Call to Action: Global Meditation for Peace on January 26

(TMU) — With so much chaos and conflict in our world, why not stop to focus your intentions on spreading peace to the human family?

One of our goals at the Mind Unleashed is to “disseminate and inspire out-of-the-box thinking and act as a catalyst for people to discover the limitless potential that exists inside us all.” We do this by writing and sharing articles that we hope will educate and empower our readers. Unfortunately, we do not live in a perfectly peaceful and blissful world so our content can be a bit heavy sometimes.

Whether we are talking about cops treating homeless folks like sh*t, Donald Trump bragging about treating the military as his personal mercenaries, U.S. drone strikes reportedly killing 60 civilians, or pedophiles among the ranks of the Boy Scouts of America—there is an abundance of difficult news to face. While we do spend time highlighting the darker sides of humanity, we also focus on the positive and uplifting stories that we hope will inspire and encourage you to discover your limitless potential.

One of these stories involves a recent call for a synchronized global meditation for peace being organized by activist and artist Miriam Gomez. The “Mass Meditation for Peace” is part of the Meditation Flash Mob movement which originally started in 2011 when organizers held over 400 simultaneous meditations in public locations around the world.

The event states that the one hour meditation is “intended to cultivate inner peace and awareness and spark a movement of peace out into the world.” Gomez told TMU that her inspiration for this global meditation came from recognizing the perils currently facing humanity.

“We have governments calling for war, countries around the world facing terrible natural disasters, the Amazon—the lungs to our planet—facing dangerous fires, children being trafficked, and our indigenous communities continue to suffer, and generational trauma is rising to the surface to be healed,” Gomez also said.

According to the event page, the goal of the synchronized global meditation is to create an environment where people of all walks of life can come together in meditation and expose others to the practice with public displays of meditation. While Gomez is planning a meditation for her hometown of Houston, Texas, those who are interested are asked to create similar meditations and healing events in their own communities. Together the participating cities will meditate, pray, and reflect on peace for the world.

Gomez stated that she takes inspiration from the growing number of scientific studies detailing how meditation can provide health benefits as well as create a “ripple effect of positivity when we meditate in large numbers.” Indeed, there are a number of studies discussing the benefits of meditation.

A 2016 study by the University of Oxford in the UK found that mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) may be more helpful than other treatments for people with recurring depression. MBCT combines traditional Cognitive Behavioral Therapy methods with psychological strategies such as mindfulness and mindfulness meditation. Mindfulness is the practice of becoming aware of, and accepting of incoming thoughts without attaching or reacting to them. The practice is common among most meditation practices. MBCT was designed to help those suffering from chronic depression to learn to respond constructively to their emotions.

Additionally, in April 2015, Anti-Media reported on a study published in the Lancet medical journal which found that MBCT may be just as effective as pharmaceuticals when it comes to preventing chronic depression relapse. Researchers at Britain’s Oxford University and Plymouth University Peninsula Schools of Medicine and Dentistry conducted the first large-scale study to compare the treatment of chronic depression with MBCT and anti-depressants. They found very little difference in the results of the two different treatments including a minimal difference in the cost of the mindfulness training versus the constant use of pharmaceuticals.

“These results suggest a new choice for the millions of people with recurrent depression on repeat prescriptions,” Willem Kuyken of Oxford University told Reuters.

The expanding scientific literature on meditation provides a scientific rationale for making time for quiet contemplation. It is this call for quiet contemplation and intentions of world peace which are guiding Miriam Gomez’s call for a mass meditation.

“I believe it is important to stand in our power to organize and meditate together in the masses and move forward knowing that all life is interconnected and with our hearts minds and inspired action, we can continue to make changes bringing peace to all people, all creatures and all life on earth.”

Those interested in joining the Global Mass Meditation for Peace taking place on January 26 at 12 pm Central Time can learn more on the Facebook or Evensi pages. Find your local time using this tool.

By Derrick Broze | Creative Commons | TheMindUnleashed.com