Speak Compassion

Today is DAY 8 of 64 ways in 64 days: A Season for Nonviolence. The theme today is healing. I think, considering how angry I am after reading this call for the money at the expense of gay people, healing is hard for me to think about in the light. I think the pain we all carry in our day to day lives is rough. I think it is hard for all of us to brush off the stuff we see in the day to day. Just the headlines in the past few weeks have been hard for me, but healing comes from looking at people’s needs. What are people needing that causes them to do the things they do?

If every action we take is really about meeting a need, then understanding others’ needs could really bring on the healing if we wanted it to? right? If we could just see the WHY of the things people do, it is so much easier to understand and empathize with what they have done. Healing begins in all of us when we can understand what need is being met for someone.

Boost your needs literacy. It is tough to realize others needs and help them get past strategies that don’t really meet those needs, if we don’t have needs literacy. Here is a list of needs we all have: Print it and carry it with you for one day. For everything you see people do, ask your self what need did they try to meet?

needs inventory

The following list of needs is neither exhaustive nor definitive. It is meant as a starting place to support anyone who wishes to engage in a process of deepening self-discovery and to facilitate greater understanding and connection between people.

We have another list that might also be of interest to you: a list of feelings.

I have had a hard time keeping up on the posts about A Season for Nonviolence.  Today is Day 7 of 64 and today’s theme was education.  I have spent a great deal of time over the last several years giving myself and education in peace.   Gandhi made the point to people that the only reason people can read is because we teach them to read.  Peace is much the same.  We need to teach peace.

We spend lots of tax money to train people in the art of war, but what if we spent equal amounts training people in the art of peace?  What would happen?   What if we trained our kids in the art of peace and conflict resolution when they are young?  Would we still be trying to save them from the grips of gangs, violence and drugs?

Educate people in the art of peace!

Here is some video from the Dallas Peace Center:

Well I missed Day 5 here on the blog, but I did managed to practice it on my own.  I apologize I was unable to share it with you all, but my site has been up and down for the past day or so. 

Today is Day 6 of 64 in a Season for Nonviolence.  Today, I will practice smiling.  Nobel Peace Prize nominee, Thich Nhat Hahn reminds us that smiling can be the result of great joy or it can be the cause of great joy.   So today, I am going to smile at everyone I see, meet or speak with today.  I ask you all to do the same.

What will you do for peace?

Day 4 of 64:  Today I want to focus on taking better care of myself.   We as a society project more violence on ourselves in a days time than a stranger could ever do to us.  We call ourselves stupid, ugly, tell others “I am not that bright”.   We deny ourselves pleasures and successes because we feel we are not worthy of them.   Today, I will focus on the conversation that happens in my head, with me.  I vow not to call myself names when I do things that don’t meet my needs.

Remember, if we don’t have love for ourselves, how can we love others honestly?

Here is today’s thoughts from the Dallas Peace Center:

In the Season of Nonviolence each day, people are ask to help promote nonviolence and peace.

The idea is 64 ways in 64-days to create peace.

Day 3 of 64:  Today, I will make every effort to stop for a moment before saying anything to anyone and asking myself what this person needs from me.   Along with that, I am going to ask myself if I can help them meet that need and if I can, I will.  I want to appreciate people’s needs.

 What will you do for peace in these 64-days?

The Dallas Peace Center has posted this video for today’s theme “Appreciation”

In the Season of Nonviolence each day, people are ask to help promote nonviolence and peace. The idea is 64 ways in 64-days to create peace.To celebrate this event, I would ask fellow bloggers, both pro-gay and anti-gay to mark each day of the 64-days by stepping out of the box and posting one idea of how to create peace, especially with our adversaries in the gay/anti-gay conflict.

Day 2 of 64:  Today, I have really been busy and my patience was tested by way of interuption city all day.   So, today I am practicing my patience.  I vow that today, I will empathize and be patient with others.

 What will you do for peace in these 64-days?

Today marks the anniversary of the assassination of Mohandas Gandhi and with it the start of 64-days fittingly called a “Season for Nonviolence“. April 4th marks the death of Martin Luther King, Jr. In the Season of Nonviolence each day, people are ask to help promote nonviolence and peace. The idea is 64 ways in 64-days to create peace.

To celebrate this event, I would ask fellow bloggers, both pro-gay and anti-gay to mark each day of the 64-days by stepping out of the box and posting one idea of how to create peace, especially with our adversaries in the gay/anti-gay conflict.

Day 1 of 64: I suggest that I will walk in the shoes of a pro-traditional family advocate for one day to understand and empathize with their views.
What will you do for peace in these 64-days?