What a challenging time on our planet. I don’t even watch the news because it is so disturbing. Instead, I keep on teaching peace. I pray. I meditate. I take inspired action. I try to remain peaceful because I know that peace is the way to garner the best perspective, to create a peaceful environment, and to access the wisdom and love that is inherent inside. It’s inside you too. And, believe it or not, it’s inside each one of us.

Recently, I was fortunate enough to be invited to the Chopra Center in San Diego to facilitate a women’s retreat. I talked on relationships, and how each relationship you are engaged in is colored by the relationship you have with yourself. For instance, if you are kind to yourself, you are probably kind to others. If you intolerant of certain aspects of yourself, you are probably intolerant of certain aspects of others.

Meditation practice can cultivate and extend this feeling of peace; it’s the peace that exists, right here, right now, inside you and you can connect to your center point of peace, even in the midst of sadness, grief, or overwhelm. Meditation will also help you to cultivate the strength to bear witness to life: not just the stuff you like, but all of it that comes to you. Then if you are present, you’ll heed the call of love. It will call you forth in action. Love in action is compassion.

Sometimes in meditation, you are able to transcend whatever mental or emotional boundaries or limitations you are experiencing, whether you have anger, prejudice, resentment, or intolerance for a certain socio-economic group, profession, political party, candidate, age group, religion, or people from another country.

You connect to the deepest part of you, that part of you that knows that love wins. That part of you that knows that peace wins. That part of you that is love. Then, when you come out of meditation, the contrast between the truth of this love and peace, and that of any interior intolerance you experience, is more pronounced. As you become aware of that divide inside of you, you can become curious about it. To examine your own beliefs and thoughts that cause you to contract instead of expand, is paramount in order to be the peace you want to see in the world.

Meditation can heighten your awareness and help you to be more compassionate, peaceful, and kind. Genius Albert Einstein once said, “Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty.” All living creatures. I’m up for the challenge, are you?