Body Memory Peace

I got to see my husband play with a mentor this week. It was such a joy. Benny Barth, jazzman!

One of the things I loved about the experience was realizing that both of these men, playing wonderful drums, were handicapped in some way. Steve’s hands are full of arthritis, he has neuropathy and he now needs carpal tunnel surgery. Benny’s in the beginning stages of alzheimer’s.

But wherever else there is impairment, behind the drums there is none. Not in the way they sit, not in the way the hold their sticks, not in the way the music flows through them. They’ve played so long, that rhythm knows how to make it’s way through them.

It was a joy and an honor…

I couldn’t help thinking… what if we practiced Peace that way? Practiced so long and so hard that it became second nature? That Peace could have her way with us, even when we were feeling irritable or small-minded? It would take a lot of hours to make it second nature… But watching these two men, I had Hope. Hope. Peace. and 2000 hours of practice. And we’re off!

Peace Here and Now, llvl

I’m away visiting family, so I guess my wind up is slow. Certainly is this morning as I write this a long while after waking up!

It took me until the end of the week to notice how the angel was a little black and white slice in that pile o pansies and daffs. I liked that life was vibrant.

When people ask me what I think about the afterlife, I often reply that I don’t. Well, of course I do, I have many dead loved ones. I like to think that they are up there having a great time and will be happy to welcome me home. But that’s wishful thinking… imagining, kinda… But I don’t have a “sound theological understanding” of heaven, because — I don’t think it matters.

I reserve most of my thinking for the here and now, because that’s all I can affect. Things aren’t working well. Are they working worse than they have? I don’t know, I don’t find that helpful either. There is work to be done. There is Peace to be made. There is appreciation to be given.

All we read is war and hate. It’s our turn to start making headlines for Peace and Love. We need to do what matters. We need to turn from the negativity. It’s not about the nos… it’s the yeses that matter. Let us be the ones who give Peace a (fighting) chance! Let’s be those who work for connection and community.

Blending Peace, llvl

Steve and I both lived in the Bay area for important periods of our life. But since we didn’t know each other then, we have whole periods of our lives to explore. Yesterday we sat at a table with friends from our pasts.

It wasn’t so much a get to know you fest as it was a delighted parallel conversation with a little overlap… but oh it was grand. Marriages late in life come with a lot of unshared territory. Since we’re now living across the country from our pasts, it takes very deliberate work to weave them into our present.

I confess, I’m more interested in this than Steve is, although he’s always happy to come along for the ride. What’s true? We’ve had some very interesting blends. I’m so grateful.

And I’m just reveling in the people I have loved a long time. Visiting is grand. And reveling too in the fact that my present is where it is. Home sweet home AND home away from home. Life is sweet. Peace is elusive but so worth the work! And Friendship, I believe, is the gateway to Peace. And then? there’s family!

The Scent of Peace Past, llvl

It’s been wonderful to step back into my past for a bit… and somewhat jarring. The changes that have happened gradually in my old life arrive in my heart as one big shock.

I didn’t see the neighborhood kids grow up, although i watch them on facebook. But when I go back to the old place, it’s oddly empty. And in my absence, gentrification has really hit the neighborhood… only one black family left on the block. That’s a pretty stark reminder of the way the world changes.

And it’s not just the kids who have grown up. The fig tree did and my Lincoln rose. My roommate, so much younger than I… still in her thirties when I left, is now the “elder” at her gig. Hi-larious!

But still I recognize the bones and love this life deeply. And the sweet relationships that knew me when… and helped to shape me. So happy to remember! Lucky to have had a life with sweet, sweet memories, scented by a beautiful rose! And for the moment I’ll hold that scent in my heart. Peace be with you.

Peace…

Peace from the Past, llvl

Ahhhhhhhh…

When the past was good, it’s good to visit. I spent last night at the house I lived in for 4 years. When I moved back East, my friend’s beloved moved in, so I get to go back to my neighborhood to visit… It is such a sweet thing. Of all the places I’ve lived, this place had about the best la vida local. It was a neighborhood… yeah, even kind of a ‘hood, but delightful for all that.

And as Jen and I were arriving from different places, another neighbor who doesn’t live here any more, walked out of her mom’s house. Hugs all around! Not two hours before that, I had run into a former wedding client in my friend’s fabulous store. Connections! Community! Life! Love!

I’m short on time, trying to fit everyone into my two minutes here, which is ridiculous and i can’t. But I’m getting a good armful of people I care about and miss a lot. The past has it’s own special Peace. Sometimes it’s because you’ve made Peace with the hard parts. Sometimes it’s because making new memories with the folks you made old memories with is the sweetest thing in the world. Living la vida local… past and present. It’s a good thing… good too to remember it’s not a new thing in my life. Rollin’ in the Peace. May you do the same!

Warm, Expanding Peace, llvl

Warm air. It’s quite a remarkable thing. Warm, flower-scented air, even more delightful. The opening continues to catch me off guard in a delightful way.

And I’ve stepped, momentarily, into warm scented air that I used to know. I’m visiting a friend, walking paths of earlier days, letting the memories roll out. And so many of these memories have no overlay of the grief I have recently encountered. They have their own remembered challenges, but also many, many, many sweet triumphs… and giggles. There were lots of giggles. And this is a place where I moved from the person I had been to the person I would become/was being.

It’s wonderful to be making new memories in a place of old community and connection.

This place is much farther into Spring than the place I left. And I’ll miss that brave unfolding with daring daffodils defying the chill and the breeze to bloom, damn it! But here things are bravely lush, defying the drought. There is here a determination to bloom as fierce as any. (Sweet Deb, for bringing back the angel, surrounded in truth and possibility!)

This is sere landscape. But not right now. Right now it is as rich and lush as my memories and sweet on the heart. Peace Pieces, back from the past. Blessed be… Blessed am.

Working on the Peace Web, llvl

Ecology is the scientific study of organisms and their interaction. Deep ecology looks at the inherent worth of living beings. As the human way of life continues to degrade the environment, we begin to realize that we must begin to weave together the fate of others with our own. It is, perhaps, the only way we can put the breaks on climate change.

But we must look at the human connections as well. Because we’re also allowing them to degrade. World views of the other as outside of me are what allow us to continue to wage war against each other. But we wage such wars against ourselves. We are connected. Families killed in wars are our families. Families killed in natural catastrophes are our families. Families killed in famine are our families. Famines that are caused by us? What sort of horror is that?

People are hungry all over the world. People are hungry in our country for so many economic reasons that are hugely complicated. Some of us are well suited to working at those deep reasons, and to you I say, bravo and go! Others of us can only gather up the money to make a difference right where we are. That is also hugely important. Hungry children are our children and we pay a huge societal price if we do not care for them. I would tell you that we pay a moral and personal price if we don’t, as well.

We need to start (keep on) noticing the connections. We need to start patching up the places they are fraying. Deep Ecology. Deep Societal Ecology. There’s a place for each of us, a connection we are best suited to reweave. Let us make Peace at the frayed edges of Life.

Team Peace, llvl

I read a great (and depressing) article in the Atlantic the other day that said that no one’s giving Venture Capital to people over 35. While I know I may have had good ideas at that point in my life, I would never had been as daring or as far sighted. And, you know, good ideas are not grand dreams!

And I was far more competitive.

And thanks to some great therapy and some great years, I’ve moved to a far more complementary working style, a collegial one, wherein i’m responsible for my work and I look for the ways your work props mine up (and my work props yours up) and then we go calmly (and sometimes excitedly) about changing the world. I’m excited that you’re so smart rather than being worried about your being smart in areas that I’m not. (although I continue to be jealous maybe envious of your talents in those areas in that wow how does he/she do that kinda way.

But when team work works? It’s amazing. And I’m grateful and pleased and proud. And happy to acknowledge the places you make life different and better and wonderful. And I don’t have to stew about the things I can’t do, because you’ve claimed them. You toss them off and it would take me 12 years to get them done. Thank you for being you and for letting me be me..

Not only Peace happens, but progress… and wow, isn’t that what we’re looking for? Let’s keep the water flowing over the dam, shall we?

Community Peace, llvl

We hear, we say, it takes a village. And it seems this is true. But what’s also true is that, with hard work and clear statement of the problem, there is a village. Community forms around causes. Communities are generous and like doing good.

Yesterday, sitting in the studio at WKOK, talking about the need for weekend backpack programs and my faith community’s decision to raise money for them. I was doing the ask. I asked for people to donate. And they did. I asked for people to provide a matching grant. And someone did. At the end of the day yesterday, $1,695 was in the bank. Since November 2013, with our push just starting, we’ve raised $15,000 (until yesterday, most of that came from within the congregation) If you figure it will take at least $250,000 to feed the elementary schools we’re 6 percent there. We may need to get to 20 percent before we get to writing a grant… and of course, and sadly, this isn’t a one time deal… this is an ongoing need.

What was clear at the end of the one-hour program was that people were willing to step up and support their village. You just have to ask. And when you do people respond. Do we need more people? Why, yes, we do. Do we believe that more people will participate? Why, yes, we do…

Am I overwhelmed, grateful, excited, bouncing off the moon? Why, yes, I am. Stepping up and working together is how we will make Peace in this place and make this a Valley Where No Child is Hungry. And that is a confirmation of what I’ve always believed. People want to help. You just have to show them how. And when you do, they break your heart open in joy. Oh, Hallelujah! If you want to donate, go to Love Flows: The LOVE Project (Let Our Valley Eat) and make a donation… or if you’d like to be a matching angel… write to me (find me at contact us). And in the meantime, thank you from the bottom of my heart. Let’s go! Kids need your help. You are the best!

Edges of Spring Peace, LLVL

I’ve realized recently that I’ve been on edge. Well, duh. We’re on the cusp of so many things. The weather refuses to turn, but Mother Nature responds to sun this time of year. So we keep slowly moving toward next season’s promise…

At the church, we’re slowly figuring out what we’re doing to fight child hunger in the Susquehanna Valley. Every time we move toward a solution, we find a billion steps we have to do first. OK, yes, I’m exaggerating, but it feels like that. I’m the regular ready, fire, aim queen, but a project this large demands a large amount of aiming.

And I’m realizing that I’m being shaped by things… having lost so much of my family, it’s really about reshaping myself. I’ve chosen to locate myself in my life… that’s what writing la vida local is about. We’re doing a hunger project for kids right here… choosing to lead where we live. Time for community… time to make it what we want, to form it in the style of Peace, of Love.

And it’s time to pay attention to the changes and make new places to celebrate what happens…

Sacred Village

Building a World of Peace, Village by Sacred Village.

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