Peace On Podcast by The Peace Alliance

Joel Kimmel was our guest.  Joel shared a powerful story of a near-death accident that occurred when he was a young man, and how that experience shifted the trajectory of his life. Spending seven days on the other side, he witnessed magic in how spirits spoke and the way the revealed new ideas. They informed him: don’t tell everyone what to do, ask them what they see themselves doing. In recovery, he realized that all we have that allows us to live a meaningful life is our words. He invited everyone in the inquiry to create a have happened list instead of a to-do list, and then allow it to unfold. Check the calendar of Events at www.peacealliance.org - join us at the next Hope Story Circle and share your emerging stories!

Linda Curtis, Author, Mindfulness Teacher, Speaker and Mentor for Honorable Closure, joined us to talk about endings and beginnings, and about two big life experiences that led her to the deeper understanding of the intersection of endings and beginnings, and how important it is to acknowledge endings, and give them space to close. From a collective level, what is coming to an end at this time? And what is beginning? What qualities can we bring to allow these endings and beginnings to go well, with compassion and empathy? Check the calendar of Events at www.peacealliance.org - join us at the next Hope Story Circle and share your emerging stories!

This Tuesday, we go deeper into our own sense of our historical roots, our current landscape, and our power to shape the future. We were joined and guided on this path by the wonderful Jelena Popovic - Peace Alliance Council Lead and champion of peace education.  The wounds of America's past and present - from indigenous cultural and literal genocide, through slavery and Jim Crow, to the present day - cry out for a learning and healing process.  We hope this Tuesday's conversation may be another forward step along that journey.   

Marcy Cole, drmarcycole.com, holistic psychotherapist, teacher of social and emotional learning / mindfulness, and founder of First Tuesday USA https://www.facebook.com/firsttuesdayusa/, shared powerfully about her own personal reckoning. She is coming to a realization of wanting to be more deliberate and intentional to expand to more diversity in her life, with honest curiosity in wanting to learn more about others experiences. What kind of spaces can we create where everyone feels that they belong and they are seen? Check the calendar of Events at www.peacealliance.org - join us at the next Hope Story Circle and share your emerging stories!

 

Kathy Kidd, formerly on staff with the Peace Alliance and a long-time friend, joined us to share her heartfelt and deep story of her personal history of how racism and anti-racism has shaped her journey. Her questions: What was I born into that determined who I would become? What events in my life contributed to who I am? What are the many layers to who I am? What has held me back in life? What does being held back cost me personally? Cost us collectively? What is my purpose and how has my purpose unfolded? Where do I find my hope in today’s world? Check the calendar of Events at www.peacealliance.org - join us at the next Hope Story Circle and share your emerging stories!

Catherine DeMonte, catherinedemonte.com, psychotherapist and author of Beep! Beep! Get Out of My Way, Seven Tools for Living Your Unstoppable Life was our guest. The book was an outcome of her Abundance Circles, where people work together over eight sessions to unblock and achieve their desires. Her story was about living a story from her birth feeling as an unwelcome guest, and the path she took to release it. What stories can we birth at this time? What can we embrace, or let go of? How can we welcome the stories that are bubbling up? Check the calendar of Events at www.peacealliance.org - join us at the next Hope Story Circle and share your emerging stories!

 

 

Jill McManigal, founder and CEO of Kids for Peace - kidsforpeaceglobal.org -- is our special guest! She shared about the beginnings, vision, broad reach and success of Kids for Peace, sharing the Peace Pledge that was defined by the kids. She also shared about experiencing a difficult conversation with one of the parents just recently, and how by finding common ground, being open-hearted and curious, they were both able to learn and grow. In the break-outs, we explored: how are we all approaching challenging conversations? Check the calendar of Events at www.peacealliance.org - join us at the next Hope Story Circle and share your emerging stories!

Our special guest is Kendra Mon, who talked of leaving legacies and living legacies. Her parents shaped and molded her passion to advocate for a Department of Peacebuilding, and this day is the 19th anniversary of the bill being introduced to Congress. Her moms, Phyllis Lyn and Del Martin were activists for the Lesbian community, authoring the book, Lesbian Woman. The documentary about them and their work, No Secret Anymore: The Times of Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, is available free on Amazon Prime and for rent on Vimeo. Kendra read from the book, in part, “…The Great Society can only be great as they know, appreciate, love, understand and express their diversity and individuality. No longer is toleration acceptable. The Lesbians, along with all oppressed people, want freedom — and we want it now!” Check the calendar of Events at www.peacealliance.org - join us at the next Hope Story Circle and share your emerging stories!

Jelena Popovic began by reading a poem written by Dan Kahn, the Peace Alliance’s National Field Director, and our guest this week. “This revolution has compassion…” Dan shared his emerging stories, and Liz Gannon Graydon encouraged everyone to think about plot twists in the break-out sessions. What are the plot twists in our lives, being brought on by all of the unexpected events and uncertain times we are living in? Check the calendar of Events at www.peacealliance.org - join us at the next Hope Story Circle and share your emerging stories!

Liz Gannon Graydon opened with a reading, and then Jelena Popovic shared her own story, and invited everyone to consider a question she is asked often, when people are curious about her accent: are you a US citizen? What does this question mean? In the break-outs, people were invited to the inquiry of whether they have one foot in the boat — one foot in the past and one in the present. What’s keeping us from being in the present, and being here? Check the calendar of Events at www.peacealliance.org - join us at the next Hope Story Circle and share your emerging stories!