Day 36 - Seonagh Kummer

We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” 
—Martin Luther King, Jr.

One of the most important ways we can create the deep change we seek—to alter the course of history for the benefit of future generations—is to live mindfully with gratitude, and to cultivate seeds of peace and joy within ourselves and in all of our relationships. This may sound too simple, but it is not simplistic. 

If there is anything we can learn from what we are witnessing at this time, it is that something is profoundly out of balance. We are bound by a network of mutuality, but we see an organised effort to destroy systems that we rely upon for mutual cooperation and accountability. Violence and misinformation are broadcast toward us on multiple channels of power and governance. Senseless violence can erupt anywhere. We see mass killings, laws broken without recourse, ecological destruction, neo-imperial land grabs, and the dehumanisation and caging of human beings.  
This heavy load can creep into our psyches, reaching us through what news or social media we consume. The chaos and destructiveness before us are difficult to metabolize; they can cause us to feel powerless and pull us toward despair. But this is why we rise to share another definition of power born in liberation movements.

The leadership of untruth may be organized in its effort to convince us we are powerless, but we are not bound by their definition of power. We can choose the power that comes from within ourselves and our communities. Our power is in understanding how to cultivate seeds of peace, joy and love. When we do this, we acknowledge the simple truth that everything is interconnected and how we live affects others, and together we create the destiny we want.​

Living mindfully with gratitude, we can find peace and joy within ourselves, and nurture our unique power to multiply it. Mindfulness practices, meditation and self-care help us to live authentically. We learn about our true nature, which enables us a freedom of choice. With the freedom to choose our responses we become free from assigned roles and ideas that run counter to this idea of freedom to choose to plant seeds of peace. We become capable of authentic communication, listen to our intuition, stand for what we believe in, and truly support peace within ourselves and others.

Living in this way is not naïve. It is a refusal to participate in the destruction we are witnessing. When we choose peace in our own bodies, relationships, and how we consume, we interrupt cycles of harm. When we cultivate peace, joy and love within ourselves, we bring it to our embodied everyday relationships. We find space and time to love and nurture the important people in our lives. We develop friendships with others who elevate peace and freedom from oppression and violence. In this way, we build strength in our communities, generate hope, and bring support and joy to those around us. We make the world we want to see—and we have fun doing it!

Seonagh Kummer
Los Angeles, California and Salt Spring Island, BC