Aug 31: Learn about "Vision Louisville"

August 31 Compassionate Living Tip from Interfaith Paths to Peace

Learn about the new "Vision Louisville" Initiative...and share your vision!

http://www.visionlouisville.com/

About Vision Louisville

We are ready to harness our collective energy and chart our path to the future, to decide how we want Louisville to look, feel, and flow in 2040. Inherent in defining our future is also defining what it is about our place today that is essential to its quality and how those essential characteristics connect to one another to further enhance our quality of place. To answer these questions and give form to our future path will take innovative thought and courage. It will take vision.

Our undertaking is bold. The Vision Louisville initiative will use a collaborative and inclusive planning process to explore and build a vision for a prosperous and vibrant future for our city. Focused on Louisville's built environment and its development over the next 25 years, the outcomes of the initiative will guide future development and investment while emphasizing growth, authenticity, preservation, sustainability, and quality of place. Vision Louisville will help us aspire to what is possible, not just what is probable, and will ask us as a community to strive for Louisville's greatest potential.

Why now? Change is upon us — from the economy to the environment, the pace of change in cities world-wide is both rapid and far reaching. Meeting change head on and being proactive about our community's future is not just about being competitive. Although being competitive is important, we also need to be about city-building — shaping our environment, building a beautiful and attractive city, and establishing a positive future.

Aug 30: Sharing the Joy and Pain ALWAYS

August 30 Compassionate Living Tip from Interfaith Paths to Peace

Tibetan Buddhist Pema Chodron's Advice on Sharing Our Suffering and Joy

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?hl=en&shva=1#inbox/139724e7f2cf623a

THINK OF OTHERS

Sharing the heart is a simple practice that can be used at any time and in every situation. It enlarges our view and helps us remember our interconnection.

The essence of this practice is that when we encounter pain in our life we breathe into our heart with the recognition that others also feel this. It’s a way of acknowledging when we are closing down and of training to open up. When we encounter any pleasure or tenderness in our life, we cherish that and rejoice. Then we make the wish that others could also experience this delight or this relief.

In a nutshell, when life is pleasant, think of others. When life is a burden, think of others. If this is the only training we ever remember to do, it will benefit us tremendously and everyone else as well. It’s a way of bringing whatever we encounter onto the path of awakening bodhichitta.

Aug 29: Learn about the Int'l "White Ribbon Campaign

August 29 Compassionate Living Tip from Interfaith Paths to Peace

Learn about the International "White Ribbon Campaign" which Enlists Men to Eliminate Violence Against Women

http://www.whiteribbon.ca/

What is the White Ribbon Campaign (WRC)?
The White Ribbon Campaign (WRC) is the largest effort in the world of men working to end violence against women (VAW). In over fifty-five countries, campaigns are led by both men and women, even though the focus is on educating men and boys. In some countries it is a general public education effort focused on ending violence against women.

Aug 28: Learn about Free University for All People

August 28 Compassionate Living Tip from Interfaith Paths to Peace

Learn About University of the People

http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2012/08/27/160116814/online-university-for-all-balances-big-goals-expensive-realities

Naylea Omayra Villanueva Sanchez, 22, lives on the edge of the Amazon rain forest in Tarapoto, northern Peru.

"Where I live, there's only jungle," Villanueva Sanchez says through an interpreter. "A university education is inaccessible."

And that's true in more ways than one. Villanueva Sanchez is in a wheelchair, the result of a motorcycle accident that left her paralyzed from the waist down.

She is now enrolled in the University of the People, an online institution that claims it is "the world's first, tuition-free, nonprofit, online university." It's aimed at poor students around the globe who would otherwise not have access to higher education.

Aug 27 Tip: Experience "Red" about artist Mark Rothko

August 26 Compassionate Living Tip from Interfaith Paths to Peace

Discover "Red" a play about the art work of Abstract Expressionist Mark Rothko

http://www.amazon.com/Oberon-Modern-Plays-John-Logan/dp/1840029447/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1346013646&sr=8-2&keywords=red+and+mark+rothko#_

A prominent figure among the New York School painters, Mark Rothko moved through many artistic styles until reaching his signature 1950s motif of soft, rectangular forms floating on a stained field of color. Heavily influenced by mythology and philosophy, he was insistent that his art was filled with content, and brimming with ideas. A fierce champion of social revolutionary thought, and the right to self-expression, Rothko also expounded his views in numerous essays and critical reviews.

 

Aug 26: Thank you God for everything which is yes

August 26 Compassionate Living Tip from Interfaith Paths to Peace

Savor this wonderful poem by e.e. cummings:

http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/

i thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday; this is the birth
day of life and of love and wings: and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any--lifted from the no
of all nothing--human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

 

Aug 25: Unleash Poetic Imagination

August 25 Compassionate Living Tip from Interfaith Paths to Peace

Explore Poetic Imagingation with Poet David Whyte

http://www.soundstrue.com/weeklywisdom/?source=podcast&p=6475&category=AGM&version=full

While the poet’s craft requires a mastery of verse, meter, and language,
there is a kind of imagination that is the true heart of poetry. As poet
David Whyte says, this is not the sort of imagination that allows us to
think up clever ideas or new inventions—it is our capacity to see beyond
the surface of appearance and into what is true. “Poetic imagination,” says
David, “is your ability to discover a central image inside you that makes
sense of all the thousands of other images you receive.” In this audio clip,
he provides a beautiful illustration of poetic imagination in action, revealing
through example why this is a faculty each one of us possesses.

 

Aug 24 Books that Shaped Our National Identity

August 24 Compassionate Living Tip from Interfaith Paths to Peace

Learn About books that Shaped our National Identity

http://www.npr.org/2012/08/14/158771705/-books-that-shaped-america?sc=17&f=1032

Books can change the way we think and can continue to influence events long after they were written. The Library of Congress exhibit "Books That Shaped America" features 88 books — from Thomas Paine's Common Sense to Dr. Seuss' The Cat In The Hat — that have influenced national identity.

 

Aug 23: Safety & Security Tips for Houses of Worship

August 23 Compassionate Living Tip from Interfaith Paths to Peace

Learn Safety and Security Tips for Your House of Worship

In response to the attack on the Sikh Center in Wisconsin recently, the Louiswville Metro Police Department shared with leaders of several houses of worship the following safety and security tips:

http://paths2peace.org/Houses_of_Worship.html  

SAFETY AND SECURITY TIPS FOR YOUR HOUSE OF WORSHIP

This information provided by the Louisville Metro Police Department

 

WATCH FOR:

• Individuals videotaping or photographing facility or congregation during normal meeting and prayer times.
• Individuals approaching the facility and attempting to "test" side doors (attempting to locate unlocked doors) not in common use.
• Non specific calls about times of services/prayers, which appear to be by individuals not familiar with the faith.
• Individuals making unusual and unwanted contact with members/parishioners following a service (proselytizing).

Please report any suspicious persons, their vehicle descriptions and, if possible, license plates as quickly as possible so uniformed officers can make contact with the subject.  The more information law enforcement gets in the first call always helps determine how successful they are in identifying, locating and interviewing suspicious persons.  

To report an incident or for more information contact the Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) at 502-574-7111 or 502-574-2111 or contact your local law enforcement agency. 

Aug 22: Finding & Fighting Causes of Homelessness

August 22 Compassionate Living Tip from Interfaith Paths to Peace

The Melville Trust: Finding and Fighting the Causes of Homelessness

http://www.melvilletrust.org/

The Melville Trust concentrates its efforts on supporting solutions to prevent and end homelessness. We fund advocacy, service, and housing initiatives in Connecticut that can serve as models throughout the country. On the national level, the Trust works to strengthen and extend the reach of organizations focused on advocacy, education, research, and capacity building. We collaborate actively with a growing network of individuals and groups, public and private, to build communities where every adult and child has a place to call home.
Ultimately, the Trust is setting out to change public thinking about the ways to consider and end homelessness. Its conscious strategy has been to move policy, decision making and the structure of government and philanthropy away from emergency, palliative responses that serve only to perpetuate homelessness and toward proven, lasting and cost effective alternatives that will permanently end homelessness as we know it today.

Aug 21: Learn About "Family Scholar House"

August 21 Compassionate Living Tip from Interfaith Paths to Peace

Learn about Louisville's Family Scholar House

http://familyscholarhouse.org/

Family Scholar House, Inc. is changing lives, families and communities through education.
Its mission is to end the cycle of poverty by giving single-parent students the support they need to earn a four-year college degree.

Aug 20 Tip: Silence and Learning to love yourself

August 20 Compassionate Living Tip from Interfaith Paths to Peace

From Richard Rohr: Silence: The Simplest and Hardest Discipline

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Daily-Meditation--Silence----August-19--2012.html?soid=1103098668616&aid=L1hBBRwDOSU

SILENCE

The simplest spiritual discipline is some degree of solitude and silence. But it's the hardest, because none of us want to be with someone we don't love. Besides that, we invariably feel bored with ourselves, and all of our loneliness comes to the surface. We won't have the courage to go into that terrifying place without Love to protect us and lead us, without the light and love of God overriding our own self-doubt. Such silence is the most spacious and empowering technique in the world, yet it's not a technique at all. It's precisely the refusal of all technique.

Aug 19: Fragility & the Evolution of Humanity

August 19 Compassionate Living Tip from Interfaith Paths to Peace

From "On Being": Explore the Idea of Fragility and the Evolution of Humanity

http://www.onbeing.org/program/fragility-and-evolution-our-humanity/101

Xavier Le Pichon is one of the world's leading geophysicists, and his pioneering research on plate tectonics revolutionized our understanding of how the Earth works. He has also spent decades living in community with people and families facing disability and has emerged with a rare perspective on the meaning of humanity — a perspective equally informed by his scientific and personal encounters with fragility as a fundament of vital, evolving systems.

Aug 18: Explore "Quantum Forgiveness"

August 18 Compassionate Living Tip from Interfaith Paths to Peace

Explore the True Nature of Forgiveness

http://www.soundstrue.com/weeklywisdom/?source=podcast&p=6447&category=AGM&version=full

Forgiveness is a core teaching of virtually every major spiritual tradition—but how do we forgive at the deepest level? Gary Renard, the author of The Disappearance of the Universe and one of the most well-known modern interpreters of A Course in Miracles, believes that there are many forms of forgiveness. In this audio clip, he examines the difference between our conventional understanding of forgiveness and the practice that he calls “quantum forgiveness,” which focuses on dissolving the illusion of separation.

Aug 17 Plan for WorldFest 2012 in Louisville

August 17 Compassionate Living Tip from Interfaith Paths to Peace

Plan to be part of Louisville's 2012 WorldFest Aug 31-Sept 2

http://www.louisvilleky.gov/MetroParks/specialevents/WorldFest/

WorldFest, one of the region’s largest international festivals, celebrates its 10th anniversary with three days of expanded world food, music, dance, culture and education this Labor Day weekend on Louisville’s Belvedere downtown.

Admission to WorldFest is free all three days of Labor Day weekend -- Friday, Aug. 31, Saturday, Sept. 1 and Sunday, Sept. 2, 11 a.m. – 11 p.m. each day.

“Cities that embrace and encourage their international citizens and cultures will thrive, have a stronger quality of life and will attract new growth and jobs,” Mayor Greg Fischer said. “WorldFest is a great event for exploring and celebrating Louisville’s many faces and cultures and we always look to make it more vibrant, diverse and educational. So, it’s exciting to add many new features and attractions for the 10th anniversary.”

With at least 90 languages spoken in the Louisville public schools and 50 percent of the city’s population growth over the past 15 years coming from international residents, Louisville is more culturally diverse than ever before. 

Aug 16: Enjoy the song "The Part Where You Let Got"

August 16 Compassionate Living Tip from Interfaith Paths to Peace

Enjoy the beautiful song "The Part Where You Let Go" by Hem

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GbOVQnx1JA

Lyrics to The Part Where You Let Go :

When the rain breaks the road
Are you holding on
Are you holding on
To your last good day

When the stone breaks the wheel
Are you holding on
Are you holding on
Til the stone rolls away

And I don't know
Is this the part where you let go
And tumbling out of a window
Is this the part where you find out
I'm there for you

When the sun leaves the field
Are you holding on
Are you holding on
To the last sweet light

When the flame leaves your eyes
I still see you there
I still see you there
On your darkest night

And I don't know
Is this the part where you let go
And sinking under a shadow
Is this the part where you find out
I'm there for you now

As your hand's breaking free
I am holding on
I am holding on
As you've held on to me

And I don't know
Is this the part where we let go
Tumbling out of a window
Is this the part you're there for me

And I don't know
Is this the part where you let go
And sinking under a shadow
Is this the part where you find out
I'm there for you
You find out I'm there for you
You find out I'm there for you

 

 

Aug 15: Read "The Solace of Fierce Landscapes"

August 15 Compassionate Living Tip from Interfaith Paths to Peace

Read "The Solace of Fierce Landscapes" by Belden C. Lane

http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/ReligionTheology/Spirituality/?view=usa&ci=9780195315851

Buy this book from your local independent bookseller!

In the tradition of Kathleen Norris, Terry Tempest Williams, and Thomas Merton, The Solace of Fierce Landscapes explores the impulse that has drawn seekers into the wilderness for centuries and offers eloquent testimony to the healing power of mountain silence and desert indifference.

Interweaving a memoir of his mother's long struggle with Alzheimer's and cancer, meditations on his own wilderness experience, and illuminating commentary on the Christian via negativa--a mystical tradition that seeks God in the silence beyond language--Lane rejects the easy affirmations of pop spirituality for the harsher but more profound truths that wilderness can teach us. "There is an unaccountable solace that fierce landscapes offer to the soul. They heal, as well as mirror, the brokeness we find within." It is this apparent paradox that lies at the heart of this remarkable book: that inhuman landscapes should be the source of spiritual comfort. Lane shows that the very indifference of the wilderness can release us from the demands of the endlessly anxious ego, teach us to ignore the inessential in our own lives, and enable us to transcend the "false self" that is ever-obsessed with managing impressions. Drawing upon the wisdom of St. John of the Cross, Meister Eckhardt, Simone Weil, Edward Abbey, and many other Christian and non-Christian writers, Lane also demonstrates how those of us cut off from the wilderness might "make some desert" in our lives.
Written with vivid intelligence, narrative ease, and a gracefulness that is itself a comfort, The Solace of Fierce Landscapes gives us not only a description but a "performance" of an ancient and increasingly relevant spiritual tradition.

Aug 14: Join the 2012 Hunger Walk

August 14 Compassionate Living Tip from Interfaith Paths to Peace

Sign up today for the Sept 9 Hunger Walk in Louisville

http://daretocare.org/events/hunger_walk

The Hunger Walk

September 9, 2012

Waterfront Park

The Hunger Walk presented by Aramark is a 5K Walk and Run benefiting Dare to Care Food Bank and the World Food Program.  Over 2,000 people put hunger on the run and make a public commitment that everyone will have access to the food they need to be healthy.

All net proceeds from the Hunger Walk benefit Dare to Care Food Bank and the World Food Program.   

The Hunger Walk is organized by Dare to Care and Interfaith Paths to Peace.

Aug 13: The Sacred Art of Forgiveness

August 13 Compassionate Living Tip from Interfaith Paths to Peace

Learn about "The Sacred Art of Forgiveness"

http://www.skylightpaths.com/page/product/978-1-59473-175-4

Tap into the power of the Divine. Learn how to forgive—and be forgiven.

Everyone knows that forgiveness is a virtue and a key to emotional, spiritual and even physical well-being. But learning how to actually forgive—or to accept forgiveness, as the case may be—is a sacred art few of us have mastered. 

 

It doesn’t have to be that way. Writing from personal experience and her broad knowledge of many faith traditions, Marcia Ford offers a new perspective on forgiveness and reconciliation, an approach rooted in the Spirit that can be learned by anyone no matter how deep the hurt. Through real-life examples, penetrating reflections, scriptural references and practical suggestions, Ford outlines the steps that one by one can help you to forgive, including: 

 

    • Coming to terms with anger, bitterness and resentment

    • Understanding the differences between forgiveness and reconciliation

    • Taking the initiative, even when you’re the one who’s been wronged

    • Strategies for listening “with the heart” in emotionally charged situations

    • Knowing when to forgive and forget—and when to forgive and take action

    • Ways of allowing the power of the Divine to work through you

    • Finding compassion for others—and for yourself

    • … and much more 

 

Aug 12: The Healing Power of Compassion

August 12 Compassionate Living Tip from Interfaith Paths to Peace

Listen to Buddhist Leader Jack Kornfield's Story of the Healing Power of Compassion

http://www.soundstrue.com/weeklywisdom/?source=tami-simon&p=1353&category=PP&version=full

Jack Kornfield: A Story about the Healing Power of Compassion

Whether he’s speaking to beginners, advanced students, or anyone else interested in the spiritual journey, Jack Kornfield’s favorite way of transmitting insight is through stories. As Sounds True producer Randy Roark observes, Jack’s heartfelt stories may be funny, surprising, or poignant—and are always rich with wisdom. In Jack’s new program, Awakening Is Real: A Guide to the Deeper Dimensions of the Inner Journey, he talks about the spiritual journey, from the moment we first become aware of a longing for something more to the final steps we take as we approach our death. “For this episode,” Randy says, “I selected one story from these talks that moved me most. It’s the story of an aging Tibetan monk who has just been given a cancer diagnosis.”

 

Aug 11: Encounter Sikh Spiritual Wisdom

August 11 Compassionate Living Tip from Interfaith Paths to Peace

Explore Wisdom from the Sikhs with this book from Skylight Paths Publishing

http://www.skylightpaths.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=SP&Product_Code=978-1-59473-209-6&Affiliate=SLP-8-10-12

Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, was born during a period of political and religious turmoil in India in the fifteenth century. Tension between Hindus and Muslims had escalated, leading to greater polarization of the two religions. By establishing Sikhism, Nanak created a synthesis of Hinduism and Islam with the belief that God is One. He advocated a casteless society based on truth, unity, and equality.

During his twenty-three years of traveling he taught not only in India but also in Tibet, Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and in the area of the present-day countries of Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran, preaching the truth as he perceived it and showing humankind the path to salvation. Highlighting his quest for tolerance and compassion, this fascinating biography tells the story of a unique spiritual leader who showed a gentle, peaceful path to realizing God.

Admired, loved and respected even in his lifetime, Guru Nanak continues to command admiration and respect five hundred years after he lived, with his lasting universal message of Absolute Unity more urgent and necessary than ever before.

 

 

Aug 10: Avoid "The Trap of the Senses"

August 10 Compassionate Living Tip from Interfaith Paths to Peace

Learn to Avoid "The Trap of the Senses" from H.W.L. Poonja

http://www.soundstrue.com/weeklywisdom/?source=podcast&p=6400&category=WW&version=full

Everybody wants to be free. What is the one impediment between you and freedom? Craving. Desire or expectation for something which is perishable.
You are devoted to that craving. Thus, you are devoted to this manifestation and its construction; craving that which is impermanent leads to suffering, old age, and death.
Everyone is involved in this craving for sense pleasures, and it has not given peace to anyone. No one, from king to middle-class to workers, is happy. They are all chasing what appears and disappears.
Craving for what is not real takes you away from the eternal reality. Gods have everything, but still they are not happy.
You always have a light within you, but you don’t turn toward it. Instead, you see this light shining on outer objects. You chase these objects, looking for the light. But you are only seeing reflections of the light within. You run looking for satisfaction from the objects that have caught the reflection of your inner light.
You are hunting outside. This is called craving.
When you decide, “Enough! I must be free,” then the function of the mind stops going out and clinging to objects in search of happiness. It becomes no-mind. The mind is only mind in the fulfillment of its desires. When you desire something, when you crave something, when you expect something, then it takes this function, and its name is mind.
Stop it, and it is quiet. In this quietness, you can’t call it mind. So dam the flow of the river flowing outward. Energy is not being wasted then. When it is dammed, it stops. Then it is quiet. In this quietness, the river will be no river. You can’t call it a river now. Now call it a reservoir.
This reservoir, without ripples, is identical to your own light. This light is inside your mind.
Now the mind is no-mind. No mind, no craving, no expectations, no desires, no notions, and no ideas.
It is good to stop. Then you will see that you have found the precious stone you have been seeking. Having found this, you will be happy. You will be satisfied. You don’t expect anything more, because this is chitdarman, the fulfillment of all desires. Chitdarman means you just think and it happens. Chitdarman, the precious stone which shines by its own luster.

Aug 9 Tip: Attend Nagasaki Memorial

August 9 Compassionate Living Tip from Interfaith Paths to Peace

Attend Today's Memorial Marking the 67th Anniversary of the Atomic Bombing of Nagasaki

Please join us for this powerful ceremony on Thursday August 9 at noon at Christ Church Cathedral.

Ceremony Marking the

67^th Anniversary of the

Atomic Bombing of Nagasaki

Thursday, August 9, 2012

The Memorial Garden at Christ Church Cathedral

Honoring the victims of the atomic bombings in 1945

and victims of strategic bombing in all wars.

Opening Prayer

Vanessa Hurst, Executive Director

The Merton Institute for Contemplative Living

A Few Words about the Bombing of Nagasaki

Terry Taylor, Executive Director

Interfaith Paths to Peace

Report from an Eyewitness

Lee B. Thomas, Jr.

One of the first U.S. soldiers to visit Hiroshima after the atomic bombing

Reading of Thomas Merton's Poem "Original Child Bomb"

Led by Mitzi Friedlander and Helen Starr Jones

Tolling of the Cathedral Bell

Sponsored by Interfaith Paths to Peace

In cooperation with

The Louisville Chapter of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, 

Drepung Gomang Institute (Louisville's Tibetan Buddhist Community),

Friends (Quaker) Meeting of Louisville, Partnership for a Compassionate Louisville,

The Peace and Justice Division of the Episcopal Diocese of Kentucky, and

St. William and St. Agnes Catholic Churches

Aug 8 Tip: Attend Memorial for Victims of Attack on Sikh Center

August 8 Compassionate Living Tip from Interfaith Paths to Peace

Please attend the noontime silent candle lighting memorial for victims of attack on Sikhs

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2012308060110

Please stop by Christ Church Cathedral, 425 South Second Street in Louisville, any time between 12:10 and 1 pm on Wednesday for a silent, candlelight memorial for victims of the terrible shooting on Sunday at the Sikh house of worship in Wisconsin. This memorial will replace our scheduled Lectio Divina Meditation.

Interfaith Paths to Peace, the Kentucky Sikh Gurudwara, the Kentucky Council of Churches, the Partnership for a Compassionate Louisville, the Jewish Community of Louisville, the Louisville Baha'i Community, The Drepung Gomang (Tibetan Buddhist) Institute, the Hindu Temple of Kentucky, St. William & St. Agnes Catholic Churches, the Merton Institute for Contemplative Living, 10,000 Buddhas Summit Monastery, the Center for Interfaith Relations (Festival of Faiths),  Louisville's Pakistani American Community, and others are sponsoring this event.

Those attending are invited to enter, remain and depart in silence. Please light a candle for the Sikh victims and all victims of religious intolerance and violence.

  

The Sikh center is holding a memorial vigil to the victims at 7 p.m. Friday at 198 Thompson Ave. Attendees will also be praying for the victims at next Sunday's worship beginning at 10:30 a.m., followed by the weekly meal at 1 p.m. All are invited to both events.

Aug 7 Tip: Learn Emotional Cool Down Techniques

August 7 Compassionate Living Tip from Interfaith Paths to Peace

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20120806/OPINION02/308060014/1016/OPINION/Reader-Letter-Cool-down-avoid-heat-moment?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|Opinion|s

Learn "Emotional Cool Down Techniques" for the Long Hot Summer

A friend of mine who deals first-hand with the violence in our city recently told me that deadly violence in Louisville frequently results from disagreements that spin out of control. Angry words in our homes and on our streets get hotter and hotter until the situation explodes and someone lies dead. But there is something we can do to stop anger from becoming deadly.

I am a volunteer mentor in a special program in Jefferson County Public Schools through the Society for the prevention of Agressiveness and Violence among Adolescents (SPAVA). This program teaches non-violent conflict resolution techniques to students of all ages. Mentors teach students that they can cope with their anger and stay out of trouble by learning to cool down. For any of us who find ourselves in angry situations that are rapidly escalating, I would like to offer some “emotional cool down” techniques which I have learned from SPAVA, techniques that we can use to short-circuit our anger when it is getting out of control.

Even though these techniques may sound overly simple, they actually work. In fact, their simplicity may be the key to why they are successful. So, when our anger starts to escalate, let’s try:

• Just walking away from the situation until our anger subsides

• Taking 3 deep breaths, consciously breathing out our pent up anger each time we exhale

• Talking to ourselves, saying “Wow, I need to calm down,” or “I need to slow down”

• Engaging in an athletic activity such as going for a walk or run, shooting some baskets, mowing the lawn, or going for a long bike ride

• Pouring out our feelings to a close friend with a sympathetic ear

• Lying down and taking a nap

Cool down techniques are a good first step in helping us avoid acting impulsively in the heat of the moment. A next step is to learn additional tools for conflict resolution. Some ideas for this may be found at the SPAVA website: www.spava.us. And of course, cool down techniques may not work in every situation, but they do offer hope that we can reduce the number of people in our community for whom we grieve when their lives are ended by a shooting or another form of deadly violence.

Executive Director, Interfaith Paths to Peace and Member, Male Voices Project of The Center for Women and Families –

Louisville 40202 –