As a peace advocate who was born on the International Day of Peace (September 21st), I am grateful to Janilee Abrikian, general manager of Peace and Love in Society (PALS), among others who vetted my original song to help mark the March 1, 2021 Peace Day celebrations in a grand virtual style- "Lets Shape Peace Together."
I must admit that I endured a peaceful process of putting together an imperfect, but practical performance for the virtual peace day concert organised by PALS in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information and the Violence Prevention Alliance (VPA).
Especially since, I don't play instruments, I appreciate the fact that Alan Ulises who owns the rythmn, Dakey Riddim, a reggae rap beat instrumental, provides the rythmn free for non-profit purposes.
Of course, I was happy to share screen with ASHE, Tony Rebel and my brother- cousin- colleague, Blakka Ellis, who hosted the program. Indeed, I have always respected the therapeutic roles which conscious artistes and comedians play and by living in my dreams, I enjoying creating therapeutic or psychoeducational content.
Moreover, I was able to take a portion of a Health and Family Life education lesson outside of the classroom. Teaching life skills such as conflict resolution and conflict management can get tricky sometimes as students may not interact in an environment which encourages a "soft answer turning away wrath." Notwithstanding, a soft answer can be an assertive and not an aggressive one.
Walking away from bystanders whose sole role is to say, "A shoulda me!" when someone steps on your toe is a skill. As the life skills trainer, I too have to evaluate how I teach and preach the skills and allow the students to practise them using real life situations.
May you resonate with the lyrics of the song below which reminds us to cope with stress and conflicts by controlling our breathing and being aware of physiological effects of stress which when not dealt with defeats the purpose of being peaceful.
Song: Breathe In Breathe Out
Chorus
Breathe in; breathe out
What are you worrying about?
Breathe in; breathe out.
There is no need to shout.
Verse 1
Be still be calm
Laugh through your storm.
Control your tongue;
Your words can harm.
Not only listen with your ear, listen with your ear
Your body language show how much you care.
Verse 2
When your head feel hot
Like a pressure cooker top
When your stomach's in a knot
And you see the trap they plot
Walking away may be your best shot
Be still and use up the brain that you got
Chorus
Breathe in; breathe out
What are you worrying about?
Breathe in; breathe out.
There is no need to shout.
Bridge
Think before you sink
Stop before you act
Chill instead of kill
Map before you snap
Check before you wreck
Calm in the storm
Breathe in; breathe out
Spread the word all about