|
When peace comes from within AMELIA VUNILEBA At peace...Thom Cronkite and Caroline Cottom
There are often thoughts that it cant be achieved because there is an endless array of disputes and war. It brings to mind a saying; the purpose
of all war is peace and it kind of rings true. Well in all disputes, upheavals and wars, there are always people who are left traumatised by all that has happened and these people often seek ways to address what they have been through. But for some, the battles often prove too much to handle. Locally we have been through a few traumatic experiences nationally that is and there are people who are still trying to find ways to deal with it. An American couple is operating a centre that offers different forms of spiritual healing and guidance that could prove very useful for these people. The Centre Within-Fiji is the local base for Thom Cronkite and Caroline Cottom and at the moment, this is right at Koro Island in Lomaiviti. The couple are from the United States of America and have also lived in France and Thailand. We are now Fiji residents, living on Koro Island for the past three years, where we have a small home overlooking the island, said Caroline. Its a very beautiful island and it gives us an opportunity to write and its just absolutely beautiful, she said. Plus its a wonderful place to hold a retreat. Caroline said there had been a wide range of interest from people about the centre and what it offers and those who have been through it were mostly people from USA, Australia and New Zealand. She said more recently there was an interest in the centre from locals and quite a number had made it a point to attend their workshops, seminars or retreats. Caroline said the centre provided an opportunity for people to talk about things that they would never normally talk about. We introduced it (centre) to provide experiences for people to find peace and we encourage people to think in the here and now, she said. Too often people worry about the past and the future and that is not the right approach to life. What people should be doing is live in the present because that allows you to prepare well for the future, she said. Through the workshops and retreats, we teach people how to think more clearly and this includes much more than meditation. Caroline said they lead spiritual retreats for people from all religious backgrounds, races and culture and this is all done at Koro Island. She said the beauty and serenity of Koro provided partial inspiration for them to write their book called The Isle of Is; A guide to Awakening. She said she and Thom were both involved in helping people before they met and also had some spiritual experiences in life. These experiences helped us to see that there was more to life than what we perceive. When she was younger, Caroline used to be a Peace Corps volunteer and taught English at a boys school in Thailand. She was also a teacher, community organiser and became the director of national peace organisations in the United States. Thom, on the other hand, is a former businessman and a master electrician and often reached out to people through energetic healing and counselling. While working on his businesses, he tried to bring people from different backgrounds together in order to bring about peaceful coexistence. Together we lead workshops and retreats to assist people of Fiji experience peace within themselves and bring that experience into their personal lives and the greater society, said Caroline. She said plans were in the pipeline for the couple to lead retreats for the countrys youth leaders in the central, northern and western divisions. This, she said would be done in collaboration with the Ministry of National Reconciliation which would help develop peace skills among Fijis youths. There will a workshop titled Experiencing Peace and this will be held on September 22 to 24 in Suva. Past participants of this course have sworn by what they have come away with and are urging others to attend the workshop and have a life changing experience. International Home Base:
Waisali Village, Koro Island, Fiji
Contact Us: centerwithin@connect.com.fj, Phone: 992-7204 (local), 011-679-992-7204(international) |
