Sydney Goodwill Goodwill is love in action
Global Silent Minute www.globalsilentminute.org started a Facebook Group on 21 November 2019, exactly one month prior to the event at 9 pm GMT on 21 December 2019. The group grew quickly and by the end of December was over 8000 strong. As of today, 14 January 2020, there are over 10,000 members and still growing daily.
The Global Silent Minute grew out of an inspiration received by three groups on retreat on the Sunshine Coast in Australia in January 2019. Inspired by the original Big Ben Silent Minute, initiated by Wellesley Tudor Pole, the groups decided to create an event on the December Solstice to address the all-systems breakdown and simultaneous all-systems breakthrough on this planet by unifying millions on both sides of the veil in an intentional minute of silence at the exact same time everywhere on the planet – the same time that the original Silent Minute was held – at 9 pm GMT. This time the focus was on global cooperation, peace and freedom. World Goodwill NGO invited us to broadcast live from New York City at their 21 December World Goodwill Seminar and we said yes. Little did we know that ten months later we would be broadcasting literally around the world to millions.
As the groups began sharing the Global Silent Minute with others, the momentum built. The Trustees at Chalice Well (another important initiative begun by Wellesley Tudor Pole) in Glastonbury, UK where they offer a Silent Minute daily at noon and 3 pm, were fully supportive of the initiative. Partnering with the Shift Network in the USA increased awareness significantly. As other groups became aware of the Global Silent Minute, they too agreed to partner and distribute information. We noted a quantum leap occurred in our Facebook group when Goi Foundation became a partner.
About three weeks prior to the event, Jon Ramer, Synergized Impact Network Exchange (SINE); Ben Bowler, Unity.Earth; and Nina Meyerhof, Children of the Earth, came together with the organizers of Global Silent Minute and everyone agreed that this was an opportunity to really make a difference throughout our global networks. Holistic Centers Networks was already a partner, and around the same time, we met with Trish McCarty, CEO of sacredsiteshealinghearts.com as they were planning their two year tour of 33 sacred sites around the world and they immediately decided to make 21 December their initial Global Silent Minute and offer one at each sacred site they visit throughout the next two years. Also, Sister Jenna, Brahma Kumaris, became a partner and began to reach out to their vast network and scheduled the Global Silent Minute for their meditation groups worldwide.
By the time 21 December arrived, we estimate the outreach was in excess of 100 million. A Facebook SINE Wave was organized which included a one hour event wrapped around the Global Silent Minute. People in countries around the world (including Reiko Nakanishi in Japan) offered insights and blessings leading into the Global Silent Minute. The event concluded with a discussion of the ongoing cooperation among groups around the world in 2020 and beyond. We are learning to network the networks as a system of influence on behalf of the common good.
Three days prior to the event, Dot Maver was contacted by Trish McCarty who had James Uqualla on the phone. Uqualla is the Medicine Man’s Medicine Man, a member of the Havasupai Tribe who live at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. They are the Sentinels of Mother Earth and they bless the blue-green waters. He was called to support the Global Silent Minute and did so from Sedona, Arizona. Uqualla opened the event with a blessing that touched hearts and minds around the world, inviting everyone to be a Sentinel for Mother Earth.
Following the Global Silent Minute, we received a summary of the statistics from the Facebook Live event. At the time of the Global Silent Minute there were 150,000 Facebook pages open to the livestream event. Over 700 of those pages were major groups and networks, ensuring that the reach went well beyond those pages. Combining the statistical information with our knowledge of the already substantial engagement through our networks, we are confident that participation exceeded 50 million. In fact, we have been told we are conservative with that number and that it could easily be doubled. The Global Silent Minute was endorsed by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and monks participated everywhere. Events were held in private homes, faith communities, senior centers, schools, even in canoes off the coast of New Zealand, Nodo Mexico de la Casa dela Pax Cultura met at the Teotihuacan pyramids in Mexico, and a family gathered on blankets in the snow in the mountains of Colorado, USA. There were musicians in Glastonbury, and elsewhere, that started or stopped their concerts to observe the Global Silent Minute. Celebrities including Oscar-nominee Joaquin Phoenix endorsed the Global Silent Minute. MSNBC Anchor and Founder of Good News Ruhles USA, Stephanie Ruhle, said she joined the Global Silent Minute in “pursuit of creating more love and unity around the world”.
The Global Silent Minute Facebook page continues to be active and immediately following the event we were contacted by the organisers of 7 Days of Rest and Radiant Diversity, 1-7 January 2020. We agreed to open and close that week-long event and hosted a daily Global Silent Minute at 9 pm GMT. We have been invited to help open the MLK Jr event 15 January as they will launch the ‘Love One Another’ global challenge with singer-songwriter-producer-actor-philanthropist John Legend and his nephew, music artist TayDa Prince.
Global Silent Minute has a life of its own and the three groups – Cygnet Centre for Peacebuilding and Transformation Australia; Sydney Goodwill Unit of Service Australia; and the Hill Center for Peacebuilding USA – will remain as guardians of the initiative. People everywhere are recognizing the power of silence and Silence as Action. The Shift Network has offered to help host the 21 December event annually. In response to requests from the Global Silent Minute Community, we are now participating in a daily Global Silent Minute at 9 pm GMT. We recognise that this daily practice is imperative to create a new rhythm for the New Era. Ring a bell and join those on both sides of the veil as we focus on global cooperation, peace and freedom.
Two concordant thoughts increase the power seven times. We imagine millions of concordant thoughts increasing the power exponentially so that we transform life on this beautiful planet we all call home!
We have been deeply moved by the unprecedented expression of gratitude in the Facebook Group as the Global Silent Minute has truly struck a chord in the hearts of so many. We could draw from hundreds of examples and offer this one below that encapsulates the depth of healing, sharing and knowing.
It’s now the 25th day that I’ve participated in the Silent Global Minute. As I sit across from the flickering candle looking at photos of my ancestors including my sister who recently left the physical world, I can feel our connection more deeply for longer than a minute. My fingertips tingle and get warm almost electrical as I connect with you all around the planet. The energy feels more real and powerful everyday. I now believe in the new knowledge of our electro – physiological power which is perhaps stronger than our bio- neuro-genetic aspects of our earthly being. The monks of today and yesteryear, the original worldwide First Nations and those of today, who always understood that we are relations plus our wise elders and ancestors in communities around the world, who always knew of its existence.
I can feel the power of silent introspection that I now share with all of you for at least one synchronized minute of the day and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Please share so our prayer for healing our planet and everything Mother Nature sustains via this evolving family of kindred spirits, so we shall become even more powerful. Maggi Jackson
Global Silent Minute reports are available at: https://sydneygoodwill.org.au/global-silent-minute-as-a-daily-practice/ and www.festivalweek.org.
14 January 2020
