Breakfast on the Road to Peace

I am so lucky to have 6 weeks in July and August for both vacation and study. I read, read, read… and that’s fabulous. I try and tuck in visits to family, friends and colleagues. Looking for love in all the right places. Looking for ideas as well.

My husband keeps playing during the summer, and most of the places I’m going are about what I’m reading, what I’m growing for next year and who I know who can keep asking better questions than I’m asking.

So driving is time for thinking.

But on Roadtrips… you gotta eat to keep your strength up, right?

So on my way to my friend Faye’s, I stopped for breakfast. I got up extra early which is not my favorite, but got to drive through Dawn down alongside my beautiful river. And then I stopped at the River House Diner. They make their own raisin bread there. And then they make it into grrrreat french toast. I rarely eat french toast. Breakfast is usually eggs. But when you’re someplace special… Rome and all that!

And there I was, with my lovely mystic fantasy story, which is looking an awful lot like a story about racism now that I’m focusing on that in my thoughts and prayers… It’s a great re-read, which is what I do when I’m reading something challenging for work so it doesn’t interfere with the thinking part of the work!

Great Sunrise. Great Journey. Great Breakfast. Great Book.

And back on the road to Faye’s, where we walk and eat and talk about things that matter.

Peace is often a lovely journey.

EverydayPeaceMonday32Aug8

 

Good Boots for the Walk into Peace

You can’t over-estimate the importance of a good pair of boots.

When you get good boots, they’re old friends. They hang in their with you for years at a time. You get them resoled and resewn. You polish them or you don’t. You put the waterproofing on… and you wear them. You wear them because they tell the world who you are and you wear them because they’re the most comfortable things in the world.

Old friends, those boots. Who better to walk into Peace with? Who better to dance the dance of Peace with?

Peace, my dears. And may your boots be comfortable for the whole journey!

EverydayPeaceThursday6Feb11

Fields of Peace

This morning a friend reminded me that the field has a beautiful sky promising fair journey and maybe fair harbor if we do the work?

Some days, the weight of what lies ahead feels heavy and other days I remember that there are many hands making the work light and the journey a pleasure.

That’s where i need to keep my focus… because as Nell Morton so famously reminded us, the journey is home. Good company makes the journey so much more fun.

The sweetest blessing. Thanks for traveling with me and for helping me keep my eye on the distant prize…

Peace of the Snowy Field and the long Journey to you, my friends. And to me.

EverydayPeaceWednesdayJan27

 

Peace of Synchronicity

Synchronicity is an odd thing. You actually have to be focused on something for it to start working. It’s a two-way tool. You can start thinking that humanity is worthless and there’s nothing but pain and suffering. and you will see not only pain and suffering but begin to think that humans can only work to create pain and suffering. Or you can notice pain and suffering and begin to do something about it. It is always good to notice pain and suffering. But the human task, I believe is to begin to alleviate it. Each step we take gives those who had been formerly hopeless footsteps in which to follow.

And if we decide to take those steps, it is astounding how often we are met. Once you start the journey, you begin to notice other folks going along in the same (or even same-ish!) direction. Steps toward Hope. Steps toward Love. Steps toward Peace.

And then you start chatting, and you figure out how your goals intersect. And if they don’t you just gratefully accept the surge of energy that comes with knowing that someone else is doing their work. A recent poem, circulating on line by Shiloh Sophia ends like this: “There is only one thing I know that is the remedy for this over-culturation that keeps us captured from our soul’s deepest song. It is this: To declare your sacred work.” And I would add to this wisdom, to declare your work sacred. Because if we treat what we do as sacred, any parts of it that are not will fall away. We will become happier and healthier as we honor our life and its path. And sacred work does sing to other sacred work.

And when we’re singing in harmony, the music moves us along. (Am I working too many metaphors here? It’s happened before, certainly!) I guess it comes to this. We’ll start walking. We’ll keep our eyes and ears and hearts open. We’ll assume that those we meet are good-souled travelers who might want to walk with us a while in the general direction of Peace.

PeaceFebruary6