It intuitively feels right to explore these elements in terms of surrendering, centering, blending and transforming the war within: thoughtstream shift, allow my inner sage some time on the podium, acknowledge & turn the volume down on my current competing desires, and get outside to let it all percolate.

No discussion of the art of peace would be complete without at least a brief mention of four of my personal heroes: Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela and Aung San Suu Kyi. In the tohubohu that is often the state of our present world, I may not make a huge difference on a planetary, national, state or even community level. Yet I do believe that any peaceful actions I create have their own vibrations throughout those larger spheres. Let peace begin with me.

We all, at various times, experience off the rails miscommunication, feeling attacked, challenging moments. Imagine a partner, family member or co-worker confronting or complaining about you, or what you perceive initially as assaulting or ambushing you verbally. What to do?

Developed in the 1920’s by Morihei Ueshiba, affectionately known as O’Sensei, Aikido combined many threads of existing Japanese martial practices and created a novel and powerful tapestry of training. “To injure an opponent is to injure yourself. To control aggression without inflicting injury is the Art of Peace.”

I conclude the three part series on finding and expressing joy with some additional explorations, including Neuro linguistic Programming, a practice called earthing, regularly singing to myself, and responding to the common query of “how are you?” 

Check out the NYT Happiness Challenge:

What brings you joy? How I love reading, especially science and science fiction and where the two begin to merge in my own lifetime. In the five days after the release of Chat GPT by Open AI, more than a million people signed up to test it. You can do so for free by going to  https://chat.openai.com/auth/login. 

What is clear to me is that given the onslaught of information we are all exposed to, and the overwhelming amount of it negatively affecting our psyche, our own mental health requires that we pay attention to some basic best practices.

I present a holiday tale that came to me in a dream. Ashe! Hanta Yo! Ameen! Make it so! Achya! Ben Fatto!

Although I normally avoid political issues in these audio musings, I openly share some thoughts about fiscal responsibility, guns and the death penalty, all in contrast to my normal liberal leanings.