Dona Nobis Pacem - 2009's Peace Blast

Make Time for Small Reflections

Today I join Mimi Lenox and many other bloggers in the 6th Blog Blast for Peace ... and invite YOU to join the wave today on your Blog. Just click Mimi's link and read the directions for getting your own Peace Globe to personalize and publish. Then follow the directions to share with others through her official sites ... and visit others blogging for peace.

6th Blog Blast for Peace
November 5, 2009

Imagining Peace
Photobucket images
in my Mosaic

Click to embiggen and for others Blogging for Peace

If you missed them, click for links to my previous Blog Blasts for Peace in November of 2008:
Sacred Ruminations- The Strength of Gentleness
Small Reflections-A Revolution of Music,
Blog Rolls & Bling – What if? (a Colorful Alternative to Bombs)
and June of 2008:
Thirteen Thoughts on the Topic of Peace
Peace in Every Step

Click for others participating in
the 6th Blog Blast for Peace!

See my other 2009 Peace Globes at
Happily Retired Gal
Sacred Ruminations
Blog Rolls, Bling and Blurbs

Small Reflections ... Smile Back

Thought for Today
"We have all taken risks in the making of war. Isn't it time that we should take risks to secure peace?" J. Ramsay MacDonald

Dona Nobis Pacem - A Revolution of Music

Make Time for Small Reflections
5th Blog Blast for Peace
November 6th, 2008

Today I join Mimi Lenox and many other bloggers in the 5th Blog Blast for Peace ... and invite YOU to join the wave today on your Blog. Just click Mimi's link and read the directions for getting your own Peace Globe to personalize and publish. Then follow the directions to share with others through her official sites ... and visit others blogging for peace today.

My Small Reflections Peace Globe is #1127

"Music cleanses the understanding; inspires it, and lifts it into a realm which it would not reach if it were left to itself". Henry Ward Beecher

"Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent." Victor Hugo

"Music expresses feeling and thought, without language; it was below and before speech, and it is above and beyond all words." Robert G. Ingersoll

Click for links to ...
My other Blog Blasts today:
at Sacred Ruminations and Blog Rolls & Bling
and last June:
Thirteen Thoughts on the Topic of Peace
& Peace in Every Step

Click for others participating in
the 5th Blog Blast for Peace!

Small Reflections ... Smile Back

Thought for Today
"Take a music bath once or twice a week for a few seasons. You will find it is to the soul what a water bath is to the body."
Oliver Wendell Holmes

NaBloPoMo-Day6

Unconscious Mutterings #22 and more ...

Make Time for Small Reflections

Camera Critters, PhotoHunt, Smiley Saturday, Weekend Whimsies and Awards are is yesterday's post. Sunrise-Sunset #2 (with labeled Photoshop variations) is at Sacred Ruminations and BYBS#18 will be there in a little while.

I'm participating for the 22nd time today.
How about you?

What comes to YOUR mind?

If you'd like to play here, copy and paste the clues in comments along with your responses ... or post on your blog and let me know so I can visit ;--)

Here are MY responses: I say ... and you think ... ?

1. Cut the crap :: focus on 'the issues' and 'what matters' rather than 'distractions' & 'finger-pointing'
   
2. Scent :: of a Woman - wonderful film!
   
3. Vanishing :: act
   
4. Wetness :: puppy kisses came to mind first ... and then we need rain in Southern California ... seriously!
   
5. Cheap :: shots irritate me ... consistently
   
6. Badges :: identification
   
7. Puppy :: cute 'fur-friend'
   
8. Problem solver :: Stephen Covey's methods
   
9. Gambling :: Laughlin, Las Vegas, and Reno
   
10. Sophia :: wisdom
    

Your turn: I say ... and you think ... ?

1. Cut the crap ::
2. Scent ::
3. Vanishing ::
4. Wetness ::
5. Cheap ::
6. Badges ::
7. Puppy ::
8. Problem solver ::
9. Gambling ::
10. Sophia ::

As an 'incentive' ... I offer any of the 'awards' posted yesterday to 'snag' and share with others.

As I mentioned yesterday and in my Haiku Friday #73, after finding 'followers' listed in my 'Dashboard' ... I've added the new 'Follow' widget from Blogger in my sidebar (under my profile) and imported some of my 'daily reads' from Google Reader into this new feature to see how that works. I don't fully understand any of it, but I'm willing to give it a go ... just because. If you'd like to 'follow' any (or all) of my blogs, just click on the link to the right in my sidebar (under My Profile and above the 'avatars' already there) to add yours. This could be fun ;--)

I'm moving S L O W L Y this morning ... didn't sleep well the last few days ... have a nasty headache and feel 'marginal' this weekend, as if I might be coming down with something. That shared ... in talking with my 'writing buddy' on the phone this morning, I realize I'm 'worried unconsciously' about a variety of real issues over which I have no control ... (including but not limited to) the damage & destruction wrought by recent hurricanes ... the 'Metro-Link' disaster in Chatsworth ...and the direction taken by the 'political' campaigns in the last few weeks ... the climate of 'negativity' ... 'distraction' ... 'fear-mongering ... 'devisiveness' rather than 'a respectfully meaningful dialogue' & conversational exchange of ideas without the 'intention' to change one another's opinions, but rather to clarify and refine our own as we each attempt to gain a clearer understanding of the issues challenging our nation now & in the future.

Listening to Dr. Oz on a recent Oprah show reminds me that 'stress' is a major cause of a myriad of health problems ... that we can't really get rid of bad habits until we choose to (and take steps to) replace them with more mindful choices & behaviors. That's why I've opted NOT to use either of my blogs as a 'political forum' ... and I've attempted to avoid getting 'drawn into' political discussions in the Blogosphere, though I do 'lurk' in an attempt to inform myself in balanced ways. Holly (at Anglophile Football Fanatic) expressed herself eloquently (giving voice to some of my own concerns) then created and shared the following logo:

... and I've decided to share it today ... just because. In addition, I plan to put 'regular meditation & journaling' back in my morning routine before turning on the computer because methinks I need to take time to 'center' myself (a practice I used regularly before becoming a blogger) as a way to begin my day again.

And that reminds me ... it seems Mimi Lenox (Queen of Memes) is organizing a 5th Blog Blast for Peace on November 6th.
I plan to participate ... and perhaps I'll take a few minutes after pressing publish to revisit my own 'previous peace posts' here and here ... then visit those created & shared by others too ... just because.

Small Reflections ... Smile Back

Thoughts for Today ...
"An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind." Mahatma Gandhi

"If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other." Mother Teresa

"Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding." Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The pacifist's task today is to find a method of helping and healing which provides a revolutionary constructive substitute for war." Vera Brittain, 1964

"We look forward to the time when the Power of Love will replace the Love of Power. Then will our world know the blessings of peace." William Ewart Gladstone

Blog Blast for Peace ~ A Revolution of Words

Blog Blast for Peace

June 4, 2008

I'm joining Mimi Lenox and many other bloggers in the 4th Blog Blast for Peace (for a 2nd time this morning) ... and invite YOU to join the wave today on your Blog. Just click Mimi's link and read the directions for getting your own Peace Globe to personalize and publish. Then follow the directions to share with others through her official sites ... and visit others blogging for peace today.

A little while ago I posted my 1st Blog Blast for Peace at SacredRuminations ... and I hope you'll visit it too since that Peace Globe (and post) is different than this one. I refer you also to my 7th Heads or Tails post containing Quotes and Images of Peace (as well as links to others who participated that week).

~ ~ ~

Today I offer a variety of Thoughts for Today on the topic of Peace ... hoping one or more will 'resonate' with you ... to carry forth into the day ahead. He's my 'baker's dozen' ;--)

1. "One is left with the horrible feeling now that war settles nothing; that to win a war is as disatrous as to lose one." Agatha Christie

2. "War is an invention of the human mind. The human mind can invent peace with justice." Norman Cousins

3. "It is easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them." Alfred Adler

4. "Out of clutter, find simplicity. From discord, find harmony. In the middle of difficulty, lies opportunity." Albert Einstein

5. "We cannot change the past, but we can change our attitude toward it. Uproot guilt and plant forgiveness. Tear out arrogance and seed humility. Exchange love for hate --- thereby, making the present comfortable and the future promising." Maya Angelou

6. "If you want to make peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies." Moshe Dayan

7. "Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent." Issac Assimov

8. "If it's natural to kill, how come men have to go into training to learn how?" Joan Baez

9. "This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before." Leonard Bernstein

10. "Peace is that state in which fear of any kind is unknown." John Buchan

11. "Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one getting burned." Buddha

12. "It's not so much that we're afraid of change or so in love with the old ways, but it's that place in between that we fear .... It's like being between trapezes. It's Linus when his blanket is in the dryer. There's nothing to hold on to." Marilyn Ferguson

13. "Nothing is so strong as gentleness; nothing so gentle as real strength." St Francis de Sales

Which (if any) speak to you?
and/or
Do you have a favorite you'd like to add?

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Heads or Tails #7 - Quotes & Images of Peace

Hosted by Skittles at Heads or Tails

This week's theme/prompt is:
HEADS *OR* TAILS - Peace *OR* Piece

"One day we must come to see that peace is not merely a distant goal we seek, but that it is a means by which we arrive at that goal. We must pursue peaceful ends through peaceful means." Martin Luther King, Jr.

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

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Click for others participating in HoTs this week.

Next week's theme/prompt is:
TAILS - Tell about your job or one you've had

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Thought for Today
"Peace is not the absence of conflict but the presence of creative alternatives for responding to conflict -- alternative to passive or aggressive responses, alternatives to violence." Dorothy Thompson

On Mindfulness, Transforming Anger, Practicing Peace, and Making a Difference

This morning, I found a post entitled "Mindfulness and Transforming Anger" at The Dream Life. It started me thinking about what matters and what doesn't. While listening to Ram Dass and Thich Nhat Hanh (two of my favorite people) discuss this topic -- I found the video clip both timely and perfect. I decided immediately to mention the post here, and to add a sidebar link at Sacred Ruminations so I (and others) can return easily to be reminded as needed in the future.

While I was at You Tube I discovered the following related links. I believe each to be well worth the time required to watch and listen whenever time permits. Thich Nhat Hanh speaks on Living in the Present Moment, Mindful Walking, and Peace in Every Step. The first two are a few minutes long. The last video link is more than an hour in length, but resonates so truly with my personal experience and beliefs that I opted to include it for anyone who cares to listen.

My "ex" was drafted in his mid-twenties and spent 13 months in Vietnam ... returning alive, but forever changed. In turn, my own life was altered. He was a social worker and I an educator. We did what we could with what we had to effect change in positive ways, yet we each spent many years frustrated and angry at the recognition that the main thing to be learned from history is that we don't learn from history. In the early 70s, I recall attending a meeting of a group called "Beyond War" based on an Einstein quote to the effect that war is obsolete. A story was shared there (leaving me with a vivid & long-lasting image) in which people were sitting together in a room filled with barrels of gasoline. Each person held a book of matches, but no one was foolish enough to strike one because doing so would destroy themselves along with everyone else. The older I get (and, of course, I'm a dinosaur) the more I realize that carrying anger & frustration doesn't help solve much of anything.

(Hmmmm ... that reminds me of a pink t-shirt I used to wear often that said something like "Never try to teach a pig to sing" on the front and "It wastes your time and annoys the pig" on the back) ... but I digress and my mind wanders easily these days. Forgive an old broad, please? :-)

While listening this morning to Ram Dass and Thich Nhat Hanh, I recalled that a couple of days ago I left a comment elsewhere on a different (but similar) topic and I share an excerpt here because it captures the essence of how I'm changing (with more effort than I care to admit) and articulates my current belief about how to make a difference which could lead to resolution of the difficult issues of our time. I quote myself here ...

"If we could just accept that we're not "alone" but rather "all one" we'd each do what's necessary to resolve the world's problems recognizing "we're all in this together" ... especially since we've seen earth from space and know how "precarious" life can be ... and we've learned that butterflies in Zimbabwe affect weather on California's coast. I have this image in my mind of a giant jigsaw puzzle and each of us is a piece. When we get lost (or fail to show up and get connected) gaps exist that no one else can fill."

One thing I know for sure from personal experience ... change begins with each of us as we gain awareness of what's within ... learn to own, honor, and live as congruently with our convictions as possible ... find ways to understand ourselves and others ... practice compassion & kindness while we pay attention to the results of our thoughts, words, and deeds as reflected in our relationships with others.

There are many paths, tools & habits to assist and/or guide our journey. A COURSE IN MIRACLES states "when the student is ready, the teacher appears" (and vice versa). It also assures us that all it takes is "a little willingness" to be open to the possibility for change. Don Miguel Ruiz offers a simple (if not easy) path through THE FOUR AGREEMENTS. Hundreds of others point to ways to begin ... and practice ... each moment ... to awaken to and embrace truth as we understand it in each moment.

I'm reminded of Thailand Gal's Blog Blast for Peace ... and perhaps this is my version? I offer it here for your consideration and comments.