Neighborhood Peace, llvl

Getting to know your neighborhood changes both your neighborhood and you.

Being visible, being present, being aware, being kind, being involved… they all matter.

They take a little time, but they don’t really take that much energy. And oh, the rewards the reap.

Start by walking around. Add in saying hello. Move to asking folk how they’re faring. Care about their answers.

Pretty soon you look forward to more of their story and people are being kind to you and to one another.

Kindness is contagious. Enjoy it. Embody it. It opens your heart! It starts the Path to Peace… and isn’t that why we’re born?

Dance Peace, LLVL?

So the big question is will we do it? Will we dare to be silly? Will we offer that option to everyone else around us? It’s a little town, we know lots of people, and they know we’re wacky. Are we going to be found at 2 pm on a Saturday, dancing it up?

We’ll have to see… It’d be awfully fun. You show up. You dance. Dance as prayer, dance as being present, dance as a ridiculous wonderful thing!

No one needs to worry what they look like. all you need to think about is will we laugh?

Dance Challenge… making it up and down the street… Some days it’s the little things that build Peace. (and let you have fun, fun, fun)!

Traces of Peace, LLVL

I was a bit lost yesterday afternoon when it came time to write the day’s musing… it’s not a common occurrence, but I’ve been doing this for three years, and it happens. I asked a friend, what should I write? Write about our ice skating escapade he wrote, about the web of life and how it causes community. Hmmm.

Now when I say “our ice-skating adventure,” you understand, I don’t mean MY ice-skating adventure. I don’t do that. I’ve never had great ankles, and I’m not all that steady on my pins. Those two pretty much eliminated any childhood winter olympic dreams I might have had! No, this was a church outing. Although I have to find out if they have those ice-walkers for adults that they have to keep kids upright. I might be more willing to try it again… and less likely to experiment with my “triple-klutz.” (although that may be optimistic!)

But the thought for the musing certainly had possibility, and it wouldn’t be the first time I wrote about something I didn’t do. I’ve written a perfectly lovely poem about biking, and my balance doesn’t encourage that, either…

But the notion of tracing the lines, that move from one single line carved in the ice to many overlapping lines was intriguing. that some of the lines in the web are straight and sure and some are wobbly and uncertain makes the comparison to the web of life more realistic.

And then, above the skates, all the emotions going on, fear, joy, laughter (i spared them my terror!), growing friendships and giggles. There had to be a game of crack the whip, right? That was always the funnest — even when you were the little being tossed off the end. So as lines were being traced, friendships were deepening, and memories were being carved into childhoods and communities.

A silly thing, really, just a day of enjoyment on the ice, but so many connections were possible — and many were made. Even if nothing deeper happened, here’s to winter and the fun of winter sports. Breathing in the frosty air is a treat unto itself!

The Peace of Candlemas Light, LLVL

It’s fitting that the new Moon starts building on Candlemas, a season dedicating our Light to its Purpose. Let there be more LIght and may I be one who bears it, one who is it.

It is at Candlemas, historically, or Imbolc, that people took their vows of service.

Here’s an opportunity, my dears, everyday a new chance to say what do I want to BE, what do I want to DO, not when I grow up, but next. Not like do I want to go to the movies, but like do i want to change the world, even my small corner of it. I hope so.

People here in my little town are doing a polar bear plunge (what are they crazy?) for charity… that’ll change their lives. But it’s a dedication. and hopefully no one will slip on the ice going into the river. People may not be thinking about the symbolism, but it’s hard to ignore…

I’m skipping the icy bath, but will spend some time thinking about my light and what it’s dedicated toward…

That focus was deepened last night as I sat in a tavern laughing with friends, stepped in on a little harmony, and just reveled in a little town enjoying itself. It gives me hope that we can make a huge difference by building on that camaraderie, building Peace on Love and Laughter.

This little light of yours… what are you going to do with it? Let it shine? Let it shine for Peace? oh, i hope so. Altogether now…

Talking about Peace, LLVL

One of the biggest barriers to Peace is isolation. How can we make Peace if we don’t know one another? or even acknowledge one another?

Locally, for me, that’s a fairly easy problem to address. I need to start saying hello to people on the street. I can own it. Become the mayor in the spiritual sense of it. (hmmm, maybe we should all be mayors of where we live, noticing what’s going on, doing what we can to address it.)

Maybe it’s more difficult in a large city, where people are forced to make their living on their wits and some folks take advantage of openness. But if there’s nothing they can take, because it’s being given away, maybe we won’t be so vulnerable. I knew a woman when i lived in NY, who always had a smile. She made Peace at the doors to shops, holding the doors for everyone, smiling at them, exchanging a kind word, even with the grumps of the universe.

But acknowledging someone’s humanity to their face predisposes them to less crankiness and who knows what…

maybe Peace. or the start of Peace. Maybe hellos are just the first light caress, blessing, of Love which leads to Peace. My little town is quaint with lovely architecture. It’s often recognized as one of the most beautiful towns… but what if it were beautiful because it was friendly, because people said hello and talked about what mattered, and what didn’t?

HNY, LLVL, Peace

Whew! there are a whole buncho assignments! Is it possible to have a happy year, to live la vida local and to keep stretching out toward Peace?

I guess I think that the openness to the new (built on the old), the decision to pay attention leads us down the road toward Peace. Provided, of course that we agree that others in the world are invited to walk those paths with us.

Consciousness. Wonder. Love. Determination. All supremely difficult and challenging; all consummately simple. So, reflect a little. Determine to fill 2014 to the brim with wonderful memories. Commit to laughing a lot, a lot, a lot. And crying once in a while. Dream deeply. Resign yourself to the constant starting over a little smarter a little saner. Keep going down that Peace Road.

It could be a great year. Many more people might have what they need and the space to become who they’re meant to be. We could claim that space because the likelihood is if you’re reading me, you have a great many options. And then we could start expanding that space for others.

Want to resolve something? Resolve that you’ll be as kind as you’re meant to be. As generous. As observant. As happy. And then make it so. You’re already a wonder! Peace in 2014.

(and how about Deb’s opening photo? Pretty great, eh? Here’s to Deb Slade and her challenges to appreciate the beauty where we are.)

Autumn Peace Swimming

I love swimming. You can’t have read these for long and not have gotten clear about that. And swimming out of doors, whether in a creek, the ocean or a pool. The best. But swimming anywhere? I’ll take it.

The pool where I swim in the winter is in a room on the end of the building, windows all around. No matter what’s going on outside, the water remains a cozy 84˚. The air is even more balmy (unless you get too close to the doors on a winter’s day.). Sometimes I get to the pool in the afternoons and it’s empty except for the guard and I do my work out chatting with Tara and enjoying nature. It’s wonderful. Oh, look, there’s an eagle. Funny that wind last night didn’t take all the leaves off that tree…

But it’s also wonderful in the early mornings, when the pool’s open before class. The ladies come drifting in for their stretching and aerobics classes. It’s such a delight to hear them chatter. Catching up on their days, talking of bargains, of plants and old friends. Giggling. Comfortable in their bodies and in their lives. Grumbling a bit about the inconveniences, but present. Showing up to life and the moment. Counting their blessings and sharing them with the person next to them and the one across the circle.

May I be such a one. Swimming still. Reveling in the full-bodied embrace of water on flesh. Enjoying my friends and the morning gathering. Life is still rich and they’re generous with stories and lessons and laughter. Ah… Keeps me going back because this is the exercise that feels most like joy to me. And that makes the exercise sacred for me. Joy in my body. Joy in my heart. Peace in my mind and soul. It doesn’t get better than this for me.

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!

Sneaky, Squealing, Silver Peace

There are many things that enable Peace-building. We make it perhaps because of our similarities and across our differences. Both attract, both interest. For me it took going to another culture to realize I came from a culture. At 17, what I experienced in my little world seemed to be the norm. It was shocking to find out that the Swedes, outwardly so similar, had a distinct culture. And I was off…

But I also think it’s the laughter at ourselves and life’s predicaments that can unite us. We all have some equivalent Nature stories. One may come from the desert and one from Pennsylvania’s verdant Spring, but everywhere Nature sneaks up on you. Many of us who live here have brushed against a lilac tree on a day after a rain and had a lovely lavender blossom dump a flower-full of rain on us. I remember a time as a child, all unwary, I pulled a flower to my nose for a sniff of Spring and got a faceful. I squealed and laughed and looked around shamefacedly hoping no one else had noticed. If someone did/does, in that laughing is the rueful acknowledgement that they too have been caught by Nature’s natural sneakiness. We’re always making memories… and if we’re smart, we’re finding ways to take Joy from them. Stories like this are great to tell and open to all sorts of sly embellishment.

And so, my friends, I wish you the Peace of rueful self-laughter while caught in Nature’s embrace. Laugh kindly when you notice someone else’s predicament and share your story. That’s one simple form of Peace-building. There are many more.

Laughing, Adventuresome Peace

Watching a niece the other day, I had to admit to myself that I’ve become very sedentary about adventuring. My mind is adventuresome, but i don’t take the rest of me off exploring very often. I have Important Work, you know. I have A Great Deal to Do. Peace Must Be Made, you know.

Sigh. Be it here resolved. That I Ann Keeler Evans, Priestess and Poet, (you have grandiose names for yourself, right? Come on!!!) is declaring herself Ann Keeler Evans, Adventuresome Poet and Priestess. Sweet Drummer and I are going to find an adventure this week and then make a practice of including more Joy in our lives. Chores to be accomplished will have an element of adventure thrown in. Time to find (refind) the Magic of Everyday and the Magic of the Deliberate Adventure. I’m going to practice at this a bit. Start collecting that laughter lying around. Because really? Peace isn’t going to be worth lots if we’re not laughing all the way.

Sacred Village

Building a World of Peace, Village by Sacred Village.

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