Storm of Love and Peace

In the wake of such devastation as that left behind by Typhoon Haiyan there seems so little that we can do to make any impact on those living with the consequences of the storm. The conditions people are facing in the Philippines are unimaginable to most of us.  And really why would you want to imagine something like that happening in your community? It’s horrifying. But perhaps we have to try to imagine so we can begin to grasp what they are dealing with, so we can truly have compassion for the people impacted by the storm. It’s possible that up to 10,000 people were killed by the power of the storm, 10,000 men, women and children, old and young, rich and poor; wind and water don’t discriminate the way we do. The town where I have spent the last 16 years has a population of around 27,000. It’s impossible to imagine that almost half of them could be lost in one day to one storm. Yet, the people of the Philippines don’t have to imagine it; they have to live with it. How does a community cope with that kind of loss? I can’t begin to imagine.

What I can imagine is what I can do. So what can we do? Sending thoughts and energy of love and peace seems inconsequential in these circumstances. But here’s the thing, and granted it’s a what if. What if they could actually feel that love and peace, really, truly feel it? What if we sent our own force of nature, a force so great they could feel its touch just as they could feel the winds of Haiyan? Only in this case they would feel the gentle touch of love upon their cheek, the soothing, tender hand of peace upon their shoulder. Neither love nor peace would make the water they’re drinking clean, it would not bring back the loved ones they have lost, it would not put food on their plates, or rebuild their houses, but it would let them know something they might very much need right now. It would let them know they are not alone. As lost and bereft as their souls may feel right now, they are not alone. We are with them and we are with them with love in our hearts and peace in our actions. What if they could feel that wash over them instead of water and wind? At the very least it would quiet their hearts and at best it would give them hope for healing. For while love can’t bring back what was lost, it can heal and it can rebuild and it can unite. While peace can’t calm the seas it can calm the people, allowing them to work together to find solutions for all.

So yes, let’s send money and aid and medical supplies, but let us also send love and peace. While the devastation left by the storm is unimaginable, let’s make the power of love and peace not only imaginable but visible in the lives of those impacted by Typhoon Haiyan. Let’s help them imagine what may be unimaginable to them right now – there is hope enough, there is love enough, there is peace enough to heal and rebuild their lives.

From wherever you are tonight at 6:30pm EST, join me in meditation, in imagining the not so unimaginable – the people of the Philippines touched by the love and peace we are sending, the people of the Philippines feeling us there with them in their sorrow, holding them with compassion as they mourn and standing with them as they open their eyes to a new day with hope for healing.  I will meet you there. 

Lynda

Pledge of Peace and Love ~ Day 47 Tao Te Ching Chapter 2

We are working with the Tao Te Ching in the meditation group that I’m a part of. This was only our second night working with it. There was a passage that stood out to me in relation to peace. It is the end of the second chapter. This particular version is from the translation by John Wu.

He accomplishes his task, but does not dwell upon it. And yet it is just because he does not dwell on it that nobody can ever take it away from him.

When we were sitting in meditation after reading the chapter aloud, I found much peace in those thoughts because for me they were about release and non-attachment. You simply do what is yours to do and keep moving forward. You don’t dwell upon it.

How wonderfully peaceful. It is sometimes difficult to do, to not be attached to outcome, but there is also such peace in it. No worrying, no planning, just living the life you are creating. We are so trained to expect a result that when you don’t expect one you almost don’t recognize at first that sense of peace that comes with it.

Simply another step in the practice of peace I suppose, until I can become like the Sage in this same chapter and manage my affairs without ado.

Pledge of Peace and Love ~ Day 39 Cleaning out the Pantry

Practicing peace on days like today is a challenge. Nothing particularly bad happened, just a day with lots of little frustrations adding up to a big ball of frustration! That’s when I have to work the hardest to remember my peace. I have to consciously think about it each moment and remind myself to return to it, remind myself that I have a choice. I don’t always listen to the reminders right away though, but hopefully I get there eventually.

I’m not quite there yet even as I write this. However, just the act of writing it is a reminder and I can feel the peace returning. Mostly I can feel it returning because I’m thinking of that little baby earth and what it might be feeling if the ripples of my frustration reach it. Here’s the difficult part I always return to, surely if my ripples of peace contribute to nourishing the baby earth then conversely my ripples of frustration do not nourish it. It’s kind of like feeding the baby junk food. It can only grow in an unhealthy way from a diet of junk, just as I can only grow in an unhealthy way from a diet of junk.

I guess I will have to take a moment and let go of some of the old stories that are playing in my head and release the old fears that come with them. Sometimes I guess you really do just have to walk right into the pantry with the trash can and just start throwing things out. It’s the only way to make room for the new, healthy items you really want. If I let them linger there in the dark on the back of the shelf they will only be a source of temptation to relive that old pattern. I will have to be more thorough this time in looking in the dark corners and cleaning things out.

Pledge of Peace and Love ~ Day 35, Yes!

I have found that one of the most peaceful choices I can make on this journey is willingness, simply saying yes. So much has shifted in my life by the use of that one word. Trust me, there are times when I have said it reluctantly and times when I have said it through gritted teeth with a great deal of resistance, my eyes rolling at the heavens (just ask Christine!). Yet, always I have said it, and meant it on some level. I have been willing to shift, to learn, even when I didn’t know what the lesson would entail. Sometimes it’s been easy and joyful and other times a bit more challenging to say the least. But I wouldn’t be where I am or who I am today if I had said no.

One of the surprises I found was how much peace there was in saying yes. It takes a great deal more energy to resist through no. There is release in yes. There is work too, but the work begins from a place of (mostly) surrender. Even the times when my jaw was set and my hands were on my hips, the yes came from a part of me that knew better, that knew the peace in yes.

Yes, to things that will feed and free my soul, yes to things that honor the self, yes to learning (gently please!), yes to expanding my awareness, yes to living the life I know I want to live even if I don’t know how to get there. It turns out that how to get there always begins with yes. After all it’s got to be more difficult to see the path in front of me if my arms are folded across my chest and my eyes are stubbornly closed with my no. Yes, opens my eyes and peacefully opens my way.

Pledge of Peace and Love ~ Day 25

The peace that I felt today was through beauty. It was also a reminder of a practical lesson about practicing peace learned years ago.

I turned a corner this morning and raised my eyes. Ahead of me was the steeple of a church shrouded in fog. Above the trees to the right of the steeple the sun was breaking through the fog with gentle rays of orange light. It was a gorgeous sight.

I had an interesting experience years ago with fog. I was driving along the Skyline Drive hoping for a beautiful view. Instead I saw ahead of me a cloud that had settled on the road.

The thing was that from the peak I was on I could also see the end of the cloud and the road in the light of the sun beyond that. Because of that preview, I reached the fog bank with the knowing that there was an end to it. I knew that all I had to do was keep my eyes on the road ahead of me and keep moving and I would get through the fog and return to the light. I also remembered that when moving through fog it doesn’t help to turn the light up brighter in order to chase it away; it would only serve to hinder my sight rather than help it. The best thing I could do was to continue to move gently, purposefully and peacefully through the fog with my eyes straight ahead and with the knowing of the return of the light as my guide.

Ever since that day I’ve always enjoyed fog. If my focus isn’t entirely on dispelling it, there is a beautiful stillness to fog. And as it lifts there is the incredible returning of the light if I will only raise my eyes to see it.

Pledge of Peace and Love ~ Day 20

It was just a typo, right? Wrong. It was a statement of truth that I didn’t realize I was making. I posted on my Facebook page today a link to the song Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley. I love his rendition of that song. There is such restrained power in it and even though it’s not exactly a happy song it makes my heart soar to hear him sing it. With the post I said, “I just seemed like an Hallelujah kind of morning.” Of course I meant to say “it” just seemed like, not “I”. Then I thought again. Actually I do feel like a Hallelujah this morning.

As I set out on my walk I wondered why that was. Then I remembered writing my blog last night. It was after 11:00 when I posted it and I was pretty tired. I put it out there and for a moment thought, “Why am I doing this?” Then I remembered that the reason I began the Pledge of Peace and Love was to help nourish the new baby earth I feel has been born and that I carry in my heart. When I remembered that, my heart glowed and my tiredness didn’t matter.

When I thought of that moment this morning in my hallelujah state, I smiled and joy again radiated from me. I’m doing this for that baby earth and the now 7 billion people living upon this planet. Seven billion people. I absolutely glowed with joy as I thought of those 7 billion all raising their voices in an hallelujah (or whatever word of gratitude they use) at the same moment. Think of it, 7 billion voices singing gratitude, 7 billion hearts open wide, 7 billion souls united in joy. Wow! The feeling of that made me actually laugh as I walked. I figured anyone who saw me walking would have thought I had gone off the deep end so great was my joy.

I will let that vision of joy sustain me and yet will live here in this moment in peace and love. I think that is the only way we can create that future, is by living it here, now.

Loudly and clearly my soul answered my own question: that is why I’m doing this, that is why I’m doing my best to let peace and love guide me each day. For the 7 billion and for the One.

Pledge of Peace and Love ~ Day 19

Peace is just one breath away. That is what I remind myself of some days, days like today in fact. And when I remember to listen it’s invaluable.

Ironically Tuesdays seem to be my least peaceful days at the moment. The irony is due to the fact that on Tuesday nights I host a meditation group. With juggling two jobs, one daughter’s after school cheer class, the other’s various activities, blogging, life as a single mom, etc. I find there isn’t too much time on Tuesdays for cleaning up and preparing both physically and mentally for meditation group anymore. That has left me feeling less than peaceful on some Tuesdays over the past month or so. Being a firm believer in intention I have found it perplexing, because how can I set a space with peace if I’m not feeling peaceful? Thankfully, it seems that I have so far always found that place before the group begins, but why create that way to begin with was what I was asking myself.

Today was one of those days when I was feeling less than peaceful as the afternoon came to a close, in fact I was feeling quite overwhelmed. After some time of fretting and rubbing my face over and over as if I could wipe the stress away, I finally remembered to breathe. I had a rant going in my head but some small part of me remembered that there was another option. I’m so grateful to that small voice. I paused and took a breath. One simple breath shifted it.

It gave me the opportunity to take even a tiny step backward and look at it differently. Perhaps I could find a way to make things work better, more smoothly, less hectic. I do have two children who are perfectly capable of helping with things around the house. I could do the cleaning over two days instead of one so I wouldn’t feel so rushed. There were several things I could think of that might lessen the stress. The most important was just to remember to breathe. Probably my friends who join me on Tuesdays might not mind a stray cat hair or two around the house anyway. After all they are practitioners of peace too.

Next week we will see if I can practice peace for myself and create differently. I will try beginning with a breath and see what amazing things happen from there.

Pledge of Peace and Love ~ Day 18

I had a very practical practice of peace yesterday and yet it was a wonderful reminder how returning to peace can shift a situation. I had a dentist appointment. I’m not afraid of the dentist and the cleanings don’t bother me too much. It’s not my favorite thing to do but I do it dutifully.

This visit the hygienist used a different instrument. Usually they use the little pick to work at the plaque or whatever it is they scrape off your teeth. This time she used a motorized one that made that lovely sound the drill makes and of course creates a vibration when touching your teeth. It wasn’t necessarily more uncomfortable than the regular way I was used too, just different and equally uncomfortable!

As she was working I noticed my body. My hands, which had been folded gently over my stomach, were now holding on to each other for dear life and my whole body was tense as I resisted the sensations. I closed my eyes and thought; well I might as well practice! I focused on that anchor of peace within myself and knowing that it is always there. I let my body relax and centered myself in that peace. Soon I found that I could even focus peace on her fingers as they worked, knowing that sharing that peace could help us both. Of course, I had to return to that center of peace more than once but it was amazing how different the cleaning was when I was in that peace. The experience of pain shifted. I don’t know if she simply didn’t touch my gums during that time or if my perception of the pain shifted, but it no longer hurt at all. I’m not saying I would want to go through surgery without anesthesia or anything, but it was definitely a different experience when I was sitting there in a state of peace.

Practicing peace can be very practical.

There was another interesting moment before the session. We were talking about chocolate because after all it was Halloween. She explained that chocolate is not actually bad for your teeth because of the fat content, which apparently lessens the possibility of it creating tooth decay. She really never should have told me that! However, that wasn’t the interesting part. At one point in relation to the chocolate she said, “I don’t think anything God made can be bad.” That got my attention. In response I said, “I wish people would consider that in relation to people. They may not always make good choices but that doesn’t make them bad.” She paused and agreed. It was a moment that gave us both something to think about.

Pledge of Peace and Love ~ Day 13

Tonight I had an experience that was less than peaceful. I was in the parking lot of a store and a woman was walking out with a small girl who was maybe 2 or 3 years old. The child was crying loudly and the mom was clearly frustrated. First of all, they had just come out of a costume store that has many scary displays in it, so it wouldn’t surprise me if she had been frightened by something in the store. For a small person like that, the large displays of monsters and blood covered babies would be frightening I’m sure. Obviously I know nothing about the Mom or how her day was or what her life is like. I do know she had the girl by the wrist and was dragging her along. She leaned down and said something like, “Stop crying or I’m going to smack you in the mouth.” I don’t remember if the word was smack or not it was something forceful like that, not slap, but I do remember that she threatened to hit her in the face. This of course did not stop the child from crying. So she leaned down again and said, “Do you want me to smack you in the mouth?” If it hadn’t been so sad it would have almost been comical. What kind of question is that? Who on earth would say yes to that question?! But it was too sad to be comical. Now trust me, as a parent I understand frustration and your children pushing you to the edge of your patience. We have all been there as parents. But her threat to hit the child in the face carried a violence with it that I could feel from 20 feet away. Our words carry energy of their own. As I heard someone say recently our words are create-tive. We create with them. I didn’t want to imagine what was being created for that little girl. My hope is that it was just a moment of frustration rather than and action waiting to happen.

The other difficult part of it was that I honestly didn’t know what to do. I wanted to intervene in some way but I feared that if I spoke to her I could make things worse for the girl. I didn’t even think particularly peaceful thoughts in the moment since I was worried about the child. How do I bring peace to a moment like that? I certainly don’t feel like I did tonight. I’m not sure what the right thing would have been to do. I wish I had thought of something brilliant in that moment to diffuse the situation. I think the best I can do at this point is to continue to send love to the little girl and should I come across a situation like that again, remember to stay in my own peace so that I can, at the very least, radiate it to them both.

And as I’m reading back through this I can see and feel the judgment I had toward the mother. Like I said I know nothing about her life – not that it would excuse hurting a child, but surely they both are deserving of peace. Maybe it is she who needs it most of all and yet in my judgment I’m sure I would have offered it to the child before the mother. Maybe if someone had offered her a little peace and understanding somewhere along the way she wouldn’t have been in the emotional state she was in to start with. I guess offering peace to all every moment may have an impact I can’t even imagine. Yet another reason to keep practicing. Clearly I’m still learning.

Pledge of Peace and Love ~ Day 8

It seems my peace practices begin each morning on my walks. That shouldn’t surprise me really since my walks are a form of meditation for me. As I was walking this morning, I crossed the street and noticed a variety of allen wrenches in the road. They were spread around as if they fell off the back of truck and had scattered. Most of them were where a car would park along the side of the street but a few were in the main part of the road. My heart nudged me to pick them up, but my brain said, “Well they aren’t really in the street and they aren’t sharp, it will be fine.” So I kept walking. I got as far as the sidewalk when a car drove by. I heard the clink of metal hitting the pavement as a tire drove over one of the wrenches. “Sigh,” says my head, because now it knows I will heed my heart as I should have done in the first place. So I turned around and picked up every wrench I could find and put them in a neat pile on the curb in case anyone came back looking for them. As I picked them up I knew that some of them really could have punctured a tire if they turned up as a car drove over them.

As I walked away I thought of a story my daughters and I listened to recently, Ella Enchanted. (It’s nothing like the movie by the way.) Part of the story talks about big magic and little magic and how you have to be careful of big magic because you never know how it will change things. For instance, if you changed the weather one day it could impact crops and people could starve when you thought you were just making it sunny for your party. Today was just little magic. Either way I don’t always know how my magic or choices for peace and love will impact others. I’m ok with not knowing because the part that I do know is that every choice for peace and love creates more peace and love in some small way. My heart already knew that and that’s enough knowing for me.

Pledge of Peace and Love ~ Day 6

I was reminded today that practicing peace for a new Earth means practicing peace towards all inhabitants of Earth, not just humans; even enormous, hairy spiders!

In general I am a great friend of the creatures of Earth, especially birds. I was just having a conversation with my daughter the other day about how I can’t stand to kill bugs, despite the large quantity of fruit flies that have taken up residence in our kitchen. My daughters know this already because they have watched me capture bugs and release them back outside. For me it really is part of my practice of peace, because truly I don’t think killing anything is peaceful. I find it a real challenge in the summer in my mosquito infested yard, and if I do react and swat at one I feel badly afterward. I still have a memory from my childhood of an afternoon when I was playing outside and there was a colony of ants climbing up the trunk of a birch tree in our yard. I remember killing many of them with a stick - why I’m not quite sure other than I was a child and saw ants as pests. However, I also remember afterward thinking of it from their perspective as the great ant massacre and feeling badly about the ants who were left alive and had lost their family. I didn’t see it as a lesson in peace at the time, but I felt so badly about it that I remember it to this day.

Peace toward all the creatures of Earth has been on my mind this week because of the robin I wrote about the other day, the snake I saw flattened in the road on my walk yesterday and the many squirrels I’ve seen dead on the roads lately. They helped me remember that the truth is it’s not just our planet. We share it with many others. It is their space as much as it is ours. Some of their species evolved long before ours. Yet it seems we don’t always share the space peacefully, but rather see them as intruders in our space.

That’s the way I saw the enormous, hairy spider in my bathroom this morning. Spiders are one creature that I don’t exactly like to be in close proximity to, though I do like the lessons spiders can teach. Today I remembered my lessons of living in peace and sharing space as I ran as fast and as peacefully as I could out of the bathroom. Perhaps as I practice more, next time I will only walk quickly away, grateful for a chance to share the space of peace.

Pledge of Peace and Love ~ Day 3

My practice today centered mostly on peace. The practice of peace actually began last night when my daughters and I went to Kings Dominion to their annual Halloween Haunt and continued into today as I sat with it and as we talked about it. Halloween Haunt is basically a variety of themed haunted houses, as well as fog filled areas of the park called scare zones where people jump out at you. Horror is not my thing, never has been, and I didn’t think it would be something my daughters would particularly enjoy because it’s not really their thing either. However, my younger daughter really wanted to go and find out for herself. I thought she was old enough to have that opportunity, so we went.

It didn’t go well. We waited on line for at least an hour and a half for the first ride (though it was lots of fun!). Then we walked through the scare zone called Feary Tales. The park was darker than it usually is at night and the “fog” so dense in the scary areas that you really couldn’t see much at all sometimes. And yes there were people in frightening costumes with very gory makeup or masks that would follow you or jump out at you. My youngest quickly discovered that she didn’t like it one bit. It made her extremely uncomfortable and unhappy. I was good with leaving right then if she wanted to, but she didn’t want to feel like we had wasted our time. So we went on one more ride and called it quits after that. Even having to walk out to the exit through the scare zones one more time was difficult for her.

Looking back on it I think part of her discomfort was the general atmosphere of not just the park, but also the people attending. The intention of the whole evening was fear created from violence, and that feeling was pervasive. I know it was supposed to be “all in good fun” but from the perspective of peace, it made me wonder why we would think that violence and fear are good fun. Where is the peace in that?

The only peace I found that night was within myself, and I was quite glad that I was able to find it there so that I could share it with my daughters. The crowd was not peaceful; there was a lot of swearing and yelling and one person being led away in handcuffs. The intention of fear and violence had an impact on all there. We have been to the park at night before and it was nothing like what we experienced last night. I don’t exactly regret going because I think it was a good learning for them both; to honor the kind of people they are in the activities in which they choose to participate. I just wish my youngest could have learned that more gently than what she was feeling last night, but I think she learned it quite clearly through the experience. I don’t think it was fear she was feeling as much as discomfort. I felt it too. What an interesting contrast it was for me when I’m consciously trying to live a life of peace to be in the midst of a creation from such a different place. A good learning for all three of us.

We at least could choose to leave as opposed to people who live surrounded by fear and violence that they can’t so easily escape. Along with my daughters, they are part of the reason for this pledge, so that one day none of us will have to leave anywhere to find peace; it will be within and all around us. I believe each choice we each make for peace and love brings us all closer to that world.

Pledge of Peace and Love ~ Day 2

Interesting day today. Lots of practice of peace. First off you should know that my family is very competitive. It's apparently genetic. So sports are not generally a peaceful experience for me (baseball season in particular is a time I find it challenging to be peaceful). I got to practice peace watching my daughter's field hockey game this morning and cheering in only a supportive and encouraging way. I have to say not all my thoughts were peaceful in relation to the refs but I did keep my words peaceful at least! I also had an opportunity to send love to a girl who was hurt during the game. As she laid crying on the field I just kept imagining her surrounded with love, knowing that could only help her.

Another chance to practice peace came while driving down I95. I wrote a poem once called Each Life. I remembered driving soon after writing that poem and looking at each car on the road and thinking, each life is precious, each life has value. It completely changed my perspective of the other drivers. I remembered that tonight as I was driving on the highway and looked at each car and remembered those two words, Each life. It didn't matter if I agreed with their driving choices, those two words changed how I was looking at each person. And what if they were to give me that gift as well, as we passed each other on the road? Seems like driving might be a much more peaceful experience then, for each life.

The Pledge of Peace and Love ~ October 13, 2011

Posting the Campaign 2012 pledge of non-violence in word, thought and deed on my FB page today inspired me to make my own pledge. Mine will be not only a pledge of non-violence, but also a pledge of love and peace. Now through the end of the year I will attempt every day to be conscious of what I put out into the world through my words, thoughts and deeds. I will make a conscious effort every day to choose from peace and love. Each day I will post something on my blog about at least one thing I did that day that contributed to a more peaceful, loving world. It may only be a small thing, but I believe what we do and think makes ripples that move out and touch others. I hope that I will have lots of peaceful, loving ripples to write about each day. However, I will also be honest about the times I fall short of a choice that was loving or peaceful, because I am human and there will be moments of forgetting. Though I am hoping that just making the pledge will keep the thought in mind and heart enough that it will get easier as I go along, to remember it each moment.

I do have a reason for making this pledge now. It may seem strange, but there is something I have been feeling all week, it feels as though a new Earth has been born. It is a pure and pristine Earth with no veils to cover it, no layers of separation, new and whole and oh, so beautiful! An opportunity to create anew for all of us. Like any fresh, new baby, this baby Earth needs nurturing, love and nourishment. So my pledge is for the new Earth so that it may be nourished by Love and Peace. You may say I’m a dreamer….



How I lived my pledge today was setting the intention of living a life of peace and love by the simple act of making this pledge. There is a great joy that has been ignited in me. I hope to share that with all. For those of you who may be wondering, “What the heck does that really mean, living a life of peace and love?” my only response is, I guess we will find out together.

Peace and Love,
Lynda