Day 220: Rebekah Fraser

May 8, 2010 at 12:01 am, Category: Inspiration

“… part of the impetus for this event is to empower people, to let them know that you can do this one small thing, but if we all do it together, then it can have an impact even if it’s just for 24 hours … I feel that people getting together even in spirit and singing for peace, that’s worth something …”

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Toni Reece: Thank you so much, Rebekah, for being here today, and before we begin, can you please introduce yourself?

Rebekah Fraser: Sure.  My name is Rebekah Fraser.  I am the founder of Solstice Sing for Peace, which is a worldwide movement to create a chain of singing and chanting for peace on the June solstice each year, and it’s great to be here, Toni.  Thank you for inviting me.

Toni: Well, you’re welcome.  Rebekah, when you think of that word inspiration, who do you inspire, and how does that happen?

Rebekah: Oh, God, who do I inspire?  I don’t know.  I don’t really think about that.  I suppose that I probably inspire my daughter.  You know, people tell me sometimes that I inspire them, and I’m always kind of surprised, so I don’t know.  I mean, I can tell you I saw a friend who I met through Solstice Sing for Peace, his name is Bruce.  He runs a fantastic nonprofit organization called Friends of Peace Pilgrim, and he would be a great person to speak with as well.  But in any case, he came and spoke at my church a few weeks ago, and we were chatting afterwards, and he was telling me and the other people that we were talking to how much I inspire him.  And I don’t know, I was … I’m just always so surprised when somebody says that, so, yeah, I don’t … I should stop talking about that.

Toni: Well how did he say you inspired him?

Rebekah: To be honest, I don’t remember.  I think I was just so shocked, I was just like “Oh, really?”

Toni: Well, there’s a great … there’s a woman who I’ve met just recently, her name is Danielle La Porte, and she uses a phrase, and she says “What do people thank you for?”  And that’s … that could be a way that you inspire others when you think about what people thank you for.

Rebekah: Yeah, God.  I guess people have thanked me for starting this event.  People have thanked me for my writing.   I’m a writer in my day job, in my real life.  People have thanked me for various things that I’ve written that have touched them or helped them in some way.  People … you know, I generally … this is not true a hundred percent of the time, but I generally move in this world with a sense of gratitude and a smile, and people have commented on that.  I mean even, you know, the guys at the gas station where I usually have my car filled up, you know, have commented.  They call me Smiley.  So I guess there’s that.  I don’t know, this is really hard to answer this question.

Toni: That’s okay, and people do not find it easy to answer these questions, so that’s what’s so cool about it as well, because once you start to dig into it, it’s like “Hey, yeah, I really do inspire others.”  Well, let’s look at the second part of this.  What do you think you do that helps to explore the potential in others?

Rebekah: Well, a variety of things.  I mean, just in my daily personal life, I have a daily yoga and meditation practice.  I know I inspired my boyfriend to start doing that, and he expressed that he was inspired just by the fact that I do it every day no matter where I am and no matter what’s happened.  Like, after I fell down the stairs, the next day I was up doing yoga with bruises all up and down my spine.

Toni: Wow.

Rebekah: So there’s that.  I know … you know what’s funny?  Sometimes people have talked to me about just the fact that I listen, and I think it’s pretty amazing the power of the ears to, you know … people want to be heard, and so I think I help people in that way.  As far as Solstice Sing for Peace goes, I think giving people a … sometimes people kind of need permission to do something, so telling people, like “Hey, we’re going to do this thing on this day.  We’re all going to sing.  It doesn’t matter where you are.  You can be in your car.  You can be, you know, on a plane.   You can be riding your bike.  You can be surfing.  You can be taking a shower, but if you can take one minute to sing for peace … Oh you have a terrible voice?  Okay, how about one minute to chant.  Just say Om.  Just say, you know, ‘May all beings have peace.’  You know, if you can take one minute – or more – and make a joyful noise for peace, then that’s doing something.”

You know, the idea is to shift the global focus to peace on that day.  So much of our daily focus in a sense … as far as I remember since 2001, you know, since September 11 — but maybe this has been going on a lot longer and I was just oblivious — but so much of our daily focus is on war, hatred, violence, greed, rape, murder, blah, blah, blah, and you know, honestly I don’t believe that that helps anything.  As a journalist I, no matter what I’m covering, try to focus on the empowering aspect of a story, you know, so that my readers will get a sense of how they can improve their situation or their community or their family or whatever.

So in any case, you know, part of the impetus for this event is to empower people, to let them know that, you know, you can do this one small thing, but if we all do it together, then it can have an impact even if it’s just for 24 hours, you know?

It’s like, you know, sometimes I think people are afraid to do things or will discount the importance of something if they don’t see a lasting benefit from it, you know?  “Why should I take my elderly grandfather out for a drive?  He’s just going to forget it because he’s senile, you know?”  Well, because he would enjoy those 30 minutes that you were together; maybe that’s worth something.  You know, “Why should I go exercise today, you know, when I could be working?”  Well, you know, because even if you don’t lose weight, you may still just feel good for the 45 minutes that you’re on the treadmill.  That’s worth something.  And so similarly I feel that, you know, people getting together even in spirit and singing for peace, that’s worth something.

Toni: Well there’s a great piece of inspiration there for being able to verbalize how you inspire others.  You’re inspiring a movement.  You’re inspiring others to join a movement, a 24-hour movement, so that is a way that you would inspire others.  And then listening to you, how I’m hearing that you may explore … help others to explore their potential is also in your writing, because you write about a way … you put the empowerment to it, which gives them possibly … inspires a thought for them to take action into their own hands or provides them with the tools to do that, and that’s exploring your own potential.  So I hear that you’re doing that all over the place.

Rebekah: Yeah, I guess so.  I guess so.  It’s kind of what I bring to the table.  I was a teacher for a year in a high school, and at that time, you know, I’m trying to think if I remember telling my students “You know, I’m not here to teach you” and they all … they kind of looked at me, you know, and then they started “Oh, you’re not going to do your job.”  You know, I had the smart alecks about it, but I said “No, you know, hear me out.  It’s not going to do you any good if I fill your head with all sorts of information, but if I can show you how to get the information that you need and want, then this is something you will take with you, and you’ll be able to use it for the rest of your lives.  And it won’t matter, you know, it won’t matter what the subject is.  If you know how to research, then you’re going to be able to handle anything.”

Because that’s what so much of life is, is how do, you know … “Well, I’m moving.  How do I find a decent mover who’s, you know, going to do a good job,” you know, “How do I … I’m, you know, building a house.  How do we make sure we build a solid house?”  So, you know, it doesn’t matter what the situation is.  And I was their English teacher, you know, but the point was, like, you can use these same skills throughout all facets of your life.

Toni: Absolutely, absolutely.

Rebekah: So I get that, as that’s what I bring to the table no matter where I am.  I try … and I do it with my daughter as well, you know.  “I could tell you how to handle this but how about, you know, I help you figure that out?  How about you really be the one who’s leading this?”

Toni: So Rebekah what inspires you?  What do you need to be inspired?

Rebekah: Love in all its forms.  Nature.  I try to be outside for at least a few minutes every day, and if the weather’s good, it’s hard for me to even stay inside.  I usually bring my laptop outside and work.  Interaction, human interaction, which as a writer sometimes I actually forget, and I get stuck in my own little, you know, at my desk doing my thing with my words and then, you know, kind of I sometimes realize “Oh, wow, I haven’t seen a person all day except for my daughter, getting her out the door,” you know…you know, so I think those are kind of the top three things.  For me, health is really important, part of the yoga thing and working out and stuff.

Toni: So what do you then do to explore your own potential?  There is … you’ve put this movement together — and I can’t even imagine where that came from which would be interesting enough I would believe — that you’re very passionate about; so what do you do to explore your own potential so that you can keep this movement alive but also maybe inspire your thinking to form other movements?

Rebekah: Well, I’ve mentioned it a couple of times already, so I hate to harp on it, but my daily spiritual practice is this yoga and meditation.  And during the meditation, kind of before I settle into quiet time, I read some spiritual text.  For a long time, it was just the Bible for years, and then I started opening up my horizons a little bit and explored the Dama Pata, which is the writings of the Buddha, and the Dao De Jing, and the Bhagavad Gita, and the Upanishads, and writings of Rumi.

And through exploring these spiritual texts, I connect with deeper parts of myself, and I feel I’m connecting with God.  I feel myself connecting with other people who, you know, may have read the same passages at different points in history or may be reading, you know, those same passages now.  And through part of my meditation practice includes some chanting, and so I feel a connection with people at that time as well.  So for me, the spiritual practice, the physical aspect of yoga and then the mental and spiritual aspect of the meditation and the spiritual reading and journaling, that’s kind of like where I channel things.

I really…as a writer and producer and founder of this movement, I feel I’m a channel, and so that’s kind of the opening.  That’s where the door opens.  And then I, you know, I have other practices.  I work out in some way every day, whether it’s going for a long walk outside or going to the gym and getting on some machines.  I really like to be physically active.  I think it’s important for the mind, body, and spirit, and, you know, I just try and spend time with the people that I love.

I try to be present.  I’m not always so successful at that, but I try.  I tend to get in my own way a lot, so I try to be mindful of that tendency and get out of my way, but, you know, in terms of getting this movement going and doing other things that I do, I think it really does start with, you know, the first part of my day.

Toni: Well that’s fantastic, and you’ve really shared some very personal instructions, almost, for yourself of how you get through the day and some … and the insight that you share that others can go “You know, maybe I’ll give that a try and see if that works for me.”  And also bringing a light to what your movement is with the journey that you’re creating for others and the Solstice for Peace, and I think that’s pretty amazing.

We will have a way for people to go to your website forum.  I know you stated earlier that there’s a group that people can become a part of, so anyone listening to this interview can have the ability to check at the bottom of the transcript how to find you and be part of this in June.  So for showing up to the Project today and being as honest as you were, we can’t thank you enough.

Rebekah: Well, thank you; it’s really a pleasure.

Toni: Take care of yourself.

Rebekah: Thanks, I will, you too.

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For more information about Rebekah Fraser:  www.rebekahlfraser.com, www.solsticesingforpeace.com

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