Peace

What Would Love Do?

/ admin

Happy Valentine’s Day! As I write this post the news is sharing another horrific story of a person being killed and others being injured during a rally in Kansas City. (The Kansas City Chief’s football team just won the Super Bowl Game this past Sunday)

What I don’t understand is why do these things keep happening in our world. Don’t even get me started on my thoughts on the war between Russia and Ukraine or the horrors that occurred last October in Israel (and now occurring in the Gaza Strip). This winter has been tough for me as I feel so unsettled with these continuous moments filled with hatred and mindless evil.

Something has to give.

Last December, our children’s string orchestra were invited to participate in pop star and song writer, Andrew Allen’s Christmas concert. All fall they were busy working on their collection of holiday music. Our home was brimming with harmony and every Monday for weeks prior to the event, our children’s music school held rehearsals. I loved sitting in the car listening to the beautiful music flowing out from the building. By the time the concert arrived our kids were so excited.

The concert was more like a large gathering of friends and family coming together to celebrate the season of light. Andrew made us feel like we were just sitting in his living room. A very large living room I might add, where he had brought together a few friends to join him in celebrating the holiday. Our children’s orchestra blew everyone away. I mean who doesn’t love watching and listening to kids ranging in age from 4 to 18 playing cello, violin and viola? It was magical in so many ways. I cried more tears of joy than I had in a long while that evening.

The majority of tears fell though when Andrew started introducing the next song he was going to play called, “What Would Love Do?” Through the whole evening, the energy was mostly light filled, with funny quips and stories about his band and about recent concerts he had given. He talked about being thankful to have grown up in our little town and now being able to raise his family while continuing his career as a singer/songwriter. But when he introduced this song, he also talked about what was happening in the world. He paused, got us to pause, while he asked us to wonder what if people just stopped for a moment, before acting on any impulse towards anger, or retribution, or their feelings of righteousness, and asked themselves the simple question, “What Would Love Do? He wondered if maybe, just maybe, we would have less wars, less shooting, less anger and animosity towards others and maybe more harmony. More peace.

More love.

I’ve been thinking about this question for the last few months and wondered how I could make a difference. If I am not even able to temper my reaction to anything that arises in my life to irk me, how can world leader be expected to be any better? We are after all…human. But we have to do better.

For our world.

For our children.

For the future of this earth.

And so I’m stopping in the middle of this day, a busy Valentine’s day for our family and sharing this question with you. How can we shake up the world for the better and have this question on everyone’s lips? If we come together as a greater whole, we can shift the world towards a response of love and shut out the evil that has bee occurring. Even when we are protesting, and we think it is justifiable, we have to ask ourselves this question, “What would love do?”

I often think of the response Mother Teresa gave when asked why she didn’t attend anti war protest.

“I will never attend an anti-war rally; if you have a peace rally, invite me.”

― Mother Teresa

She simply didn’t want to be AGAINST anything or anyone.

Enough said. I want to wish each of you, my dear blogging family, a very Happy Valentine’s day. Let us spread this question out into the world… “What would love do?” I want us to chant and cheer and smile and laugh. I want us to lock arms and wave our flags with red hearts on them. Let each of us take a moment to ask ourselves this question the next time something happens that causes anger or disharmony. Love is the answer. May your world be filled with love this Valentine’s day and in the upcoming year. That’s my greatest wish.

Below are two YouTube videos. One is called, “What Would Love Do Now,” by Jason Mraz, during a concert he gave 12 years ago. The other is from our beloved local boy, Andrew Allen, in case you haven’t heard of him before. He started me thinking and you know what they say,

One thought is powerful. And one question even more so….

“What Would Love Do?”

Until we meet again,

May you be well, happy and peaceful.

And may your be surrounded by love and light.

Blessings from Hope

International Peace Day

/ Lee Reynolds

 

Yesterday was “International Peace Day.” Ever since I was a little girl, peace has always been important to me. Maybe, being a young child in the 60’s, when passionate peace marches were happening, or opening my school lunch box everyday with a psychedelic peace sign stamped on the lid, all had the effect of etching the importance of peace into my being.

Or maybe the knowledge that peace is a truth that just resonates with my soul. Now that I’m older, I understand  how truly important peace is in the world. It’s so simple and yet so hard for us to achieve. Why do we humans take the harder path in life? Because we want to be right and we want to win. But really, if the world is in a state of peace, then we all WIN. What can be better than that?

It starts with basics like, respect, kindness, compassion, non-judgement.

Here’s a link to an article by Andrew Martin who wrote, “The 6 Traits of People who live Peaceful Lives.”

Here are the highlights and the 6 things you can do to live more peacefully;

1. Let go of Ego and just be yourself.

2. Learn From the Masters

3. Bring Awareness to your Life

4. Realize we all Experience Conditioning of Some Kind

5. Understand you Create your Own Experience

6. How do you live your life, through fear or love? 

Often when my young children aren’t sharing, or they are bickering, I will ask them to stop and face each other, asking themselves if the thing they are wanting so badly, or the point they are wanting to make, is more important than the love and relationship they are wanting to experience and create with each other.

Inevitably, they drop the treasured toy, or stop shouting and simply reach for each other, sometimes telling each other they love each other. You can feel the energy shift and the anger dissipate if you are an observer. It’s quite remarkable. Teaching our children when they are young, is a good start towards peace.

Being aware and asking, “what is my intention?” is a HUGE step towards peace.

A little over a year ago, a little 3 year old Syrian boy, Alan Kurdi lay drowned on a beach. He, his mother and older brother died trying to find a more peaceful place to live in the world. Yesterday, I was thinking of him. I was thinking about all the Canadians and others in the world, who want to close off the borders, for fear of terrorism entering their country. And almost like synchronicity, last night before I went to bed I watched a bit of the CBS 11 o’clock news. They did a story on another Syrian refuge family, who has recently come to Canada, and were hitting the ground running after arriving in the country last year. They are growing a successful business making what they know best, chocolate, (who doesn’t LOVE CHOCOLATE!!!) and they are already starting to give back to the country who welcomed them.

This makes me cry with happiness but also with dismay. How many of us are already living in a beautiful part of the world, in a peaceful country, and we take it for granted. We take clean water, food and shelter, ALL for granted. For most of us, there are opportunities for us to become successful and give back to our communities. There are opportunities for us to extend our hand and say, “Welcome, come in peace.” This family inspired me today, and has me thinking about “what I can do in my community RIGHT now?” to make the world a more peaceful place.

Eat chocolate of COURSE!!! but…..

maybe I can do little things, like writing this blog post and the few people who read it, may be inspired, sending ripples of peace out into their part of the world. I can assess some of my other strengths; I love to read and I love children. Maybe I can go in and be a parent helper in my younger children’s classrooms, maybe reading with children, or at least helping out the teacher so she can offer the best education possible for all of our children.

I do believe education is one of the foremost steps we can take to live peacefully.

Hey and don’t you think if someone handed you a piece of chocolate, AND a book, you would feel happier and more peaceful? Works for me.

AnYway, this was just a quick blog post as I wanted to give you the link to the news report about the Hadhad family in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. (click on the hyper-link if you can’t see it below)

I hope it inspires you too.

Thank you for coming.

Until we meet again, “peace out!”

Blessings from Hope

All Aboard the Peace Train

/ Lee Reynolds

I just finished writing a blog post about living a sweet life but I’m not immune to the recent terrorist attack in Paris, that occurred on Friday, November 13th, 2015. My first thoughts were fear. I knew my niece N, who moved to London this past year, was in Paris on business. I thought of her immediately. Then thanks to Facebook, I saw she was safely back in London. Then I thought of my own daughter Alyssa, who is teaching and working in London. Traveling around the U.K., writing, doing her photography, when time permits. She was in Paris last Spring after the Charlie Hebdo massacre and I was worried enough. My next thoughts were that London is too close to Paris. And then, because I believe we are all connected on this planet, if not my niece, or my daughter, there is another out there who was affected. Today, there is a mother, many mothers, who are mourning their child. Their children. Children mourning their parents. The ripples spread through the world. Many are trying to understand, “Why?”

Fear is the greatest weapon of the terrorists.  Are we willing to let them use it against us?

As I was checking my Facebook page I read a comment below a picture of the Canadian flag, that was encouraging others to stop Syrian refugees from entering our country. I understand this statement however I don’t agree with it. It’s fear based.

I think about the people in the terrorist groups and can only believe that they have been taught to hate and have not experienced much kindness in their life. When we say to innocent people of a terrorist war that we can’t offer you refuge, are we any better than the terrorists? Do we perpetuate the feelings of hate? I want to use my energy and illuminate love….can you imagine if we all came from this place?

Interestingly, I’m right in the middle of a 21 day meditation challenge put on by Deepak Chopra and Oprah that is called, “become what you believe,” and I understand totally how we create the life we want by our beliefs. Everything we think about ourselves and others, shapes the world. Although I studied the effects of our core beliefs during my Context Training years ago, it is refreshing to take another look at the power and the beliefs/walls we build up to keep us safe.

It’s only when we break down the walls and realize that we are always safe, that nothing can touch us and that we will always have enough, that we will be able to share with others on this earth and peace will be the result.

You may not know how to start but it begins at home. With your own family and friend relationships. Look for opportunities to be kind, to be compassionate, to open your heart to others.

On Friday, after filling my van trunk full of groceries I was hurriedly trying to get out of the parking lot and up ahead I saw a woman sitting next to the stop sign, “Oh no” I thought. A piece of torn cardboard resting in her lap which said simply, “hungry.” As my car moved closer, as there was a long line up, I noticed several thoughts rushing through my brain. All thoughts that had been placed there by previous experiences I have had or things I have heard from others.

“Oh she is probably a junkie and needs a fix.” “She should just get up and get a job if she wants money.” “She isn’t worthy of even being noticed.” I watched all these thoughts flood my brain and then I listened to my heart. I thought of what I had to give. I had a few dollars in my purse that I could spare. It was cold and she was sitting on the ground with just a sweater around her shoulders, and as I got closer to her, I wished I had a spare coat. I have so many in my closet back at home.

I rolled down the window and she got up, looking deep into my eyes, flashing me a brilliant smile. That’s when I saw one of her eyes was badly damaged. Just then she lowered her eyes and reached her hand towards me, it was frigid but as we touched, a warm light glowed between us. I wondered if she felt it too? Anyway, it wasn’t much and as I think about it now, I wished I had done more, given her some of the groceries in my trunk. It does illustrates how little it takes to help in our own communities.

You may live in a community where there are many, obvious homeless people and it may feel overwhelming. You don’t have to help them all……just pick one rather than not doing anything. Believe me, it will make a difference. It will make a difference to that one person.

Ever since I saw the news footage of the little Syrian boy, Alan Kurdi, drowned and washed up on the beach in Greece, I knew I wanted to help. I wanted to make sure our government knew I supported the refugees. I could be silent and not write about this today but it has touched me so deeply. If it were me and my family, I would hope that someone out there was compassionate enough to reach their hand out and help. I’d like to believe that we Canadians are those people.

Let’s give them a peaceful home where they are safe. Where they can raise their children and have a better life. And for those of you who are saying, well, but we are letting terrorist into the country, all I can say is trust in our immigration security process and know that if a terrorist wanted to get into our country…they would find a way.  If you are saying, they will be a drain on our health care, our education, our welfare system, and more, I can only say, if we do nothing and look the other way, we will feel the impact in more ways that you can ever imagine. And it will not be good. Moving in the direction with love and peace in our hearts will ALWAYS bring goodness.

There are countless innocent families needing our help. They don’t want much, they have been living on the streets, the lucky ones in tents for heave sake. Just breathe and trust…this is the path to peace. This is what the world needs right now. This is the turning point in so many ways.

 

Let’s share what we have (do you BELIEVE in the loaves and fishes story?…here’s the one I tell my children…there is always enough and from a mom of 8 children…you’d better believe I have seen this time and time again…especially in more difficult times) and I KNOW, that if we do that, the next generation of Syrian children will know kindness, compassion, acceptance, and most of all love. That is how we change the world. It’s that simple.

Let’s get on the peace train and make sure everyone who wants to join has a seat. Are you coming?  Remember, we create our reality with our thoughts, with our beliefs. It starts from within. What do you believe? I believe in miracles!

Join me in singing one of my favourite songs from my childhood…..even as a young child I was moving in the direction of peace and love.

Click here to see Cat Stevens playing, “Peace Train.”

Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope

 

 

Chocolate Quinoa Cake AND Symptoms of Inner Peace

/ Lee Reynolds

My 5 year old son, Will woke up early this morning. TOO early. “Time to get up Mommy,” he sang out to me as he bounced around my bed. I cracked an eye open to peak at the clock beside my bed and groaned, “Will, it’s too early to get up.” With that he crawled into my bed and curled up next to me, wrapping his chilly bare feet around my legs. Oh to only have another 15 minutes of deep sleep would have been heaven, I thought.

As if he had read my thoughts, he promptly kissed me on my forehead, which is our sacred place for kissing one another. He has tried a number of times to kiss me on my lips but I always tell him that is where Daddy kisses me and I want my children to have their own special place to physically show love. We have chosen the third eye area which seems so appropriate since he is so much “in” soul.

That kiss, warmed my grumpy spirit and I started to think about the upcoming day. My monkey brain turning already. As soon as I wake up and am somewhat conscious, it likes to take over and run my life. It was going to be a busy morning getting Will and Grace ready for school and on the 8 am bus and then  since the high school bus no longer picks up in our area, (don’t get me started) I would have to drive Harrison to school. Then return home quickly, get the little girls ready, drive our oldest son to the University bus stop and then the twins to preschool. So much rushing in such a short amount of time.

Will interrupts my running silent dialogue and asks, “can I start the bath mom?” I look at the clock again and see now it is time to get up so reluctantly I say, “oh all right.” He pops out of our warm cocoon and a moment later, I can hear water running in the bath.

We have a morning ritual before the little girls wake up. Will and I like to have a bath together. We have been doing this since he was around a year old and sadly I can see the end coming since he is now in school and getting too old to bath with his mom. (Usually around kindergarten time, at least in our house, that is usually the signal for more modesty) But for the present time, he is still my bath mate.

One good thing we did when we built our house was install a really big, deep tub in our master bathroom and it has been delightful bathing with our  little ones over the years. I’m a bath person. I could spend hours in there and in the old days, before children, I used to read whole novels in one sitting, (or rather bathing) replacing the hot water every hour or so. I hardly think about those days now for having a sweet little boy to bath with and chat the morning away is so much nicer in my opinion.

Here is a glimpse into our master bath…you can get a tiny sense of the tub etc that I could while away my days…or chat with my little people while they are enjoying a ritual bath.

When I think the bath must be full enough I get up and see Will in his birthday suit and poised on the edge of the tub. He is deep in thought and looking out of our large bathroom window. It looks straight down the lake which is below our house. My husband always says, how many houses do you know where you can sit on the throne and look down a lake? Did I mention the back of our house is private too? So this is where I find Will this morning. I ask him, ‘what’s up Bud?” and he turns to me with a glowing smile and says with tons of enthusiasm, “Isn’t nature BEAUTIFUL Mommy?”

This is the view of the lake from our lower deck..outside the back of the house…it’s not exactly the view out of the bathroom window…which is even better…but gives you an idea.

I walked over to the edge of our tub to look down the lake. We have lived above the lake for over 20 years and although this was one of the main reasons we built our house here, I often take it for granted. It’s only when we have people at our front door and their mouth is gaping open as they look through our house, out to this panoramic view of the lake, that I stop to appreciate the view. But this morning I stopped to see it anew. White mist is lingering over the glistening grey/blue water and the sky is starting to glow lighter and brighter as the promise of another lovely fall day begins..

I looked down at my son’s blonde curls and was in awe at his coming. His BEING. At his ability to always bring me right back to the moment appreciating beauty of the here and now. This awareness reminded me of the 12 Symptoms of Inner Peace I used to recite regularly to ensure I was in that state. I haven’t looked at those signs in years because I am often reminded daily, through my children’s eyes, how spectacular earth is and how blessed I am to be alive.

In case you don’t have a daily reminder, check out the 12 Symptoms of Inner Peace. How many can you count occurring in your life lately?

SYMPTOMS OF INNER PEACE

 

by  Saskia Davis

 

 

 

Be on the lookout for symptoms of inner peace. The hearts of a great many already have been exposed;  and it is possible that people, everywhere,  could come down with it in epidemic proportions. This could pose a serious threat to what, up to now,  has been a fairly stable condition of conflict in the world.

 

        

 

         Signs & Symptoms of Inner Peace

 

A tendency to think and act  spontaneously rather than on fears based on past experiences

 

 

 

An unmistakable ability to enjoy each moment

 

 

 

A loss of interest in judging other people

 

 

 

A loss of interest in judging self

 

 

 

A loss of interest in interpreting the actions of   others

 

 

 

A loss of interest in conflict

 

 

 

A loss of  ability to worry

 

                                                         

 

Frequent, overwhelming episodes of appreciation

 

 

 

Contented feelings of connectedness

 

with others  & nature

 

 

 

Frequent attacks of smiling 

 

 

 

An increasing tendency to let things

 

happen rather  than  make them happen

 

 

 

An increased susceptibility to love extended  by others  and  the uncontrollable urge to  extend it

 

 

 

WARNING

 

If you  have  some or all of the above symptoms, be advised that your condition of inner peace may be too far advanced to be curable. If you are exposed to anyone exhibiting any of  these symptoms, remain exposed only at your own risk.     © 1984
     
                                                       
Isn’t that GREAT?
And if you would like to add to your Inner Peace quotient, check out my recipe for Chocolate Quinoa Cake.
You won’t be able to contain your smile once you taste a bite of this moist, decadent cake.
This recipe was given to me by my soul sisters, Yania. She made it for one of our Sacred Book club meetings. She is one of the most conscious consumer of healthy food products I know, other than my oldest daughter Alyssa.  This is now a regular favourite in our house. I hope you like it too.
Yania’s Chocolate Quinoa Cake
You will need the following ingredients:
The only other thing you need, not shown is sugar and salt
 Ingredients:
 
2/3 cup white or golden quinoa
11/3 cups water to cook quinoa
1/3 cup milk (any milk will do but we use almond milk)
4 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup butter melted and cooled (you could also use coconut oil which would give it a nice taste)

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 white or cane sugar (this was originally 11/2 cups but was cut in half and is still great)
11/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Directions:

Bring Quinoa and water to a boil in a medium saucepan. cover, reduce to simmer and cook for 10 minutes. Keep moist. Turn off head and cool a bit.

Bring quinoa and water to boil, put lid on and then simmer on low heat for 10 minutes



Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly grease two 8 inch round or square cake pans. Line with parchment paper.

Combine milk, eggs, and vanilla in a mixer/blender or food processor. Add 2 cups of cooked quinoa and butter and continue to blend until smooth.

Adding the cooked quinoa to the milk, eggs and vanilla



Whisk together the sugar, cocoa, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a medium bowl. Add the contents of the wet ingredients and mix really well. 

Mixing the sugar, cocoa, salt, baking powder and baking soda together



Divide batter between pans and bake on centre oven rack for  40 minutes. The key is to not over bake. Our oven, like Yania’s whipped this cake up in less time than that…30 minutes for us until the toothpick came out clean. 

I just sprayed my pans with a cooking spray but next time I’m going to put down parchment paper



Let sit for 5 minutes in the pan and then turn cakes onto a rack to cool completely. I put our cakes into the freezer for a bit because I wanted to ice them quickly and serve the cake after dinner. It was great because it was easier to frost.

I put jam between the layers and frosted it with a traditional chocolate icing, topping it with dried cherries and a few almonds. The next time I make this, I’m going to make the cake with coconut oil and also make the chocolate icing with coconut oil as well…did I mention I love coconut. But let your taste buds be your guide. My husband would also like me to make a chocolate mocha icing another time as he loves coffee and then I would put a few chocolate coffee beans on top as a garnish.

I added little pieces of dark chocolate to the icing for a little extra something…topped the cake with dried cherries and almonds


This cake is so moist and wonderful. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

And when you eat it, think of a blonde little boy who loves life and who lives in a state of Inner Peace…he inspires me daily.

It’s all good!

 

And serving up my little man first who reminds me that chocolate cake adds to our Inner Peace

 

What a nice way to end a wonderful day!

I hope you try this healthy and yummy chocolate quinoa cake….and while you are eating your piece, enjoy a song that Will and I like to sing before bed….”I see skies of blue, clouds of white, the bright blessed day and the dark sacred night….la, la,la, la…la”.

(If you are using an Apple product, you may not be able to view the following but hopefully this link will bring you to the YouTube video, Louis Armstrong’s song, “It’s a Wonderful World.”

It’s a WONDERFUL world!

Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope