[23 days ’till Daily Peace] One of the most valuable things about my Believing is Seeing e-course is it’s gentle but powerful approach, making the practice of peace more possible to sustain. Laurie is one of the peace students who gave me a powerful gift. The gift of confirmation. Change is possible. Allways. What I teach is based on my own personal experience. I relaxed into a deep personal peace. But more than that, I found a practice that I can turn to again and again when I need comfort and strength. I knew this practice was not specific to me. Sharing it has been a great honor. My peace expands as I witness Laurie transform and others like her. Together we amplify and support more peace to come through. Together we are peace transforming the world.
Maya: Welcome Laurie! You are one of the people who has really taken peace to heart in a lot of different ways in your life. In terms of peace I’m curious how this year has gone for you? What areas do you feel have been affected by your deeper engagement with peace?
Laurie: I feel like all of my life has been affected. The world is a different color when you choose to look at it through new eyes. My experiences have evolved, and my perspective has shifted greatly. Which in turn, has affected my actions and how I connect to people.
I started this year at a place of disillusion and disappointment in myself. Nothing was going well for me and I felt like every day was swimming upstream against a very strong current. I was miserable—but not miserable enough to do anything about it. I had become very comfortable in my misery. I knew I needed to do something to change the direction I was going in, and as I asked the universe for help, this class came to me as the answer. I knew that I needed to find my core peace again.
Maya: I know you were looking for something different, something that could support a sustained transformation. I’m curious if you feel that you are in transformation now and if so what do you imagine your best tools to be?
Laurie: I have tried many different programs and practices over the years. All these prior practices worked for a while, but then I slowly forgot about them and things slid back down to the bottom again. Nothing had a lasting effect on me. I would get very excited to take a new class or begin a new program, and I would participate and do well, until the class or program ended, and then . . . I would lose it. What I really needed was a deeper sense of purpose and a belief that I had something of value to offer.
I do feel a transformation throughout this year, due to the fact that I have continued to work on my peace on a near daily basis. It was very helpful to be able to restart the peace affirmations each month, so that I was reminded to keep going. I also found the journal to be a surprisingly useful tool. I have kept journals all my life and have boxes of them in storage, but what made the peace journal different for me, is that instead of writing down all my thoughts, I learned to draw them. I could bypass my brain and its crafty excuses, and let my hand show me what I needed to say. It was surprisingly powerful and worked on a whole different level. And it was very fun.
I think meditation is also a valuable tool and works in conjunction with peace. I use the “I See Peace” affirmations to begin a meditation and one flows into the other and back again. The affirmations are a great device to focus my attention. They also are great for those moments throughout the day when I get annoyed or impatient. I pull up the day’s affirmation on my phone and read it as many times as necessary to keep myself moving forward.
Maya: What do you imagine is the connection between peace and transformation? Do you imagine you can sustain it?
Laurie: I think peace and transformation are part of the same practice, one leads to the other. I don’t know if one can create any kind of lasting transformation without having a core sense of peace, a place where you know that all is well, regardless of external circumstances. And if you have a core sense of peace, then transformation seems to flow naturally.
I don’t know if I can sustain it. I believe it is possible, but I’ve learned that peace needs constant vigilance. Just like a recovering addict needs to constantly choose not to use, I need to choose to see things through the eyes of peace, and not through my surface reactions. If I continue to practice peace, I believe I can sustain it. If I lose it, it will be due to letting go of my daily attention to it.
Maya: Is there anything else you’d like us to know?
Laurie: I find I am happier and more open than I have been, and I see the bigger picture much more easily than before. I have let go of a lot of worries and stress. I trust myself much more, now. I used to be very content to play small and let myself be defined by my faults and failings. I feel much more willing to acknowledge that I can claim greatness, too, and be a larger, more expansive person.
Maya: Thank you Laurie. All I can say is my peace deepens with you. Tu eres mi otro yo.
Learn more about:
Believing is Seeing: Daily Journal of Transformation
31 days of life-altering, soul-quenching peace in an invigorating online course that challenges you to commit to your own personal peace revolution and take action to manifest the life you want. You’ll use the book & journal I See Peace as a framework and guide to transform your everyday habits and infuse your life with peace. Let the peace begin January 1st!
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