Season of Nonviolence - Day 12

Welcome to Day 12 of the Season of Nonviolence – 64 Days of peaceful wisdom honoring the lives and nonviolent principles of Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Cesar Chavez.

Nonviolence begins with learning how to be less violent and more compassionate towards ourselves. We learn by building the courage to speak and act with respect, honor and reverence for our own being.

Eleanor Roosevelt has urged, "You must do the things that you think you cannot do." Practicing these 64 Ways will challenge you to do things that you think you cannot do.

Day 12: GROUNDEDNESS

Gandhi said “To forget how to dig the earth and tend the soil is to forget ourselves.”  Black Elk reminds us “Some little root of the sacred tree still lives.  Nourish it, that it may leaf and bloom and fill with singing birds.”  

This is how we are going to feel grounded, like a tree planted in the earth.  Stand up straight and close your eyes.  Imagine your body is a tree.  Send down roots into the soil, feel the sun shining from above.  Feel your branches and leaves blowing in the wind.  When we feel grounded, we feel secure in our environment; and when we feel secure, we are more likely to respond to a situation in a nonviolent way.  Being grounded helps us contribute to peace, to a culture of nonviolence.

Today:  I will nurture a plant or plant a seed in, and for, the earth.  When I am in a confrontational situation, I will recall that sense of being grounded and respond in a nonviolent way.