My #1 Idea for America and the world is . . .

Peace.

No surprise there, right?

Then I got the email you see below, and I got to take action on my desire.

Vote for Peace at Change.org and Help Spread the Word

The website http://www.change.org/ is holding an online event through Jan 15, 2009 calling for the "Top 10 Ideas for America," which they will present to the Obama Administration on Inauguration Day. Change.org says, "We will then build a national campaign to advance each idea in Congress, marshaling the resources of Change.org, MySpace, and our dozens of partner organizations and millions of combined members." Imagine our campaign with expanded support like that!

The idea to "Appoint Secretary of Peace in Department of Peace and Nonviolence" is currently in FIRST PLACE in the category "Other" and second place overall. We need your help to keep it there all the way through January 15. Visit the site today and vote for peace, then use their "Email a Friend" link to spread the word.

Peace is the only umbrella I’ve ever found that encompasses the desires of all beings in all the world. Really.

Won’t you join me in the vote for peace?

Happy, peaceful 2009.

P. S. This is my last post on Blogger: I thank the team and I wish you all well. Starting 1/1/09, Seeds for Sanctuary will be posted only on Wordpress with the same URL. Thanks, Blogger!

The Overrated Mind

I’m a thinker—I admit it. I think, not because I am, but because I like to think. Thought fascinates me. Mine and that of others.

Since I turned 50 though, my thought has been systematically heading south. What do I mean by that? I’m learning to think with my heart. I think it’s a natural aspect of getting older. Consider this:

As we age, life tends to become simpler, more clear. We know what we want and we know what we’re willing to do to get it. Many years ago, I decided that the Prime Directive of my life would be Peace. This means that I measure every choice I make by this question: Does this (whatever this is) contribute to or diminish Peace? It makes my choices simple.

We all need a Prime Directive. It doesn’t really matter what it is. I have a client whose primary value (same as Prime Directive) is Love. He measures every choice as to whether it’s loving or not. A friend of mine uses Compassion as his standard. I know someone who is all fired up for Justice; another who values Freedom above all.

Do you see a pattern here? I sure do. All of these primary value notions are intangibles. If you think about it, they almost have to be in order to be big enough to encompass any circumstance. These sorts of ideas are umbrellas.

The thing is, one’s Prime Directive isn’t available in the mind. It’s not something we can decide upon and implement like a goal or a strategy. Nope, a Prime Directive has to come from the heart. Has to. Because that’s where individual prime directives live.

I laughed this week at a Google quote from Joss Whedon (the creator of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer) and friends, “It’s not enough to bash in heads. You’ve got to bash in minds.” Well, maybe not bash. That definitely doesn’t contribute to peace.

But we do have to question our minds. The mind is a wholly overrated commodity in our logic-addicted civilization. And, if you think about, you probably can’t even say where the mind is. The brain? Sure, we all know that brains live in our skulls. But minds? Where do they live?

Here’s a secret: the best aspects of our minds live in our hearts. That’s why my thinking has gone south. When I feel peace in my heart, I know I’m making the right choices. When I don’t, I know I’m stuck in that elusive mind-space that wants results based on intellect. Intellectual results get caught in polarity, and don’t give me a peaceful heart.

Try an experiment with me. Spend a whole day thinking with your heart. The process is: have your thought, then check in with your heart. Does that particular thought support the ideals that you hold most dear? If so, good. If not, think again.

Must-See Video!

Dear Friends,

I don't usually cross-pollinate my blogs. I write solely about Peace for Ode Magazine's Readers' Blog, but this video has moved me so much that I want you all to see it. It offers a genuinely simple action we can all take to help create peace on this lovely little orb we call home.

Be peace,

Susan Corso

http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/229



P.S. I did my best to embed it, and after an hour of foiled attempts, gave in to just posting the URL. Sorry! I will get more techno-proficient, I will!

Ten Ways to Bring Peace to the World

Many of you know that I am a Charter Member of the Ode Magazine Readers Blog. My blog posts on Ode are always about peace since peace is my mission here on earth.

You can find them all here: http://www.odemagazine.com/people/Susan%20Corso/blogs

Please visit them and post your comments!

I was delighted to see Beliefnet.com get on the peace bandwagon. Check out

10 Ways to Bring Peace to the World

http://www.beliefnet.com/gallery/10waystobringpeacetotheworld.html?pgIndex=0

—and then put them into action!

Peace is a terrific theory; it’s a better choice, a choice that leads to making peace one moment, one situation, one conversation, one experience, one person at a time.

Acts of Peace

Dear Readers, this is a special post. Some of you know that I am a charter member of the Ode Magazine Readers Blog. This is the post that will run on Ode tomorrow. If you're a blogger, dash one off for Kindness, will you please? Susan

Acts of Peace

Sometimes just thinking about world peace is enough to make me want to take a nap. It’s such a big job and, I know this is an illusion, but sometimes I feel like I’m carrying the ball all by myself. Anyone else feel that way?

Enter Blog Catalog on my Sunday morning email telling me that there’s a movement in the blogosphere called Bloggers Unite: blogging for hope. http://unite.blogcatalog.com/ Its purpose is to use the sheer numbers of the blogging world for good works. The latest date we are invited to join together is today, December 17th, 2007 to do some Act of Kindness and write about it. All of us, on the same day.

What, I asked myself and the universe, might be a good work, an act of kindness, an act of peace?

What I heard might surprise you. It did me:

Take that nap you want.

Naps for peace?

Not really, just do the things you do with peace in mind.

My teacup, really more a bowl, sits to my left right now, even as I type. I have a cup of Earl Grey tea every morning liberally laced with hazelnut cream. It’s divine. I don’t know exactly how many sips I get out of each bowl, but I’d bet at least fifty.

What if, with every sip, I held a thought for peace?

May peace prevail on earth.
May there be peace in the Middle East.
May there be peace between my fighting next door neighbors.
May there be peace in the middle school down the street.
May there be peace in City Hall at the top of the hill.
May my brother, David, find peace in his soul.
May my mother be at peace wherever her soul took her when she died.
May I be at peace within my body.
May my sweetheart be at peace within her job.
May all financial need be met everywhere with supply.

That’s ten. 20% of my tea sips.

Thoughts, dear one, specifically your thoughts are actions. Dedicate your thoughts to whatever you choose. I’ll do peace seven days a week. Just like I do tea seven days a week. Do the math: 50 x 7 = 350 thoughts per week x 52 weeks = 18,200 thoughts per year radiating from me alone, and that only during tea time!

Think of what we could do if every time we swallowed, or chewed, or exhaled, or inhaled, or scratched, or smiled, or stepped or whatever, we added a thought for peace! I propose an act of kindness, an act of peace for every one of the over six billion souls with whom we share this planet. Take one activity in your day—one you do every day—and tilt your thoughts peace-ward during that activity.

I googled world population just now: 6,602,224,175 (July 2007 estimated)

18,200 thoughts per year x 6,602,224,175 = Plenty to create peace in our world. (And more than my puny calculator could handle!)

To quote the latest Citibank ads: “Let’s get it done.”

Chants for Peace

The words of urban shaman Donna Henes inspire this post. She staged a 911 Emergency Call for Peace vigil on 9/11/07. It was raining. The dedicated souls were few. She called it “optimism in action.” Her report included these words:

CHANTS FOR PEACE * CHANCE FOR PEACE

I’ll let Donna tell you the rest:

“Though we had gathered to mourn the tragic death of nearly 3000 people, it is important for us to celebrate the 57,000 miracles that occurred on September 11. 60,000 people worked in those buildings. 57,000 of them were saved.

If we dwell on the loss, it perpetuates an atmosphere of fear, anger and revenge. An eye for an eye until the whole world is blind. An exercise in futility.

If we concentrate on miracles, we see that anything can happen. Anything at all. Even peace.”

I’m with Mama Donna. Anything can happen. Her report closed with:

"There IS a chance for peace. And we are that chance!”

We are that chance, and I’m so grateful that Donna stands with me for peace.

For your further enlightenment, please read Donna’s magical book, The Queen of Myself, available from Amazon.com or through her website, http://www.thequeenofmyself.com/

Eating for Peace

I was something of a picky eater when I was a kid. I didn’t like fish. I could skip most vegetables. If it was red and sticky, it looked like a good drink to me. You get the picture. America, and American food. The kind kids like me grew up with in the 1960’s.

As I’ve gotten older, my food preferences have expanded and contracted. I used to drink one diet soft drink a day. It’s been years since I could stand the taste of the chemicals. I was a true believer in “the pink stuff.” A friend talked me out of artificial sweetners in a hotel in Atlantic City. I love fish, and most vegetables. Again, you get the picture.

The last page of Ode Magazine grabbed me with its headline a couple of months ago. It read:

“Healthy food is the recipe for peace.”

What?!

It turns out that Bernard Gesch, who is director of Natural Justice, a British research institute that studies the causes of anti-social behavior did an experiment in a British prison. They divided 231 prisoners into two groups. For 18 months, one group was given supplements and the other was given a placebo.

Those that were given the supplements committed at least 26% fewer offenses and 37% fewer violent assaults than the placebo group.

Dr. Gesch says of the study, “Research suggests that nutrition is a cheap, humane and highly effective way to reduce anti-social behavior. It could be the recipe for peace.”

I know you’re not surprised. It’s all connected. The whole world and all that’s in it. What we eat matters to peace. Of course.

A Dangerous Business

Yesterday’s Google Quote-of-the-Day was, “It’s a dangerous business going out your front door.” These are the words of the venerable J.R.R. Tolkien.

It is, you know. A dangerous business, I mean. Waking, dressing, breaking one’s fast, going out the front door and facing God/dess only knows what. It’s the truth. We never really know what we’re going to face when we walk out that front door.

That’s why it’s important to know what you believe about the nature of the universe and its inhabitants. Albert Einstein said that the seminal question of his time was:

Is the universe a friendly place or not?

Is yours? Mine is. Why? Because I’m friendly. When I’m feeling unfriendly, then the universe is an unfriendly place. Diarist Anais Nin comes to mind,

“We don’t see things as they are, we see things as we are.”

This is not, dear one, a form of metaphysical malpractice. I’m not blaming you for whatever you experience. What I’m doing is telling you why I believe you experience whatever you experience. The blame thing we all do well enough on our own without anyone’s help.

There a small thing that helps me walk out that front door whenever I don’t really feel like it. It’s a spiritual practice. I breathe in the word Peace. Then I breathe out the same word. I do it three times.

What this does for me is that I remember what my purpose is.

I am here to be peaceful,
to bring peace to all others,
and to support the cause of peace in the world.

Remember that cartoon character from the 60’s, Cool McCool? One thing he used to say was, “Dangerrrrr . . . is my business.” That’s how I think about peace. Peace is dangerous—dangerous in the sense of unknown, full of possibility, tinglingly alive. I’m no Cool McCool, but a paraphrase of his famous quote sets up every day perfectly for me, “Peace . . . is my business.”

What’s yours?

Tragedy . . . What Can I Do?

I almost never watch the news, mostly because I spend enough of my day on a computer, and I get the news that way. The day before yesterday, however, I turned on CNN to find out what had happened in Blacksburg, Virginia.

What a tragedy. For everyone.

As is my habit, whenever I do watch the news, I found myself praying. Praying for the situation, the sadness of it, the madness of it, the senselessness of it, the uselessness of it. For those who died, for those who survived, for those who were wounded, for those who knew them, for those who don’t, for all of us.

Then something happened which stopped me cold. I realized, right in the middle of my heartfelt prayers, that I was hopping mad. Mad mad. Angry. P.O.ed. Ticked. Furious. Kicking-something outraged.

The commentators were doing their best, I realize, to sound sympathetic and compassionate, and to be gentle with those who were on the scene. It took a little bit, but I finally realized what was making me mad. I quote: the worst shooting in the history of the United States. Really?

{Even though I’m going to let my temper rise here, you don’t have to go with me. Just witness it!}

Really? I asked. Really—not, I answered. How’s about we consider the Civil War? Or the casualties of either World War? Vietnam? Or, consider this . . . Iraq? The worst shooting in the history of the United States? I don’t think so.

Oh, maybe they meant unrelated to war. Random shooting. I’m sure the Pennsylvania Amish who were so loving with the family of the man who killed their children and himself could think that theirs was the worst. And don’t even get me started on 9/11. (Yes, I know, not shooting per se.)

Anyway, I have to admit it took me quite a while to get a handle on my anger and calm down. Here’s what I came to for myself:

Every shooting, any shooting, is the worst shooting—always.

It doesn’t matter who is involved—it could have been any one of us, anywhere.

For me, shooting is never the solution—never, ever.

So now there will be various sightings and spoutings of various anti-gun politicians about how our country needs to regulate gun ownership more. There will be various holier-than-thou fingers pointed at those who were in charge calling for what they should have done and didn’t, or what they did do and shouldn’t have. There will be families and friends who go through the painful experience of mourning possible futures they won’t get to have with their now-dead loved ones. And the media feeding frenzy will continue.

To what purpose?

There is a purpose in events like these, you know, whether we like it or not. I believe that there is a purpose in every single thing that happens. EVERY single thing. No exceptions. What could the purpose be in these killings?

I think this happened so that we who remain will look closely at violence in this country. I mean, really closely. At what violence is. At how violence happens. At possibilities for learning from violence. At ways to deal with violence. Real, genuine interface with violence and its fallout.

I got an email this morning from The Peace Alliance for a U. S. Department of Peace. A group of well-meaning citizens have created this campaign to establish a Department of Peace as part of the regular cabinet of the President of the United States.

In the email, they addressed the issue of how we as a country handle violence (part of the Campaign is consideration of non-violence as a viable method for resolving conflicts). A Department of Peace would at the very least give our country a place to take a tragedy like this one for resolution.

If you’re interested in knowing more about the Department of Peace Campaign, go to this address: http://www.thepeacealliance.org/.

And as for Blacksburg, oh dear one, pray. Pray for them. Actually, pray for us all. Here’s a mantra to get you started:

Peace, Sweet Peace.
Peace, Sweet Peace.
Peace, Sweet Peace.

I’m saying it, praying it, and crying, right along with you.

P.S. I watched turned on MSNBC last night, after I'd written this, and Keith Olbermann, bless his heart, is asking a similar question to mine. To paraphrase: We are horrified and outraged at the senseless deaths of 32 young people in Blacksburg, Virginia yesterday and somehow we are not as horrified nor as outraged at the same number of deaths of similar young Americans in Iraq in the past 10 days. Why?

The Facts of Life . . . Temporary

Here’s an answer to a question I received recently. . . .

When so much of the world news is sad (the Earth is dying, the bees are dying, soldiers are dying) how do we prevent ourselves from being overwhelmed by it so that we can act?

Oh yes, the facts of life. If you thought I was going to write about the birds and the bees, think again. (Although I could . . .)

Anyway, Facts—with a capital F. Earth dying. Bees dying. Soldiers dying. The facts seem compelling, don’t they? Look anywhere you like, and there are troubles to be seen. Instant news magnifies our difficulties. In fact, sometimes the news is just one big ouch. What to do?

When I’m feeling overwhelmed by bad news—whether it’s of a personal nature (from my own life) or a public nature (the life of the world)—I get still. I stop the merry-go-round of informative facts and input, and I go within myself.

Within myself and within each self, there is a haven—a sanctuary—from the maelstrom. It is never full, never closed, never unavailable. Better put, it is always spacious, always open, always available. 24/7/365.

The Spirit within each human is a spirit of divine peace. Divine peace is what lives in that haven. It sounds good, doesn’t it? I believe that peace is the universal desire of all beings at their deepest, innermost cores. Whether we know it or not.

The Hebrew word for peace is shalom. The best definition I ever heard came from a rabbi whose name I have long forgotten. He said, “Shalom is all that is wondrous in life.” Can I see the wondrous in bees dying or soldiers dying? Or, in dying at all? Some days it’s harder than others.

Think of the many things you see, hear, read on a given day. They’re all billed as fact, indisputable fact. But think! Most of the “facts” have to do with motion, action, change. Facts change. Constantly.

This is why stillness is part of remembering that divine peace lives within us. Stillness must come first, and then a reminder of the peace within.

Breathe out the word peace. Then, breathe it in. Remember that peace is available.

Let that peace rise up within you, and then, give it out to whatever is concerning you. Send peace to the birds. Send peace to the earth. Send peace to each soldier.

Dear one, after all the facts have changed and changed and changed again, the peace that you are will remain. In that quiet, inner sanctuary of peace, once I feel it for myself, then, and only then, do I ask what action I am to take. When I come from peace, my actions promote peace, and that is why it is my fundamental choice above all others.

I am a big fan of songwriter John Bucchino. On his lovely album, Grateful, Lois Sage sings a magical song called "Temporary." Let the facts go on willy-nilly, changing all the time—they’re temporary—and foster peace first within yourself and then within the world.

P.S. I love this planet! I wrote this entry for my blog on Sunday night. This morning I was reading the March/April 2007 issue of Spirituality & Health magazine. Thomas Moore writes a column for them. This one is entitled, “Soul & Science.” In it he uses the phrase, “a slave to facts.” No mistakes!