In my first few days of The Vow, I’ve found that defining non-violence is of great importance.
Non-violence in action is pretty easy to define for me – not harming other living beings. Ok, I get that. When I began to move into speech & thought, however this became a bit more difficult.
Is non-violence simply direct speech & thought about harm to another? Or does The Vow create a situation in which I am holding myself up to speaking only that which will uplift others; thinking only that which uplifts? Do I have to hold myself up to that age-old adage: "If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all"?
The biggest questions seem to surround those individuals with which I’ve had recent disagreements. My inherant warrior nature comes out where these people are concerned. When they behave in an unloving manner, my thoughts ones of anger & retaliation. My speech – gossip & humor at another’s expense.
As I reflect on these behaviors in light of The Vow, they appear covertly violent.
Weeks ago, I would have argued that these were defense mechanisms, used in reaction to disruptive behavior of thoughtless people.
Now, I recognize these thoughts & words as feeding a spiral of mistrust & anger.
I’m definitely not saying that I’m at the level where I’m offering the olive branch of peace to those who have injured me. Nor am I willing to be a doormat to others. But, today, by defining retaliatory thoughts, gossip & ill-tempered humor as violent actions on my part, I’m moving a step forward in disengaging from the spiral of negativity.
I’m not 100% successful yet…but recognition has brought me a lot closer!
1 day, 1 moment, 1 action, 1 word, 1 thought at a time.
Kim, As Esther Hicks channeled as Abraham puts it: When you define anything as not, no,and non, it is the Universe that rejects those same words. Like I don't want it to rain and guess what it rains or I don't want to be late and guess what you are late. We live in a very Affirmative Universe and it only knows yes or the positive. That is why in the Laws of Attraction you are attracting what you are focusing on. Think thoughts as peace, love, serenity, prosperous, abundance, rehabilitation and so on. You will see a change in your outlook towards helping those people.
When you hear things of ANTI-WAR,ANTI-TERROR,ANTI-DRUGS we tend to get more of them because we are focused on those words after ANTI. Just like NON-VIOLENCE. Your word violence screams out at me. God/Source made two powerful laws in the Universe. First is the Law of Gravity and the second is the Laws of Attraction. Until you understand these laws you will always see the things you, excuse me, don't (do) want to see.
I hope that helps you out.
Peace
Dom
Blessings Kim Ellis!
There is a lot of inspirational quotes on the web that can help in your quest for peace.. some of my favourites are..
A mind at peace, a mind centered and not focused on harming others, is stronger than any physical force in the universe. Wayne Dyer
Everything you are against weakens you. Everything you are for empowers you. Wayne Dyer
I cannot always control what goes on outside. But I can always control what goes on inside. Wayne Dyer
Jill Bolte Taylor says that it takes 5 full minutes to go from angry to not angry. The chemical process in our body, once the chemicals are released can be released from the body in 5 minutes or less.. If I find myself feeling angst,, I try,, I don't always make it but I try to make one of these my mantra's. To me a life of non violence isn't just about humankind,, but all living creatures. I find that when I am in my garden, butterflies land on my shoulder to watch me work, and Praying Mantis's actually "ask" to walk up to me begging to be picked up.. My most blessed moment was when a mama bird actually gave me "permission" to help clean her new baby.. he had fallen from the nest and wanted to play in my water puddle.. When he was done,, she chirped at me, I picked him up and put him safely back in his nest with mom..
I have a feeling though, that animals sense a peaceful person more readily than other human beings.. and being peaceful actually sets some people off. I have actually been called some of the worst names, literally in the last 3 weeks because I refused to fight and actually sent a very respectful letter stating I honoured their opinion and there was no reason to fight.. this sparked the fight even worse.. so be aware that there are some out there that simply do not wish you to be peaceful.. but even then,, I can still breathe through it and know that I did the right thing even if they wanted a fight.. I didn't.. and I can keep my peace..
Good luck to you.. I know it is a hard path to follow.. but it is, at least for me the only way I wish to live..
loving peaceful hugs to you..
Marylynn