This Sunday my focus is on cultivating a peaceful heart. A peaceful heart can free us to find the lightness of life that I encouraged last Sunday, but it can also give us strength and stability to navigate life's times of turbulence. As more details and graphic images of the attack on Israel emerge and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza escalates, world response pours forth, new battle lines are drawn, and another war begins. For those who mourn or frantically await news of family and friends, for those who have nowhere to go and must find their way through an urban battlefield, a peaceful heart realistically is out of reach for now. And this is not the only war this October of 2023, nor the only violent conflict.
Where I sit this weekend, the weather is fantastic, the afternoon is quiet--full of daily activity--not silent...quiet. It's not that big of stretch to find inner peace, because the day itself is peaceful. Or is my day peaceful, because of inner peace?--or is the division false, and peace, simply is. One morning this week, I had to unexpectedly run an early errand for family. When I returned, my street parking space had been overtaken by a huge moving van and I had to find another spot down the street. A hijacked spot is a huge issue in L.A. County. When I found a place to park, I let go and took a moment to reel in my annoyance. I know what it is to face a move, the way my neighbor must be facing now. I know how hard movers work and calculate to efficiently arrange things--it's their job, their work. The weather was great. I also knew the longer walk was really better for me. It was absurd to be annoyed; I recovered my peace. I then went back to my morning task of trying to get phone help for a highly inconvenient wifi failure that the day before had cost me an entire day of frustration. The phone line kept cutting out. Each time I called back, I had to go through a Robot gate keeper, punch in all the numbers, listen to more "options", wait to talk to a real person, only have the phone line suddenly cut off, leaving me to go through the same fruitless action again. Ah, but the next day, I actually was able to resolve--not the whole issue--but to put in place a stop-gap measure. Once again, that meant letting go of really petty judgements, conflicts and annoyances to find the heart of Peace that sustains.
My point here is that the magnitude and horror of war puts our personal conflicts and anger in perspective. Peace in my world always begins with me. You may personally feel an inner directive to actively respond, to publicly or privately participate in national and global efforts of any scope in unfolding world events. Listen to the directives of your mind and heart. Yet Peace as a Spiritual practice, blossoms as we give way to a Peace that heals the daily forms of conflict, anger, fear and frustration right here and now. This means Peace (and forgiveness) with our family, our neighbors, our community, our borders, our environment, and from that foundation, our world. In prayer, that Peace expands. Whatever degree of a peaceful heart we nurture adds to the consciousness of the whole world. Welcome today as your day of Peace. (Susan Nettleton).
Some poetic reflections:
https://www.dorothyhunt.org/peace-is-this-moment
https://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/.../InTime/index.html