Yesterday we observed Remembrance Day.

A day when we are invited to pause and commemorate the loss of Australian lives from all past wars and conflicts.

Our heart goes out to all of our brave soldiers and citizens who gave their life in service of our country and an ideal bigger than themselves.

Unfortunately you only have to turn on the news to witness the ongoing amount of unnecessary bloodshed and suffering still occurring all around the world today.

It’s overwhelming.

Living over here in Australia (deemed the safest country in the world for women, and the thirteenth overall), it’s easy to think of armed conflict or war as something that happens over there, on a scale far beyond our control as a single citizen, so removed from it all.

Sure we may not like it, but what can we actually do about it, aside from casting our vote at the ballot box every few years!?

The truth is, there is something you can do about it.

Every single day.

Let’s think about conflict at an individual level.

What is it that has people enter into argument or conflict instead of maintaining authentic dialogue?

We would argue that a large part of it has to do with rigid belief structures and an inability to truly see the reality perspective of another. i.e. how other people view a situation or perceive the world.

Well we know that meditation helps to dissolve those rigid structures and expand our level of awareness.

For those regular meditators who are reading this, think back to sometime soon after you started meditating.

We bet that you found yourself calm in situations where you otherwise would have impulsively reacted.

And especially for those who have completed our Centred Edge program or Retreat, we also bet that you found yourself relating to others with more empathy and compassion.

It doesn’t mean that you always agreed with them, but you could really see where they were coming from and take intelligent action as a result.

As a society and a nation, this collective belief structure and ability to demonstrate empathy and compassion dictates how we respond to the rest of the world.

This collective mindset is the synergistic result of each of us as individuals.

So when you think about it in this way, there actually is a lot you can do about reducing conflict in the world.

Each time you choose to meditate, you are choosing to expand your level of awareness, and increase your social-emotional intelligence.

As a result you end up naturally responding with more empathy and compassion to those around you, and this in turn has a ripple effect on your family, your workplace , your community, your country, and the world.

Each and every day, you do have the ability to impact our world for the better.

This week we invite you to look at your own life to see where you could replace conflict with authentic communication.

It’s not always easy, in fact it’s usually much more challenging than the alternative. But the rewards will speak for themselves.