What To Do

There are many ways to pray and meditate, and we do not intend to prescribe any one method here.  However, for those of you who may not have tried meditation or prayer before, we have provided some general guidance to help get you started.  Additionally, we offer some strong suggestions for every one participating in the Create Global Peace initiative in order that our collective efforts can have the greatest possible impact.

Peace Originates From Within

It is important that at the start of every prayer-meditation session, we begin by first establishing an inner state of peace.  There are many distractions in our everyday world that can trigger feelings of anger, resentment, frustration, or just general unrest within us.  Before focusing on generating peace in the world around us, we must first clear our minds of these distractions.  This can be accomplished through several moments of silent awareness.  As we recognize these feelings within us, we can consciously choose to release them, reminding ourselves that whatever the source of our struggle, we have within us the resilience and fortitude to withstand it.  With this recognition, we can begin to let go of the emotional turmoil we've attached to our struggle and free our minds to establish a state of inner peace.

Often times, the source of our inner struggle is attached to another person.  We may feel hurt, betrayed, or antagonized by this person.  It is impossible to reach a state of inner peace if we are holding on to grudges or resentments toward another person.  Forgiveness is the only way to release ourselves from the bondage of this struggle.  It is often easier to forgive another person's harms against us if we try to remember that none of us is perfect, none of us has managed to live a life that has not in some way harmed another.  Accepting our own flaws and the flaws of others opens the door to forgiveness, which in turn opens the door to inner peace.

Conscious Intention

Once we have establsihed a state of inner peace, we can begin to focus our conscious intention on establishing external peace.  Conscious intention requires that we remove the clutter of thought that exists within our minds - all those random replays of the previous week's events, all those reminders of what we still need to accomplish the following week, and all those wild wanderings of our imagination.  We must approach a state of pure focus on our one intent - global peace.  Conscious intention can take on the form of a prayer request directed at God, a visualization of the world in a state of peace and balance, or a repetition of a mantra (for example, let there be peace on earth.)

Try to sustain your conscious intention as long as you can, or as long as your schedule allows.  If you find your mind drifting, simply redirect your focus to the task at hand, beginning again with the clearing of your mind and then moving back into the state of conscious intention.  Remember that your efforts are being multiplied exponentially across the globe as others join forces with you.

Conscious Living 

While the purpose of the Create Global Peace initiative is to organize prayer and meditation sessions that will generate a large-scale collective consciousness for global peace, we undestand that the peace process must also begin within each of our own hearts and in each of our own homes and communities.  If we are truly to affect change, we must, as Gandhi once said, "become the change we wish to see in the world."  In this spirit, we ask that all participants make a conscious choice and a conscious effort to live peacefully.  As our lives become the model for peaceful co-existence, we will illustrate to our family, friends, and communities that peace is indeed possible.  The paradigm will only shift when people embrace the possibility and then choose to make it a reality.
For information regarding additional ways to live consciously, visit our What Else Can I Do page.