This afternoon my daughters and I went to the pumpkin patch. We go to the same place every year. We love it. There are horses, cows, alpacas, and swings, hay to climb on, a zip line and of course pumpkins. It was a gorgeous day, warm and sunny with a beautiful blue sky. It was a gift. Knowing that it was a gift in the moment of it came from practicing peace and love.
Our lives get so busy sometimes that I know I am not always fully present with them. This afternoon was just about us being together and having a good time. It was an absolute joy to be there focused on each other and the gorgeous day. They chased each other around on the hay bales. We pushed each other on the swings and zip line. We laughed and found perfectly imperfect pumpkins. It was so nice to gift each other the present of presence.
They are a joy in my life and I’m glad to be walking a path that reminds me to honor the moments we have together and to at least notice when I’m not being completely present, so that I can work towards a life more mindful of each moment. Today the moments were golden and I’m filled with gratitude.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Pledge of Peace and Love ~ Day 16
I’m a little behind on the blog! Weekends it seems are more difficult to keep up with. I would think it would actually be easier on the weekend with more free time but it turns out free time is hard to come by!
I don’t want to skip yesterday though. I had the opportunity yesterday to listen to an interview with two friends on an internet radio station. The interview was about providing caregiving for their Mother and their son, but really their story is about amazing lessons in love, love of family and love of self.
They taught me so much in one hour. I was so grateful to them for sharing their wisdom and their hearts. Not only did they learn a great deal about the process of caregiving but also about themselves. They shared from a genuine desire to help others through their own lessons learned. I am not in a position of having to be a caregiver in the way that they were and are, yet there was much for me to learn from their experiences.
They spoke about navigating the health care system, which while sometimes challenging, they proved can still be handled with grace. They didn’t seem to let obstacles stop them; they simply saw them as challenges to be overcome, not as dead ends. They didn’t see people in the system as enemies but as allies, who if they could find the right questions to ask, would help them achieve their goals. They didn’t see conversations with family about caregiving as conflict; they saw it as opportunities for the family to have open communication so that they would all understand each other, rather than make assumptions about where the others were in their thinking. They loved and honored themselves enough to know that they had to express the limits they knew they had, in order to be present and not drained for the caregiving they wanted to be able to provide. And inspiringly they were able to move through the life changing accident their son was involved in that left him in a wheelchair, with hope and positivity and come through it seeing good that came from the process. I’m certain there were dark moments and days but that is not where they chose to dwell.
They are an incredible example to me of living from peace and love. I’m grateful to know them and to have their example as an inspiration. Thank you Kit and Randy.
If you would like to listen to their interview it is at http://archives.zeusradio.com/here-women-talk/rivers-of-faith-donna-tyson/rivers-of-faith-10-18-2011/ .
I don’t want to skip yesterday though. I had the opportunity yesterday to listen to an interview with two friends on an internet radio station. The interview was about providing caregiving for their Mother and their son, but really their story is about amazing lessons in love, love of family and love of self.
They taught me so much in one hour. I was so grateful to them for sharing their wisdom and their hearts. Not only did they learn a great deal about the process of caregiving but also about themselves. They shared from a genuine desire to help others through their own lessons learned. I am not in a position of having to be a caregiver in the way that they were and are, yet there was much for me to learn from their experiences.
They spoke about navigating the health care system, which while sometimes challenging, they proved can still be handled with grace. They didn’t seem to let obstacles stop them; they simply saw them as challenges to be overcome, not as dead ends. They didn’t see people in the system as enemies but as allies, who if they could find the right questions to ask, would help them achieve their goals. They didn’t see conversations with family about caregiving as conflict; they saw it as opportunities for the family to have open communication so that they would all understand each other, rather than make assumptions about where the others were in their thinking. They loved and honored themselves enough to know that they had to express the limits they knew they had, in order to be present and not drained for the caregiving they wanted to be able to provide. And inspiringly they were able to move through the life changing accident their son was involved in that left him in a wheelchair, with hope and positivity and come through it seeing good that came from the process. I’m certain there were dark moments and days but that is not where they chose to dwell.
They are an incredible example to me of living from peace and love. I’m grateful to know them and to have their example as an inspiration. Thank you Kit and Randy.
If you would like to listen to their interview it is at http://archives.zeusradio.com/here-women-talk/rivers-of-faith-donna-tyson/rivers-of-faith-10-18-2011/ .
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Pledge of Peace and Love ~ Day 15
Yesterday, and all this week really, I got to be witness to incredible acts of love. Not far from where I live in Virginia, an eight year old autistic boy was lost in the woods last Sunday while on a hike with his father. They searched all of Sunday and into the night with heat sensing equipment but didn’t find him. The police put out a call for volunteers. Over the course of the week thousands of people from all over showed up to volunteer. The terrain in the park was heavy with underbrush and briars, marshy areas and rocky cliffs. There was also a river in one area of the park. People were warned by the search coordinators that this was not easy work because of the terrain. The warnings did not deter them as people showed up in groups or on their own to help find this little boy. They showed up every day by the hundreds even over a thousand to the point where they had to turn volunteers away.
Friday was a day that I could offer my help. My daughters had appointments at 7:00 a.m. but when they were finished and dropped at school by around 8:15 a.m. I was ready to head out of town to try to arrive by the 9:00 a.m. time they had set for volunteers. I knew someone involved with the search and he had suggested that I call him before I left town to check in. I called him as I was driving out of town. It was a little before 8:30 and he told me they already had over 1000 people waiting in line to volunteer! While I had a moment of disappointment at not being able to do something constructive myself, I was overwhelmed by the outpouring of love that had been offered all week for this little boy and his family. It was absolutely beautiful and an incredible testament to the power of love.
At around 2:00 p.m. they found him alive and well about a mile from where he had been lost. He was taken to a hospital and reunited with his family. Though with the display of love shown to him this week I think his family is much larger than he might have thought. I’m grateful to be part of that family and am inspired by such love! Clearly you don’t have to search far to find immense love in the world.
Friday was a day that I could offer my help. My daughters had appointments at 7:00 a.m. but when they were finished and dropped at school by around 8:15 a.m. I was ready to head out of town to try to arrive by the 9:00 a.m. time they had set for volunteers. I knew someone involved with the search and he had suggested that I call him before I left town to check in. I called him as I was driving out of town. It was a little before 8:30 and he told me they already had over 1000 people waiting in line to volunteer! While I had a moment of disappointment at not being able to do something constructive myself, I was overwhelmed by the outpouring of love that had been offered all week for this little boy and his family. It was absolutely beautiful and an incredible testament to the power of love.
At around 2:00 p.m. they found him alive and well about a mile from where he had been lost. He was taken to a hospital and reunited with his family. Though with the display of love shown to him this week I think his family is much larger than he might have thought. I’m grateful to be part of that family and am inspired by such love! Clearly you don’t have to search far to find immense love in the world.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Pledge of Peace and Love ~ Day 14
Sometimes I think the best choice for peace is silence. Twice over the past week I could have chosen to react to something in a moment when it would indeed have been reacting. Or I could have chosen to be still and silent with the issue and respond at another time rather than react. It wasn’t avoiding what had come up, simply choosing to wait until I could respond from a place of peace. I’m happy to say that I chose peace over my Italian reaction nature! In both situations it was clearly the right choice.
That’s a significant part of the path of peace for me, those moments of choice and recognizing them in the midst of them rather than afterward. This pledge has truly made me so much more aware of my choices on a moment by moment basis. Occasionally it’s annoying! I would love to just react in a good old human sort of way. But it seems that the good old human way is shifting to a new way and I want to be part of that shift. So, I will gratefully continue this pledge and celebrate the awareness it has brought me. Making the conscious choice for peace feels wonderful and hopefully the more I practice the more it will become a choice I don’t have to be so conscious of, because it will be my natural way of being, the new way.
That’s a significant part of the path of peace for me, those moments of choice and recognizing them in the midst of them rather than afterward. This pledge has truly made me so much more aware of my choices on a moment by moment basis. Occasionally it’s annoying! I would love to just react in a good old human sort of way. But it seems that the good old human way is shifting to a new way and I want to be part of that shift. So, I will gratefully continue this pledge and celebrate the awareness it has brought me. Making the conscious choice for peace feels wonderful and hopefully the more I practice the more it will become a choice I don’t have to be so conscious of, because it will be my natural way of being, the new way.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
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.
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.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Pledge of Peace and Love ~ Day 12
Today began with a small act of both peace and love. The reminder to begin it that way came a year or two ago. I think it was summertime when a praying mantis came to visit. It sat on the screen door of my house for a couple days. It stayed long enough for me to start to think that maybe it had some wisdom it wanted to share. I decided to sit in meditation near it and listen to see what it had to say. It turned out it had a lot to say.
Here is what the praying mantis shared as I sat quietly:
Prayer. Be in a constant state of prayerfulness. Be always with an open heart, and words are not necessary for prayer. Prayer is a state of being more than a combination of words spoken. It is the flow of love from the heart returning to its Source. Be always praying, not with words but with deeds, with actions, always moving from the stillness of love within. Then you are moving in prayerfulness. Pray unto love. Pray without ceasing. Be prayer, be communion with Spirit. Let each look, each word, each action be your prayer. Prayer is a joyful state of being, for prayer celebrates the connection within to the Source. Be a living prayer.
Besides these words, what I carried with me from that day was the idea of beginning each day prayerfully, in full awareness of Spirit. I try to remember that each day before I get out of bed. I don’t always succeed. Today I remembered and it was a beautiful way to begin the day, centering myself in the silence of peace and love.
Here is what the praying mantis shared as I sat quietly:
Prayer. Be in a constant state of prayerfulness. Be always with an open heart, and words are not necessary for prayer. Prayer is a state of being more than a combination of words spoken. It is the flow of love from the heart returning to its Source. Be always praying, not with words but with deeds, with actions, always moving from the stillness of love within. Then you are moving in prayerfulness. Pray unto love. Pray without ceasing. Be prayer, be communion with Spirit. Let each look, each word, each action be your prayer. Prayer is a joyful state of being, for prayer celebrates the connection within to the Source. Be a living prayer.
Besides these words, what I carried with me from that day was the idea of beginning each day prayerfully, in full awareness of Spirit. I try to remember that each day before I get out of bed. I don’t always succeed. Today I remembered and it was a beautiful way to begin the day, centering myself in the silence of peace and love.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Pledge of Peace and Love ~ Day 11
Today I took an opportunity to share an idea I thought might help contribute to peace. I was listening to NPR while I was working. The Kojo Nnamdi show was on WAMU. They were talking with author and professor, Peter T. Coleman, about Cracking Intractable Conflicts.
I posted a note on their website with an idea that had occurred to me while working in documentary filmmaking years ago. I wondered what would happen if you recorded people during peace negotiations (forget for a minute the obvious confidentiality concerns) and then each night after the negotiations they had to watch footage of themselves during the negotiations. I wondered what impact it would have on people to be able to see and hear themselves from another perspective, perhaps through the eyes and ears of someone else at the table. They might be able to see where they appear angry or appear to be inflexible through their body language, when that was not truly what they meant to communicate. They might be able to hear where their voice sounded aggressive or hostile. It might just help them all to see things a little differently. What if that could help in the peace process?
I didn’t know if they would actually address the question, but they did. The guest seemed to like the idea and thought that it was creative. Whether anyone will actually try the idea or not isn’t important as much as the intention to contribute to a more peaceful world by sharing the idea. That intention was felt by however many listeners there were at that moment for Kojo’s show and felt by those who listen to it online at some future date. You just never know who your ripples of peace might touch or if they will touch anyone at all, but it’s always worth making a little splash. Maybe then our combined intentions will create a great wave of Peace.
I posted a note on their website with an idea that had occurred to me while working in documentary filmmaking years ago. I wondered what would happen if you recorded people during peace negotiations (forget for a minute the obvious confidentiality concerns) and then each night after the negotiations they had to watch footage of themselves during the negotiations. I wondered what impact it would have on people to be able to see and hear themselves from another perspective, perhaps through the eyes and ears of someone else at the table. They might be able to see where they appear angry or appear to be inflexible through their body language, when that was not truly what they meant to communicate. They might be able to hear where their voice sounded aggressive or hostile. It might just help them all to see things a little differently. What if that could help in the peace process?
I didn’t know if they would actually address the question, but they did. The guest seemed to like the idea and thought that it was creative. Whether anyone will actually try the idea or not isn’t important as much as the intention to contribute to a more peaceful world by sharing the idea. That intention was felt by however many listeners there were at that moment for Kojo’s show and felt by those who listen to it online at some future date. You just never know who your ripples of peace might touch or if they will touch anyone at all, but it’s always worth making a little splash. Maybe then our combined intentions will create a great wave of Peace.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)