Aloha and welcome.
I'm Reverend Cindy Palos and this is another in the series of talking about peace and the elements of peace.
There are many keys and elements that are underlying peace and I have been very dedicated in the last year or so to explore those.
And some of the key elements I have found of peace are goodwill,
Understanding,
Compassion,
Forgiveness,
Unity,
Love,
Aloha,
Prayer,
Meditation,
Observation and finding a common ground and living in service.
And there are so many amazing great peace quotes but one of my favorites is from Buddha.
Peace comes from within.
Do not seek it without.
And it helps when we imagine,
Just as John Lennon said,
Imagine a world where we serve the positive energy of goodwill and peace and we let that energy motivate us every day.
There's a lot of people that are in division and in stress and frustrated about the world situation right now.
And I was talking to a lady who's a peacemaker who's done many peace pilgrimages and she brought up a point that I want to talk about today which was how when she was listening to the survivors of the atomic bomb,
How she found she had to have an observation point of view.
And that's a key in meditation as well.
Can we step back and allow ourselves to go to that place within,
To the observer,
The objective observer and really disengage so that we can take a better look at what's really going on.
I believe from that point of the objective observer we might be able to see with compassion and understanding some of what the other person has gone through,
What they want to express,
What they're trying to explain.
And many times it's very very hard for them to really say and express the pain they've gone through and the anger they've gone through because it's so buried and it's so deep that it can bring up even more pain and anger.
But if we can observe,
If we can observe ourself and others that can be a really great tool,
One of the keys,
One of the wonderful elements of being able to be at peace.
And as Buddha said,
You know,
It starts from within.
So let's start within.
Let's go inside ourselves and really try to get to the root,
The root of what might be inside you that might be bringing you some kind of disturbance.
And it may go way way back.
It may be buried very deep inside you.
I have found when you do long meditations,
Like I'm talking hours or maybe days,
That you'll find that all kinds of things come up,
All kinds of things come up.
And they have to come up to be released,
But you need to be able to be at peace with whatever comes up so you can release it.
And a lot of people have not been able to release things that are very deeply buried within them.
So that's where it helps to find a common ground.
It's when people talk about the weather.
That's a nice safe common ground,
Isn't it?
Oh,
How about this weather?
Or maybe about a football game that happened,
You know,
Unless they happen to be very adamant on the other side of the team you're for.
It does help to know that you can communicate with someone on a level playing field that's non-judgmental,
That is just there,
Held open with goodwill.
And when you do that,
You're leaving the door open for them to be able to talk.
And when they start talking,
If you're in an objective,
An observer space,
You'll get certain key words you'll find,
Certain key expressions to see what they're really trying to say behind the words.
And that,
Of course,
Is a key in any situation in conversations,
In communication,
And in broadcasts and interviews,
Is to really listen to what's behind being said.
And when you do that,
Then you have a level where that person starts to want to connect because they're sensing you might understand.
It's such a wonderful gift.
Now,
You can practice finding that objective observer within yourself,
And we're going to do a meditation now to get to that place within.
Just take a few deep breaths.
Just breathe and relax and let anything go that might be in your mind.
Just breathing deeply.
Breathing in,
Holding your breath for a second and letting your whole being be filled with peace and light,
Breathing out and allowing that peace to radiate through every single part of your body and your mind and your emotions and just allow it to let go.
Just let go sigh if you need to sigh.
Just ah,
Feel that place inside where you feel good and safe.
And now dwell in that place inside of your soul.
Go to that silent place within.
Ask to be in the presence of the light of your soul.
It's such a wonderful place to be.
Ah,
And just be there in that light and in that peace.
In the stillness,
Just breathing and allow yourself to go to that place there in your soul where you're not engaged in your mind.
You're in a place above your chatter of your mind,
The objective observer.
And from that place,
You can just watch as if you're watching a movie.
You can watch and you can listen.
What do you hear?
What are you seeing?
What are you observing about yourself?
Can you observe how your body feels?
How your head feels,
How your neck feels,
How your shoulders feel?
How your arms feel?
Your hands?
Your torso?
Your heart?
How does your heart feel?
Allow yourself to observe as you breathe in and out of your heart.
And allow yourself to feel as you observe.
Are there anything you sense there?
Is there something there in your heart that wants to be recognized?
That wants to communicate with you?
That wants to speak?
What would the voice of your heart say to you right now?
Listen.
Allow your heart to speak to you.
Breathe that energy in and send your heart love.
Allow your heart to be at peace.
Breathe that energy in again and allow that peace to spread throughout your entire body,
Up and down your spine.
And thank your soul and the objective observer for engaging and watching and allowing you to be a part of that wonderful place where you can observe freely.
Now slowly come back,
Come back from your mind.
I'm going to close with a poem I wrote.
It seems these days we're walking through minefields of divisiveness and pain.
Often with misunderstanding in that blame game.
It hurts to see all those who disagree.
For there's a part of you and me that cries out for inner peace.
Can we agree to disagree to all those things that we might believe that may not be the same way as others see?
I pray we can find a way to see the good that exists in all of our different ways.
That we can find a common ground with understanding we will come around.
To live together with Aloha and goodwill it can be found.
And that we will one day turn the world around.
May peace be with you always.
May you find that peace inside.
And may you be able to find that peace is something you can share and work with within the world you live in.
May God bless you always with peace and love and light.
Thank you so much for listening.
