The Peace Mandala Project
The Peace Mandala Project is a yearlong effort by the Arizona Holistic Chamber of Commerce to foster a sustained focus on peace within our membership.
The Peace Mandala project began in February 2010 and was sparked by Chamber President Janet Gangl's January "From the Desk of the President" message:
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"Being of a certain age and going through the change, most nights I would wake up and just lie there allowing my brain to ramble on and on. After a few months of this, I decided to pray for people. I started with my family. I started with my mom and went down the list. Next night, I started from the bottom of the list and worked my way back up ending with my mom. From there I started praying for all the people that where in my grade school class, my Jazzercise class, High School students, people that I felt did me wrong, people I didn't necessarily like, all the men I loved . . .
After a year of doing this, I was bored. So in January, for whatever reason, I started praying for peace on Earth. I started with the Gaza Strip, then Mexico, every state in North America, every county, every nation, and every continent . . . After a few months of doing that, for whatever reason I stopped. Until one morning I got up and bent over onto the floor to pick up my clothes. It was at that moment I heard a voice saying 'Janet, don't stop praying for peace.'
I went numb . . . I couldn't believe that my prayers were being heard. Needless to say, the prayers continued.
Now I don't know how the rest played out but somehow I got the idea that rather than just praying for peace in the middle of the night, why not pray for peace every time I came to a stop light? I mean, what else is there to do while you're waiting for the light to change? And to help me remember to do just that, I decided to tie a purple ribbon on my steering wheel because to me, purple represents peace.
So I'm giving everyone a purple ribbon to tie on their steering wheel and asking you to pass on the extras. Tell this story to all your email contacts, family and friends.
But I also want to add that a week before this luncheon, I received another message. The word was "playground". I knew what that meant. It meant that we are to pray for peace for all the children on the playgrounds where bullying is occurring, our schools, drivers on roads and our own families and, for that matter, ourselves for I believe we must pray for peace for the entire planet and at all levels.
So please join me with passing this information on. I know there are other peace keeping groups and organizations out there. But I also know there's room for more peace wishers. So on behalf of the Arizona Holistic Chamber of Commerce; please pass this on to all. Enough is enough. Let there be Peace on Earth." ~Janet Gangl |
As a way to keep our members thinking about peace all year long, Janet enlisted the help of member Claire Perkins, the Artful Alchemist, to facilitate an ongoing collaborative art process in which all members are encouraged to participate.
At the heart of the Peace Mandala is a brief story of its origin. Each month members are asked to contribute images and words that reflect a specific peace theme. With each theme, the Peace Mandala expands outward in concentric rings, mirroring the way each act of peace, like a pebble dropped into a pond, creates ripples of effect in the world. By December, the Peace Mandala is expected to reach approximately 8 feet in diameter. |
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