In late January, I had one of the happiest moments of my life. Over a thousand people from around the world came to the
first Earth Citizen Peace Festival held in Kerikeri, New Zealand. It was a time of boundary-transcending friendship, overwhelming hope, and brilliant inspiration. I'm grateful to everyone who shared the event with me, and I'm deeply thankful for the beautiful nature of Kerikeri, which opened our hearts and connected us as one.
I first visited Kerikeri in the spring of 2014. Before that, I didn't even know such a place existed. The grandmother of my student Kristy, who is active as a Brain Education lecturer in California, lives in Kerikeri. While visiting America, she and her granddaughter Kristy attended a Brain Education lecture held in Los Angeles, which is where she learned about me, and on hearing the news that I was going to visit Auckland, New Zealand, she invited me to Kerikeri, which is about three hours by car from Auckland. I fell in love with the beauty and unique energy of the place.
Peace permeates the land, sky, and air of Kerikeri. "Everyone who comes here will feel peace!" I realized. "There'll be no better place for looking back on your life and designing a new life surrounded by the beauty of nature!" I was convinced that the natural wonder of Kerikeri would help awaken the great, beautiful spirit in humanity.
So, at first, I called close students to Kerikeri for a meditation tour in which we took some time to examine ourselves in the nearby forest and ocean shore. All who came found great inspiration. The news spread by word-of-mouth, and as more people came, we started doing full group meditation tours two years ago.
Through
New Zealand Meditation Tours, approximately 3000 people so far have, in the embrace of nature, encountered their new selves and recovered their dreams and the courage to realize them. Participants feel with their whole bodies that their lives are connected with the earth, and the moments when they thoughtfully meditate on what they will do for the planet always move me deeply and give me great joy.
Ordinary people spending their days thinking about the earth may sound crazy. You might think, "I mean, it's hard enough for me to take care of my own body. Who am I to think about taking care of the earth? How is one person, me, worrying a little about this going to make a difference?"
I assure you, however, that there is only one way to save the earth. The only way to save the earth is for each one of us to have infinite affection for the planet and all life on it, and to take care of it the way we take care of and protect ourselves and our families.
The work of saving the earth begins in changing ourselves. It begins in each of us being self-sufficient in our own health, happiness, and peace. We and the earth are not two separate things. Those who have no sense of ownership over their lives or who have lost hope think the same things about the earth. "Somebody else will solve the earth's problems. Leaders and experts will do what they think is best." Or, "Nothing about the world will change, ultimately, no matter what anyone does." It's easy to be a passive onlooker.
When we really take ownership of our lives, we realize that these problems of the earth and humanity are our own. And so we come to think seriously about how we can contribute even a little to the planet and other life. This is truly the moment when a hero of Earth is born. We are born as saviors of ourselves and the planet out of serious reflection and spiritual awakening concerning our own lives, not because we fall to the earth from a distant planet or are suddenly bitten one day by a spider like in the movies. When the way to a new life opens for us as individuals, the way to a new life opens for the earth and humanity, as well.
I shared these thoughts with those who took part in
the 1st Annual Earth Citizen Peace Festival. Together, we felt that each one of us has the power to save the earth and the love to match it, as well as the power to change our lives. We communicated with each other heart-to-heart, and we witnessed the spirit inside us awakening, the heroes within rising to the challenge.
Now, my next Big Thing is holding an Earth Citizen Peace Festival in New Zealand every year, ceaselessly sending this message to the world. It is helping more people to act on the spirit and Earth Citizen consciousness awakened inside us, putting them into practice in our daily lives, in addition to the meditation tours and peace festivals, which are removed from daily life.
For this, I intend to concentrate on the task of completing the Earth Citizens School in Kerikeri's
Earth Village by 2019 and on developing online education and forming an online community.
The Earth Citizens School is an opportunity for young people from around the world to come and, as they stay at Earth Village for three months, train their bodies and minds in nature, discover their true value, and develop a mindful, sustainable lifestyle. On graduating from the Earth Citizens School, they will return to their own communities, becoming leaders who share with and teach many people the Earth Citizen lifestyle they've learned. By 2019, we plan to complete educational and lodging facilities able to accommodate over 360 people.
When used well, the Internet is truly a great, powerful human invention. Using this powerful network that transcends the restrictions of space and time to connect people and information, we can help more people to be self-sufficient in health, happiness, and peace and to have an Earth Citizen lifestyle. I will put all my effort into enabling ChangeYourEnergy.com to grow into a solid online educational platform and community that creates the change we and the earth need. I ask for your active advice and participation to enable ChangeYourEnergy.com to become such an online space.
What is your current or next Big Thing? Whatever it is, please remember the following two things.
First, I want you to always
listen to your spirit, to the
voice of your soul. Different conditions and obstacles in reality will ceaselessly tempt you and make you afraid. "You've never done anything like that, you know. What if you fail? What will other people think? Aren't you too old to do that kind of thing, or too young?…" Whispering in your ear, they'll tell you to give up, to compromise, giving you countless justifications. Whenever that happens, I want you to listen to your spirit and do what your spirit says with integrity.
Second,
take action, again and again. Don't wait until you've laid out all your plans and the path to your destination is clear. Take action and soon you'll see the way forward. Think AS you act. Your spirit will send you some message or signal, sleeping or waking, if you always keep in mind your next Big Thing, and if you listen sincerely to your spirit. It appears as inspiration or ideas. I want you to practice acting on those inspirations or ideas immediately as soon as they come to mind, without letting them go or putting them off. The ideas that come to mind may be small. "I should meet so-and-so today. I should go somewhere. I should check on that thing." Please act on these inspirations no matter how small they may be. That action leads to other actions, and new opportunities and connections are created through them, opening the way to your Big Thing.
I always remind myself of these two things as I meditate every morning. I promise myself to open my brain and heart to my spirit and to live today true to my dream, acting with my feet firmly planted in reality.
May your dreams, and your actions for fulfilling those dreams, make your day happy and fulfilling. I believe that when we sincerely listen to our spirits, our dreams ultimately come together as one. I send you LifeParticles vibrating with infinite love and possibilities to make your dreams come true.
Ilchi Lee