Peace On Podcast by The Peace Alliance

Our own Liz and Jelena led the story-telling today, focusing on creating balance. The concepts of balance and equanimity - and the difference between them - were explored. Jelena shared the idea of being on a see-saw to find balance, and yet at this moment in our current global situation with Russia invading Ukraine, it feels as though we are on the see-saw with the whole world, and there is a big imbalance. In the small rooms, people explored how to find equanimity, and what practices people have to find hope, and experience optimism, even when things are difficult. Check the calendar of Events at www.peacealliance.org - join us at our next Hope Story Circle and share your emerging stories!

A native of South Carolina, Leslie shared a story of her professional career development, and how her options and choices impacted the decisions about how to spend her life. She had a couple of pivotal points that shaped her growth and her path, wanting to make spaces for people to thrive in the work place, with the values of Agile to put people and interactions over processes and tools, for example. She is now a leader in a smaller business, having been a leader in a very large corporation just prior, and is experiencing the room and space to make the working environment something that people enjoy. The inquiry was about how to bring our best selves to the work places that we inhabit, and how to make them more humanized where we can feel safe. Check the calendar of Events at www.peacealliance.org - join us at our next Hope Story Circle and share your emerging stories!

Anne Marie grew up in Southern California, in a life she describes as ordinary. Her first career was as a performer, singing and dancing in tours of Broadway musicals. She found an interest in how these shows were managed, how things moved from place to place, how much royalty the original designers and creators of the shows were paid when she performed from city to city. At one point, she began an apprenticeship in creative performing management, and then was referred to work as a tour manager for a couple of concerts of Burt Bacharach, the world-renowned, multiple Grammy and Academy award winning composer and performer. That grew into a decades-long position, and her role grew with the years to be multi-faceted with great responsibility. Providing the scaffolding for Burt Bacharach to be able to fulfill his artistic endeavors became Anne Marie’s role. The inquiry is to consider what past experiences provided the learning to move to the next step. We often don’t realize at any given point in time what might evolve in the next chapter of life, and how we are being provided opportunities that make those next chapters possible to realize. Check the calendar of Events at www.peacealliance.org - join us at our next Hope Story Circle and share your emerging stories!

J Thompson begins 2022 as the Peace Alliance’s new Community Peacebuilding Council Lead, and we were delighted to have her start the year as our guest at the Hope Story Circle. She told a wonderful story about a trip that she took to Africa at age 16, with a group of other young people, and meeting with young people there. The story was about being in time, being present, and allowing spaciousness and peace to guide timeliness, also referring to time as being circular — "this too shall pass," yet it may come again. The invitation in conversation was about finding a time when people felt they were present in time, and how did that feel? How could that practice be intentional, and provide a sense of peace in the moment? Check the calendar of Events at www.peacealliance.org - join us at our next Hope Story Circle and share your emerging stories!

Sandie Behrens figured out the truth that she had been adopted at a very young age. After considering pursuing her real family several times over the years, she decided at the turn of the year she would turn 50, that this milestone warranted taking action - and she did. She found her mother, grandmother, two brothers and a host of aunts, uncles, cousins and more. The lessons she learned were about forgiveness, grief, and nature vs. nurture. While Sandie’s story is unique to her experience, we all can ask the question - who am I? What have I experienced in life that brings me joy, and what have I experienced that brings me grief? Check the calendar of Events at www.peacealliance.org - join us at our next Hope Story Circle and share your emerging stories!