Susan Smith Thompson - Facilitating Peaceful Connections

Symptoms of Inner Peace

by Susan • August 10, 2011

SYMPTOMS OF INNER PEACE

1. Tendency to think and act spontaneously, rather than from fears based on past experiences.
2. An unmistakeable ability to enjoy each moment.
3. Loss of interest in judging self.
4. Loss of interest in judging others.
5. Loss of interest in conflict and one-upmanship.
6. Loss of interest in interpreting actions of worry.
7. Loss of ability to worry (This is a SERIOUS symptom!).
8. Frequent, overwhelming episodes of appreciation.
9. Feelings of contentment and connectedness with others and with Nature.
10. Frequent attacks of smiling.
11. Increased susceptibility to love and to “passing it forward.”
12. Increased tendency to let things happen rather than make things happen.

NOTE: If you have all or even most of the above symptoms, your condition of Inner Peace may be so far advanced as to be untreatable!

Author Unknown

Another note: I found this posted in a Flylady.com email listed as anonymous.

Peaceful Communication

10 Things We Can Do to Contribute to Internal, Interpersonal, and Organizational Peace

by Susan • January 31, 2011

I found this wonderful checklist of actions to use to help create peace in our lives. I use #5, #8, and #10 all the time parenting and teaching preschool (and while subbing with the older kids.) What do you use to promote peace in your home, work, and world? Leave a comment, I’m always looking for ideas!

10 Things We Can Do to Contribute to Internal, Interpersonal, and Organizational Peace

(1) Spend some time each day quietly reflecting on how we would like to relate to ourselves and others.

(2) Remember that all human beings have the same needs.

(3) Check our intention to see if we are as interested in others getting their needs met as our own.

(4) When asking someone to do something, check first to see if we are making a request or a demand.

(5) Instead of saying what we DON’T want someone to do, say what we DO want the person to do.

(6) Instead of saying what we want someone to BE, say what action we’d like the person to take that we hope will help the person be that way.

(7) Before agreeing or disagreeing with anyone’s opinions, try to tune in to what the person is feeling and needing.

(8) Instead of saying “No,” say what need of ours prevents us from saying “Yes.”

(9) If we are feeling upset, think about what need of ours is not being met, and what we could do to meet it, instead of thinking about what’s wrong with others or ourselves.

(10) Instead of praising someone who did something we like, express our gratitude by telling the person what need of ours that action met.

The Center for Nonviolent Communication (CNVC) would like there to be a critical mass of people using Nonviolent Communication language so all people will get their needs met and resolve their conflicts peacefully.

2001, revised 2004 Gary Baran & CNVC. The right to freely duplicate this document is hereby granted.

It's All Relative

Fun on a snowy day

by Susan • January 11, 2011

Center of Town, Woodstock, VT

It’s a snowy day here in Charlotte, NC. The roads are iced over and we’re staying put. Router issues and continually losing the internet have forced me to hid out in our home office tethered to the network cable.

Something about moving my laptop into my home office has motivated me to do some website cleaning/updating. I’ve removed tons of spam (bad spammers, bad) that at first glance appeared to be real comments. When there are 10 of them in a row on the comments page, it becane quite apparent that they were just junk mail. And here I was thinking I was so poopular! *giggles at self*

I also noted on the Classes & Workshops page that I’m only doing private classes at the moment. Let me know what you’re interested in and we’ll set it up.

Maybe more website housekeeping to come soon, like a real blog post. We’ll see. I may just go play in the snow with my family, though too many days off have put me seriously behind in posting!

Anything you’re interested in reading more about? (Yes, I’m blatantly searching for blog topics. Help a writer out, would ya?)

Peace,

Susan

Photo Credit: Center of Town. Woodstock, VT “Snowy Night” Library of Congress

Upcoming Events

HEALING THE WATERS OF THE WORLD

by Susan • June 16, 2010

Announcement from Jonathan Goldman’s Healing Sounds

HEALING THE WATERS OF THE WORLD

Solstice Global Toning on Monday June 21, 2010 12:00 noon in your time zone

Let us collectively link up with the heart of Gaia, mother Earth, for healing the waters of the world, focusing on the Gulf oil leakage as an entry point

On the longest day of the year at the peak of the solar energy, let us put the power of collective prayer into collaborating with mother Earth to co-create healing and harmony between the planet and us, her children. Though some humans behave in ways that may ignore the sacredness of her body, many of us are interested in living in ways that honor and revere this precious planet. Let us unite in focused prayer, offering our gratitude for the gift of this Earth and all that is provided to us with such grace and abundance.

For those of you who have seen the movie “Avatar”, we have an image of a sincere individual linking his heart with the heart and Spirit of life, to bring about right action during a distressing situation. We collectively have the power to do this as well.

During this time of intentional prayer, first imagine your heart synchronizing in rhythm with the heart of the Earth and all her amazing creatures and elements. Then add the power of sound, using your voice and the spirit of your breath, creating the sound of the heart, “AH” as you align and send your healing prayers on this Global Tone.

If it is appropriate, please go to the AH Toning Chamber at the Temple of Sacred Sound to enhance the power of this Solstice Global Toning.

This sonic prayer will flow like a wave of cleansing, healing waters over the planet as compassionate beings in each time zone link up with their fellow beings to bring love across the Earth.

Thank you for your time and love. This email was received and is being passed on to you. Please send this email to others if you feel called.

Let us join together in Light & Love through Sound this June 21st to create balance and healing on our beloved planet.

Contact Information
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email: info@healingsounds.com
phone: 303-443-8181
web: http://www.healingsounds.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Energy Healing, Reiki

Reiki Self Treatment a la Pamela Miles

by Susan • May 18, 2010

Last June, I wrote a post on Reiki Self-Treatment, linking three resources on how to do a self treatment. It was pretty cut and dried. You had to do all the work, follow the links, read the posts or watch the videos and figure it out yourself.

Since then, I’ve found an easier way to do it, thanks to Reiki Master Pamela Miles, YouTube, and her Reiki Chats.

To get started, per Ms. Miles, on her Reiki Self Treatment Reiki Chat:

Use a timer if need be. She has a link to a Reiki/meditation timer on her website. Use your snooze button. Fall asleep while doing the self treatment before bed (it’s OK!). If you use a timer, then you can relax and be fully present with the Reiki and not worry about checking the clock and being late for that meeting or school.

Do the full treatment or as much as you can. Any amount of Reiki is good!

Try these hand positions, as outlined in her book and her Reiki Chat: Practicing Reiki: Do Hand Placements Matter?

Yes, doing a Reiki self treatment is something one should consider doing. How frequently is up to the individual. Pamela Miles suggests every day. I’ve started, if not every day, nearly every day. It’s become a nice habit: comforting, relaxing, healing. I feel the benefits in reduced anxiety, falling asleep faster, and other ways too numerous or complicated to mention here. Try it and see what happens for you and post your results in the comments below.

Direct links:

Why did I include the list of direct links in this post? I’m glad you asked. Simply because it’s become a reference page to the Reiki 1 manual I use. I print it out and add the hard copy to the manual.

It's All Relative

My men

by Susan • May 2, 2010

This was my entry in the NY Times “Moment in Time” photo thingy, where people were encouraged to take pictures at 11 am this morning and send them in. I found out about it on Twitter about 8 minutes before it was supposed to happen, glanced over and saw my camera, waited, and snapped a few photos. The best, and worst one, had a lamp growing out of my son’s head. But it also had him sitting on my husband’s knee. Too cute. This one was second best, no funny appendages growing where they don’t normally grow.