Are you a peacemaker or an agitator? Every individual has the ability to be either a peacemaker or an agitator. In this time of global tragedy, I am calling upon the peacemakers.
What Community Do you Belong to?
Yesterday afternoon I was driving home from an inspiring seminar on building communities. Think of the smaller communities that you are a part of today. I belong to several communities such as groups for integrative medicine physicians, yoga teachers, and the mindfulness meditation communities.
In identifying with one community, we can often lose sight of is a concept I call "One." All of these small communities we identify with feed into the larger community of One. One is the collective global population living on planet Earth.
Like many of you, I am sensitive to the energies of our global community. What does that mean? When tragedy strikes, I often feel a shift in the energy around me without even knowing the details of what has happened. Like a mother's intuition, my healer's heart gets a sinking feeling or feeling of sadness washes over me. Yesterday, as I drove home from the community building seminar, I started to feel chest pain.
#PrayForParis
I arrived home to find my social media community on Twitter full of hashtags like #PrayForParis and #ParisAttack. The chest pain heightened. My spirit is speaking, our global heart is in profound pain. In the last few days, terrorists have senselessly killed innocent men, women, and children in our global community of One. My heartache and chest pain released through tears as I started to read the horrible news of the terrorist attacks in France.
"In this state of sadness and fear, we get to choose between becoming a peacemaker or an agitator."
On my Facebook and Twitter feeds, the posts are divided in between people choosing to be peacemakers or agitators. Peacemakers are sharing images in support of our French brothers and sisters. Agitators are expressing their shock through hurtful words directed at certain religious groups, countries, refugees, and immigrants.
We are all part of the "One" community.
As a mindfulness teacher, I view the estimated 7 billion people on Earth as "One" community. When an act of terror is committed on a portion of our community, we are hurting the collective soul and spirit of the "One." An act of terror is the right arm is stabbing the left arm to death. In our body, the right and left arm is separated by our heart. Shocked and mourning people around the world outside of France are the collectively confused heart that is full of grief, shock, anger, and disbelief.
Do you wish you could do something more that just watch the news unfold on the television screen and on social media?
I call upon you to choose to be present in the community of "One."
Are you a peacemaker or an agitator?
Are you choosing to be an agitator?
Agitators are taking the grief in their hearts and allowing it to fuel anger. The anger spews into negative social media posts bashing religions, immigrants, and refugees. This negativity is as if our spleen is cursing at our liver inside our own body. Hateful words only harm our collective spirit.
Are you choosing to be a peacemaker?
Peacemakers don't ignore negative emotions such as grief, shock, and sadness. Peacemakers turn convert these emotions to love. When another community member in One needs love, we pray, meditate, and even cry on their behalf.
How do we build a community of peacemakers?
1. Disconnect or connect from the news?
The peacemakers I surround myself with are in the yoga and meditation community, yet so many of us do not watch the news. In times like this the lack of awareness is limiting our chances of being healers, peacemakers, and love doctors. Our brothers and sisters are looking for the wisdom of love to help them heal in the time of global tragedy. The lack of awareness means we are turning a blind eye on "One" only choosing to acknowledge the body parts we love. First, create awareness in your mind of what is happening in "One." Then, let us all use our yogi and mindful wisdom to help spread the energy of peace and universal love.
2. Share a message of love on and offline.
I personally prefer to log on to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to see my newsfeed full of positive affirmations of love and support. How about you? To see and feel love and support, we must offer the love and support. Post a prayer, quote, or an image sharing your solidarity with our brothers and sisters who are suffering around the globe. These posts are offerings of love that uplifts the spirit of the collective One.
Offline, share a message of love with a family member, friend, and neighbor. When you leave your home, try this mindful exercise. With your eyes, tell every person that walks in your path "I love you." Allow this energy of love to fill the community of One with each person that crosses your path.
3. Believe in the power of collective prayer.
Whether you pray at home, in a church, or outside in mother nature, continue to pray. Remember to pray for "One." In every practiced religion of the world, prayer is central to healing the individual spirit. When we all unite in prayer, we help to ease the suffering occurring in "One."
4. Fill your community with acts of kindness, compassion, and love.
How can you share the love with your own personal community? Perform a random act of kindness and ask others to do the same. Let compassion override anger one random act of kindness at a time. Whether we choose to help one person, eleven people, or an entire community, this is spreading peace.
I choose peace.
How will you choose to be a peacemaker? Share your ideas with the community below.