Looking For Calm

I had the good fortune of attending the Mindfulness in Education Network conference hosted last weekend in DC. The conference is hosted every other year in Washington. After a wonderful day on Friday spent learning more about Courageous Schools-the Center for Renewal and an evening hearing Congressman Tim Ryan speak about his book A Mindful Nation, I was eager for more. Saturday the three founders of Holistic Life Foundation http://www.hlfinc.org in Baltimore spoke about their journey and shared how they got started and how they are impacting the lives of children through yoga, mindfulness, after school tutoring and support. Their story is inspiring! Andres was speaking about the power of love and asked us to do an exercise with the person sitting next to us. I had spent about 10 minutes before the morning program talking to Mary who sat on my left. But I was not, however, feeling as though I knew her and certainly was not expecting to engage in such a personal experience with her. We were asked after counting to three to look into each other’s eyes and say, “I Love you.” Repeat, “I Love you.” The entire group counted to three and said, “I Love you” out loud. It was far too quiet the first time for Andres, so we counted again…1,2,3 “I Love you” with much more conviction. He encouraged us to look around the room and take in the faces, the smiles and the people with whom we were sharing this experience. WOW! My heart felt so full I thought I might explode. Imagine what our world would be like if we were able to look into the eyes of our enemies or those that are different from us or those that we love the most but are angry with and say these words. We could change the world.