue, and there is much excitement.

Peace Pals is on.

Stay tuned for photos, postcards, and updates.


Peace Pals goes to Cleveland.

Posted by / January 14, 2010 / Categories: Create Peace / Tags: , / -







Being Embodied and the Cultivation of Discipline

Posted by / April 13, 2009 / Categories: Create Peace / -
Today I embarked on a 70 day journey. It is a journey of self-discovery. It is a journey of physical transformation. It is a journey into a new, powerful, focused and disciplined way of being. I have committed to 10-weeks of self-generated, self-fulfilled one hour morning yoga practice followed by a short mediation sit six days a week at 7am. This program is about jump-starting my capacity to live a powerfully focused and devoted life to the passion I have and my commitment to creating peaceful positive change on this planet.

I am becoming a disciple of my self. I am bowing down to the high and holy beings who grace my surroundings, and I am expressing my deep and loving commitment to healing my body and standing powerfully strong in the confidence of my own transformation.

Life is a process of continual change. This 70 day phase is about embodying that change, physically transforming the aches and pains, and breaking through the barriers of self-resistance and reaping the benefits of deep self-love, physical regiment, and loving acceptance of myself and the ever-changing experience of life in the human form. It’s also about getting the day started right and dialing in the exercise, the breath awareness, and the mental ~ physical ~ emotional harmony required to excel in these tumultuous times.

With this, I will commit to the page, my dedication to powerfully completing this practice and fulfilling my goal of 60 7am yoga practices and the dietary discipline that goes along with it.

Cultivating Loving Acceptance

Posted by / January 28, 2009 / Categories: Create Peace / -
There is an ancient Buddhist practice, taught by the Buddha himself in which he said “see every person as your mother.” In this theory, since we have all lived so many embodied lifetimes on Earth, each and every being we meet or see has been our Mother as some point in the past. The idea here is that as you begin to envision each person, Man, Woman, Boy or Girl as your mother, in order that you shall give the love you feel for your own birth mother to this person. To share this love equally and unconditionally from the center of your heart is truly an enlightened way of being.

Imagine: each person you encounter was your mother in a past life. Homeless and hungry, hip-hop or heiress, each person, each individual was once your mother.

How would this way of seeing people influence the way you behave? Would you communicate differently? Would you act differently? Would you open your heart and share your love with comfort and ease?

This practice of seeing another as the embodiment of your mother is the practice of loving acceptance and the expression of true compassion. This way of living is not easy. But if you were to consider such possibility, and entertain the notion the next time you are in pubic, perhaps you will begin to notice when the judgements, evaluations, and negative thoughts arise and let them pass quietly, without making a fuss….in the presence of the one who brought you into life at some other point in a time~space place.

Perhaps we can start with lovingly accepting ourselves, by being ok with what is inside my mind~body~emotional being right now, and simply allowing that set of circumstances to be.

I invite you to look at all the ways you judge, evaluate, and compare people to someone else? I also invite you to find a deep place of loving acceptance for who you are, and thus who each person you encounter is, at that very moment, and BE OK with what is.

By finding this love and acceptance to simply receive each situation and each person as they are, without any need for them to be different, you will begin to see where the kindness and courageous compassion in your heart has the space to surface.

Keep the mouth closed a little longer. Remember that this person was once your mother, and you were once theirs. Love them. Love everyone as though your knew them like your blood mother. In this place of loving acceptance, we can transcend the duality of our differences and overcome the separation to experience the oneness of our divine selves.

Drop in and see for yourself. It’s just an invitation. No expectations here. I love you just the way you are.


Finding Peace in My Self

Posted by / January 26, 2009 / Categories: Create Peace / -
In the week past I found the inspiration and encouragement of my housemate, Lauren, to meditate with discipline and in her company. We sat four days for either 30 or 40 minutes each day. In this week ahead we are planning to sit for 7.5 hours, beginning with 60 minutes Monday morning, increasing by 10 minutes each day, doing 80 minutes on Wednesday and Thursday, and culminating the week with a 90 minute sit on Friday morning.

I find that meditation is a magical experience for my personal sanity and ease of being in this body, in this world, and aware of how I am interacting with the afore mentioned things. The practice of sitting in silence, behind closed eyes, usually beneath a hood and completely wrapped in a blanket, allows me to find a spacious, centered, and positively joyous place in my mind and body. This harmonious junction of the mental and physical aspects of my self allows me to find a deeper familiarity to who I am, as well as a stronger resonance with spirit.

Spirit after all is present in all matter (and all non-matter for that matter). And so, with the deepening of spaciousness in my mind and body, the enhanced connection to an ever-present spirit, I find peace.

Peace, in my world, is a space ~ place of true loving acceptance. The more I sit, the more I become familiar with my self: the thoughts, feelings, emotions, physical sensations that make me up, the more I enjoy who I am, the more I love my self, the more I accept my relationship to the world around me, the more I find true peace. My heart is full of joy as I write this and in sharing these insights, I feel more spaciousness and harmony within…..as though the mind has become clearer, more present, more open to what’s next…..which in this case is dream land before sit land in my morning mediation practice with Lauren.

I love the silence. I relish the darkness. There is no fear of going there. And the less fear there is to be right here with me in this mysterious unknown, the less fear there is in going out there to be with you, and you, and all those wonderful human yous out there for me to be with.

I see how the more I sit, the more I love it, the more I love myself, the more peace I feel in my heart, the more I am willing to honor and open it to you.

I love you.

Two Sides of Peace

Posted by / January 23, 2009 / Categories: Create Peace / -
Inner Peace
Outer Peace
Ease of Mind
Humanity living in harmony
Clarity of thought
Cessation of War
Open Heart
Removal of all fear based media
Breath Awareness
Equality among races, and religions
Quality of breath is long and fluid
Justice for all beings
Body is healthy and harmonious
Love of planet and all living thing
Love is flowing
Elimination of poverty and hunger
Communication is a reflection of kindness and compassion
Elimination of family violence
Thoughts are: I am calm. I am at ease.
Balance of human rights and opportunity
I am in control of my self and my surroundings.
Unified race of human beings
I feel spacious, patient, and present with my life.
There is no discrimination
I am accepting of who I am.
End of genocide
I am accepting of the world around me.
Removal of negativity and violence.
I am love light
We are living in love.
Om



In order for Peace on Earth to occur, each person must take responsibility for creating peace for themselves. Only then can the ripple of love, shared between the peoples of this earth, create a harmonious and peaceful place for coexistence.

Is there a willingness to Create Peace in Our Lives?

Posted by / January 21, 2009 / Categories: Create Peace / -
What do you think?

Is the willingness to Create Peace missing?

This BLOG will explore what peace means and how the cultivation of self-awareness through creative self-expression is one of the most powerful tools for getting there.

Peace is love.
Love is Acceptance.
Acceptance is being at ease with the way life is.
Life is people, places, experiences, thoughts, emotions, feelings, and all the things we are in relationship to.
Our relationship to life begins with our SELF
The self is composed of MIND, BODY, and SPIRIT and how these things interact with the world.
Becoming Self-Aware is the avenue to being at Peace.