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Peace Love Action by Worldwide Changemakers
- Tanya Zabinski
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Welcome to Healing from Within. I am your host Sheryl Glick a Reiki Master Energy Teacher medium and author of A New Life Awaits Spirit Guided Insights to Support Global Awakening which shows through many shared stories and interactions with others, that it is not political social religious or economic challenges undermining our potential for happiness health and prosperity, but our failure to know ourselves as spiritual beings having a physical life and to recognize our inner capacity or soul nature and intuition to guide us to make right and purposeful choices. I am delighted to welcome Tanya Zabinski the author of Peace Love and Action who is using her many talents to share messages of hope and love to expand hearts minds and spirit for greater compassion and good will.
As listeners of Healing From Within are well aware Sheryl and her guests share intimate experiences and views of the metaphysical aspects of life and date as we explore the duality of our physical life and interactions with spiritual awareness and higher consciousness learning we are more than our body and Consciousness survives physical death. For those who truly know this fact they are free to explore and create their life journey in its infinite potential for finding happiness peace and love.
In today’s episode of Healing From Within Tanya Zabinsi shares in her book Peace Love Action a very thoughtful artistic vision of visionaries and leaders in the biographies and messages of truly inspiring people from A to Z. So we have stories of 26 peacemakers and change makers and their messages that have been chosen to be highlighted. Tanya Zabinski will share her most basic definition of a peaceful activist who is someone who works to choose love over fear, just as Dr. King did. We can direct love toward ourselves, toward our family and friends, and toward many people and situations. Being a peaceful activist doesn’t mean we need to love the actions of an oppressor, but if we strive to see points of light within even the most harmful person or circumstance, act out of love and not fear we will create a loving healthy lifestyle changing ourselves for the better and shining love and compassion into the world. Today we will hear stories of many people who have found peace through expressing their most divine thoughts into action.
When Tanya is asked to think back to her childhood and remember a person place event that may have shown her or others in her life the work or lifestyle she would create as an adult she tells us that as a child, she thought that to be a helpful force in the world, she’d need to wait until she was older. She imagined joining the Peace Corps and helping people in far-off lands. But what if we see peace not as something we need to wait to practice until we’re older? What if we can practice it right now? Even as an adult, I often feel like my capacity for personal action is in short supply when just keeping up with the daily grind can be more than enough to manage. Can we see peace ”not” as something we attend to after our daily grind, but something we do right in the middle of it? What if we can give attention to what’s going on inwardly and work to develop peace of mind, so that, like a smile, it naturally spills outward?
IN THIS BOOK, you will encounter many stories of extraordinary people. Some may be familiar and others may be new to you. To this inspiring collection I would like to add one more story: of the author herself, my friend Tanya. Tanya and I have been traveling on parallel paths for thirty years now. When we first met in a painting class at Buffalo State College, I was all of eighteen, and she was twenty-five. We decided to become housemates and moved in with another budding artist, Laylah Ali. Our mailbox, with its trifecta of ethnic names, read like a microcosm of Buffalo itself. I don’t know if there was something special in the water in that little apartment, but each of us went on to create independent and self-directed careers making socially conscious art. Tanya’s positive, simple art works have manifested in the world in a myriad of ways, from the prints and paintings that hang all over my house, to the murals that brighten various public spaces in our hometown, to the hand-printed shirts that walk the globe transmitting her inspired imagery. She, like any artist, has had to be very creative not just in the making of her art, but also in devising ways to turn that art into a livelihood. What is most extraordinary is the degree of attention and intention she applies to that process. She triangulates her creativity with a high degree of social responsibility, and all of her choices flow from there. From her example, I have learned a lot about how to live within a model of sustainability and care. Tanya studies herbalism and homeopathy and attended to me around the birth of both my children. She was recycling and actively participating in food cooperatives long before I or the culture at large seemed to understand the implications of such things The artwork herein and the stories that accompany them teach and inspire. They warm the body with feelings of hope and invigoration. They challenge the mind to view the world in a positive and life-affirming way. These are the gifts Tanya gives me as a friend and comrade. I’m excited that this book will bring her wisdom and worldview, her joy and generosity to ever more people. Ani DiFranco January 2019
Peace is a universal cause, but the way each person advances that cause is highly personal. In this book Tanya shares a variety of ways individual people have found to open to love and advance peace. In compiling these stories of peaceful activists, she discovered many commonalities. The main trait that all the activists share is that they each have love as a motivating force.
Even as a child, Jane Goodall expressed a love of animals and nature. Autumn Peltier is still a child, and she advocates for clean water from a heartfelt connection to it. Hand in hand with love is perseverance; all the activists faced obstacles that required them to stay strong and carry on. As Rachel Carson wrote her groundbreaking book Silent Spring, she was beset by serious illnesses. Although this slowed her writing down, her deep love of nature and her desire to protect it gave her the will to persevere. All of the peaceful activists also share an unconventional spirit. They used creative thinking. They thought and acted outside the box. She also blazed a trail by being the first African American woman in the United States Congress. At a time when most music schools believed talent was inherited and required students to show musical aptitude before accepting them, Shinichi Suzuki opened his music school to anyone, including three-year-old children. Instead of running away from discrimination, Valarie Kaur moves toward it to document it, hold it to the light of day, find what needs healing, and let in love. Several of the peaceful activists tied together two interests or issues in a unique way. Pete Seeger fused music with social and environmental activism. Thich Nhat Hanh integrates spirituality with practicality. Wangari Maathai combined environmental issues with social issues. Jon Kabat-Zinn applies modern science to ancient practices of yoga and meditation. Ruth Johnson Colvin integrated building self-esteem into her adult literacy program. Leah Penniman connects farming with racial justice, community building, song, dance, health and healing, and even prayers and celebration. Andrew Bienkowski and Azim Khamisa both illustrate the ability to spin hardship into gold. Banished to a concentration camp in Siberia, Bienkowski was still able to find something for which he could be grateful. When his only son was murdered by a gang member, Khamisa was able to transform his pain into compassionate action. Both men chose love over anger, and in healing their own wounds, they became a light for others. No one of these heroes stood alone. The activists all had support—guides, mentors, or helpers. Whether from a parent, a partner, a friend, a teacher, an organization, a spiritual practice—or, in Norman Cousins’s case, some Marx Brothers films—each person received a form of assistance. All of these activists used the skills they had and developed new skills as needed. They stretched themselves. They grew—and, in the process, they illuminated the way for many.
The Japanese poet Ikkyū wrote: Many paths lead from the foot of the mountain, but at the peak we all gaze at the single bright moon. Learning about the paths of these peaceful activists has shone a light on my own path. It’s helped me find places where I can open to love. It is my wish that these stories, and the art that goes with them, add light and beauty to your path, as we all make our way up the mountain.
Tanya’s most basic definition of a peaceful activist is someone who works to choose love over fear, just as Dr. King did. We can direct love toward ourselves, toward our family and friends, and toward many people and situations. Being a peaceful activist doesn’t mean we need to love the actions of an oppressor, but if we strive to see points of light within even the most harmful person or circumstance, act out of love and not fear. Gandhi told us, “If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change toward him.” Being a peaceful activist is not about blaming someone else—or ourselves. It’s about doing what we have the power to do. It involves inner work and outer work. It’s personal and communal. In the image to the left, the flower represents beauty, inspiration, and inward action. The hammer signifies strength and outward action. A peaceful activist needs both inspiration and action.
Tanya also drew portraits of each person whose story she told. That seems like a totally different artistic skill to capture the likeness of a person from a soul perspective.
Tanya represents the unique people in the book by using the alphabet with messages of our responsibility to as in A is for Appreciate a need of the soul and each being to recognize something valuable for themselves and society.
A IS FOR APPRECIATE The story of a young girl whose mission it was to share with the world the sacred nature of water nature and our caring for the planet and she came to know sadness just by reading the sign below.
PUBLIC NOTICE: DO NOT DRINK THE WATER This sign is one of many posted near Autumn Peltier’s home. It refers to the tap water. Its message has made her worry, cry, get mad, and speak out as a water advocate. Autumn Peltier is Anishinaabe from the Wikwemikong Unceded Reserve on Manitoulin Island in the Great Lakes. She lives surrounded by water. In the indigenous worldview, water is sacred; it is alive and has a spirit. Water needs to be treated with dignity and respect. It might seem natural then, that the issue of water is important to Autumn. Embedded in her First Nations culture is a code of respect for all living things. Autumn’s mother has taught her the Seven Grandfathers Teaching and the importance of water since Autumn was a toddler. Autumn’s great-aunt, Josephine Mandamin, was a respected
B IS FOR BREATHE describes the next person’s biography THICH NHAT HANH (pronounced tik n’yat hawn) was born in Vietnam. When he was sixteen, he became a Buddhist monk, making a promise to become peaceful, happy, and calm, and to be kind and loving toward all living beings. He learned how to meditate and concentrate. As he grew older, he discovered a way to breathe so he could stay calm and loving even in very difficult situations. When we are aware of our breathing, we get in touch with ourselves and how we are feeling. Try it! Feel the sensation of the air coming in and out of your nose. Put your hand on your belly. Feel how it rises and expands as you breathe in, and falls as you breathe out. Breathing calmly and mindfully, we become fully present, fully alive. When Thich Nhat Hanh was twenty years old, there was a war in Vietnam. He and his friends had a choice: remain in their monasteries practicing meditation, or help people suffering from the devastation of the war. Thich Nhat Hanh chose to do both. He and his friends trained thousands of young students in practical skills like farming, building, and medicine, so they could go out and help rebuild villages destroyed by the bombs. He taught the students how mindful breathing could help them stay brave and compassionate in dangerous situations.
Thich Nhat Hanh also took part in international peace talks to end the war. He established peaceful communities where people of all ages can go to learn the art of mindful living. He realized there are wars, not only because humans have a lot of bombs and weapons, but because we have a lot of fear, anger, and hatred. But if we know how to breathe gently, and release stress and tension in our body, we can practice compassion toward our feelings of fear, anger, and hatred, and we can meet them with kindness. We can also practice compassion toward others. In this way, we learn to live in peace. Thich Nhat Hanh has written more than a hundred books on meditation, mindfulness, and peace! He’s also trained many young monks and nuns to continue teaching mindfulness, so that more people can learn how to practice peace and how to create a world without war.
Each biography is followed by a What You Can Do” section which is an integrative way. An example of a What You Can Do Section for B Is For Breathe which follows goes like this
WHAT YOU CAN DO
When you breathe in and breathe out, can you feel your breath moving through your body, from your nose down your throat into your chest and then into your lungs? Can you feel how your breath affects your whole body—your shoulders, your stomach and even your hands and feet?
Let yourself feel peaceful and relaxed as you breathe naturally. Just by breathing mindfully you are building peace. In difficult moments pay attention to how your breathing changes. Do you ever hold your breath? Enjoy letting it go. Next time you feel nervous or anxious, whether it’s taking a test, giving g an oral report, being up at bat, performing or anything else pay attention to your breath. Is it shallow? As you allow yourself to deepen, observe if you feel calmer.
DID YOU KNOW?
All living beings breath. No matter what our beliefs or our politics are, we all have an in breath and an out breath that we can be aware of. And we can let this awareness nourish us throughout the day.
Sheryl says that after becoming A Reiki Master Teacher and discovering through meditation an ability to sense intuitive messages from a higher realm of life or Spirit she also became aware of the breathe as the force of eternal life and connection to life in a physical realm as well as helping to transcend multi-dimensional realms of life.
Recently when ill with the Coronavirus and when the cough in my throat constricted my lungs I was able to expand my lungs with a deep breathe that exercised the lungs and oxygenated my body so I could stay at home and flow through the illness which was very challenging indeed. I think knowing how vital the breathe was and how healing for my body and soul, it was Spirits way to help me.
Tanya believes that acts of kindness and goodness will create many miracles: So many miracles that people will start to see that their soul power can manifest their thoughts and actions out into the world and as they change so the world changes.
Sheryl says that in our rapidly changing world we are experiencing a spiritual evolution-a time when people must realize the duality of life and start to merge their many talents and higher consciousness to solve personal collective and universal problems. It’s like blinders must be removed from our eyes and thinking and we must begin to see the world in its multi- dimensional aspects. As we are more than we appear so the world is also layers upon layers of life forces and many realities.
Tanya think this book is for young readers but Sheryl feels everyone young and old could learn about people who used their unique interests, talents, and love of life to move themselves past any and all challenges to truly inspire and help change the world.
Tanya’s advice for people who wish to contribute to life in some way:
- Be true to your inner intuition and wisdom or soul interest. Peace and happiness do not come from the outside world but from within
- Discover who you are and with persistence consistency hard work follow your dreams and goals and never quit.
- Be creative……Several of the peaceful. Pete Seeger fused music with social and environmental activism.
Thich Nhat Hanh integrates spirituality with practicality. Wangari Maathai combined environmental issues with social issues. Jon Kabat-Zinn applies modern science to ancient practices of yoga and meditation. Ruth Johnson Colvin integrated building self-esteem into her adult literacy program. Leah Penniman connects farming with racial justice, community building, song, dance, health and healing, and even prayers and celebration.
Peace is a universal cause, but the way each person advances that cause is highly personal. In this book I share a variety of ways individual people have found to open to love and advance peace. In compiling these stories of peaceful activists, I discovered many commonalities. The main trait that all the activists share is that they each have love as a motivating force
We thank Tanya Zabinski author of Peace Love Action…Everyday Acts of Goodness for sharing her perspective of the creative force of Spirit which shines from within our heart and soul and guides us to find love in many places people events as that is the journey of the soul. Read about extraordinary people from A to Z who shared their messages of peace love action.
In summarizing today’s episode of Healing From Within Tanya Zabinski has shared her life time journey of sharing goodness hope and beauty from her soul talents into the world and has written a book that shares 26 interesting and productive life journeys by visionaries changemakers and people who were born to improve the Human condition.
In my book A New Life Awaits Spirit Guided Insights to Support Global Awakening and the need of all beings here and beyond to embrace their higher consciousness and live a life of joy purposefulness and enduring self-discovery
Sheryl wrote, “The American people are ardently demanding changes to present corrupt, political, elitist, ruling-class practices that do not allow simple, kind, good values to be honored. As we question what we want in life and what is truly a just criteria for success, we are discovering that people embroiled in only a materialistic approach to life—either forgetting or never having considered their equally important spiritual needs for love, for compassion, to be of service to others, and to be free from greed— have become disconnected and dissatisfied. The quote by Shakespeare’s Polonius, “[t]o thine own self be true/And it must follow, as the night the day/Thou cannot then be false to any man,” is still a rightful way to approach and remember our deepest personal needs as well as the reason we incarnated into this life.
Sheryl has observed people who are not only happy and fulfilled, but often courageous and dynamic and bold leaders much needed in today’s world of conflict and confusion. Their general mindset reflects virtues including empathy, the acceptance of others with genuine regard for their differences, and respect for what we all can contribute to the world. In other words, these successful people are the antithesis to the competitive, unrelenting, and controlling drives of many of our politicians, corporate leaders, educators, and media who display a dog-eat-dog mentality.’
Tanya and I would have you know the time is now and we are all being given a great gift to awaken and know we are guided by a Higher Hand and Life Force of Love and can breathe in that magnificent gift to expand in sharing Peace Love through Action. Begin to know that everything you wish to contribute you can if you simply allow yourself to trust in all that is.
