Feeling Peace, from the inside out: for Fathers and Your Families
Water Worlds
As my summer dreams of water surface, I share my mandala image of water worlds with dancing amoebae expanding out from the center. Blue, a color of peace and tranquility, washes through our lives daily in the sky and waterways.
Peace is the theme of this June blog, a week after many were murdered in Orlando, Florida.
Fathers are also the theme.
Why is there so much violence in the world, mostly perpetrated by men? As a non-television watcher I recently have been watching tv and movies and am stunned by the amount of violence, and the corresponding apparent sex appeal implied with guns and rifles. Looking over the many available movies to watch on netflix, I notice how many of them highlight a man (rarely a woman) in a defiant stance with gun in hand. Is it surprising that there is so much random violence? It is instilled in us on a daily, if not hourly basis. Watching the news with war coverage may leave us with the same feeling as watching a war movie. In both instances, we are at a safe distance. It is not real. Yet it is exciting. Therefore real violence must also be exciting. In fact, if we are involved with real violence, we may even be considered a hero by a country, a religion, a race, or a class.
Violence towards other people, violence towards animals, towards the earth and even to ourselves starts at a central and inner part of us and ripples out, like the waterworld mandala.
How often do we commit violence towards ourselves, our bodies and beings? It may be in the form of food, alcohol, drug overconsumption, or in the choice of unhealthy relationships, patterns of behavior or response. We need to be kinder to ourselves on a personal level, to choose the nourishing path rather than the hurtful one.
How can we be kind to ourselves? For me it is walking in nature, taking photos of beautiful shapes, forms and colors, creating original mandalas with pen and markers, doing yoga and practicing self-care techniques, indoors and outdoors when able, swimming and dancing, communing with wildlife and pets, and eating a light, fruit and vegetable filled almost vegan diet.
I also find that receiving bodywork once a week, either massage, chiropactic, acupuncture or craniosacral therapy keeps my body open and relaxed. When I am kind to myself, I have more love and caring to give to others, as a bodyworker, as a mother, as a friend, or as a neighbor. I even have more to give to the stranger on the street, in the store, school or bank.
Please give to yourself and be open to receive healing in many forms. This will ripple out and create a more harmonious world. Beginning at a deep innermost center in your being, you will share the feeling of peacefulness.
First responders receiving healing touch from Massage Emergency Relief Teams
Jerry Fleischman, Shiatsu and Tai Chi Master
You can purchase Circles of Healing at www.circlesofhealingbook1.com, or at Amazon. It is filled with self-care techniques, and ways to work with a wide variety of clients.
