Archive for August, 2006

08-29-2006

It’s all relative

Saturday, our water heater broke and flooded our basement/office.

It was a crisis situation, trying to get the boxes and computer equipment out of the way so they wouldn’t be damaged.  And it was a big financial expense to have the emergency after-hours plumber and carpet repair person come in…

Of course I was feeling sorry for myself that this crisis had to happen.

Then my mom called me and told me that her best friend’s house had been robbed.  It was completely ransacked.  They turned her bed mattresses over, knocked down dressers, threw stuff all over and took all her fine jewelry and anything else valuable.

“Wow, I guess I shouldn’t be complaining about our water heater,”  I thought.  “That really puts things in perspective.”

It made me really feel empathy for her.  It made my “problem” seem insignificant.

It really put things in perspective.  Then I thought about how many people are without homes and shelter.

It made me realize that I have a lot to be thankful for. 

So instead of looking at the “bad” in the situation–the expense and the emergency.  I was thankful for my husband, our family, and our house and that we got things taken care of.

I realized how abundant we really are. 

It reminded me that it’s important to find the “good” in every situation, and to always find SOMETHING to be thankful for.

Peace,

Lisa

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08-09-2006

Accountability

As I mentioned earlier, I just got back from the Religious Science International conference in Monterrey, CA.  I recieved the Peace Award.

I woke up on Friday morning, knowing I was going to be receiving the peace award at 9 am that day.  It was my big day!  I was also going to be giving a 5 min acceptance speech.

 I got up bright and early.   I went to turn on the shower and the shower part didn’t work.  I could get water out of the lower faucet (for the bath), but when I clicked it to come out of the shower faucet a rubber piece fell off and it wouldn’t work.  Of course, I needed to take a shower and wash my hair to look good for my acceptance speech.

 I called the front desk and told them my shower wasn’t working.  They said maintenence wouldn’t be in until 9am.  I started to get angry, thinking of all the things I wanted to say…

Then I remembered WHY I was showering.  Because I was GETTING THE PEACE AWARD…

So I said, “Okay, I’ll just wash my hair in the tub.”

So I got in the bathtub and washed my hair under the faucet.  Ultimately, it wasn’t the best situation, but I did get my hair washed.

It really made me think about the issue of accountability though.  When you know you are “publicly” receiving a peace award, it makes you “conscious” of how you show up in the world.

I used to give people bumper stickers that said, “I’m a peacemaker.”  Many people claimed they wouldn’t put that bumper sticker on their car, because they didn’t know if they could be accountable for it.

I believe it was Thomas Jefferson who said, “Whatever you do, act as if the whole world is watching.”

As a peace award recipient, I am really conscious of how I show up.  (especially in public, right?).  But what if we all acted like we were recipients of a peace award?

What if we all pretended we were wearing a shirt or a sign on our forehead that said, “I’m a peaceful person”  Would this change our actions?

Anyway, something to think about.

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08-09-2006

Openness

I just got back from receiving the Peace Award at Asilomar.  While I was traveling, I had several interesting experiences which I will share under different headings so that they can be viewed per topic.

While I was in line boarding the plane a mother and her child were in front of me, and the daughter said to me, “I like your necklace.”

I said, “thank you, I like your sunglasses.”  Then she said, “My name is Sara, I’m 8 years old and I’m moving to Texas.”

“Wow, what an adventure,”  I said.  Then she continued to talk to me openly.  Then we boarded the plane.

 I was amazed how open she was with her life.  She didn’t worry about what I thought about what she was saying.  She was friendly.  She didn’t censor what she was saying.

Then I thought, what if we could all be so open in our conversations?  Especially with strangers?

 I know this is something I want to work on…

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