Making Sense of Peace: Can you Feel it?

*we began with writing our own personal definitions of peace
-unity without judgment
-sense of calm
-happiness
-conflict resolution
*in the midst of this discussion the leader read us the children's book "A Little Peace" which simply described the areas where a person can practice peace
*Next we split into small groups and worked with a facilitator discussing peace in relation with the senses.
*Smell; what is the smell of peace? Suggestions were, lavender, salt air, incense, food
*Taste; what does peace taste like? Suggestions were, sweet, salty, answer maybe depends on your culture
*Sound; what does peace sound like? Suggestions were, the voices of loved ones, favorite music, waves
*Sight; what does peace look like? Suggestions were, friends, nature
*Touch; what does peace feel like? open question
At this time we realized that many of these sensations are combined. i.e. the smell and taste of a favorite food brings peace

We read the book, "What does Peace Feel Like?" It described the different definitions of peace from the view point of 8 and 9 year olds. The most amusing answers came from the page, "What does peace taste like? The author stated that over a hundred children named off flavors of ice cream! The innocence of their answers really went right to the core of what bring all of us peace in our daily lives.

Professor Becker's daughter, Jessica, shared with us the story of a 1000 paper cranes and taught us all to make our own. Instruction are available at
http://www.origami.org.uk/origamicrane.htm, if you are interested in making your own.

Some women discussed the challenges of making the cranes and felt that they received more peace from the process then from the end product.

My favorite part of the workshop was the reading of the children's story, "Zen Shorts". It was a wonderful book about three children who become friends with panda named Stillwater. Stillwater proceeds to teach them three simplified versions of ancient Japanese Zen lessons. The themes were based around tolerance, balance, and selflessness. The story opened up discussions about person peace bringing about peace in the community.