A new great experience - Peacewards - Workshop on Peace and Living with Differences

Peacewards - Workshop on Peace and Living with Differences
It was a great experience in participating in this three day workshop organized by mumbai based "Citizens for Peace" from 26th June to 28th June 2009.
I was one among the 55 participants who have explored the world of peace and non-violence and had a dosage like thought provoking sessions by Dr. Monica Sharma, Director, Leadership and Capacity Development at the United Nations , Newyork.

Day 1:

Knowing ones self distinguishing from professional and social profiles, one has to traverse with the "Who am I" question through the vicious circle of Events and Interpretations that evolves in to "Taking the Stand" level thus shifting perceptions for new actions to be taken for the future.

It was full of pleasant moments of sharing one's experiences and events with each other to articulate a possible paradigm shift for well-being and peace, with respect and dignity for all human beings as a way of life for everyone.

One important aspect in this session is "Creating the future": Recognizing how we bring in the past into our future, and breaking away from this pattern to create a new future with peace and non-violence.

Day 2:

Transformation is the process wherein people could commit themselves and work towards a future, based on recognition and influence the actions.

"The definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over again and expect different results" - Rita Mae Brown

An animated film by Annie, Green Peace Activist of the UN, titled "The story of stuff" was shown and it depicts and criticizes the ways of utilizing of natural resources and people in industries, consumption of goods produced and generating and recycling of waste.

Purpose of Forgiveness is to bring Peace and well-being and 10 steps in attaining success through forgiveness was practised during the session with a sample unresolved grievance in an individuals life.

The use of Forgiveness in building the trust and peace; that changes Distress into Happiness, Grievance into Joy.

Day 3:


Making Partnerships and working in accordance with 5 stages of Leadership viz. Autocratic model, Coordination of Rules and Roles, Results, Principled Actions with Synergy and divesting of principles with different perspectives was discussed in detail.

A Peace activity might be done through three ways: A market database full of information, Advocacy and Enrollment where you may see what others see and share your power and commit for that. "Speak out what is not working and Do what is working" is the usual line of action to start with.

Create a Future project was done as an exercise. I worked out an existing project with slighter changes with some systematic components in it.
Using Education as a tool, Technology as a vision, endorsing the Gandhian principles as a strategy, this project would include the activities such as Technology training, Peaceful demonstrations, workshops, discussions and writings, negotiations with contradicting parties and taking resolutions and pledges. As a deliverable, we get peace, technology empowerment, well-educated society and nonetheless, a hope for the thriving generations.

Before the end of the session, I had few minutes of my speech on Gandhi and Peace and I read out my favorite poem "Birth of Mahatma" to the audience.

The booklet "Peacewards" issued during the workshop has few worthy articles to read upon: Tranquility as spoken by His Holiness Dalai Lama, Makng the Truth Powerful by Aruna Roy and other related topics on Peace and Non-violence.

How to make a difference through peace means... was the essence of the workshop.

"By making a difference in yourself, you could see dissolving of all the differences that surrounds you and emergence of oneness. And the oneness thus created would make a difference for you."
For more information, visit www.citizensforpeace.in and email info@citizensforpeace.in