#PeaceMatters, Part 1

Judith Ashley is the author of The Sacred Women's Circle series, romantic fiction that honors spiritual traditions that nurture the soul.

January 4^th, 2016 I was optimistic about the year ahead. My first 4 posts were about “Peace” because I was concerned about the increase in violence, wars, and hate rhetoric to name a few. Who knew eleven months later I’d still have those concerns about the world around me.

What is true though is I can only control myself. I cannot make anyone else do anything although I can attempt to persuade them to my point of view.

This December, I’m revisiting those January posts with additional information/thoughts/comments or not. Please join me in an on-going quest to find peace in our world.

Another year is here and All is right in my world.

Having the view that our life is unfolding as it should is a double-edged sword.

When everything is going well, it is easy to lay claim to what is happening.

When everything is not going well, it is much more difficult to find the bits and pieces that still work; to stay focused on the positive; to still claim our lives and find our way forward.

Having had many disruptions in 2015, I know how hard it is to stay focused on the positive. However, those disruptions and the work I had to do to find and focus on what was still working was well worth it because I’m stronger in my determination to manifest my dreams into my reality in 2016. And 2016 also had an abundance of disruptions! That certainly hadn’t changed but for the most part, I remained optimistic and steered my life back on course.

Every Monday in December I’ll be posting a blog on something positive. You are invited to join me on a quest to find ways to interact with each other in such a way that our world and the world of others will be a better place.

Please accept my invitation and join me!

Share what you do to move from a negative mindset to a positive one.

Share what you see going on in the world around you.

I also post at Romancing The Genres on the First Friday of the month. You can read mylatest post here.

Learn more about The Sacred Women’s Circle series on my website.

Check out my Windtree Press author page.

Follow me on Twitter: @JudithAshley19

I’m also on Facebook

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Relax On The Road

The big news where I live is that our roads are at capacity and four hundred thousand more people are expected to move here in the next four years and there’s no money for more roads! This news is the backdrop for this weeks post.

Although I no longer put 20K miles on my car each year, I still drive. This last winter another drive cut me off because I wasn’t tail gating the car in front of me.

“Stupid jerk!” “You could have killed me!” I yelled as I braked to keep from rear-ending that car.

This was not the first time I'd yelled at another driver, but it was one of the last. For some reason, I heard myself in a different way this time and realized that the energy I was expending was hurting me. As the other driver went on his way, I didn't really feel better although that spurt of fear had dissipated.

In the ‘90’s during the Balkan War I created a workshop “How To Bring Peace To Our World”. A workshop with only one simple premise. If you want peace in your world, you need to practice peace regardless of what is going on around you. I reminded myself of that workshop. I still believed in the premise even though in that a moment I wasn’t practicing it.

So I’ve changed.

I bought a reminder. Named her “Silver” and usually she is hanging from my passenger visor when I drive. (Right now our temperatures are so high, I know my car’s interior gets to over 100 degrees so she sits near my front door and reminds me of my promise to myself as I go out to my car).

What does she remind me about?

My yelling comes from my fear and it does not serve me Also, I’ve no idea what is happening in that other driver’s life. Is she rushing to work worried about being fired for being late? Is he rushing home because an emergency? Or it could be nothing like these examples. It could be the driver is just frustrated with his or her life and taking it out while driving. Maybe here, in the fast car or big truck or alone this is the way the driver feels in control or works off disappointment with other parts of life.

That day I realized it really makes no difference what's going on for the other driver. I was sending more negative energy into the world. The question I asked myself "Am I making the world, my world a better place?"

"No."

What I was doing was adding more fear, more anger, more upset, more frustrated energy to the world which was the opposite of what I wanted.

Those road-rage-type-drivers are still out there. But as they whip around me, cut in so close I’m slamming on my brakes to keep from hitting them I’m no longer yelling at them. I take a deep breath and concentrate on sending them 'safe trip energy'.

Here are a couple more tips to relax on the road:

1. Keep a safe distance between you and the cars in front of you.

2. Let other cars merge, oh just let that big semi-truck in too, at an on ramp.

3. When in the city, let a car in from a side street or parking lot.

4. When someone drives in an unsafe fashion, send them “be safe energy”.

5. Add an extra ten minutes or more to your estimated travel time. The worst that will happen is you’ll be a little early!

6. If possible schedule appointments and errands at non-rush hour times. If that’s not possible, find some way to stay calm and in the present as you idle on the freeway. (I look for red-tailed hawks and the occasional bald eagle).

What do you do to stay relaxed on the road? I’m always interested in adding to my repertoire!

Judith is on the senior teaching faculty of The William Glasser Institute. She is also the author of The Sacred Women’s Circle series, romantic fiction that honors spiritual traditions that nurture the soul. Hunter the fifth book in the series is now available at major e-retailers and here.

Learn more about The Sacred Women’s Circle series here.
Check out Judith’s Windtree Press Author Page. 
Judith also blogs on the first Friday of the month at Romancing The Genres.

Follow Judith on Twitter: judithashley19