2021

Mindful Peacebuilding Community Via Zoom

meditation, deep listening, sharing from the heart

for healing, community, and skill-building in these times

send email to request Zoom Link to:

mindfulpeacebuilding@gmail.com

Silence was meaningful with the Lakota, and their granting a space of silence to the speech-makers and their own moment of silence before talking was done in the practice of true politeness, listening, and regard for the rule, "thought comes before speech." Conversation was never begun at once, nor in a hurried manner. No one was quick with a question, no matter how important, and no one was pressed for an answer. A pause giving time for thought was the truly courteous way of beginning and conducting a conversation. --Luther Standing Bear

Listening Circles: Offerings and Links

For Meditations, Quotes, Songs, Stories

from the Listening Circles, Click: Resources

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ONGOING

Racial Equity Practice

Engaging Current Challenges

Healing Ourselves, Healing Our Ancestors

San Quentin State Penitentiary

OrigamiClasses, Re-Entry Support

Annual Day Of Peace Support

Caring for The Earth

Addressing the Challenge of Climate Change

Mindfulness Practice

at Mariposa Institute, Ukiah, CA

Co-Hosted with SugarPlum Sangha

Mindful Peacebuilding

Through Music and Other Arts

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GIFT ECONOMICS

FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTIONS ARE WELCOME

DONATE to Mindful Peacebuilding on this website or mail a check to MPB, PO Box 5612, Elmwood Station, Berkeley CA 94705. All donations are welcome, and tax-deductible.

MPB is a volunteer organization/community.

Contributions support programs .

• Mindful Prison Action: Support at San Quentin Penitentiary includes weekly origami classes, Annual Day of Peace, Post-Release Emergency Fund
• Healing Historical Harm 1) Classes and book and discussion groups focused on white awareness of privilege and power 2) Roots Retreats 3) Inclusivity Library for Children and Adults 4) Multicultural Skillbuilding 4) Community Resilience Model for Transforming Collective Trauma
• Earth Awareness and Protection: Addressing Climate Change
• Creative Arts  - Poetry, Music and other creative arts
• Community Service/Public Presence/Action Alerts
• Listening Circles, Mindful Holiday Gatherings, Mindfulness Retreats

RESOURCES

Nov 7 Listening Circle

UPCOMING

Nov 14—Training with Kazu Haga and East Point Peace Academy

Register through East Bay Meditation Center

ORGANIZATION----www.braverangels.org

Dialogue across political differences

BOOKS AND POEMS

Prayer: Howard Thurman—Prayer for a Friendly World

Book: Ibram X Kendi--Stamped from the Beginning

Poems: Mary Oliver

—The Journey

—The Uses of Sorrow

Gatha(Practice Poem)--Thich Nhat Hanh

"Waking up this morning, I smile

24 brand new hours are before me

I vow to live fully in each moment

And to look at all beings

with eyes of compassion

VIDEOS

Nimo Patel (Empty Hands)

“We Shall Overcome”

John Legend —Glory

Van Jones— CNN clip

Ray Charles singing “America”—john mccain/baseball…

VIDEO RECOMMENDED—

Andrew

https://www.nsclimateaction.org/film-screening-the-condor-and-the-eagle

“The Condor and The Eagle”

Thursday November 19, 2020

4:30pm – 7pm

~ THIS INSPIRING FILM OFFERS HOPE IN THESE UNCERTAIN TIMES AND REMINDS US OF OUR DEEP INTERCONNECTEDNESS WITH THE EARTH AND ONE ANOTHER!

The 70 min film will start at 4:30pm Pacific Time. Immediately following the film there will be a special panel discussion (~ 6pm) featuring the film protagonists Casey Camp-Horinek and Patricia Gualinga as well as Hereditary Chief Phil Lane Jr. who will be the panel moderator for the discussion, and Francisco Morales who is an Indigenous member of the Aymara community in Argentina and United Religions Initiative trustee. North State Climate Action (NSCA), one of numerous sponsoring organizations, is thrilled to have Jonathon Freeman, Founder and Director of Native Roots Network (NRN), a nexus of traditional wisdom, cultural innovation and cross-cultural education to advance Native OR another NRN representative joining the discussion.

For more information and to register for this exciting event please

visit:

https://www.nsclimateaction.org/film-screening-the-condor-and-the-eagle

Cost: Free Will Donation

Questions? Email us at action@nsclimateaction.org

Please Share on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/3989900984373325

OCT 24, 2020 LISTENING CIRCLE

Video: Grateful

One Power video--offered by Enid

https://youtu.be/EdiNntv7WF8

Video: Wonderful World--Louis Armstrong

With images--offered by Shabana

https://youtu.be/DRONFXoXsJ0

On Being.org

tracy k smith reading

poem—unrest in baton rouge

--offered by Annie

https://onbeing.org/programs/tracy-k-smith-love-is-a-language-few-practice-but-all-or-near-all-speak-nov2018/

MEDITATIONS AND PRAYERS

Meditations for Opening the Heart-Mind:

Four Elements of Love—kindness, joy, compassion, equanimity

Compassion Meditation

adapted from Mindful of Race, by Ruth King., p 159

Become aware of the in-breath, the out-breath

Notice and send a greeting to parts of the body:

toes, knees, hip-bones, heart, lungs, kidneys,

reproductive system, digestive system,

the spine, the collar bones,

the eyes, ears, tongue, teeth, jawbones,

throat, energy center between the eyes

energy center at the top of the head

Now bring awareness to the inner children of different ages,

and offer them the following words of compassion and kindness.

Continue in widening circles of awareness

to near and dear ones, and those not known...

I am here. I am here for you.

I care about you.

I care about your joy.

I care about your suffering.

I am holding your pain and sorrow with compassion

May you be soothed, may you be healed.

May your fears dissolve.

I’m sorry you have been harmed, ignored, and dismissed.

I will stay with you. I will breathe with you.

I may not know how to support you in the best way,

but it is my wish to do so.

I am here. I am here for you.

I care about you.

I care about your joy.

I care about your suffering.

I am holding your pain and sorrow with compassion

Equanimity Meditation

adapted from Mindful of Race, by Ruth King., p 249

May I see the world with quiet eyes.

May I offer my care without hesitation,

knowing I may be met with gratitude, anger,

or resistance.

May I find the inner resources

to genuinely contribute where needed.

May I contribute where needed

without attachment to outcome.

May I remain peaceful within.

I care about the pain of others,

yet I know I cannot control it.

May I offer care,

knowing I don’t control the course of life,

suffering, or death.

I wish all beings contentment,

but I cannot make their choices for them

I care for all beings,

and I realize my way is not the only way.

All beings have their own journey,

and I have mine.

May I offer my support,

knowing that what I offer

may be of great benefit,

some benefit, or even no benefit.

May I bear witness to things just as they are.

May I offer my prayer without conditions,

knowing I may be met with appreciation,

resentment, and resistance.

From: Awakening Joy: Ten Steps to Happiness

by James Baraz

Step 1- Inclining the Mind Toward Joy

Step 2- Mindfulness: Being Present for Your Life

Step 3- Grateful Heart, Joyful Heart

Step 4- Finding Joy in Difficult times

Step 5- The Bliss of Blamelessness

Step 6—The Joy of Letting Go

Step 7—The Sweetness of Loving Ourselves

Step 8—The Joy of Loving Others

Step 9—Compassion: The Natural Expression of a Joyful Heaert

Step 10—The Joy of Simply Being

Prayer for Healing

M’She-beirach—Debby Friedman

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HX5TWsfykSs&list=RDpHKo3CjuzpY&index=2

Mi shebeirach avoteinu

M’kor hab’racha l’imoteinu

May the source of strength

Who blessed the ones before us,

Help us find the courage

to make our lives a blessing

And let us say,

Amen

Mi shebeirach imoteinu

M’kor habrachah l’avoteinu

Bless those in need of healing

with r’fuah sh’leimah

The renewal of body

the renewal of spirit

And let us say,

Amen

Meditation: GRACE

adapted from Joan Halifax, Standing At the Edge:

Finding Freedom Where Fear and Courage Meet, p 241-242

Gather attention

Recall Intention

Attune to Self and Other

Consider What Will Serve

Engage and End

Mother's Day Proclamation--Boston, 1870

Written by abolitionist Julia Ward Howe

--

https://peacealliance.org/history-of-mothers-day-as-a-day-of-peace-julia-ward-howe/

“Arise, then… women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts,
whether our baptism be that of water or of tears!
Say firmly:
We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies.
Our husbands shall not come to us, reeking with carnage,
for caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, women of one country, will be too tender of those of another country
to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.

From the bosom of the devastated earth a voice goes up with our own.
It says: Disarm, Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice.
Blood does not wipe out dishonor,
nor violence vindicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil
at the summons of war,
let women now leave all that may be left of home
for a great and earnest day of council.

Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them then solemnly take council with each other as to the means
whereby the great human family can live in peace,
each bearing after his own kind the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
but of God.

In the name of womanhood and of humanity, I earnestly ask
that a general congress of women, without limit of nationality,
may be appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient,
and at the earliest period consistent with its objects,
to promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
the amicable settlement of international questions,
the great and general interests of peace.“

On Compassion For Animals and Compassionate Eating

https://youtu.be/GDMwYC9qZ-w

https://youtu.be/78qgek8GJ9k

Thich Nhat Hanh

from: The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching

"If while we eat, we destroy living beings or the environment, we are eating the flesh of our own sons and daughters. We need to look deeply together and discuss how to eat, what to eat and what to resist. If we are mindful, we will know whether we are ‘ingesting’ the toxins of fear, hatred and violence, or eating foods that encourage understanding, compassion, and the determination to help others."

Meditation on Mindful Consumption

Touching the Earth

I touch the earth three times to nourish my awareness of the suffering of all species in the world and to help me to nourish my compassion.

I have made the vow to be vegetarian and I feel happy and peaceful because of this. I know that vegetarian food can taste good and be wholesome at the same time... There are many people who are vegetarian because they are aware that to be vegetarian is beneficial for spiritual, physical and mental health. There are also people who are vegetarian because they want to nourish their compassion.

I am happy when I see that there are associations that are striving to protect animals by preserving their natural habitats or preventing people from using animals in harmful experiments. . . .

QUOTES (alphabetical by first name)

Audre Lorde

.. .and when we speak we are afraid
our words will not be heard
nor welcomed
but when we are silent
we are still afraid
So it is better to speak . . .

Georgia O'Keefe

Nobody sees a flower--really--it is so small it takes time--we haven't time--

and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time.

Henri Nouwen
We cannot change the world by a new plan, project or idea. We cannot even change other people by our convictions, stories, advice and proposals, but we can offer a space where people are encouraged to disarm themselves, lay aside their occupations and preoccupations, and listen with attention and care to the voices speaking in their own center.

Howard Thurman

Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it.

Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.

A dream is the bearer of a new possibility, the enlarged horizon, the great hope.

 

Luther Standing Bear

Silence was meaningful with the Lakota, and their granting a space of silence to the speech-makers and their own moment of silence before talking was done in the practice of true politeness, listening, and regard for the rule, "thought comes before speech." Conversation was never begun at once, nor in a hurried manner. No one was quick with a question, no matter how important, and no one was pressed for an answer. A pause giving time for thought was the truly courteous way of beginning and conducting a conversation.

Mohandas K. Gandhi

The means may be likened to a seed, the end to a tree;

and there is just the same inviolable connection

between the means and the end

as there is between the seed and the tree.

Robert Kennedy

Johannesburg, South Africa, 1963

Tiny Ripples of Hope
Few have the greatness to bend history itself,

but each of us can work

to change a small portion of the events,

and in the total of these acts

will be written the history of this generation.

It is from numerous diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a [wo]man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the life of others, or strikes out against an injustice, [s]he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope that crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, these ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.

And I believe that in this generation those with the courage to enter the moral conflict will find themselves with companions in every corner of the globe.