Dear John,

Thank you for everything you're doing in your community to cultivate your local peace economy. We're grateful to be on this journey with you and to be learning with and from you in this work.

Come learn with us! Please join us for our next Local Peace Economy Community Call on Wednesday, April 24th at 5:00 PT/8:00 ET.

During this call, we’ll be tapping into joy and celebration - a part of the Cycle of (Re)connection that is so important to local peace economy work because of the ways it returns us to ourselves.

If you weren't able to be with us during our last meeting, we hope you can join us this time. You can catch up on our last call here. You can also watch the recording of our introduction to the Local Peace Economy Workbook during our first meeting here.

Local Peace Economy Community Calls take place every other Wednesday at 5:00 PT/8:00 ET. Newcomers are always welcome. Stay up to date on all of CODEPINK’s events here.

Next Community Call Topic: Joy and Celebration

The war economy feeds a landscape of fear, violence, isolation, unworthiness, and scarcity - all of which disrupts our capacity to relate to one another, and ourselves, with love and kindness. Joy, connection, and love are the wealth of a peace economy.

In a world with so much heartbreak, how can we touch into joy and celebration in a way that resources us to continue to cultivate peace? How are you celebrating life with your community? Where might celebration be needed? 

You can read more about joy and celebration on page 105 of The Local Peace Economy Workbook. We look forward to learning with and from you on Wednesday, April 24th!

Pivot to Peace

Restraint to Pleasure

The war economy tries to keep us from seeing the ways that the things that bring us joy and pleasure are abundant and all around us. How might you live your life if you lived from this knowing? Oftentimes, in order to experience a sense of pleasure in our relationships, we need to remove a sense of transaction.

Where do you experience a sense of restraint in your life? How is it imposed on you - by yourself and by the culture you live in? What scares you about pleasure? What excites you about it? What does pleasure - not a war economy addiction - feel like in your body? How can you take more time in your day to connect to pleasure?

Read more about the pivots to peace here.

The Cycle of (Re)connection

Grief, care, joy, and celebration - these experiences are some of the key entry points for (re)connecting with ourselves and each other as we divest from the war economy. This work needs just as much attention as the ways we are creating a new economy in our communities. One great resource to support ourselves in this work is the SomaSJ Practice Community offered by Staci Haines, a leader in the field of somatics and co-founder of generative somatics. The SomaSJ Practice Community is a free, monthly space to reconnect with yourself in the company of others and practice moving from a place of alignment with what matters to you.

Inspiration for the Journey

The local peace economy is all around us. Stories of the local peace economy inspire us and teach us how we can create a culture of peace together. On the Local Peace Economy Wiki, we’ve been gathering stories of local peace economy projects. Check out this story about why connecting with nature is a path to finding joy in life.

Resources

Jodie Evans recently participated in a panel called Transitioning to A Peace Economy with Peace Economy Project and Franciscan Action Network. It was a rich conversation - check it out here!

You can always find more resources for your local peace economy journey on CODEPINK’s website. Here are some helpful links:

• Lean into supported reflection by downloading or purchasing The Local Peace Economy Workbook
• Tend to yourself with The Cycle of (Re)connection
• Find a community of practice with The Local Peace Economy Ecosystem
• Get inspired by The Local Peace Economy Wiki
• Listen to CODEPINK Radio's episode all about local peace economies

Please email Emily at [email protected] with any questions. We look forward to being with you on Wednesday, April 24th!

With joy, 

Jodie and Emily

PS: Spread the word about local peace economies in your community - buy CODEPINK's new Local Peace Economy t-shirts and totes!