Make Love Not War

The first known war was 13,

400 years ago,

Well before agriculture.

So it seems humans enjoy a good fight.

The UN has warned that peace is more under threat today than it has been since World War II.

While most of the 27 conflicts being fought around the world right now may seem out of our control,

There is one place where we can all do important work to create peace.

Are you curious?

Let's practice together.

This may be the most important thing you and I do all day.

Find a quiet place where you can be comfortable and let your eyes close.

Allow the next breath in to catch your attention.

Follow its good sensations down into your lungs.

Feel its relaxing exhale soothe the body.

And just take a few breaths with the inhale gathering up any tensions from your day.

And with your exhale surrendering all of that thinking,

Doing out into the earth.

Breathing in,

Gathering.

Breathing out,

Releasing.

I want to connect us first with our essential self.

It's the part of us that's there listening in between the thoughts.

That kind and curious spaciousness that holds everything.

It's there in our most relaxed moments.

When we feel as though the world is just as it needs to be and there's nothing else to achieve.

So feel in from the soles of the feet,

Lighting up your skin cells with your awareness.

From the calves,

The thighs.

All the way up into your softly breathing chest.

And out into the fingers,

Crown of head.

Feeling that divine softness around the corners of the eyes.

Jaw relaxed,

Tongue relaxed.

You notice in these moments that if we can rest there and connect and feel into the energy of the essential self that there is an openness,

A kindness,

A peacefulness.

Now here's where it gets interesting.

I want you to connect with a memory of a time when part of you was quite angry.

Maybe with somebody that you know well.

Argument,

Disagreement,

Something's gone wrong.

This part of you that got angry.

What did it do?

What did it say?

And how did it feel?

Now I'd like you to ask this part of you that got angry if it wouldn't mind having a conversation.

Let it know you want to learn how you can help.

If it says yes,

Great.

If it says no,

You might just spend a little bit of time getting to know it and learning about its fears or concerns around talking.

But if it says yes,

Ask it what it was trying to do for you in that moment when it stepped forwards.

How was it trying to help?

Listen and see what it says.

Then ask it what does it believe would happen if it didn't get angry?

As you listen to it,

If you appreciate its efforts,

Let it know.

Maybe a simple thank you or an appreciation.

Next,

Ask this part of you that gets angry how you could help in the future.

If it feels like it'd be happy to hand over the reins in these moments to you,

The essential self,

Great.

If it doesn't feel like you could handle things for some reason,

Ask it how old it thinks you are.

Don't think too much about this one.

Just listen in and see what comes.

Then just check in.

Is there anything else that it wants you to know?

Is there anything you'd like to let it know?

Perhaps a reassurance or a way that you would prefer to allow things to flow in the future.

Lastly,

Just ask it if by chance its job no longer needed it to be angry so often,

How would it rather spend its energy?

Taking in any insights from this conversation and just bringing your attention back into your good heart.

Feeling into the fullness of the body.

I want you to imagine just where you are that there is a pathway moving from the tail to the crown.

This pathway is like an open conduit for energy.

As you feel the next breath move in,

Let your attention rise up through that central channel.

All the way up past the crown of the head,

About two hand widths above the top of the skull.

Then with your out breath allow the energy to move down just in front of the spine,

All the way down,

Two hand widths below the tailbone.

Each breath in,

Moving your energy and your awareness up.

Each exhale moving the energy and awareness down.

Moving breath and energy upwards and breath and energy downwards.

All the way up past the crown of the head,

About two hand widths above the top of the spine.

And now just adding a little mantra as the energy moves internally saying to yourself,

I am love,

I offer love,

I am love on the inhale,

I offer love on the exhale.

And then just allow that mantra to become quieter and quieter,

But continue to feel and move the energy and breath.

And lastly,

In the same way,

Inviting the mantra,

I am peace,

I offer peace.

Breathing in,

I am peace,

Breathing out,

I offer peace.

Breath moving in and up,

Breath moving out and down.

And then just allowing that mantra to soften,

But continue feeling that sense of peace you've created,

Moving and radiating.

Some people believe that if the part of them that feels threatened picks up a gun to fight,

They'll make the world a more peaceful place.

But what you and I are feeling right now is ultimately the only way to create peace,

Not peace if the world shows up in the way we want it to,

But peace irregardless of how the world shows up.

As Martin Luther King says,

Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows.

You're welcome to rest here for as long as you would like.

May all beings be free.

May all beings be loved.

May all beings be peaceful.