DAY 8 Feb. 6: The practice for today is HEALING.  Poet and activist, Maya Angelou turned a traumatic childhood experience into a catalyst for creativity and achievement.    She used this experience as a reason to bring peace to the world.

 We all have had such experiences, sometimes holding on to the experience for a very long time.  A mantram is a wonderful way to resolve conflict we hold in our mind and one of the best times to repeat the mantram is while falling asleep at night.  Tuck yourself in, close your eyes, and start repeating your mantram.  Between the last waking moment and the first sleeping moment, there is an opening into deepest consciousness.  You can send your mantram in through that opening, repeating itself in your sleep, healing old wounds and restoring your peace of mind.

 Today:  I will reflect on an incident in my life to find the "gift" it has brought me.  I will write down two ways I can use this memory to become a more creative and peaceful person.  Consciously, I share this gift with others.

DAY 9 Feb. 7: The practice for today is DREAMING.  Martin Luther King, Jr., had a great dream.   You too, have a dream - follow your dream, follow your heart, follow your inner light.   A dream, like a thought, is a precursor to action; a dream without action is just a hallucination.    

We need men (and women) who can dream of things that never were, and ask why not. -George Bernard Shaw

There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask, 'Why?' I dream of things that never were, and ask 'Why not?'

-Robert F Kennedy

Today:  I take ownership of my own dream for peace and nonviolence.  I will write down and act on at least one thing to honor my dream today.

DAY 10 Feb. 8: The practice for today is FAITH.  When Cesar Chavez was organizing farm workers in California, he challenged them to say, "Si, se puede" - yes, it is possible - when they didn't know how they would overcome obstacles.  You too, can say "Yes, it is possible" even if you don't know how your goal will be realized.  When you have faith, you will find a way.  Faith enables you to work free from tension, agitation, and fear of defeat.  When you approach life with faith, you are always at peace, because you are not anxious about the results.

Today:  I will say, "Yes, it is possible," to every obstacle I meet.  I will write down three things of which I am having a challenge and with each one write "It is possible for me to overcome this obstacle and be successful."

DAY 11 Feb. 9: The practice for today is CONTEMPLATION.  The "law of action" states that everything we do - even everything we think, since our thoughts condition our behavior - has consequences; not "equal and opposite" as in physics, but equal and alike. Many sacred texts tell us some variation of "your thoughts shape your reality". 

"The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness and the power of contemplation rather than upon mere survival."  -Aristotle

Today:  I take a moment to relax, breathe and let my mind be fed by what is good, beautiful, and peaceful.  As I think, so I am!  I will write down my thoughts and share them with others.

DAY 12 Feb. 10: The practice for today is GROUNDED.  Gandhi said "To forget how to dig the earth and tend the soil is to forget ourselves."  Black Elk reminds us "Some little root of the sacred tree still lives.  Nourish it, that it may leaf and bloom and fill with singing birds." 

This is how we feel when we are grounded, like a tree planted in the earth.  Stand up straight and close your eyes.  Imagine your body is a tree.  Send down roots into the soil, feel the sun shining from above.  Feel your branches and leaves blowing in the wind.  When we feel grounded, we feel secure in our environment; and when we feel secure, we are more likely to respond to a situation in a nonviolent way.  Being grounded helps us contribute to peace, to a culture of nonviolence.

Today:  I will nurture a plant or plant a seed in, and for, the earth.  When I am in a confrontational situation, I will recall that sense of being grounded and respond in a grounded, nonviolent way.

DAY 13 Feb. 11: The practice for today is CREATIVITY.  The human soul's natural desire is to create.  The best thing you can do is to nourish the soul to express this natural desire to create.  Your life is your creative expression.  Creativity allows something unpredictable and joyous to express through you.

"Why should we use all our creative power? . . . Because there is nothing that makes people so generous, joyful, lively, bold and compassionate, so indifferent to fighting and the accumulation of objects and money."  -Brenda Ueland

Today:  I reflect on what I am creating in my life today by identifying at least five ways in which I can express my creativity joyously.   I will create something that expresses my feelings about nonviolence.

DAY 14 Feb. 12:  The practice for today is HUMILITY.  Making mistakes is a part of learning and growing, an error in approach.  Paradoxically, the only way we can begin to resolve the consequences of our actions is to stop running from them and to face them with fortitude and humility.  In this sense, every difficult situation is a precious opportunity for learning.

 When we humbly acknowledge our mistakes and reflect on what we have learned, it frees us from the need to be defensive.   Being free from defending our position creates an opportunity for nonviolence.

 "The seeker after truth should be humbler than the dust. The world crushes the dust under its feet, but the seeker after truth should so humble himself that even the dust could crush him. Only then, and not till then, will he have a glimpse of the truth."           

-Gandhi