Notes from a Quiet Town » peace

Raw re-visited

Rachel Rose — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 21:46:34 +0000

I have been on a high-raw diet for 6 weeks now. I must admit that the changes are immediate and profound. The sudden sense of mental clarity is astounding: 7 weeks ago I struggled against afternoon fatigue constantly. I had dark circles under my eyes and a distinctly puffy jawline. Not to mention my hips…But after six weeks of raw-all-day followed by a lightly cooked supper I feel distinctly better.

I see it in photos: that is partly what convinced me that a change was due, the dark circles under my eyes. Now, my eyes are brighter, they feel more open, I see more, my mind is sharper and I am definitely more loving and more tolerant. I see already that people respond to me differently. I guess that love is always reciprocated, even unconsciously.

The other thing I find interesting is that this is the first time in my life I don’t feel like an imposter using the words joyful, or radiant, or peaceful. Before, I was calm on the outside and tormented on the inside. Like many people, I soldiered through the work day only to turn to jelly at home. Even when I changed jobs and began working with massage, a job I love and never intend to leave, I still found myself struggling to maintain inner harmony. No matter how much yoga I did – and I used to practice 6 days per week – I still found myself flaring up in anger at small things, or suffocating in a silence of shyness at crucial moments. But then, this long, long path I walk has led me here, to this place of joy, of peace, of certainty that what I am doing is the right thing to do, the right thing for me, for the people around me and for the world. And so the anxiety gap narrows, become but a crack, and I skip merrily across it, light as air, knowing that what I believe and what I do are now one and the same.

Change your bookmarks, change your day

Rachel Rose — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 19:28:14 +0000

I realised with some alarm a few weeks ago that my most visited page is The Daily Mail! Shock! How can that be? Well, like many people, I while away my internet hours wasting time on trivia and then lament my lack of productive time. I got hooked when Amy Winehouse was at her worst…it was amusing and addictive to watch the poor lass’s downfall. But then somehow The Daily Mail became my most visited site, appearing in Firefox’s ‘most visited’ tab. And so I began to visit daily…sometimes more than once. Now, I’ve long been a newshound and regularly read The Independent, The Guardian and the BBC News sites. But even those sites are full of fear and loathing and bad news and worse predictions. And so this afternoon I decided to mend my ways. No more surfing news sites reading about Madonna’s failed marriage. From now on, I am going to focus my Energy on what matters. Accordingly, I bookmarked Yoga Journal and Conciencia Sin Fronteras. There are only so many hours in every day, adding up to so many hours in every life. If I pass my time reading depressing reports of violence, oppression, racism, anger and irrationality, then my own state of mind will almost certainly be affected negatively. So I resolve to read about positive change, hope, kindness and profundity. We are better than the world we have created and I am striving to become who I really am, expressing the vibrant and radiant divinity that is within every one of us. And so, by changing what I read about each day I take one more step towards a calm and neutral mind. Change your bookmarks, change your life.

Peace One Day …today!

Rachel Rose — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 07:35:15 +0000

Peace One Day is today! Find peace in your heart.

Poison Fire Movie

Rachel Rose — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 21:32:11 +0000

Watch Poison Fire Movie, about gas flaring in Nigeria by Shell Oil.

Zeitgeist the Movie

Rachel Rose — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 21:09:36 +0000

I’ve just watched it. Holy Shit. I am tingling. That is the most subversive, eye-opening thing I’ve seen in years. Watch it. Then watch it again. zeitgeistmovie.com

Flying Broom Women’s Film Festival

Rachel Rose — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 10:01:01 +0000

Just top-posting a link taken from a comment on a earlier post, Thanks Metin, who wrote “The 11.th Flying Broom Women’s Film Festival to take place in Ankara between 8-15 May, is hoping to contribute to Ms. Bacca’s peace project with films that promote peace over war.”

The Flying Broom Women’s film festival

Rights, not arms, for Zimbabwe

Rachel Rose — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 09:19:25 +0000

Following on from earlier, here is the Avaaz.org petition to stop the arms shipment from China to Zimbabwe. Go there. Now.

What do you do when a dictator seizes power (again)?

Rachel Rose — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 09:51:59 +0000

Send him arms. Yep, China is delivering a 70-tonne shipment of arms to Zimbabwe, ordered 3 days after the elections of three weeks ago (the results of which have yet to be released). This is such blatant repression and election stealing but no one in the international community does anything about it. China’s stance is that Zimbabwe’s political problems are it’s own affair and that anything outsiders do is interference. That’s like listening to your neighbour beat his wife or child and saying it’s a family problem and there’s nothing you can do.

While we westerners righty browbeat ourselves about our goverments’ terrrible track records of supplying arms to nutcases (see Iraq, Colombia, Panama, Saudi Arabia, Israel) China merrily backs regional hatred by blithely selling arms to various ‘rogue’ states (ie: the ones we don’t see arms to). In Sudan they send in arms and take out oil. Watch this program from Vice TV about Chinese oil installations in southern Sudan.

This stuff drives me crazy! For years I’ve been saying “if you want world peace, stop making guns”. God, it’s so depressing. I mean, here we are preaching about democracy, respect for human rights, progress and meanwhile we’re selling arms to dictators. At least China is honest about its corruption and carelessness. They don’t hide their trade and they don’t care what anyone says about it.