Balance, Beauty & Butterflies
How you can do your part to create peace in a world at war
Before you read the rest of this, I want you to stop and take two or three deep breaths. Imagine your heart as a sun shining bright and giving you all the warmth, light and peace you need in this moment.
With so much intense energy, heightened emotions and the winds of change swirling around, it’s easy to get caught up and forget that you can always come back to yourself and your breath for a reprieve, some centering, and a reset of your nervous system.
Another thing you can do, like what I’m doing in the photo above, is to use Nature, particularly trees, to help soothe and calm you. Just standing with your back against one, you can feel yourself becoming more calm, grounded and energetically aligned. Bonus points if you are barefoot.
With the outer world being shaken up with the horrors of war and terrorism, on top of all the political, environmental and economic turmoil and transformation — and because the macrocosm is a reflection of the microcosm — perhaps your inner world is being shaken up, is in turmoil or being transformed as well.
Unless you are directly involved in or affected by these big external events — my heart goes out to you if you are and hope that you have whatever support you need — it’s easy to feel helpless. But it’s important to remember that one thing we do have control of, or at least can have an impact on, is fostering and maintaining peace and harmony within ourselves, our close personal relationships and our wider sphere of influence.
We can also control where we put our attention and how much we take into our psyches. We can monitor our inputs and find the balance between what is helpful and informative versus what is intoxicating us with fear, anger and sadness. Remember that what we focus on grows.
No matter what, we can also strive for unity in how we view each other and the situations around us. Because underneath the labels, we are all human beings.
I once heard the quote, attributed to the Dalai Lama, “When the world looks bad, look at a flower; there is another truth.” Last week, after days of horrific news, I went outside and saw two butterflies floating around and doing their thing with some flowers. It was a beautiful reminder on many levels of how many energies can coexist, to surrender to the process of transformation, focus on what is in front of us and respond with gratitude and appreciation. Or take any appropriate actions we feel called to do, which can look different for everyone in every moment.
As I mentioned in my essay “Dancing, Detox & Dharma,” you might consider asking yourself, What is mine to do? And from my essay “Memory Magic”: How are you using your precious time and energy? How can you contribute in a helpful way to improve your state of being and that of others? How can you see beauty in the smallest things? How can you create more beauty in your world?
One way you are guaranteed to help the world situation is by cultivating peace within and bringing that peace with you wherever you go. But, btw, even if you just held that vibration within you alone on a mountaintop, you would still be adding the energy of peace to the collective soup and we would benefit. In other words, we all have our part to play in healing humanity, one way or another.
You can see one of the butterflies and other pick-me-ups in the Good Vibes highlight reel on my Instagram, and for inspiration about how to create more peace in your relationships check out this video.
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Kristina Leonardi is a nationally recognized career and life coach, speaker and author who for over 16 years has empowered individuals to make lasting professional and personal changes aligned with their true passions and talents while fulfilling their role in the world at large. With a holistic and personal growth-oriented approach, she has helped hundreds of men and women over the past decade improve their job performance, enter or re-enter the job force, change careers, better manage their time and stress, and live happier, more meaningful, balanced lives. Her specialty is working with people who feel stuck or are in transition and can help you clarify exactly what you want to do, identify blocks, issues, and patterns in your way, and offer proven ideas, resources, and action steps to get you there.
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