In 2011 The Moment of Peace was started by Dean ‘Jagaro’ Crabb, a meditation teacher, as a personal project to raise awareness worldwide about the importance of silence in our busy modern lives. The idea was simple, that a unified act of silence could spread around the world by people sharing through generosity and reciprocation.
The initial idea was born in May and a website setup a week later with the first event date set for June 18th 2011 – just 8 short weeks away. Within a few days he landed his first major supporter, The Buddhist Channel, an international news website that offered to promote the TMOP badge on their site. It was a good start. By about the 2nd week TMOP had more than 200 people registered – progress was slow but promising.
As the weeks went by, more and more people gathered around the idea and more businesses got on board. Facebook ‘likes’ started to increase and website traffic became more consistent. As the network of followers grew, Dean found myself reaching out to celebrities and famous authors he never thought possible. The message about TMOP was even delivered to The Dalai Lama.
In the process, several people from around the world stepped forward to volunteer their help, becoming the first ‘Ambassador’s of Peace’. Their contribution and willingness to sacrifice their own time to help others was phenomenal.
Dean quickly realised he’d planned the actual launch date too soon. Only leaving 8 weeks to the first “The Moment of Peace” day was just too short. As the weeks went by the idea snowballed!
A Huge Success
By about week six or seven, Dean started to lose track of participants, as there were not the proper mechanisms for tracking followers. As the numbers raced passed 70,000+ people worldwide he was swamped in a sea of emails, business offers, interviews, media releases and administration. The event was a huge success! A simple idea had spread from just one person to more than 100,000+ worldwide.
The whole initiative cost quite literally nothing, with everything being done for free or being generously donated by supporters for the movement. The Moment of Peace grew from the goodwill, reciprocation and generosity of people like you. It truly is testament to the power of the people and the sincere intention of many to create positive change in the world.
Thank You!
Since the first “The Moment of Peace” event in June 2011, Dean has taken time out to rest and reflect on the events that had occurred, and to reconnect with his family. This sabbatical has allowed him to revamp the approach and technology behind The Moment of Peace for 2012.
Dean would sincerely like that thank the major supporters who backed the idea and shared it with their networks. It would not have been possible without you! He would also like to thank the ‘Ambassador’s of Peace’ (people who beforehand were complete strangers) for volunteering their time to make it a success. They saw the potential of “The Moment of Peace” and generously gave their time to help others in the world. A true inspiration! Thank you so much.
