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.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Saturday, October 15, 2011
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.
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.
Friday, October 14, 2011
Pledge of Peace and Love ~ Day 1
How I lived my pledge of love today had to do with a robin. On my morning walk I saw a dead robin laying in the grass in front of a house on Washington Ave. As I noticed it I thought, Awww, how sad, and continued walking. I got about six feet before I stopped and turned back. I went and stood beside the robin, bowed my head and offered my love and my gratitude for the robin, his song, his colors, his inspiring flight and his life. As I walked away I thought of all the other creatures, plants/trees and people who would transition to another form today, whose songs I would never hear. I bowed my head as I walked and offered them love and gratitude for their songs, that though I will never hear them, echo in the hearts of others.
Thank you sweet robins for the gift of your songs.
Thank you sweet robins for the gift of your songs.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
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
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
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Unconditional Forgiveness
I shared this quote recently; One forgives to the degree that one loves. ~ Francois de La Rochefoucauld. I know I shared it because somewhere in my life I needed to look at it, but I kind of wish I hadn’t! The thing that struck me was if I am attempting to live a path of unconditional love then that would mean there must be also unconditional forgiveness. When I step back I think maybe they are actually one in the same thing. Unconditional forgiveness is a form of unconditional love, not just spoken or thought in theory but put into action.
A reminder I received on my walk made it all very simple - simple to understand, not necessarily simple to live in human form. As I approached home I came upon the number two on the ground before me. I won’t go into the whole long explanation here about the significance of that number to me, but the gist of the reminder was that I am an expression of Spirit. What I’ve learned about that truth is that there is no work to it, only a being of it. And so in that being, the very need for forgiveness falls away.
All well and good I said to the Spirit within me, but what do I do with all those very human emotions that come along with whatever incidents create a perceived need for forgiveness? Am I simply to put those feelings aside as if they never existed? I knew that wasn’t what I was to learn from the idea.
The feelings exist in this very beautiful, human expression and so their existence needs to be acknowledged, not ignored. Where the learning is I believe, is in returning to that core of Spirit within me and witnessing those feelings, even flat out feeling them and yet recognizing them as feelings and not the truth of the situation. Then from that place of unconditional love within, I can gently look at the roots of those feelings.
It seems to me that when I look at the roots of any distressing emotions I’m experiencing they always lead to the same place, a fear of separation. If I can then look at those roots from that place of Spirit within me where I am in fact One with Spirit, then I know the falsity of the idea of separation and can begin to pull that idea out by its roots.
That’s not the end of it, however much my mind would like it to be. If I follow the range of emotions that grow from the roots I will see where that lack of forgiveness, lack of unconditional love, branched out reaching for others. I see them pointing to another and saying, it is you who separated me from (insert almost any word here) love, family, success, friendship, etc. If I can see with the eyes of unconditional love though, I can look at the individual I had been pointing at, with the same knowing of truth I had in looking at the roots. I can see that not only did they not separate me from any of those things, because there is no separation, but I can look at them and know that we are not separate either.
In seeing from unconditional love I create the space for unconditional forgiveness. Which in the end brings me gently full circle to the conclusion that if I am fully living from unconditional love there is actually no need for forgiveness, just a little weeding.
A reminder I received on my walk made it all very simple - simple to understand, not necessarily simple to live in human form. As I approached home I came upon the number two on the ground before me. I won’t go into the whole long explanation here about the significance of that number to me, but the gist of the reminder was that I am an expression of Spirit. What I’ve learned about that truth is that there is no work to it, only a being of it. And so in that being, the very need for forgiveness falls away.
All well and good I said to the Spirit within me, but what do I do with all those very human emotions that come along with whatever incidents create a perceived need for forgiveness? Am I simply to put those feelings aside as if they never existed? I knew that wasn’t what I was to learn from the idea.
The feelings exist in this very beautiful, human expression and so their existence needs to be acknowledged, not ignored. Where the learning is I believe, is in returning to that core of Spirit within me and witnessing those feelings, even flat out feeling them and yet recognizing them as feelings and not the truth of the situation. Then from that place of unconditional love within, I can gently look at the roots of those feelings.
It seems to me that when I look at the roots of any distressing emotions I’m experiencing they always lead to the same place, a fear of separation. If I can then look at those roots from that place of Spirit within me where I am in fact One with Spirit, then I know the falsity of the idea of separation and can begin to pull that idea out by its roots.
That’s not the end of it, however much my mind would like it to be. If I follow the range of emotions that grow from the roots I will see where that lack of forgiveness, lack of unconditional love, branched out reaching for others. I see them pointing to another and saying, it is you who separated me from (insert almost any word here) love, family, success, friendship, etc. If I can see with the eyes of unconditional love though, I can look at the individual I had been pointing at, with the same knowing of truth I had in looking at the roots. I can see that not only did they not separate me from any of those things, because there is no separation, but I can look at them and know that we are not separate either.
In seeing from unconditional love I create the space for unconditional forgiveness. Which in the end brings me gently full circle to the conclusion that if I am fully living from unconditional love there is actually no need for forgiveness, just a little weeding.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
September 11th Reflections
Below are some reflections from time spent by Mother River's side today after an Interfaith service. I offer them both in Peace and Love, and in honor of those lost 10 years ago today and for those who yet grieve.
The vulture soars over the treetops,
his shadow skimming them in an endless game of tag
the trees can never win.
That is what I saw as I sat by the river this afternoon. His flight made me take note of the sky. It was searingly blue, in a way that reminded me of another September day. I couldn’t believe the sky dared be so blue that day. It belied the mood, the collective shock and grief. Surely a sky like that could only reflect a day flowing with joy, not tears. Maybe it was the purity of the tears that intensified the blue. A purity sprung from hearts torn wide open. From all walks of life, from all races, all nations, they grieved as one, under that achingly blue sky. Perhaps it did reflect the day after all.
Today the ache is more distant, the blue less offensive to my senses. Many of the hearts torn wide have found a path of healing. And many, for the good of us all, have remained open. If there can be gratitude for the aftermath of that day, mine would be for those hearts that were courageous enough to grieve, heal and remain open. For each open heart is a doorway through which love can freely pass.
Thank you for the gift of your courage to love.
The vulture soars over the treetops,
his shadow skimming them in an endless game of tag
the trees can never win.
That is what I saw as I sat by the river this afternoon. His flight made me take note of the sky. It was searingly blue, in a way that reminded me of another September day. I couldn’t believe the sky dared be so blue that day. It belied the mood, the collective shock and grief. Surely a sky like that could only reflect a day flowing with joy, not tears. Maybe it was the purity of the tears that intensified the blue. A purity sprung from hearts torn wide open. From all walks of life, from all races, all nations, they grieved as one, under that achingly blue sky. Perhaps it did reflect the day after all.
Today the ache is more distant, the blue less offensive to my senses. Many of the hearts torn wide have found a path of healing. And many, for the good of us all, have remained open. If there can be gratitude for the aftermath of that day, mine would be for those hearts that were courageous enough to grieve, heal and remain open. For each open heart is a doorway through which love can freely pass.
Thank you for the gift of your courage to love.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Illumine!
If you are interested in purchasing a copy either send me an email or visit the publisher's site.
Here's what people have had to say about the collection...
"On reading Illumine I feel as if I've been hypnotized, transported to in this diaphanous world that's connected to the flesh and bones world of people and things, but apart from it, too--rich and reflective, contemplative even. There's loss here, but always, always a promise of redemption."
~ Steve Watkins, 2009 Golden Kite Award for Fiction
"Lynda Allen has a way with words. A good way, a profound way, because it's the way forward. Also upward and inward, but always forward. And since you probably don't want to go backward, buy this book."
~ Greg Tamblyn, singer songwriter, humorist & speaker
Enjoy in joy!!
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