The International Day of Peace

In the summer of 2013 I took part in the Shift Network's Peace Ambassador Training hosted by James O'Dea and Phillip Helmich. The course included recordings and insightful discussions with figures such as Marianne Williamson, Aqueela Sherrills, Azim Khamisa, Andrew Harvey, Velcrow Ripper, Dot Maver, Louise Diamond, David Korten, Michael Nagler, William Ury, Arun Gandhi, Beverley Rubik, Rita Marie Johnson & Don Beck. Following the completion of the course I was invited to write about my experience for their 'Catalyst' newsletter and was posted on March 22, 2014.

"I would like to start by commenting that undoubtedly my enrollment in the 2013 Peace Ambassador Training program changed my life. It is only after a period of reflection that one can look back and see how much something has influenced you and I feel very much a different person for being part of it. Being connected to other peace ambassadors on a three month journey of self discovery was truly inspiring and motivating and I would recommend it to anyone who is considering taking part in it.

As part of the Summer of Peace I set up a website to host an online campaign to raise awareness of the International Day of Peace on September 21st and as part of the journey I connected with people from all over the world and even through Skype with people in America, South Africa and Australia as part of my project. My goal was that if the planet could be united for one moment in time we would realise and awaken as one consciousness for the first time ever. The aim was to do this by creating a trend on Twitter raising awareness of the day and letting people know about the Universal moment of World Peace at midnight GMT.

Although the campaign did not reach as many people as I had hoped, a social reach of 44,280 people was achieved and many of my friends & I spent the evening watching the live coverage that was available courtesy of Peace One Day. This helped to break down some of my personal walls of fear that had existed in front of my friends who were new to the subject; I am grateful they are now aware of the day and are supportive of it. I hope to again call on their support to promote awareness of Peace Day this year.

Overall the opportunity to connect with fellow ambassadors through the course and to use the forum to share ideas was extremely inspiring; although it was the quality of the dialogues James O'Dea had with other global peace leaders which I enjoyed the most. Overall I can strongly say that the course has given me the encouragement and support to be the change I wish to see in the world as well as the skills to apply it.

Since completing the course I have trained as a volunteer mediator and have already enjoyed success in helping neighbours and families to resolve their different conflicts, this has been an incredibly rewarding experience. I am also a regular contributor to the online peace campaign #hour4peace every Thursday at 4pm and a Social Media volunteer with Unify. Anyone interested in learning more can check out www.millen316.com or through my updates on Twitter @millen316

Further to this I would strongly recommend to all ambassadors to check out the potential of a world unified in synchronised moments of peace http://unify.org/ and the inspiring work of Peace One Day www.peaceoneday.org

With best wishes in peace to all".

Happy Peace Day everyone.