Abundant Peace

Well, the cruise was certainly about abundance… maybe even over abundance. It was impossible to take in everything on offer. Food every time you turned around. Classes and activities on the hour and the half hour. constant daylight. and more wildlife and beauty than you can process. I thought a lot about creation… there was so much…

There often is, in our lives. We frequently fail to see it. And when we can’t see the abundance, we get greedy. What happened in Alaska was that you couldn’t allow yourself to just see the food buffets. All light all the time and whales leaping off the bow, midships and stern? You had to stop and take notice. Precious is a little word for so large a landscape but it was profoundly precious. and profoundly Peaceful.

Walking Peace

Who knew that cruise ships in Alaska had the perfect walking conditions. Plenty cool enough for a fleece and long tights, delightfully flat surfaces (well that had to be pretty much a given) and unbelievable scenery. Well, the scenery’s probably a given as well, but thanks to a wonderful break in the weather, Alaska was incredibly generous with us.

This first morning was a bit misty and so the mountains winked in and out of sight. We entered the Inside Passage just about an hour before I went for a walk. It was easy keeping up the pace when you were trying to catch another glimpse of what you’d just seen and ascertain if, in fact, it really was that beautiful. It was. It was such a feast of the senses, that now, no longer there, it’s hard to comprehend!

Where are my pics, you ask? I don’t have the kind of skill to capture that beauty… there are too many wonderful pics out there… but round and round and round… As the Navajo prayer says:

With beauty may I walk

With beauty before me may I walk

With beauty behind me may I walk

With beauty above me may I walk

With beauty all around me may I walk

And so it was…

Sailing Peace

I’m going to spend the month reflecting on the two weeks I was privileged to spend in Alaska. There was so much to take in, and I had decided to go computer free, so I wasn’t writing there, I was just experiencing. For the same reasons, I didn’t take many pictures, although I may find some to share eventually. A couple people are going to make us discs…

This initial taking off was extraordinary. My sister Deb and I were at the front of the ship, high over the water, watching everything that was going on. We sailed in a fairly narrow channel, waving to people on shore and looking up at an extraordinary bridge as we edged out into the open water. It was wonderful.

I wanted to let you know that this month’s mandala by Nancy Cleaver is entitled Gates of Peace. She says, “This piece invites us to enter into the center of a new world beyond conflict. It reminds me of Japanese sword guards that were used ceremonially, not for weaponry. The gate could open in numerous ways, depending on where you are in relation to the image.” I love the piece and I loved the notion of the gate… I’m looking forward to being able to write about this because there’s been so much going on, that I haven’t been able to think about all I saw and experienced. I’d like to do that with you. While it’s true that we went in June and I’m writing in July, the beauty and the endless sunlight will not change much.

I have the feeling that I’ll see Peace through new eyes as a result of this trip.

Peace Sabbath Gratitude

And so a month of Sacred Vocabulary words ends with Gratitude and the thankful realization that there may be 30 more. See you in September? or maybe August, who knows.

But so much for which to be grateful.

And that’s a mouthful and a dayful for a Sabbath. Enjoy it!

Acceptance for Peace

If there’s anything the Truth and Reconciliation Tribunals being held all over the world have made clear, Peace does not move forward without acknowledgement of what happened and acceptance that we cannot change our pasts.

It’s helpful when dealing with bad things that occurred if there is acknowledgement on the part of the offender. But that’s not always possible. But what is always possible is to accept that bad things, however unfair have happened.

It’s also important to practice acceptance in the face of wonderful things in our lives that may no longer be part of our daily existence. Relationships end. Careers can be shortcut. Accidents can happen. People die. In the face of such things we not only need to practice acceptance of the events but also gratitude and excitement for the wonderful pieces of our lives that preceded those endings.

As hard as it is, every day we can only start with what we have now, both enjoying it and building our future on it. Life has so many twists and turns. Let’s make the most of what we have now. Tying ourselves to our pasts doesn’t serve anyone. Owning our present lives and our future, we can move away from what happened and toward what is possible. For me? For one thing, that’s about accepting that I might have had much better preparation for what I am now (finally) doing with my life, and then choosing Peace and Peacemaking. What is it for you?

Peace Ethics

Few of us spend enough time in reflection these days. We’re constantly distracted by noise and music. Work has changed so much that very little of it allows much less encourages thoughtful musing. It’s hard to think about what’s important when we’re spending so much time worrying about what needs to be accomplished.

But if we don’t spend time focusing on what’s important to us, on what we value, we’re unlikely to spend our days living into those values. We will to the best of our abilities, but expediencies are seductive.

But it’s never to late to move our lives closer to our values. It’s never to late to push deeper into those values and beliefs. We’re happier when we do. We’re better agents for Peace and Justice. We make a bigger impact on our lives and on the people coming along after us.

Our lives are so full, doing what’s needed next… still we must seek the balance — for our health and for our world. It matters. and it’s damned hard.

Peace Play

Taking my own advice about Sacred Play. Going off to Clyde Peelings Reptile Land with the Grands… and then to the river to enjoy swimming, boating, eating by the river. As my sister-in-law Margaret says: If you’re lucky enough to live by the river, you’re lucky enough!

The thing will be to remember how to do this when the kids aren’t here to remind me! But for today? Be Present! Count Blessings! Play! And make some great memories! Make some summer Peace. It doesn’t get sweeter than this!

Peace Rapture

When we say rapture, most of us either think about sex (hooray) or the endtimes ( a bit different in word usage.) But when it comes to life, we think of it as rare and distant. I’m not sure about this, but I wonder if that isn’t because we’re not intimate with our own lives. These days we’re at a camera’s distance from everything that happens. Rapture is profoundly intimate… and overwhelming.

It bursts our hearts open and makes us available to joy, more joy, maybe even profound joy. It makes us consider how we might want to keep our hearts open a bit more. There will be ups and downs… but disappointment should not stand in the way of full on enjoyment.

I was caught of guard this year by rapture… All of a sudden, I was doing exactly what I was meant to do and I had the perfect partners and the project was exactly the right scope. Boom. Rapture. I’m hoping it taught me something about finding the right partners to work with and embracing projects which can be accomplished. It’s about using all the skills we have been given and then have developed.

It’s probably also about life being what we know we have… and to treat it as less than holy and worthy of holy rapture is to demean it. We are the Peacemakers. That’s our job. Let’s go!

Meaning Peace

As I age, I believe less in finding Meaning than in making meaning. What I focus on is where my meaning emerges… and it’s important (for me) to focus on the positive, so that what I’m seeing is possibilities.

I’m always taken aback when people are despairing of the world. It’s not that there aren’t bad things that happen, it’s that the more we focus on the Good, the more of that we see and perhaps most importantly, the more of that we DO. We become empowered as agents of the good. If I work to raise money for Staten Island, will that stop war in Syria?

It’s a very distant connection to be sure, but I can’t do much about Syria, and I do know how to do something about people here. not much perhaps, but a little. and so, I do. And that becomes the spot where I make my meaning.

We must, as… was it Jimminy Cricket who said this: Accentuate the positive!

Community Peace/Peace Community

No matter how you splice it, it’s what we want…

We want to live in communities of Kindness and Respect. We also want to be communities earnestly in pursuit of Peace. When we build around our values we find that there are many whose beliefs are different than ours but whose values are shared…

After years on the margins, I’m relishing living in community; which is to say, I relishing being part of constructing the community in which I live — or maybe more correctly, communities. Lovely small overlapping communities…there’s Music at the heart of some, Peace at the center of others, support from all of them, laughter in each and every one.

I am seen and respected for who I am, as best as my community is able. I struggle to offer them the same respect. And then we work on what’s important, on building new truths and new connections, and stand fast for one another. That’s the best of community!

Count your Blessings! Count your Communities! They’re not easy to build, but the effort is well rewarded.

Sacred Village

Building a World of Peace, Village by Sacred Village.

The Priestess Is In