Hello Again

I haven't posted in over a week, and I'm not sure why exactly.  I've started several posts that I just haven't finished.  Some of the thoughts I want to express feel profound, and I bog down when I try to convey properly.  So I haven't posted anything at all.  Hmmm . . . . I know at least one thing that is not conducive to personal peace:  perfectionism.  Perfectionism can show up in my life as a fear of looking stupid, a fear of wasting my time, a fear of failing, a fear of succeeding.  It's been a handy excuse for just not trying very hard sometimes.  But there are plenty of other things that are also not conducive to personal peace:  not being fully present in one's life, not fully expressing oneself, not stretching and growing.  So at least for today, I'm going to choose to show up, be present, express myself, and maybe stretch a little.  Stay tuned for the next post.

Relationship With Our Self

Like I said before, I'm not particularly religious, but I also think there's much to be learned about peace from the best of many spiritual traditions.  Today, I came across this piece from The Praxis Peace Institute, written by Jack Kornfield (he's addressing dharma practitioners, but that's irrelevant to my interest):

[How] do we find our own place in a complex political world, and find a way towards peace? Our first task is to make our own heart a zone of peace. Instead of becoming entangled in an embattled bitterness, or cynicism that exists externally, we need to begin to heal those qualities within ourselves. We have to face our own suffering, our own fear, and transform them into compassion. Only then can we become ready to offer genuine help to the outside world. Albert Camus writes, "We all carry within us our places of exile, our crimes, our ravages.  Our task is not to unleash them on the world; it is to transform them in ourselves."

A [person] who wants to act in the sphere of politics must quiet their mind and open their heart.  Meditate, turn off the news, turn on Mozart, walk through the trees or the mountains and begin to make yourself peaceful.  Make yourself a zone of peace, and allow the sensitivity and compassion that grows from our interconnection to extend to all beings. If we're not peaceful how can we create harmony in the world? If our own minds are not peaceful, how can we expect peace to come through the actions that we take?  http://www.praxispeace.org/views_jack_kornfield.php

There's such wisdom in the idea that all peace - in the world or in our communities or in our relationships - begins with peace within ourselves (it's sort of the premise of this blog).