My word of the day is PEACE.  This is a word thrown around frequently on many different levels without a definition capable of expressing neither its essence nor its power.

Yesterday some guests visited the University of Peace in San Jose Costa Rica.  The woman created a program for peace in an inner city school in California and wanted to see what they were doing at the University.  Chatting about it she told me that, as she suspected, they focus on peace at an international level just like other programs in the US.  She said she has come across very few programs that focus on peace in cities or communities and even fewer that actually integrate internal peace at the individual level.  This really got me thinking about my own studies and how I felt so overwhelmed by international environmental problems until I began working on a very limited local level.

Also yesterday, I was speaking with a friend about a liver cleanse I just finished.  We began questioning the capability of the body to rid itself of gallstones without doing a physical cleanse.  He told me that the best cleanse one can do is to eat with peace – peace can move the biggest stones. 

These two back to back events unfolded an understanding within me that the only PEACE ON EARTH possible is the internal peace that each individual must birth and nourish on a daily basis.  If I cultivate peace within myself through meditation, prayer, time in nature, etc, I radiate that peace out into my family, community, country and the world.  Peace is not so much about finding a place without problems and frustrations; it’s about living surrounded by normal life events and maintaining a serene state of mind, heart and soul.  

This morning in a meditation designed to harmonize the chakras, a new revelation came to me.  It is common to start this type of meditation with feeling your feet on the ground, imagining roots flowing out through your feet/ base of your spine and connecting to the core of mother earth.  In the meditation I was in this morning, after creating this foundation, I was instructed to imagine drinking in the nutrients of mother earth to nourish me in the way I needed exactly at that moment, knowing that I am completely provided for.  Tears began warmly trickling down my cheeks as I understood that mother earth represents the true essence of a mother.  She gives and gives and would give us, humans, every last molecule of resources if we needed it… 
So what does that mean for abundance and security??  The majority of conversations I have heard recently in the past several years, be it in Costa Rica or the U.S., revolve around insecurities based on the economic situation.  But, I have never met one single person in all of those who spend their mental energy focused on worrying about money that is lacking food, clothes or the necessities of life.  This morning I had a momentary glance at the deep truth that we are all provided for by our earthly parents on a more immediate level and then by our celestial parents on a level more difficult to grasp, but still just as authentic.  Surrendering into the belief that you will be supported in the way you need to be supported no matter what you do is perhaps one of the most difficult lessons to learn when walking the spiritual path.  I can’t claim that my worries, doubts and anxiety around money will not return, but I now have the memory of being gently and securely held in the arms of a loving mother who nourishes me on all the levels I ALLOW her to.  A mother has 2 jobs, the way I see it: provide support as the child grows and seeks it AND let go and permit the child to make mistakes and walk their own path until they voluntarily return and ask for her advice/help. 

My mantra for the day that was born at the end of my meditation: I am grounded, I am protected, I am secure

Give yourself permission to LET GO into the love surrounding you on all sides all the time.  Our barriers to love are based on fears that have arisen in life, but where we permit love to penetrate fear CANNOT reside.