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 By Stephen Dinan, founder and CEO of The Shift Network
The Summer of Peace 2013 continues in beautiful ways with this issue, as we turn the spotlight on extraordinary peacebuilders. We encourage you to join us, and make this YOUR summer of peace—practice healing any unhealed residue from the past and building bridges where there once were divides—because living from oneness is the call of our time!
Our Director of Peace, Philip Hellmich, has spent recent weeks in Washington DC—building alliances with groups like the Friends Committee on National Legislation (see their article on Stopping Atrocities Before They Start below), Search for Common Ground (Susan Collin Marks writes on Nelson Mandela below), the Peace Alliance and the Alliance for Peacebuilding.
We also feature the heartwarming story of Ronny Edry, who launched the viral Israel Loves Iran movement that has built human friendships and connections across one of the most bitter of political divides. And the founder of iRest, Richard Miller, who is working with veterans and others who have been traumatized.
Four people from our leadership team, including myself, will be in Israel and Palestine for the next two weeks on vacation and building connections. We'll share more on this in the next issue. We helped sponsor the Jerusalem Harmony in the Holy Land event last December 22, and we look forward to linking with the extraordinary souls working to have the Holy Land fulfill its sacred purpose.
Take inspiration from all these efforts... and create your own! Global peace is built from millions of hearts working together.
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 | Kids4Peace
Beautiful example of kids from multiple faiths and cultures finding a higher common ground in peace |
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 Stop Atrocities Before They Start
By Michael Shank and Madeline Rose, Friends Committee on National Legislation; first published by CNN, Fri April 26, 2013
Just over one year ago, President Barack Obama launched the Atrocities Prevention Board to find ways to get ahead of the kind of crisis we're seeing in Syria, and the kind we witnessed in Darfur and Rwanda. The board's aim is to shift U.S. foreign policy away from responding to atrocities to preventing them; to oversee the development of prevention and response policy, and to deal with urgent situations as they arise . . . [read more]
 Leadership Renewal: From Good to Great
By Susan Collin Marks (Summer of Peace Wisdom Council) Senior Vice President, Search for Common Ground - a version of this article was first published on Forbes.com in April 2013
If you ever need to be reminded of the power of the human spirit, stand outside Nelson Mandela's 6 x 9 foot cell on Robben Island, the desolate prison where he was the highest security prisoner of South Africa's apartheid regime . . . [read more]
Mark your calendar for August 17, 10 am Pacific for a whole tribute event for Nelson Mandela.
 Healing Trauma's Heart: An Interview with Richard Miller, Founder of iRest
Miller and his organization have established iRest programs at various military sites, homeless shelters, prisons, hospices, universities, chemical dependency, mental health, Multiple Sclerosis and cancer outpatient clinics. In this interview he discusses the trauma of losing connection with the self, how mindfulness can reminds us of the heart, and how the heart reminds us we are inescapably connected to others on any path towards true freedom and enduring peace . . . [read more]
 Israel Loves Iran: An Interview with Ronny Edry
Martin Gak of Kosmopolitica spoke to Ronny Edry, the founder of "Israel Loves Iran", a grassroots campaign for promoting peace in the Middle East amid the growing tensions between Israel and Iran. What began as an image on Facebook . . . has since become a full fledged online movement and a non-profit organization . . . [read more]
For submissions and recommendations, email editor@theshiftnetwork.com.
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 Fred Arment: Building Bridges Everyone Can Cross
By Philip M. Hellmich, Director of Peace at The Shift Network
A sailboat's wake is a quiet and profound salutation. Sails burgeoning with power, clouds swirling in blue sky, air carrying faint sounds of seagulls, the world is in motion with an eternal clarity. A sailboat's wake is a bridge, however temporary, between humanity and nature. For sailboater's like me, the deep slice of the hull through water creates a silent, swirling tunnel that, as if I've never passed, soon dissipates in the vast ocean. Yet that temporary vortex makes me understand how important our lives can be. When the wake settles and the waves rejoin, it leaves an experience in me so rich that my heart synchronizes with the ocean's peace . . . [read more]
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2013 Catalyst: (#12, 7/21), (#11, 7/7), (#10, 6/16) (#9, 6/2) (#8, 5/12) (#7, 4/28) (#6, 4/14) (#5, 3/24) (#4, 2/24) (#3, 2/9) (#2, 1/26) (#1, 1/13)
Birth 2012 Catalyst: (#15, 12/9) (#14, 12/1) (#13, 11/22) (#12, 11/10) (#11, 11/3) (#10, 10/20) (#9, 10/6) (#8, 9/16) (#7, 9/8) (#6, 8/25) (#5, 8/16) (#4, 8/4) (#3, 7/28) (#2, 7/21) (#1, 7/14)
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Plant a Peace Pole - order now for the International Day of Peace
A Peace Pole is a hand-crafted monument that displays the message and prayer, "May Peace Prevail on Earth," on each of its four or six sides—usually in different languages. There are tens-of-thousands of Peace Poles in 180 countries all over the world dedicated as monuments to peace. They serve as constant reminders for us to visualize and pray for world peace.
You can plant a Peace Pole at your home, school, religious center, town park, etc... Designing a Peace Pole ceremony is a wonderful opportunity to create a conversation about your group's commitment to peace and your shared common humanity with people around the world. Planting a Peace Pole on the International Day of Peace is an extra-special way to connect with the global community.
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Summer of Peace – Over 50 of the world's top peacebuilders share their wisdom on how we can create peace, including  Nobel Laureate Jody Williams (photo at left), Chief Phil Lane Jr., Don Oscar Miro-Quesada, Col. Puck Mykelby, James O'Dea, Ambassador Chowdhury and more. Plus FREE bonus recordings from Summer of Peace 2012.
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