Proof

Innately I have always know that there was more to the world than witnessed by our five senses. I have always believed that we all posses a soul that shares a connection.. a connection to all other souls but with differing degrees. I have always believed that this life is just one chapter in the book of our souls existence. Shall we call this knowing, a spiritual connection.. a core belief..faith? The label ..irrelevant, this knowing I have acceped without question…never expecting nor seeking proof ..but proof has revealed its self.

The proof revealed itself upon the meeting of a stranger..it was as palpable as a hurricane, in a moment I knew this stranger was no stranger to my soul.
How else would you explain the jolt when your soul catapults itself from its elevated place of passive awareness into your head and heart to reveal and reconnect its self to a kindred soul. Like twins torn apart at young ages or loves lost young, that find each other decades later, that connection, that bond of the heart, transcends any feelings of awkwardness or insecurities one may initially feel.
How else would you explain the magnetic connection to another...another human being who’s life mirrors yours only in the facts that you both breath air, need food to survive and have a heart the beats in your chest. Your life experiences differ like the mountains to the oceans, yet you know that all that is immaterial…the packaging of current life holds no stock here. It is heart to heart, soul to soul, our conscious selves are merely the facilitators for the encounter.
Such an encounter is my proof that I have a soul with experiences independent of my current existence.

Just Today….

If we have just today…just today to make a difference…what would we do…what could we do …what do we want to do?
What is it that pulls at our heart strings…that gnaws on our consciences? Is it global or local …or perhaps is it quite personal?
What stops us from taking the action that our heart dictates? Does its enormity overwhelm us to the point of leaving us paralyzed…or is it seemingly so small and inconsequential that we feel it warrants no action?
Or is it merely a matter of personal economics….lack of time, energy, financial resources?

Have we ever celebrated our inaction?…How about our action?

If we knew that today was our only chance to act…tomorrow…to late…would we act?

Blog Action Day 2008 POVERTY

As globalization begins to blur our borders, we find our international bonds are being forged more by interdependence and convenience than by true humanitarian goals. The unfortunate result is often seen in in our governments reluctance to engage in areas of the world where the need may be great, yet we perceive no economic value.
What we must come to understand is that the greatest value is not purely economic it is in protecting all mankind, and the responsibility is for all of us to bear…individually and collectively. Individually??

For many of us the daunting enormity of the situation is cause enough for us to humility retreat when faced with tales of starving pregnant mothers who must choose between her children who will eat today, or photo’s of a five year old in India who’s skin is blacken from trying to clean out batteries in windowless rooms so they may have a meal. How can we, with our own mailboxes full of bills, our demanding schedules and our own challenging lives…how can we possibly make a difference?

Actually by helping one person we are changing the life course for their future generations to come. Ok, but how can I …I who is barely keeping the wolf away from my door possible change someone else life??
I recently met a women from Kenya who’s life and life of her family was transformed for the cost of a sewing machine, for less that $100.00 she has created a way to support her family, she is now working to expand her business and help other women in the village support their families by employing them.

So..OK perhaps I can afford to help someone…finding a vehicle to assist in helping can be equally as daunting…we sure don’t want to sent $100.00 and find that $80.00 went to administrative funds…or give to an unscrupulous organization…and who has the time to vett out the good ones? Luckily there are some excellent websites that have done due diligence on many international as well as national programs. Also don’t overlook your own community, is there a local food bank or soup kitchen that accepts donations of food or funds and lastly…and perhaps the most overlooked…someone in you life that could use a little help, unfortunately all too often the responsibility of “helping thy neighbor” has been left to government agencies. It is time here also where we must step up and reach out to one another in need.

We all have the ability to make a difference, and for all of us that do nothing because we lack the ability to do everything… a great deal is lost. Tomorrow what will you do to help?

Small steps can bring great CHANGE...

This music video by Nickelback lauds several examples of individuals who have stood up to injustice, and won. The examples range from Bob Geldof's Live Aid concerts in 1984 to Nelson Mandela's triumphant release from prison in 1989 and election as South Africa's first democratically elected president.

http://www.karmatube.org/?id=38

Choosing Peace

"First keep the peace within yourself, then you can also bring peace to others."
Thomas A Kempis

Why is that although we, the vast majority of the citizens of the world, desire to live in peace …in our hearts, in our relationships and in our global communities,… that peace continues to elude us?
It eludes us because for many of us after surviving the mundane challenges of our daily day we have little reserves left to allocate towards creating peace. In many incidents, the resources we do have, our tools and weapons are limited to benign chatter…“Kitchen Bitchen” with the focus on those in power and the frustration borne of our presumed inability to affect any change, either personally or globally.
It is here where we fall miserably short, for the greatest power…the power to bring about a paradigm shift is in each of us. BRING PEACE NOT PAIN is dedicated to helping each of us to establish/reestablish peace and to connect and know our personal power.
To engage this power for our quest for peace…personal, interpersonal and global peace, we must alter our current way of thinking and subscribe to the following two statements:
1) We are all personally and collectively responsible for creating peace.
2) We all have the ability to create peace, in our hearts, in our relationships and globally.
If it is global peace we strive for…the end of injustices the world over, we must begin the campaign by first conquering the demons in our own hearts and minds and embracing our own PEACE. Accomplished by?.. How?….We must acknowledge and believe that we are responsible for creating or restoring our own inner peace., no longer can we alleviate our guilt over our own inactions by placing the burden of healing on others.
We must look with clarity and love at our inner workings, while knowing that we alone are responsible for our inner peace as we alone posses the power that dictates our reactions to all exterior forces that challenge and threaten us. We must decide where we need to shore up or boundaries and where to open the gates of our hearts and allow love to freely flow.
We must practice forgiveness, forgiveness with not only those who have harmed us but ourselves as well…many times it is personal forgiveness that is the hardest to grant.

With a heart freed by understanding and forgiveness, self-governed by clarity and love we will know peace, from here we must allow conscious thought and decision-making to dictate our actions towards ourselves and others.
Conscious thought and decision-making, that is paramount to healthy interpersonal relationships as well. To BRING Peace not Pain is a choice we make with every interaction we have, unfortunately all too often it seems as we have forgotten and react with instinct. We must remember that WE have control over how we will CHOOSE to respond in any situation…we have to retrain our brains to give pause and evaluate the current circumstance prior to reacting. What are our desired outcomes? Have our previous behaviors achieved them? What is different this time? How will responding with Love and compassion affect the result? How will responding with fear based actions? These are questions we need to ask ourselves and continue to ask ourselves as we interact with others. It is here in this state of awareness and conscious actions that we will see our relationships evolve.
When our hearts are at peace and our relationships are governed by mutual respect, honesty and love we must individually and collectively foster these same guiding principals in our pursuit of global peace. We must seize every opportunity we have to bring peace and love into the lives of others...We must see each other as we are…we must appreciate our similarities and celebrate our difference…. But beyond our individual characteristic…we must believe, we must know …that we are not only all equal and deserving of the same rights and responsibilities but even more importantly… much more importantly that we are one...one body of life, one race...one interconnected whole. Pain and injustice against one, is pain and injustice to all man and the suffering felt by one is shared by all. We must strive to cure each part to be whole, we must stop using and (allowing to be use) fear and intimidation to motivate the actions of others.
As daunting as it may be…it is thru these actions and beliefs that one by one ..community by community we will begin an accelerating and rippling effect on society at large.