30 Days Until BlogBlast For Peace ~ November 4th

Thirty days from today we will blog for peace and post for peace on social media! Since 2006 bloggers and social media gurus have banded together on the same day to proclaim the same thing - PEACE. We are peace bloggers. Now on every continent and 214 countries/territories around the world. We're on FACEBOOK, Twitter, Instagram and every platform in between.

Want to join us? 

Here's how...

1. Make a peace globe! Simply choose a template (FOUND HERE) and design it with a peace message. There are thousands of examples made by peace bloggers at the Official Peace Globe Gallery @ http://blog4peace.com   I've even included a few in this post.
2. Title your blog or social media post with these three words, "Dona nobis pacem" which is Latin for Grant us Peace.
3. Publish your peace globe and post on November 4th. 

 Our theme this year is The Power of Words.

Each November our positive peaceful posts and peace globes are peppered around the globe on blogs and websites. You will find peace bloggers from Zimbabwe to Switzerland to Afghanistan to New England. On November 4th, we speak as one.  One subject. One voice. One day.

Our words matter. Make them count.

#blog4peace
#blogblast4peace
#peace
#donanobispacem









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We Mattered

Somehow the Universe led me to Pat's blog today.  Here in my jammies sitting out a hurricane and listening to the rain rain rain rain and more rain! 
We lost power early this morning for awhile. I am typing fast before Bloggingham goes dark again.  Forecasters say the worst of the actual flooding has just begun. The Cape Fear River will crest three stories high, I'm told. When the rain finally stops in a few days, the waters will continue to rise and flood roads and homes even more with uprooted trees. It is hard to imagine. The storm has moved at a snail's pace, giving folks a false sense of security.  Water is standing at the door of my basement garage and seems to be flowing up out of the ground instead of down the mountain as you might expect. Kind of like little waterfalls of saturated moisture springing up from the earth.  We are under a flash flood watch until later this evening.  If you find me floating somewhere down the river come midnight, please don't forget to blog for peace on November 4th! (Just a little dark humor there....) Which brings me to Pat...

I found a post on Pat Bertram's blog that expresses how I feel at this moment. The urgency to Blog4Peace has never left my soul since 2006. Perhaps it has increased.  We are still at war in many places, still at odds within ourselves, still fighting our brothers and sisters over politics, money, and now....even over words. Especially over WORDS.
This is part of a post she wrote a few days after Blog4Peace ended last year on November 17, 2017.  Read the full post HERE.  Let's listen.
She writes, "If we expand peace to a microscopic or even a cosmic plane, we see a stasis created by opposite but equal forces in conflict.  And yet...and yet.... On November 4, hundreds, maybe thousands of people were peacefully blogging about peace, creating peaceful images, sharing peaceful words, contemplating peace, visiting each other's peace blogs. A lovely day. A peaceful day. We may not have stopped wars or violence. We may or may not have attained peace within ourselves, may or may not have been at peace with our world. But we mattered."
Indeed. We still do.

Bertram's Blog deals with the author's journey through personal grief.  Pat's willingness to unload the burdens she's carried and continues to walk through is commendable, brave, and brilliant. The author of several insightful and reflective books, I highly recommend her writing.  She is the author of the suspense novels Madame ZeeZee's Nightmare, Unfinished, Light Bringer, Daughter Am I, More Deaths Than One, and A Spark of Heavenly Fire. Bertram is also the author of Grief: The Great Yearning, "an exquisite book, wrenching to read, and at the same time full of profound truths."
And she is a stellar peace blogger. Be like Pat.
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Image: Pixabay

Blog 4 Peace November 4 ~ Words Are Powerful

The first peace globe in 2006

Welcome to the 13th year of peace blogging! It is time for Blog4Peace aka BlogBlast For Peace! 
November 4, 2018
  As is our annual custom, people from all over the world are invited to write on the subject of peace, create and fly a peace globe (like those found HERE) and post on social media, blogs, Twitter, Instagram, wherever you are online.  Click here for a collection of free peace templates to use.
This year's theme?  The Power of Words

The motto "If we believe that words are powerful...then this matters,"  has been our mantra since 2006 when peace globes began. We started with the response of 51 people in the comment section of this blog who replied to my not-so-crazy idea of posting the same thing on the same day for the cause of peace. Today we are thousands of bloggers and 214 countries/territories strong on every continent across multiple blogs and every type of social media platform. 
 We were bloggers - eager and willing to launch an Internet experiment, eager to do "something" when we were feeling a tad helpless in a post-911 world.  
What has changed? Only the numbers and places. We are still on a mission to be faithful to the idea of a peaceful world and adamantly hopeful that the idea can and will become reality.
  Thankfully, nobody stopped to wonder IF we'd make a difference or HOW we'd get this accomplished or WHEN we'd ever do it again. We only knew the WHY.  We wanted to speak up for a cause much bigger than ourselves, one that affected all of us in the most minute ways and all of us in the grandest of ways.  Sixteen years later we are still blogging for peace in November, welcoming bloggers, writers, and artists from all over the world and continuing to create a global community of good and decent intentions, peaceful actions, and powerful traditions.   We did make a difference. We DO make a difference. 
Words. are. powerful.
Have you noticed how even the smallest of words from the smallest of minds can reverberate loudly across the airwaves and cause us to sit up and pay attention to them?  Have you noticed that the most noble of words from the most admirable minds can do the same?
Which words will get your attention? 
Which words are more powerful? The small or the noble?  Which words have the largest influence? Which words should be responded to and which should be ignored?
 Do all words affect change?   All words certainly plant seeds of change. They can sprout seeds of disruption or yield a harvest of reconciliation. 

  
I believe that how we respond to voices of ignorance determines our intelligence. I believe that how we respond to voices of meanness determines our kindness. I believe that how we respond to voices of hate will define our character.
Our words are who we are. Make them count.


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Summertime!

Happy Summer everyone! Even though it's not officially summer yet, I'm starting mine early.  It's been a while since I checked into the blog. How have you all been??? What are your summer plans?
  I am looking forward to roaming about Bloggingham with my grandsons (one is six, one is thirteen!) and hanging out at the river or beach. I am looking forward to writing a lot, staying up late (because that's when I write the most - after midnight) and eating Italian ice desserts (low fat).  I've planted lots of flowers this year and a few berry bushes to tend.  Exciting, no? Baseball games will be my Friday night spot and this is the summer for learning to cook the Paleo way.
I am dating (again!) and meeting new and interesting people. My perspective on what that means for me has changed and I am going more with the flow, keeping my standards but throwing out expectations.  Does that make sense? It does to me. There could be pencil skirt blog posts to follow....Stay tuned.

That child....

My main goal this summer is to take care of myself and take time for myself. I have some physical healing still to do. It serves me well to slow down and smell the roses....or the feet.


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Out on the River In Batman's Shoes

It seems like yesterday when I wrote the story of your birth. Six years later we're here at the river of peace. My river. My place. The soft sounds of birds and water mingling, crisp air and sunshine, the threat of rain and the quack of Mallards.  I sit and contemplate. Feeding ducks and watching sunsets. The rocks and water you love so much. And today, I am watching you climb. You are climbing  farther and farther away .....

"Don't go too far! Baby Beans!" I shout. "And don't run. Don't run on the rocks. Just walk slowly and watch your step. Careful. Slow and steady."

It's not so much the river I fear. It's those blasted beautiful chunks of granite beneath your little Batman shoes. I'm not out there with you. Just watching from my own safe rocky seat, perched with a camera, a banana, a water bottle that keeps rolling away, and the eagle eye of a grandmother who knows all too well the lightning speed of time, how it steals the years before you know it, slips from your grasp...and suddenly, you're sitting in a nice safe river space watching your own baby beans jump from rock to rock, adventure to adventure. "I wanna go THIS way, Mimi, Look at MEeeeee!" and each time I say, "Careful my boy. Slow and steady. Watch your step. Slow down." We'll come back tomorrow, I think to myself....we'll have another day. More time. Except. Maybe we won't. 
Strangely, I feel that time for me is slowing down to a nice slow anticipated finale, which will unexpectedly crescendo into new adventures. Perhaps my mood is based on the smell of algae at my feet.  Life pushed me here ya know. In a hurry. Work to do. Bills to pay. One hundred things to do each day for the last twenty years in the name of surviving... just so I can get to this riverbank day, and a few short months from the promising world of retirement, also known as Phase 3 in the Life of Mimi.
I used to bring your older brother to this same river.  We had marvelous days of exploring and side-quacked moments. I miss him here with us today, but feel him alongside us nonetheless.
Baby Beans jumps and I hear a splash. One shoe drops in the water. It's time for a water rescue. Oh!! Never mind, he's got this. "Slow down, my boy. Be careful...." The words unheeded by the boy reverberate back in waves down the river, flowing in reverse to me like an echo, lapping in wisdom at my tennis-shoes now wet with worry and visions of a swiftly changing world just down the road of my crazy life swirl in my head like the rings of ripples caused by the skipping of rocks thrown gingerly in the water by the hand of the boy you see standing firmly in a red shirt and fearless face. Words. Words you see, always flow back to the one who sent them.  I know that I must heed my own words.
"Slow down.  Be careful. Don't run. Choose carefully. Don't run. Watch what you're doing, Mimi. Slow and steady." I'm reminded that each day is important, not just the finish line.  I'm skipping from rock to rock too. Carefully choosing which way to go. Will I fall? Will I lose my shoe in the river like you did? Who will be there to fetch it out for me? Will I be strong enough to dive in and gather it myself?
We come in from the bank and start to climb up the small cliff towards home. You see me tentatively sizing up a large rock in front of me, considering how to get down to the other side without falling. Without a word you hold out your little hand.  "I need to help my Mimi," you say to yourself, but loud enough for my heart to skip a beat at the goodness in you. "Here. Hold my hand." I take your ball-throwing fingertips in the age-spotted curl of my hand and you squeeze my hand so tightly.  "Now jump!" you tell me, "Jump!"
With all that could go wrong with this plan of yours - the dirty rocks below, sharp edges and visions of  a skinned-up me,  I do not hesitate. You get me over the crevasse in one piece and we walk on. I can see, in the flash of two lifetimes - mine and yours - how some things are just a matter of holding on, trusting the hand in front of you, and taking a leap of miniscule faith.  
 I think today I shall stop calling you Baby Beans. Your hands and your heart are strong.  You're going to be just fine. And so am I.

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Recently Published With a Little Help From Jacqui Brown and Her Mojo

Jacqui Brown is a comedian, writer, successful author, speaker, life coach, and friend. I am so excited to see my story published in her inspiring new book The Mojo Manual (available right now at Amazon). It was an exciting day in Bloggingham Palace!

"Streisand and The Great Black Book," is a story I wrote about reaching for your dreams in the face of adversity... with a little help from Barbra. I am thrilled to see it included in a manuscript whose purpose is to uplift and inspire people.

Jacqui wants to help others live their best lives. Her journey began many years ago on the Hollywood scene (once upon a time she was a bubblegum commercial girl!) which led her through a myriad of life's ups and downs to find her purpose and peace in this world. How lucky are we that she chooses to share (NO holding back!) her life lessons with us.  She's hysterical, wise, authentic, compassionate, and has lived enough life to know a few things the rest of us just might need to hear.

I met her as jbwritergirl many moons ago right here on this blog in the glory days of the Blogosphere. Remember those?  She still finds time to blog and is very active on social media. She is known especially for her original #leafquotes and was recently featured on The Fix website as well.

Image: Jacqui Brown

Jacqui is married to two-time Grammy winning jazz  musician and recording artist, Paul Brown and lives in California. Together, they make quite a team of positivity and light in this crazy world we live in. My kind of folks.

The beautiful story of a dog named Beau

Author Jacqui Brown and her dog Miles

The blog is called LIVING FORWARD: New Rules You'll love her wit and charm!
Here's a  link to her website to check out her books!   Jacqui, thank you for allowing me to be a #MojoMaker. I wish you immense doses of MojoMuse and continued success with your writing. You are making a difference with every book, every story, and every leaf!!! I am thrilled to be included in your newest book!
Click HERE to read.  Available in paperback and Kindle.

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