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Day 40: March 10
The thought for today is UNITY.
Though there is only One Presence, it is Its Nature to take many forms. Rabindranath Tagore said, “Love must be one and two at the same time.” Love is active and requires the Lover and an object Its Love: the Beloved.
God’s creativity is boundless and the diversity we encounter in the world is all from the Divine Mind. The differences we come acrooss in how we live and express ourselves are too numerous to name. But this diversity is what makes the tapestry of life beautiful. It gives life its color and flavor. Can you imagine how bland life would be if we all looked the same, believed the same, dressed the same, and did the same things?
It is through an attainment of Oneness consciousness that we will find lasting unity. Duality thinking regards our differences as things that separate us from one another. When we see separateness, we inevitably begin to make judgments about each other and conflict arises.
Of course, ‘my’ way of being is always better than yours, right? Yeah…I think not.
Our common identity is where we build our foundation for Peace. That’s our unity. What we build from there is only as limited as our imagination. Our variety is what provides our energy and fresh perspectives.
Oneness in our identity; unity in our diversity.
I look about in wonder and awe at the diversity around me and humbly acknowledge my place in the web of life. I acknowledge our interdependence and so choose actions that respect the good of the whole. I remain grounded in the Presence, yet allow myself to be open to new ways of seeing and thinking. I honor our unity in the One Life that flows in and through us all.
breathe Peace ~
Rev. Rebecca
Day 39: March 9
The thought for today is DIALOGUE.
When we face problems or disagreements today, we have to arrive at solutions through dialogue. Dialogue is the only appropriate method… We must work to resolve conflict in a spirit of reconciliation and always keep in mind the interests of others. – Dalai Lama
Talking through our differences with each other is, as the Dalai Lama noted, the only appropriate method for finding resolution. We cannot continue to resort to violent means to force our will upon one another. We destroy ourselves in the process.
It takes courage and a real commitment to Peace to sit and have a conversation with your adversary. It takes self-control, mindfulness, and humility. It is also essential to have a keen awareness of Who You Are and Who your adversary Is.
A conversation is a dialogue, not a monologue. – Truman Capote
A dialogue is more than two monologues. – Max Kampelman
Dialogue is two-way communication; it requires both speaking your truth and listening to others as they speak their truth. When we do so, we must remember those qualities that are part of our True Nature – Love, kindness, Peace, patience, gentleness, and compassion. We need to keep in mind those things we have reflected on over the last few weeks – understanding, making amends, forgiveness, respect, integrity, and reverence. Through dialogue, we seek not some tenuous agreement, but genuine healing of the relationship.
In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty, in all things, charity. – commonly attributed to Augustine; most scholars say this quote originated at least a millennium after Augustine.
Our goal should be finding solutions that are ‘win-win’ or beneficial to both parties. More than that, we should always serve the Highest Good, though sometimes what we want isn’t in alignment with the Highest Good. It’s important that we find common ground on those things that are important and essential, that we allow the freedom to disagree on those things that are not, and that we honor Love through it all.
In true dialogue, both sides are willing to change. – Thich Nhat Hanh
We cannot think that we have all the answers or that our way of doing things is always the right or only way. We must be willing to be open to change, so long as that change doesn’t compromise our integrity and harmony with our Source.
I choose dialogue as the course of action for resolving conflict in my life. I say what I need to say in a gentle, yet firm manner. I intently listen to my adversary and try to see the situation from her point of view. I am committed to finding solutions that are in the best interest of all parties involved. Above all, I serve Love in all my speech and actions.
breathe Peace ~
Rev. Rebecca
I once again urge you to purchase the book Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life by Marshall B. Rosenberg, Ph.D. and its companion workbook. These books will help you to learn skills that are necessary to good dialogue.
I am in no way connected to Marshall Rosenberg or the Center for Nonviolent Communication (CVC). I do not receive anything for promoting these books except the knowledge that I am doing my part to reveal Peace in my world.
Day 38: March 8
The thought for today is KINDNESS.
Be kind. It is hardly ever the wrong thing to do. – Unknown
Never get tired of doing little things for others. Sometimes those little things occupy the biggest part of their hearts. – Unknown
Did you ever watch the series of insurance commercials where one person notices another performing an act of kindness, and then a few minutes later that person has an opportunity to perform one, too. And someone notices them, and then that person displays kindness to someone else, and it goes on and on until it comes back to the person who did the first act of kindness we saw.
I love those commercials.
It’s a perfect demonstration of metaphysical law: what you put out comes back to you. When you create an act of goodwill, the energy of that act ripples out like a pebble dropped into the water. As it spreads out, it grows and eventually finds its way back to you.
“Give and it will be given you, pressed down, shaken together and overflowing,” Jesus said. What you do to and for others gets returned to you, pressed down, shaken together, and overflowing. What you do for others, you do for yourself. There is only One Presence.
Of course, we don’t do or give in order to get. We do so because it’s the right and good thing to do; it’s our nature as Children of Love. As we have been shown such tremendous kindnesses from our Source, we keep the flow of Good going by demonstrating Who We really Are. By performing acts of Love, we open the door for others and give them the opportunity to step into the flow of Good. What we get back is a by-product of being in harmony with that Presence.
Remember how ‘seeking first the kingdom’ would lead to all that other good stuff being ‘added unto you’?
According to the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation, showing kindness offers all sorts of physical and mental health benefits. It releases endorphins, the body’s natural painkiller, into the system and causes what’s known as a “helper’s high.” It reduces stress (which contributes to a number of physical ailments) and feelings of hostility, reverses depression, and decreases feelings of isolation. It promotes joyfulness, vigor, and emotional well-being, feelings of self-worth, happiness, and optimism. The emotions you feel from doing good triggers processes in the body that can strengthen the immune system.
And that’s aside from the fact that you’ve made somebody’s day, perhaps brought a bit of joy and happiness into their lives. You may have opened a way for healing to enter. You may have reached out to someone who felt ‘invisible’ or that nobody cared. Who knows the depth to which you may have touched them and the extent to which it will ripple?
A simple act of kindness can change the world.
I commit myself to doing random acts of kindness today. I will do a good turn without looking for thanks or acknowledgement. I am grateful for all the benefits I receive in body, mind, and spirit in doing good and being in alignment with Source.
breathe Peace ~
Rev. Rebecca
Day 37: March 7
The thought for today is GRACIOUSNESS.
By Grace have you been saved. – Ephesians 2:5
The Divine Oneness is always working on our behalf for our Highest Good. With gentle compassion, Love patiently works in our lives, transforming us as we find ourselves set to take the next step in conscious awakening. It is never condescending or belittling nor does It demand we grow before we’re ready. It allows us the freedom to make mistakes and begin anew when we’re able.
We, too, must take this same course of action with others. When we learn new things, we shouldn’t be arrogant with our knowledge. We ought to hold back a bit and share when asked. There is no need for us to be pushy with others, for to do so is presumptuous on our part, thinking that we know better than they do. Spirit is gracious with us in allowing us space to move forward in our own time. We can be just as kind.
Jesus advised us not to ‘cast our pearls before swine, lest they be trampled underfoot.’ What he was saying was that the animal doesn’t have the consciousness to know what to do with a pearl. The pig will treat the treasure like anything else by walking all over it, grinding it into the ground below. Likewise, a person who isn’t yet grown in consciousness isn’t going to know what to do with a Truth he isn’t ready to hear. He will trample it with his own consciousness, treating it like mud beneath his feet.
“Agree with your adversary quickly while you are on the way with him,” Jesus said. Agree to disagree. You have your beliefs and he has his beliefs and that’s okay. If you start defending yours to him, he defends his to you and before you know it, you have unnecessary conflict with each trying to prove how ‘right’ he is. Somehow, Love gets lost. Religious disagreements have caused as many battles as anything else has.
This doesn’t mean that we let go of our own beliefs as if they don’t matter in order to maintain Peace. What it does mean is that we don’t have to defend our beliefs to anyone. It’s not necessary for everyone else to believe as we do. To be Loving is more important than being right.
I will show kindness and compassion when I share my Truth with others. If I find the person isn’t ready to hear and understand, I will withdraw. Likewise, I will not become adversarial if I do not agree with them. I will ‘agree quickly’ and allow Peace to reign.
breathe Peace ~
Rev. Rebecca
As a special gift from the Association for Global New Thought in celebration of the Season for Nonviolence, please accept this Living Peace Mandala as another way of participating. Instructions for its use are located below the mandala. Create a shortcut for your desktop so you can access it easily. And please don’t forget to come back every day to http://revrebecca.com/wordpress/ for more inspiration and daily action that you can take to move you and your world in the direction of Peace.
Day 36: March 6
The thought for today is MINDFULNESS.
Did you ever travel across town and not remember the trip because your mind was elsewhere? Perhaps you were thinking about a past conversation or worried about something you think might happen in the near future. What you weren’t doing was being mindful of driving your car.
Mindfulness is another way of saying awareness. It is a focused attention on what is in the present moment. What are you doing right now? What thoughts are you thinking about what you’re doing? What feelings arise in regard to your activity? What are your senses telling you?
By practicing mindfulness, we let go of attachments to the past and future and maintain a connection to ‘what is’ rather than ‘what I believe was’ or ‘what I believe could be.’ When not practicing mindfulness, we are likely to project our suppositions, misperceptions, and assumptions on to whatever is occupying our thoughts.
Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese Buddhist monk famous for his peace work during the Vietnam War and nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967 by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., gave the following example of mindfulness:
“While washing the dishes one should only be washing the dishes, which means that while one is washing the dishes one should be completely aware that one is washing the dishes. There are two ways of washing the dishes. The first is to wash the dishes in order to have clean dishes and the second is to wash the dishes in order to wash the dishes. If, while washing the dishes, we think only of the cup of tea that awaits us, thus hurrying to get the dishes out of the way as if they were a nuisance, then we are not washing the dishes to wash the dishes. If we can’t wash the dishes, chances are we won’t be able to drink our tea, either.”
In other words, we will never enjoy our experience of life in the here and now if we’re always thinking about other things. If I’m thinking about my tea while I’m washing the dishes, what occupies my mind while I’m drinking my tea? Am I simply enjoying the experience of the tea or thinking about what I’m doing next?
The practice of mindfulness includes how we relate to people. Many relationships have been ruined because one or both parties were so enmeshed in prior circumstances of hurt and regret or worried about conditions that may never happen that they didn’t take time to enjoy one another’s company in the present. When we develop a continual awareness of what we are saying, thinking, and doing, we are less likely to say, think or do something harmful.
I begin to practice mindfulness today. I stop looking at the activity of my life as a nuisance and ‘something to get out of the way.’ All of life is precious – every moment, every breath, every heartbeat. I take the time to notice where I am and what I’m doing. I take notice of my thoughts and feelings in every circumstance. I listen to what my body is telling me. I let go of attachments to past and future and enjoy what is here with me right now in this beautiful moment.
breathe Peace ~
Rev. Rebecca
As a special gift from the Association for Global New Thought in celebration of the Season for Nonviolence, please accept this Living Peace Mandala as another way of participating. Instructions for its use are located below the mandala. Create a shortcut for your desktop so you can access it easily. And please don’t forget to come back every day to http://revrebecca.com/wordpress/ for more inspiration and daily action that you can take to move you and your world in the direction of Peace.
Day 35: March 5
The thought for the day is UNDERSTANDING.
I know you believe you understand what you think I said, but I’m not sure that you realize that what you heard is not what I meant. – Robert McCloskey
The word ‘understanding’ means, literally, “to stand among or in the midst of.” It is “knowing thoroughly by having close contact or long experience with; a disposition to appreciate the feelings and thoughts of others; compassionate.”
Understanding comes from observation, earnest listening, and the knowledge gleaned from taking the time to enter into meaningful conversation with others. We cannot truly understand someone with whom we’ve never had a real conversation about anything beyond small talk.
I recall a couple I knew as a young adult; they were acquaintances of mine – about my parents’ age - who lived an affluent lifestyle. They always seemed sort of snobbish and unfriendly to me. I remember not liking them very much at the time. I found out a number of years later that they and their family had gone through some very difficult struggles and they weren’t being snobbish, they were just physically drained from all the stress they felt.. I felt ashamed that I hadn’t taken the time to discover that. I had wrongly judged them.
Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding about ourselves. – Carl Jung
Understanding self is just as important as understanding others. Other people sometimes act as a mirror for us. Too often, we project on to them things we don’t’ like about ourselves. We may see a quality in them that we know we have and magnify it out of proportion because it resonates with something inside of us in a negative way. Knowing this gives us the chance to pause, step back, and assess things with greater understanding.
Today, I take time to watch and listen to others as I try my best to understand them. By doing this, I can develop greater compassion for them and possibly learn how I can best Be Love for them. I also take time to examine myself when I am find another particularly challenging. Perhaps there is something in myself that I am projecting on to them that needs to be addressed.
breathe Peace ~
Rev. Rebecca
As a special gift from the Association for Global New Thought in celebration of the Season of Nonviolence, please accept this Living Peace Mandala as another way of participating in the Season. Instructions for its use are located below the mandala. Create a shortcut for your desktop so you can access it easily. And please don’t forget to come back every day to http://revrebecca.com/wordpress/ for more inspiration and daily action that you can take to move you and your world in the direction of Peace.
Day 34: March 4
The thought for today is LOVE.
“God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God and God in him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear… We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.” 1 John 4: 16-21
Conquering our ‘enemy’ through Love is the basis of nonviolent philosophy. While most of the major religious traditions have some form of the teaching “Love your enemy,” the Truth is there is no enemy except the one in our mind. If God is One Presence and the only Presence, who then is my enemy?
God is Love itself. To surrender to God is to surrender to Love. To live and move and have your being in God is to do so in Love. There is no other way. If you cannot Love all, you do not know God. If you cannot see God in the face of another, then you cannot see God at all.
Challenging, eh? It’s easy to hate someone who physically attacks you or your family. I vividly remember a photograph of Pope John Paul II sitting with the man who tried to assassinate him. He was visiting his would-be killer in prison in an act of forgiveness and compassion. It was a simple act. Was it easy? I don’t know the answer to that. But I think when you maintain a daily awareness of Love’s Presence, it’s easier than trying to do it by your own power. Ego-self isn’t so quick to forgive.
What about someone who constantly pushes your buttons like the antagonistic guy at work or the public official who always votes contrary to your political beliefs? How about that neighbor who is always trying to ‘shove her religious beliefs down your throat’?
“But I don’t really hate them,” you reason, “I just don’t like them sometimes.” Yet, what thoughts go through your mind when you think of them? What feelings are there within you? A strong dislike for them? Anger, maybe? Unforgivingness? What about impatience? Suspicion? Bitterness, perhaps? How about the desire for revenge? Maybe you just wish they’d go away.
“You have heard it said ‘you shall not commit murder,’ but I say to you if you are angry toward your brother or if you say to your brother, ‘you fool!’ you are already guilty of murder in your heart” – Jesus
Jesus was laying out metaphysical principle to his followers. Everything begins in thought and when you put the force of emotion behind it, you set energy in motion on the spiritual plane. This is the genesis of creation – you think it, strongly feel it, and speak it thus giving form to your thought – and it’s a short step to action, even if it is a bit passive-aggressive.
“But surely,” you again reason, “I would never actually do anything. I’m just venting.” Perhaps, but it’s still an act of violence. Do you ever try to get to know the other person? To understand her? Do you ever try to start a genuine conversation with him? Do you ever do anything to reach out to her to show that you really care?
Let Love be your guide. Listen to the voice of Spirit inside you for direction. Attune yourself to the Higher Mind and open your heart to Love.
I let go of fear, for Perfect Love casts out all fear. As I surrender to the Sacred Oneness, I give myself to the transformative power of Love. I offer my life as a channel of Divine compassion. Peace reigns in my life.
breathe Peace ~
Rev. Rebecca
As a special gift from the Association for Global New Thought in celebration of the Season of Nonviolence, please accept this Living Peace Mandala as another way of participating in the Season. Instructions for its use are located below the mandala. Create a shortcut for your desktop so you can access it easily. And please don’t forget to come back every day to http://revrebecca.com/wordpress/ for more inspiration and daily action that you can take to move you and your world in the direction of Peace.
Day 33: March 3
The thought for today is ACKNOWLEDGMENT.
I am a beautiful Divine Child of God.
Can you acknowledge that Truth about yourself? It’s not easy sometimes, is it? “Nobody knows me like I do and if everyone else knew the thoughts that go through my mind or the things I have done….well, let’s not go there,” you say.
Really.
Let’s not go there, because you are not the thoughts that go through your head or the things you do. If you are to begin the process of transformation, you must build on a foundation of Truth. I use the term transformation to mean a change in your experience of life through a shift in your perception. Until you acknowledge Who You really Are – the One Presence manifesting Itself in you and as you – and until you acknowledge this same Truth about others, you will continue to struggle with yourself and everyone else.
If you recognize your Oneness with all, how can you then commit violence against another? To harm another is to harm you. To injure your neighbor is to hurt your spouse or your children. To cause pain to yourself is to do likewise to your community. We are all intimately connected by our shared identity in God.
To know something, the dictionary says, is to “apprehend clearly and with certainty; to understand from experience.” The experience of the Sacred Oneness brings that understanding.
I take time to be still in silence as I rest in the Presence of Love. I contemplate my Divine origin and the Omnipresence of God, that in every point in space at this ever-present moment, God Is. This Truth of Oneness is the solid foundation upon which I build my life. I acknowledge that as we live in the awareness of this Truth, Peace is our destiny.
breathe Peace ~
Rev. Rebecca
As a special gift from the Association for Global New Thought in celebration of the Season of Nonviolence, please accept this Living Peace Mandala as another way of participating in the Season. Instructions for its use are located below the mandala. Create a shortcut for your desktop so you can access it easily. And please don’t forget to come back every day to http://revrebecca.com/wordpress/ for more inspiration and daily action that you can take to move you and your world in the direction of Peace.
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