I am caught. I know that peace in our families, schools, and cities is urgent. I also know that world peace will only come with dedicated work over generations. I need a break from the pressure to make a difference. I allow myself to feel less urgency in taking the public steps today, like demonstrating aiki practices beyond physical self-defense and participating in International Aiki Peace Week, which will make Peace more likely for my children.

 

You might also give yourself a pass because you too are busy, already intending to do other peace-related stuff, and it can be pretty discouraging when we can't see the big outcomes of our work soon enough to feel satisfied or be congratulated by people whose opinion matters to us. All this is understandable and deadly. The heat under our collective pot is rising and the normalization of violence in culture in which we swim is getting closer to boiling.

 

Every September 21 is the United Nations International Day of Peace and hundreds of peace-oriented organizations worldwide offer thousands of Peace Day events. Aikido practitioners around the world, inspired by the unique embodied peacemaking legacy of Morihei Ueshiba, will be part of the global celebration. How about you? Check out http://www.aikipeaceweek.org

 

For Social Media

For http://www.aikipeaceweek.org the rubber hits the road. #Peace in our time? #Aikido? Worldwide Sensei 9/15-21 are teaching peace.

This weekend, Brandon Sensei will present at the Aiki Extensions International Conference in Palo Alto, CA. Please visit https://www.aikiextensions.org/2016-us-conference/ for more information, and register to explore the extension of aiki principles into Peacemaking and Mediation, Education and Youth Outreach, Mind and Body, as well as Business and Leadership. Paul Linden Sensei, Ph.D., 6th dan, is here from Aikido of Columbus. His pre-conference workshop, entitled "Aiki Somatics" is highly recommended and will be on September 23 from 8:00a-5:45p.