Nurturing Peace: Unveiling the Why and How
Recently I had the opportunity to write an article for an upcoming Peace Summit. This is the article I wrote for it.
I aim to discuss the profound impact of nurturing peace, exploring both its personal significance and its ripple effects on the world.
I have a necklace with this quote attributed to Gandhi on it “Be the change you wish to see in the world,” and I hold this sentiment as one of the core principles I ascribe to.
Interestingly, when I was thinking about this Peace Summit and issue coming up for Meditation Magazine, that quote first came to mind. I looked up the quote to make sure I cited it correctly, and I found that it might be paraphrasing what Gandhi originally said “If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change.” It’s the same sentiment as the often quoted “be the change “…, but I see it as a more powerful statement that inspires action.
When we talk about the concept of global peace, it can sound daunting. I hope to weave a thread where you can see the connection between inner-peace and how that branches out to the world, and affects the whole.
In the community of meditation, yoga, and mindfulness, you will find more like-minded individuals that align with this principle, but when we individually go out into the world and see violence, anger, fighting, poverty, ecological disaster, and war, we can feel discouraged and like we’re not making a substantial impact - like a drop of water in the vast ocean. That’s where reframing helps, and that Gandhi quote beautifully captures the essence of how inner peace at an individual level ripples out and affects the whole.
Aristotle was quoted as saying “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts,” and this also highlights the idea that when we zoom out and see the whole, we can see the individual ripples creating collective waves, the impact greater than the sum of its parts.
So I want to look at three actionable things that we can each do at an individual level that will create shifts towards bringing more peace at a global level.
1. Meditation
2. Self-Inquiry (this happens when we meditate regularly)
3. Sangha or community to inspire you
Meditation
I completed meditation teacher training certifications with Mediation Magazine’s MTT 200hr program and the Chopra Primordial Sound Meditation program and have gained valuable tools for my own meditation practice and the practices that I share with my family, friends, and community.
Meditation is often misperceived as a practice of silencing the mind, but in actuality is a practice that allows you to weave silence and stillness into your mind and body to create a life of greater compassion, peace, and fulfillment. Meditation is a journey inward, leading to more peace, reflection, joy, mental, physical, and emotional wellbeing, and a reawakening of our unconditioned self.
Practicing meditation daily improves your health by improving focus and concentration, enhances creativity, promotes relaxation and produces more restful sleep, helps create harmonious relationships, and reduces stress. There are now so many scientifically proven studies on the benefits of meditation that you can easily search the web to find information about those innumerable benefits. Why am I referencing all the benefits that you receive from a regular meditation practice? Because meditation changes your inner world, thus changing your outer world. You then interact with the world around you from a more balanced, peaceful state of being, which ripples out into each of your interactions and then into those of the people you interact with, one person at a time.
Self-Inquiry
Self-inquiry encourages thought and an examination of our beliefs. We each have between 60,000 and 80,000 thoughts a day, and many of them are the same repetitive thoughts. Think of a car traveling along the same dirt road every day for a year, and you will see the well-worn path created by the tires. Like those ruts in the dirt, our minds tend to get stuck in similar grooves or repetitive patterns that block out the possibility for new ideas and inspiration. Meditation takes us beyond habitual, conditioned thought patterns into a state of expanded awareness which enables us to begin to see which patterns are no longer serving us. Meditation helps us to turn down the noise of the repetitive thoughts, patterns and stories we tell ourselves on a daily basis.
Some of the stories that we tell ourselves come from a self-protective place. We may get into a space where we only see things from our own perspective and want to defend our point of view with our family, friends, social media, and other larger communities. Meditation allows us to quiet the chatter and tune into a more reflective and centered state of being, which in turn helps us navigate the world in a more centered and balanced peaceful presence. You may start to see patterns of how you react automatically to people or situations, and if you identify any patterns where you react unfavorably, you can pause and respond from a more peaceful and centered state. If you approach everyone you interact with during your day, week, and so on from a peaceful presence, they will feel that vibrational frequency of peaceful presence and it will have a ripple effect that I mentioned, which brings me to my third and last actionable item, sangha.
Sangha
Sangha is a Sanskrit word meaning community. After your practices of meditation and self-inquiry, it is important to then find ways to connect with a community to continue to inspire and elevate your state of being. When we are connected and inspired, we get a boost of energy that helps us see and feel that our efforts of inner-peace and harmony are in fact inspiring and affecting change around us. I recently completed a 200hr yoga certification and a small group of us continue to meet every week online. We practice yoga and connect with one other, and the connection piece is the best energizing and inspiring part of our weekly Zoom meet-up. One of the benefits of the online global world is that we can share deep connections both in person and online. So if your local area doesn’t provide opportunities for sangha, then go online and find your tribe.
I have participated in three global meditations that Dr. Joe Dispenza has led over the past seven months, called “Walk for the World.” It was their first international walking meditation, and over 140,000 people from 167 countries around the world participated. You can go to his website to register and download the free walking meditation audio to listen during the meditations, or anytime you want to do a walking meditation. The intention of these walking meditations is to “walk as it.” Dr. Joe says, “the more we demonstrate change, the more we raise the frequency in our world,” and it’s another great example of how when we change, the whole changes. When we change ourselves, we do in fact change the world.
HeartMath Institute was able to use their sensors around the world and discovered the data they collected showed real change in the Earth’s electromagnetic field. Here’s what Nachum Plonka, Principal Data Scientist at HeartMath Institute said, “When so many people come together in a meditation to raise the global energy, there is a large coherent group, and they are in turn affecting the global coherence of humanity.”
Need more inspiration to see how when you change yourself as an individual, you create a ripple effect that changes the tendencies in the world?
In April 2008, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama visited Seattle to give a speech to a sold-out Qwest Stadium, of 65,000 people. My sister in-law-, and my niece flew from Arizona to join my mom, stepdad, my husband, and I to hear the illuminating message. His Holiness was on a 5-city tour as part of a Seeds of Compassion campaign focusing on fostering compassion in children. I had to look online to refresh my memory of the specifics of the speech, which you can do so on his website here: https://www.dalailama.com/news/2008/dalai-lama-draws-65-000-in-seattle. What I do vividly remember is sitting in a stadium filled with 65,000 people, watching a procession of 1,000 people representing the cultures of the state of Washington file out onto the stage and then take their seats. I had tears in my eyes watching the children walking with flags representing Tibet and a dozen other countries.
In a massive stadium that is normally filled with record setting noise from Seahawks fans (they call Hawks fans the 12th man) was a sea of humanity coming to hear his message of peace and compassion. He talked of extending compassion to your enemies through respectful dialogue. He encouraged each of us to cultivate inner strength and inner peace, being less fearful and more compassionate. His message highlighted the concept that I believe is core to creating global change. When you practice compassion, and inner peace towards yourself, that light radiates out into the world and spreads into dark places.
The other thing that I remember vividly from that day is my niece falling asleep in my sister-in-law’s arms. My niece has always had joyful, boundless energy and rarely napped as a young toddler. As the energy of peace and joy filled the stadium, my niece got more and more relaxed and settled and eventually drifted off into slumber in her mom’s arms. I remember my sister-in-law looking at me in astonishment like, is she really sleeping? While we can’t attend a peace talk from the Dalai Lama every day, we can tap into our own inner-calm and inner-peace and that too has a profound effect on people around you, be it your family, friends, coworkers, pets, etc. Your light of peace lights the way for others.
In another inspiring example, my sons have all had the same 3rd grade teacher, and every year the class reads the book “The Wishtree,” by Katherine Applegate and the message is inspiring each time. The year my twins were in the class, we listened to a recording of the book their teacher made because it was during remote learning in 2020. I still remember sitting on our patio, looking at the trees and listening to the book with tears in my eyes.
The central message in the book is one of understanding, compassion, and disarming fears about people who are different from us. It’s a powerfully impactful book that calls on the reader to look inside their own views of people who are different from them and re-examine their beliefs and fears about differences. I encourage you to read it, whether you are a 2nd and 3rd grader like in my sons’ class or an adult. Its message is one of hope and inspiration. I share this story because I think it shows that we can affect change and spread messages of compassion and understanding to our children and communities, and each person who hears the messages and is inspired by them will go out and shine another light into the world, inspiring more peace globally.
Now, having shared what I hope are three tangible action items for you to be the change you wish to see in the world, meditation, self-inquiry, and sangha, I’d like to invite you to come together in sangha and meditate.
In closing, I hope that I have planted a seed of inspiration in each of you that will grow bigger and brighter and blossom out into your communities. My hope is that you understand that when you shine your light, it not only brightens your own light but also enhances the collective light of humanity. As your individual lights shine brighter, the darkness is exposed, and the world becomes a brighter, more peaceful place.
One of my favorite Rumi quotes that I recently had printed and have sitting next to my meditation space says, “the wound is the place where the Light enters you,” and I think it’s a lovely sentiment to close on. My wish is that you feel inspired to be an agent for change and feel the impact you can have rippling out to the whole.
