peace practices

In this episode, Otilia interviews Jonathan Fisher, a founding member of the Sadvidya Foundation, which works to preserve ancient Eastern teachings of yogic philosophy. These teachings aim to promote peace and inner happiness for all humanity. Guided by dedicated practitioners, the foundation offers programs, publications and retreats to bring this ancient belief system to the modern world. In discussion with Otilia, Jonathan discusses his personal views and some central tenets of the yogic philosophy that he teaches. Along the way, his reflections raise some interesting questions about what drives conflict amongst humans, and  what peace and peace-building look like through a yogic lens.

The episode begins with Jonathan discussing the concepts of love, care, and peace from the perspective of yogic philosophy. He reflects on the pursuit of happiness as something which can both foster peace and bring about conflict. He stresses the importance of seeking happiness without becoming too 'attached' to the things, places or activities that make us happy, since attachment can lead in time to disappointment, frustration, competition with others and conflict. The conversation then focuses on worldly detachment as a practical (not just cerebral) route to peace, from the yogic perspective. Jonathan and Otilia end by discussing the relationship between internal and external peace, and Jonathan emphasises the importance of education within the family as well as in more public settings for laying the foundations for both.

The conversation underscores the value of delving deeper into different belief-systems, philosophies and practices from all around the world, to better understand how peace and conflict have been conceptualised by others, and to explore different approaches to achieving or resisting them. This conversation offers just a brief flavour of the rich insights that yogic philosophy can offer into how we visualise peace and reduce conflict, both personally and geopolitically, and we are grateful to Jonathan for sharing his personal views and pointing us in some interesting new directions. As the Visualising Peace team continues to research care, self-care, inner peace and their impact on interpersonal, intergroup and international peace-building efforts, we will dig into some of the questions which Jonathan's reflections raise and expand our scope to research a range of belief systems.

We hope you find Otilia and Jonathan's conversation interesting. For more information about the University of St Andrews’ Visualising Peace project, please visit our website. For a version of our podcast with close captions, please use this link.

Music composed by Jonathan Young 

Sound mixing by Zofia Guertin 

Exercising Love Muscles for Deeper Loving Relationships goes in stages. 

First Stage of Exercising Love Muscles

Pick something to love and grow deeper in love with on this adventure.

The first thing we are going to do is just imagine that one thing you are falling deeper in love with, simply hold it in your imagination. Secondly, you already know the reasons why you love this thing. As you hold it in your imagination you are going to slow things down. Lastly, just savor the reason or reasons why you love this thing in your mind.

If thoughts of fear come up or if thoughts that are not loving thoughts come up, simply say - you are not invited to this party. You can go away now. Simply refocus your mind back to all of the loving thoughts you have about this one thing. Hold those thoughts in your mind. It can be just one thought or many. Hold it there.

Being in flow is an important love muscle to use on a regular basis. It produces happiness even when we are doing a task that we may not like or enjoy. Being in flow is a mechanism that brings us more joy and happiness. And like I said, joy is in the journey and joy is a pathway to love.

Here’s a simple truth I want to share with you about creating deeper loving relationships. Whatever your person, place, or thing is, you have a relationship to it. That relationship begins with the thoughts in your head. 

Second Stage of Exercising Love Muscles

This time around, choose yourself as the subject of love building.

Let me review the simple steps of the exercise.

First, you pick something you want to have a deeper loving relationship with. That can be a person, place, or thing.

Then, you slow things down and imagine the love you already have for that thing.

In slow mode, you make sure you have a solid focus on the love you have without any fear or anti-love thoughts.

Once you have a flow of love going into the image of your relationship to that thing you want to love deeper, you begin to speed up the flow of love.

Third Stage of Exercising Love Muscles

The final exercise is done by choosing a person, place, or thing that you do not like.

The first P of the 3Ps that an Everyday Heroine practices is a peace for a reason.  An Everyday Heroine realizes that when she is not practicing peace, she is practicing hate.

Imagine a person, place, or thing that you don’t like, imagine one nice thing that you could say about that thing, slow it down to make sure you filter out any negative thoughts - simply ask the negative thoughts to leave this party. Continue pumping something nice into that thing. Keep it slow and steady until you feel some genuine niceness towards this thing. Recognize that you are generating love with even the slightest amount of niceness. You are a love factory.

That is how you exercise love muscles for deeper loving relationships.

Now there is a fun quiz to help with self-discovery.

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Enjoy your adventures and journey responsibly!

Today we have Cheryl Haley as a guest on the show. 

Hey, Cheryl!

You have been invited to the show because you are an Everyday Heroine, I know you personally and I like to call you ‘Fun Cheryl’ because you can turn an ordinary event into the most extraordinary fun a group of friends can have! You bring a sense of extra fun to everything you do, from the way you wrap a gift, and then to the extra thoughtfulness in the gift itself, all the way to the extra joy the gift continues to bring well after it is presented. You are that thoughtful. 

Plus, you inspire others through the everyday things you do especially when you make your family life extraordinary through big and little adventures. You go over the top by preparing adventures with extra fun things way before they begin, and then you bring the fun during and after your adventures as well.

Cheryl cautions us about the do’s and don’t of going to an interview. She also gives us advice on how to be persistent and follow your dreams for a career regardless of what anyone tells you to do. Her courageous story of wanting to be a flight attendant turns into a prosperous career as a travel agent.

Cheryl and I discuss her seven characteristics of an Everyday Heroine:

1. Cheryl’s favorite superheroine is Wonder Woman
2. Goes against the status-quo to make the world a better place – always try to do what is right
3. Answers her call to greatness with her skills or talents – travel and helping people travel
4. Works toward self-mastery 10,000 hours in the same domain – travel skill 
5. Has the freedom to explore her passion & purpose in a way that inspires women’s leadership - freedom to explore the world in general
6. Must earn notable accomplishments/achievements – raising two children, sticking with a career for 33 years
7. Shows evidence of transformation – she’s come a long way from the girl who had her first interview with a soiled blouse, all the vacations that she has booked over the years has produced lots of great memories

Cheryl has a morning peace practice of sitting with coffee, reading and walking.

She is currently reading Boundary Boss by Terri Cole, The Ultimate Retirement Guide for 50+ by Suze Orman, and Eyewitness travel guides. 

Find Cheryl on the web at http://cherylsvacationclub.com/

Or on her social media channels at https://www.facebook.com/Cherylsvacationclub

https://www.instagram.com/cherylsvacationclub/

Or book an appointment with Cheryl to talk about travel. 

For life coaching with Maria Kauffman check out our products and services here.

To schedule an empowerment session with Maria, go here!

For now, enjoy your adventures and journey responsibly!

This episode highlights the playbook part of the 3Ps. Playing the game of life is easier than you think. The outline for the playbook begins to take shape right here and now. Gain a different perspective on how you may want to go about playing the game of life. This offers women the opportunity to see many different paths for success, joy, and fulfillment in life and in your career. Be sure to stay positive with this playful and light-hearted approach.

Let’s get into the playbook!

Here's how I’m going to do it.

The Official Rules for playing Major League Baseball offers a baseline starting point. This feels like the perfect place to start. Starting here has not been a disappointment yet.

The outline creates a clear intention that these are not rules for anything. It begins to form a Women’s Empowerment Playbook. Consider this a guide for Playing the Game of Life.  

Let’s get into the outline!

1. The Objective of the Game – this will remain straight from Major League Baseball.
2. The Playing Field – not only will remain, but this looks like what I would call potential for fun! A baseball diamond turns into the playground of our dreams. An exercise in creativity seems necessary to draw a new field of play.
3. Equipment and Uniforms – modify this to include Skills, Talents, and the Essence of being a Woman. 
4. Game Preliminaries – this is modified or adapted for an upgrade to – Connection, Inspiration, and Support.
5. Playing the Game – this remains because that is the point. We play the game, like it or not. Pick your attitude for play on a playground or a battlefield. You choose in each and every moment.
6. Improper play, Illegal action, and misconduct – I’m pretty sure this is perfect and a must-have for any women’s empowerment guide for playing the game of life. 
7. Ending the Game - modify to be playing off the playing field. The game does not end. Special conditions address situations that are special. Don’t worry I have ideas for where we need to go with this!

For now, that’s what we are looking at as our outline for the playbook. The official rules for MLB is a 188-page document. The playbook is going to be a body of knowledge in the making. Practice patience in sending feedback. We look forward to receiving it.

The last P completes the trifecta. Progress keeps us looking forward to the next episode.

Progress – if there is no progress there is probably no point. We will tackle progress in future episodes.

For now, enjoy your adventures and journey responsibly!

The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van Der Kolk

The Good Place series with Kristen Bell and Jameela Jamil

The movie 'This Changes Everything' from the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media

Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

For life coaching with Maria Kauffman check out our products and services here.

To schedule an empowerment session with Maria, go here!

For now, enjoy your adventures and journey responsibly!