Sweet August Peace

I know, I know, dog days and all that… but I love the sheer laziness of August accompanied by peaches and watermelon and cantaloup and tomatoes and, and… I love the act of being present to what I eat and of carving out a bit of peace and quiet in a noisy, busy world.

And I admit that I speak as a non agricultural person. I’m not toiling in the noon-day sun for low wages. I am not a gardener (so not a gardener), so I am enjoying the fruits of someone else’s labor… if I really say grace for the food I eat, I must consider the well-being of everyone from local farmers to migrant farm-workers as I celebrate.

But there is also time, indeed there must be time for meditating on the deliciousness of a ripe peach whose juice drips down your face. There’s probably a poem in there… And there’s certainly a peach for me to eat! So I’ll go do that very thing. And I’ll think slow and Peaceful thoughts. You do the very same thing, too, ‘K? I’ve got a bowlful, if you want a peach, I’m happy to share.

And enjoy Nancy Cleaver’s incredibly beautiful mandala: Organic Peace, a water color she painted in 2009. She says this about the design: “This holds an ambiguous natural form for you to interpret. Is it a chrysanthemum, a shell, a seedpod, a cone? Whatever you see, it may perhaps be your totem for peace, calling you.”

Peace calls us and sometimes it just blesses us where we are. For me, August is one of those months.

Foggy Peace

Sometimes, you’re just overwhelmed with beauty, filled to the very brim. What a blessing in those times to be given a day to just stop and exhale… and to do it in the company of loved ones… what a gift… Time to simply be present and to make memories that will last a lifetime. Really. Who would believe that fog was so generous? and that the living of life as a prayer is sometimes just stopping and sitting still…

Life is so abundant, and I am so lucky… counting my blessings and giving gratitude for the bounties of Nature and Love.

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 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 and Deliberateness

When I was looking for the right form of the word Deliberateness to use… it’s rather an awkward word, I admit… I wondered for a while if it was really different than intention… But I think so. I think deliberateness includes intention, but it also includes being aware and being careful. So in the pursuit of both Sacred Vocabulary and Peace, it seemed a good word to add.

I often have clear intentions, but I also often fall in the “ready, fire, aim” class of doers, so this is an important word for me. Peace is a fragile endeavor. Much of the work can be accomplished with good will and large vision. But you have to be aware, present and somewhat self-reflective, as well.

If ever a word argued for partnership and cooperation in my life, this would be it! And do you know, I don’t believe either of those words have yet made it onto the vocabulary list. What was I thinking… perhaps that vocabulary is something that develops slowly and relative to the needs of the situation and the wisdom!

So move about your day today with great deliberateness…see how that changes things. It will certainly slow things down and if your weather is like ours, it will be a wise response to the heat…

Courageous Peace

Courage is such a under-appreciated trait. There are so many people living courageously every day. Getting out of bed and accomplishing the day’s chores sometimes requires greater courage than folks who decide to summit a mountain.

Courage for soldiers is probably as great living in the aftermath as in the moment when training and adrenalin are surging through their bodies.

And the courage to work unflaggingly for Peace. we need that. Let us encourage one another. What we always need is the courage to be present to the moment and respond to the needs to the best of our abilities. Here’s wishing us all the courage to live our lives for Peace.

(I’ll be off for two weeks, but keep checking the website, posts are scheduled to appear! Probably not everyday, but often enough that you’ll know I thought about you as I prepared to leave on my two-week vacation with my sister! Peace, my friends.)

Peace Adventure

No really, I didn’t plan this when I set out to write about a month full of words we might want to live into. But on the day I write about adventure, I’m off on one! Today I climb on a bus to New York with about 35 other people to attend a gallery opening.

My sister’s bestie from high school, a woman with whom she got up to all sorts of shennanigans while being 11th grad Girl Scouts traveling across Europe, has her first gallery opening in New York City.

It’s so easy to turn your life into a rut and never climb out. And yet, the trip to school is an adventure if we exhale that breath we are holding. We’re alive. We’re with people we love (even if at the moment we’d like our cheeky child to be kind just for once be pleasant to her sister or brother), and life is therefore grand. What do we notice as we travel the same ground day after day.

I think one of the most important periods of my life was the time I went to feed my mom two times a day for two plus years. Not only did I never exactly know what was going to happen when I got there, I began to pay attention to the landscape. Oh, not always, there was plenty of routine, but there began to be places where I could tell that summer was folding his tents or spring was making her way. Suddenly the everydayness of it became exciting.

But it’s important to take adventures outside our daily lives. Because they teach us so much about not only others but also about ourselves and our ruts. Once we peek our head over the rut, life looks very different. Once we’re outside, we begin to notice that there’s a huge difference between peaceful and Peace. We’re working toward Peace. Being peaceful is helpful but not mandatory. Adventures? I don’t know if they’re mandatory, but they’re a lot of fun! (even if slightly scary in the moment!)

And of course for me, today is sort of a practice adventure for a HUGE adventure. On Friday, Deb and I go to Philly and spend the night. Saturday we get on a plane to Vancouver. Sunday we get on a ship to cruise the Alaska Inner Passage… and then days later a train to Denali National Park. Lots of fun ahead. And no internet. and I’m not sure how much cell phone coverage. Lots of being present to the moment and the beauty and my beloved sisty. Maybe some self-reflection. Definitely some memory-making. Lots of blessing counting for my sweet love and rich life. Oh, Hooray! Oh, Joy! Oh! A two-week Sabbath. Oh, Adventure!

Graduate Peace?

Our graduates are coming out into a tough world. There aren’t lots of jobs available. And there are many things wrong with the world. We’ve certainly given them unrealistic expectations that their lives would be better than ours — a notion the boomers proved to be true in their early work lives perhaps but are perhaps struggling with today.

It’s a great time for leadership. And I’m not sure it’s going to be ours. Because we haven’t led. I realized two things in writing this. 1) well, that was depressing, despite my faith in them and 2) the next poem had better be to their elders, we’d better Peace-up, and start looking for our own solutions.

But graduates? Count those blessings, Review your shortcomings. Do that self-reflection dance. Stay present. Stay connected to your friends with great ideas and the will and ingenuity to implement them.

And isn’t that the work of right now? What’s going in that garden to feed our family? What Peace seedlings are we planting and tending to feed a Peace-hungry world? There’s work to be done. And for too many kids there are choices to be made between doing nothing and doing good. We cannot let these shining stars become discouraged; and they’re of an age where they might want to realize that it will be dangerous for them.

So, an important part of their challenge is to stay involved and inspired in their lives despite a very challenging world. There’s very real danger in their becoming disaffected… we owe our children not to let that happen — and they owe it to themselves.

Cusps and Verges are very interesting places filled with wonder and possibility and fraught with danger…

Kid Peace

A chance encounter in an alley: generally when you hear those words, what comes after isn’t good. But here we were on a bright, but chilly May morning. I was parking the car, all the in-front-of-my-house spaces having been scooped by workers. She was coming down the alley behind her house on her way to school.

She waved and deigned to speak! As an adult who bounces in and out of the life of kids, I do try and give them some choice in the matter! Next thing I know, we’re walking to her bus stop as she explains the intricacies of Girls on the Run (yahoo) and what they’ve been doing.

As you can imagine, I’m all about anything that’s empowering the girls, so it was a fun conversation and she had a great understanding of what was happening. And then a quick segue to how she’d be spending her summer vacation, and I waved goodbye. She’s going to otter camp which might also be seal camp, how much did I want someone to send me?????

It’s important to look through eyes that view the world at a different level, now and again. And hooray for friends across the generations! Being present. Counting blessings. Watch words for Peace.

Firecircle Peace

There’s something about sitting around a fire. The silence that descends is companionable. The stories that break out tend to point to life’s sweetness. Songs often find harmony. Laughter is often hearty but gentle. We don’t do this enough to give our hearts Peace; we don’t often consider it as a Peace-making tool… and yet people have gathered around a fire for years, drummed sang, told stories and kept soft silence. Maybe we need to get out there more and invite others to join us. Being present to one another. Making memories together. What’s not to love?

My nephew and wife have built a home with some land around it. Not far from the house is a big fire circle with plenty of room for lots of chairs around and a roaring fire within. Saturday night, the rain cleared and the weather was cool enough to make the fire enjoyable and not too warm to make a fire unbearable. And there we sat, enjoying the night. It was wonderful. And we didn’t even have s’mores!

Inside, someone’s cute baby was making the rounds, as wannabe grandparents reached out arms to cuddle and soothe. Scottlyn was perfectly willing to indulge us with smiles and coos… hunting for parents only when hungry and then moving back to the center of everyone’s attention when needs were assuaged.

More babies. More fires. More Peace and Joy in families and friends. That’ll keep that Peace spreading outward!

Sacred Village

Building a World of Peace, Village by Sacred Village.

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