Be the change you wish to see in others
Facilitated by Dr Omnia Marzouk and Elizabeth Laskar
10-11th Feb 2023
Dear beautiful souls,
Assalamu Alaykum (peace and blessings be upon you)
Have you ever been to a Peace Circle? How do you feel about the word ” Peace”. How beautiful that Islam alludes to the phenomenon of “peace”. Our Muslim greetings begin with “Salam.”
“Two Day Peace”
We were very privileged to have held a two-day peace circle in Birmingham with 10 ladies from different backgrounds and religions. This was conducted by two ladies from an organisation called ‘Initiatives for Change’
The aim of this Peace circle was for us to be able to connect with our inner self, share our story in a safe space and reflect. We watched a short video of a Pastor and an imam in Africa, who had hatred towards each other but despite their differences working together now, which was a record-breaking event.
In the two days we learnt how to achieve peace within and then bring about peace amongst our family and friends and then our communities and the world at large
Peace is such a beautiful emotion that we all humans embody and its part of our intuitive nature. This is such an important topic, especially in a turbulent world that we are living in right now. All praises and thanks to God we were able to tap into our inner zones in a very safe space and to be able to connect through our vulnerabilities.
Creators of Peace Circles guide participants through personal reflection and dialogue to an awareness of the needs in their own lives and communities. It encourages participants to explore paths toward creating peace. Peace Circles invite participants to move beyond blame to responsibility and creativity to find their unique contribution.
We were able to connect with each other on a deep level and were guided toward the possibility of individual or joint action that were able to take to meet the needs of ourselves, families and communities.
The Peace Circle helped facilitate and create a space where we were able to share our life stories in an atmosphere of trust and respect. Each Peace Circle intentionally seeks to reflect the diversity of the community from which it comes.
We talked about the following topics:
- What is Peace?
- What builds and destroys peace?
- Qualities of peace makers
- Personal Stories were shared
- Inner Peace
- Inner listening
- Listening to others
- Healing through forgiveness
The event concluded with evaluation and certificates were presented to all the participants.
It was such a heartwarming space where we were able to connect deeper even though we came from diverse backgrounds and faiths.
It was a fun loving time spent together and enjoyed really sumptuous lunches and had tea/coffee breaks when we were able to network and exchange our reflections.
Finally, we also want to extend our warmest thanks to sis Nikhat Panjwani for graciously opening her home and host this entire event.
InshaAllah we hope to continue more of such beautiful experiences so that we can inspire others through our inner transformation and growth.
Imagine if we were to spread peace instead of hatred, how beautiful would our humanity glow and grow!
Hope you will enjoy seeing the photos taken as they speak volumes and have a smile reading this as much as I enjoyed writing these humble reflections.
Sis Nasim Walji Pirmohamed
“If you want to change the world, start with yourself” Gandhi
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