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 By Stephen Dinan, founder and CEO of The Shift Network
At our recent annual staff retreat (which was awesome!), we agreed that if there is one area where we want to make a major philanthropic impact in the world, it is in the area of peace.
The work of raising consciousness has a natural side result of fostering peace as we begin to see ourselves as one human family and heal the past that has divided us.
This edition of The Catalyst is all about our Peace Ambassador graduates who are taking bold actions to create a more peaceful world, starting with themselves, their families and communities. We are starting a new cycle of this amazing training in a few weeks and if you want to be in the loop, register for this Wednesday call with many of the world's top peacebuilders.
In compiling this issue, we received fantastic stories — powerful and deeply authentic. That's why we are including so many! Deb Pellegrini is working to prevent bullying in her son's school. Robin Gurung is a refugee from Bhutan striving to help his people. Emily Hine drew upon inner peace tools while healing herself of cancer. Mutima Imani is healing racial divides. Andrew Millens has organized celebrations for the International Day of Peace.
Laurie Marshall and Aida Topić are teaming up to create a peace event in Sarajevo to acknowledge the 100th anniversary of World War I. Jennae Wallach and 60 Peace Ambassadors in Oakland are working for peace in that city. Soha Al-Jurf, an award-winning American-Palestinian writer, shares beautiful reflections about being a Peace Ambassador in the face of the world's many tragedies. Linda Klein recently participated in the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. Jim Healy is creating space for dignity and respect in all relationships and Kate Traci is taking inner peace practice into political action.
I love these stories and the amazing impact that the graduates are having in the world!
There are now over 800 Peace Ambassador graduates around the world. The seventh Peace Ambassador Training will start on April 16th. To celebrate, we will have a special tiered pricing making the training available to more people. I do hope you will join us for the introduction call on Wednesday, March 25, 2014 with some fantastic speakers — The Peace Imperative in Your Life and the World.
Enjoy the inspiration in this issue!
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| Dr. Deborah Rozman, Ph.D., a Peace Ambassador Guest Faculty, explains the FreezeFrame™ technique. This technique helps you stop the movie of life, "freeze the frame," so you can actually enter the frame, edit the frame and have a different outcome. This gives you a more heart perspective of that frame, to make different choices in that moment.
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| Oakland Peacebuilders share their vision for peace. Approximately 60 Peace Ambassadors have been trained in Oakland, including several people in this video. Jennae Wallach's article tells more about the vision for peace in Oakland (see below). (If you want to organize a city-wide Peace Ambassador Training, contact: philip@theshiftnetwork.com) |
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 Founded in the hope that one day our world will be bully free.
By Deb Pellegrini, a Peace Ambassador
Bullying impacts everyone. Not a week goes by without hearing about a devastating result of bullying. It is a global problem and it involves nearly every age group . . . [read more]
 Peace Ambassador Training: A New Road Map for the Refugees of Happiness
By Robin Gurung, a Peace Ambassador
I was born on November 8, 1988, in a small village in Bhutan, at a time when the "happiest country in the world" was beginning a campaign of ethnic cleansing. The target was the Lhotsampas, ethnic Nepalese people, most of whom had been legal citizens of Bhutan for generations . . . [read more]
 Inner Peace IS the Path to World Peace
By Emily Hine, a Peace Ambassador
If you are like me and attracted to the conscious offerings of the Shift Network, you are passionate about wanting to transform yourself and the world for the benefit of all beings. Sometimes, however, that level of passion can come at a high cost . . . [read more]
 Healing Racial Wounds
By Mutima Imani, a Peace Ambassador
I have been in the role of peacemaker all my life, speaking out and engaging in processes as a child that included negotiating, mediating and arbitrating a place for myself and family in communities where we were the first Black people around . . . [read more]
 The International Day of Peace — a Global Celebration
By Andrew Millen, a Peace Ambassador
I would like to start by commenting that undoubtedly my enrollment in the 2013 Peace Ambassador Training program changed my life. It is only after a period of reflection that one can look back and see how much something has influenced you and I feel very much a different person for being part of it . . . [read more]
  Create Peace Project Goes to Sarajevo
By Laurie Marshall (with Aida Topić), Peace Ambassadors
I took the first Peace Ambassador Training program and loved the clarity of the Five Pillars and meeting such inspiring peace leaders — both the speakers and fellow participants. Through the stories and practices of the class, I gained language, frameworks and hope for the reality of the successful transformation of conflict . . . [read more]
For submissions and recommendations, email editor@theshiftnetwork.com.
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 Our Vision: Oakland as a City of Peace. Oakland as a City of Peace Builders.
By Jennae Wallach, a Peace Ambassador
In 2011, I attended the Newark Peace Education Summit featuring His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Nobel Peace laureates, and community leaders from around the country each contributing to peace-building in their own way. It was my first visit to Newark in decades — the place I was born, grew up, learned about the civil rights movement first-hand . . . [read more]
 Reflections on Being a Peace Ambassador
By Soha Al-Jurf, a Peace Ambassador
When I first read about the Peace Ambassador Training program, I envisioned it as a program that would provide me with a specific set of rules or principles that would help me become something — a step-by-step process through which I would be guided by a select group of experts on how to go off into the world and act . . . [read more]
 Pathways to Peace and the United Nations
By Linda Klein, a Peace Ambassador
My experience with the Peace Ambassador Training (PAT) has been no less than miraculous. The first go round was a few years ago when I was looking to go deeper into my personal world of peace and how to move it outward globally . . . [read more]
 MY "PEACE"
By Jim Healy, a Peace Ambassador
I took the Peace Ambassador Training in the spring of 2012. It changed my life in several ways, including by putting me in touch with good hearted people from all around the world . . . [read more]
 Cultivating the Witness and Taking Action
By Kate Traci, a Peace Ambassador
The Peace Ambassador Training program has enriched my life most notably from the first week. The module on "cultivating the witness" and the homework to practice such mindfulness has impacted me greatly. I can step back and view my perceived "failures" in such a different light . . . [read more]
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As She Is – Restoring Sacred Balance to Life. This film project is about a personal and collective journey towards wholeness . . . to reclaim, value and live the feminine aspect of ourselves. To learn more how you can support this film – click here.
Film about Barbara Marx Hubbard – The story of one of the world's greatest visionaries is now being made into a documentary, called American Visionary: The Story of Barbara Marx Hubbard. During WWII, Barbara was devastated by the U.S. dropping atomic bombs on Japan. Every day, Barbara would ask people, "What is the meaning of our new powers that is good?" One day, she received a vision that answered her question. Because of that, she's been telling the story of the "birth" of a new humanity, or global transformation. She has influenced thousands of people, until finally, we can see how the human species will evolve beyond a critical tipping point. Find out what Barbara sees as the key that will shift humanity from global crises to global transformation. View the film's fundraising trailer and consider contributing to the Indiegogo Campaign at: click here.
Create Peace Project Goes To Sarajevo – Peace Ambassador Laurie Marshall of Create Peace Project in San Francisco and Peace Ambassador Aida Topić of Art Grupa in Sarajevo are teaming up to create a Sarajevo Peace Event this June. 100 years after World War I began, from the place that World War I began, they are sending a message that Creativity and Community are the way to handle conflict. Click here to learn more about and to support this event.
Redefining Purpose of Education — Developing a Curriculum for Peace written by Peace Ambassador Ambika Talwar (Prof.) Published in the Journal of Indian Research, this paper is a result of Ambika's direct and multi-layered experience of teaching two peace themed writing courses at a community college in the suburbs of Los Angeles, California. Click here to read this paper.
Multi-Stakeholder Collaboration: How Government, Business, and Non-Governmental Leaders Transform Complex Challenges into New Possibilities – A report written by Peace Ambassador Fred Krawchuk of The One Earth Future Foundation – click here.
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2014 Catalyst: (#6, 3/23) (#5, 3/9) (#4, 2/22) (#3, 2/8) (#2, 1/26) (#1, 1/12)
2013 Catalyst: (#22, 12/14) (#21, 11/30) (#20, 11/16) (#19, 11/3) (#18, 10/20) (#17, 10/6) (#16, 9/21) (#15, 9/8) (#14, 8/25) (#13, 8/4) (#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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Pathways To Peace: an international peacebuilding, educational and consulting organization dedicated to making peace a practical reality through both local and global projects. To learn more, click here.
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Sharon Abreu is a Peace Ambassador. She met her partner Mike Hurwicz met at a coffeehouse in Greenwich Village over fifteen years ago. Soon, the activist-singing-songwriting duo was appearing with legendary folk singer Pete Seeger at benefit concerts. Their music style is heartfelt folk with to-the-point lyrics about current issues. Their MO: to protect the natural systems we all depend on for water, air and food. Their focus is educating others on creating a culture of peace through BePeace practices and singing. To learn more, click here.
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