Bits and Pieces of Peace, llvl

Noticing. We have to pay attention to what’s around us. If we don’t, we miss wonderful things. And not only big things, small wonderful things… As I say below, it’s finding that local shop that gives a good haircut or the place where they know how you like your sandwich fixed. It’s the little things that act as both a reminder and a goad. The reminder is that there are many things in life that are good and that those things add up to a good life. Then we can let those lovely little things act goads to preserve what is great and to make it better.

And the world needs little prompts so it continues to be wonderful, or maybe even starts being wonderful for everyone. Because let’s be clear, privilege makes things great for some, but not all of us. It’s up to those of us with privilege to keep widening the circle, inviting people in.

It’s easy, goodness knows, to whine about what’s wrong. We do that a lot. All of us. But if we put our minds — or is it our hearts — to it, it’s very easy to notice small things that make our lives lovely. It’s actually fairly easy to do little things to make it better. One of the things that makes life lovely for us is when it’s lovely for everyone.

That’s why a bunch of us are going out today to stand together and drink a little cider across the street from a group promoting a hateful point of view. We’re not protesting, we’re just witnessing to Peace and Community. A lot of us. Standing around. Chatting. Getting to know one another. Maybe even planning to do something more. Something that makes a bigger difference.

But if my friend Sonia and some of her friends who wear a headscarf feel better loved — and safer, let’s not forget safer — because we stood in the cold and the dark, then so much the better. Simply by being present, we’re working for Justice. If it’s this easy to do good, maybe we’ll do more…

If I want Peace, I have to be it. That simple. And I’ve got to invite other people along on the journey. Because Peace isn’t for the few.

Moon Peace, llvl

Oh, I loved seeing the eclipse, loved getting up early to see the Moon slowly veil her face. Loved the wacky fact that it didn’t show up in pictures that she was doing that very thing.

Next year, you’re going to see a lot of the moon in my musings and on my blog. I keep trying to think about different ways for us to pay attention to where we are in time and space, how we use where we are to celebrate life and make it better. Next year, let’s see what the lunar rhythms have to teach us.

Part of the time I lived in CA, I lived high on a hill overlooking the Bay. We had a huge panorama vision of much of the Bay Area, looking out to the Pacific Ocean. We watched the sun travel up and down the coast through the seasons.

If I wanted to see the moon rise, I’d have to go out and stand in the driveway and look up the hill. And I did. oh, so often. This year, if I want to see the moon rise, I’m going to have to get out and look for her. And won’t that be a good thing. (She’s very generous though and often slides down my bedroom window to set.)

In the area I live, the Native people once organized their lives around the seasons of the moon. When you hunted and when you planted was a reflection of which moon was in what phase. It will be interesting to see how life and the work of Peace changes as we watch her waxing and waning. I started to type whether it will change, but how I look at life has changed every year as I stop and really look… Thanks for looking with me. (and there are two more eclipses coming! Apparently they come in fours. Who knew?) Peace and the Moon. More to come.

Peace-colored Glasses, llvl

I’m wearing Peace-colored glasses, and I’m not taking them off.

I watch a lot of my people I know and respect tell me both about what’s wrong in the world (the big world) and what someone needs to do about it. I can only wrap my arms around what’s wrong in my world and what I can do about it and if you join me how much more we can do about it. It’s not that I don’t try to understand what’s going on out there, but I know it’s a lot more complicated than I know and that I am unclear what to do to help — and I’m not completely convinced that we’re in a position to make good decisions about the whole world. I see genocide happening, and I don’t have a clue what sort of intervention stops that.

The only intel I’m getting that I trust completely at the moment is from the teachers and parents who tell me how many children are hungry. I know it takes $10 a month to feed a child. I’m making Peace here. I believe in Peace here, all evidence to the contrary. I’m going to wear the glasses, I’m going to clap for Tinkerbelle and I’m going to keep taking your money to feed hungry children. I’m also going to shout out when I see injustice running over people in my neighborhood… however loosely defined that is. I’m going to celebrate when someone else leads. What do your Peace-colored glasses have in sight? Where are you making a difference for Peace? Deb Slade is taking pictures… If hers aren’t Peace-colored glasses, I don’t know whose are!

Peace, Love, Community, llvl

We all need a reminder that life contains more possibilities. It’s easy sometimes to look at the folk who capture our attention with their fear and misinformation (and how the hell did that get to be a word???), and think that that’s where the world is. But it’s not.

Most of us are looking for something to believe in. Something to participate in. We want a way to make the world better. I believe this. It keeps me going. My friend points out, we’re no worse than we’ve ever been. Which is probably true. We just have more data. Which we drown in. (I’m thinking I see tomorrow’s musing rising out of this, what do you think?)

So join me in Cameron Park on Friday and remind me life is hopeful. Don’t live here? Join something, start something and remember, life is filled with possibilities — but your life is only filled with possibilities if you look for them and take advantage.

Preparing Peace, llvl

So, weekends — are they preparation or reparation? What ever they are, they should be enjoyed if at all possible.

My weekend coincided with the slow subsiding of my cold, so I was careful to take some leisure time. It was lovely. I did some preparation and some work, but I slept soundly and re-read a favorite book. Didn’t want to tax my brain, just wanted to hang out with some beloved friends.

I even hung out with some beloved real friends on Sunday, and that was great too.

There was work, if you can call marrying folk and singing Pete Seeger songs work… There was preparation for the week and for the Interfaith Witness on Monday.

Today I get to work on my presentation for a conference and finally see my SweetPea and wish him a happy Birthday! Peace is for the making, let’s get busy!

Brisk Sabbath Peace, llvl

Well, the temperatures plummeted last night for the first thing, and so did my heart. I came home from my lovely, lovely wedding to find a note about (yet another) a course being offered in a local town that envisions the end of the world’s arriving with a fight between Israel and all of Islam.

I sat through the first class once, it was appalling. There are so many things wrong with I went with my friends from the mosque. I won’t sit through it again. I love that people are writing me to say, what do we do. Well, we do what people have always done. We witness for Love. In a world where people are afraid, Love will carry us through to Peace.

There’s work to be done. But this makes taking a day of rest and reflection even more important. You want to go to that work filled with love and not a thousand other things that make you feel superior (and not just scared). Actually, we want to go to all our work that way. Life is challenging, we need to fill up so we can contribute. We need to remember what is important simply because life is extraordinary. Only then can we live our lives as a prayer of gratitude.

So enjoy the day and the Peace it offers. And get ready, because we have Peace to offer the World. It needs our loving hands.

Public Library Peace, llvl

Libraries are the best things in the world. Old friends live there. And so do friends we’ve not yet encountered. Wiley librarians know how to connect us to books we want to read. They also connect us to books we had no idea we were interested in reading.

I don’t spend enough time in my lovely local library. They do demand an investment of time if you’re going to properly appreciate them. But if relationships are going to develop, time is always a needed ingredient.

And books are not all they have. They have poetry readings and Zen Buddhist Sittings. They have art exhibits. They are places where we learn more about life, our own and others… what’s not to like… So is your card up to date? Are you a regular drop-in visitor? Why not.

Peace hides in the stacks. Let’s go find it.

Reading Peace, llvl

The poetry group that I’m part of Poetry Under the Paintings, held at my friend Jody’s gallery Faustina’s, was invited to read last night for another poetry group last evening. It was held in the library that taught me to love libraries, the library where I read my way, alphabetically, through the great literature (and the lousy!).

Actually, I can’t say that’s the best way to absorb books, all of an author, one right after another… Russian novels are confusing enough one by one, five in a row? Ridiculous. But it suited my associative little brain and my devouring urge for more.

Until I started writing, I hadn’t realized how poignant this visit would be for me. I wrote about the river, I wrote about the rock, I wrote about the house I grew up in. It made me think about what I loved about living here, why I left, why I came back. It made me realize I’ve been avoiding Bloomsburg since my sister died. It made me remember how final death is and how that changes your memories.

It made me realize how incredibly lucky I am now and I was then. If we choose, memory is sacred and so is the making of new ones. Writing changes me for the better. It keeps me searching to identify my Peace. Lucky me. Peace is where we find it. Peace is where we make it. I choose then. I choose now. I choose Peace.

Deliberate Peace, llvl

I have a billion things on my plate right now. So I need to line them up and slowly go through each one. Do this, and then the next thing.

It’s a way of honoring both the things that need to be done and myself by paying attention. Neither doing things in a slap dash fashion nor procrastinating serve me or my responsibilities.

And so, step by step by step. Turn off the distractions. Turn on the attention. Structure is not my best-fitting suit… but it is so helpful when there is lots to get through. Today’s one of those days. Tomorrow is as well. Peace demands the best of us. You (I!) have to give it time to work… So, Peace be with you, as you work through your list of steps toward Peace!

Arrival of Fall Peace, llvl

Deb’s brilliant photo is a gentle reminder that things are changing. Change is a good thing. But oh, we’re all reluctant to let go of summer and the outdoors world. But October does what she can to ease our reluctance by turning gorgeous reds and yellows and oranges. At least in our little vida local.

Our job is to keep our hands and hearts open… to release what is finished and to welcome what is coming. Life is quite extraordinary, no matter what’s happening… What does the future bring? We can only know that by responding to the cues of the present.

So, here we go. Thank you, Glorious Summer, for the extraordinary times, for the warmth and the friendship. Thank you, Autumn, for the bounty of love and life we’re now enjoying. Thank you for the balance. Thank you for the wealth of experiences which will be the basis for my Winter stories and my study beside the fires… Peace is in every season, but only if we’re willing to recognize and enjoy it!

Sacred Village

Building a World of Peace, Village by Sacred Village.

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