“If one person keeps calm and smiles at a provocation, the whole world will have a better chance for peace.”
Thich Nhat Hanh
Our November Monday Monthly theme is how we reconcile ourselves to both the realities we face in this #polycrisis and the emotions generated by these realities. We will explore how it is to practise reconciliation in our daily lives.
Join us on Monday 20th November at 4-5PM UK time. https://www.leadingthroughstorms.org/current-programmes/monday-monthly-20nov
The quote is Thich Nhat Hanh’s, on which we build in the materials we provide as stimulus for the session, excerpts below:
‘With what and whom shall we make peace as we face our common mortality?
‘With a deep sense of frustration with all that is not as I wish it to be in the world, and about what ‘others’ do, I’m at risk of losing myself in explosive irritability. I suffer, and those around me suffer.
‘When I am able to meet the same moment from a place of equanimity – allowing and accepting those feelings, without being unduly disturbed by them – I am able to access a calm centre rather than lose the balance of my mind. From here I can be curious not furious, I can feel confident in where and how I stand rather than groundless, uncertain, insecure.
‘People around me are more likely to meet a generous, inclusive energy and, together, we can apply our hearts and minds to what we positively wish to create in the world, rather than being defeated by all that is terrible.’
The photo is of two pioneering activists from Roots – a local Palestinian-Israeli initiative for understanding, non-violence and transformation – working tirelessly for peace, often in the face of massive hostility from ‘their’ ‘own’ ‘side’. Listening to them tell their stories in the West Bank was one of the most memorable afternoons of my life. https://www.friendsofroots.net/
