As we began our time together I tried to observe and notice my breath and my body as I listened to the stories of others and then heard from Jesse and Jer. What did I hear that made me feel light and hopeful? When did I feel tight and short of breath. What clues does my body give me about what to pay attention to? Where are my aches deepening and my hopes growing?
Jesse’s story, while wildly different than my own on just about every level, hit deep in that the hardest place to change and reconcile might be the internal life. The author Parker Palmer talks about integrity as living an undivided life–our internal self fully reconciled to how we are externally observed by others. (Forgive the lack of proper citation, I’m sitting an airport not a library…) He calls this a healed and whole life.
Jer talked about three commitments of Everyday Peacemakers and the first is to transform the conflict within and around us. So the ache that is deepening for me is to identify, reconcile, and heal the conflicts within myself. Where am I living a divided life and how do I take steps toward peace internally?
3 comments
My dear friend and Palestinian farmer/peacemaker, Daoud Nasser, consistently challenges me to become reconciled to self. He says, “If we are not at peace within, we have no peace to offer.” The attention you’re paying to your body and breath as you consider the reflections being offered are a critical component to this work. Too infrequently do I allow my body and breath offer insight. Let’s press into this practice together.
I deeply resonate with the theme of reconciling within oneself that you named. This also stood out to me from our first session and I am grateful to learn from the way you named this experience!
I resonate with seeking internal peace. Thank you for that reminder. I am curious if you have a self assessment or mindfulness exercise that you use in your professional work?