Tuesday, July 8, 2008

There are lots of different ways to be in relationship to Peace. We can be impatient for it, we can be hopeless about it, we can be angry that isn't present in our lives and in the world. I have been all of those things at some point in my life. Perhaps because I turn 60 this year, or perhaps as a result of years of meditating, I see now that how we relate to Peace is crucial, maybe the most crucial thing. Another way to say this is, our context or who we be in relationship to Peace is decisive.

When I am impatient for peace I resist all the places in my life and in the world where Peace is absent. I'm totally absorbed in and focused on "what shouldn't be". When I am angry about war, my anger sucks Peace from my life and the lives of everyone I touch. I get my anger, my angst all over everyone else. When I am hopeless about Peace ever being possible, I become a victim of my own thoughts and I spend my time looking for proof that Peace can't happen. And I can find a ton of that!

My practice this week, and I offer it to anyone reading, is to find a powerful way to relate to Peace. The metaphor I have chosen to represent my relationship with it this week is "dancing with Peace". I imagine Peace is a dance partner I have chosen (if this sounds a bit wacky hang in there with me please!).

And what I know about dance, about me and about partnering, is that love and patience is required. I need to learn new steps, learn how to execute them with someone else who may be learning too, or, horror, more proficient than I. I need to give up feeling foolish about my lack of skill in order to keep dancing. I need to have a bigger commitment to dancing than I do to focusing on my missteps. I have to love and appreciate my partner and TRUST that the dance can be amazing, given time and practice. And a graceful dance, skillfully done is worth this investment, this commitment. I know I appreciate it when I see others who have done so. O.K. I'm a secret fan of those ballroom dance competitions on PBS! And I don't see many skillful angry, impatient or hopeless dancers.

So, I am committed this week to relating to Peace as a dance, to dancing with Peace metaphorically, to being committed to producing Peace in my life through patience, love and trust, and like all skills, to improve with practice. I invite you to join me in this dance. Please look in your life and see who you can love into Peace (without compromising your best self), what choices you can make from Peace today, where you can trust a bit more than you have. Then notice what shifts. And keep the gradient low please. Begin where you are. And a recommendation for this might be to list all of the ways you already demonstrate your commitment to Peace; what are you already doing (recycling, driving an fuel efficient car, eating organic food, contributing to Oxfam or similar organizations, meditating, slowing down, caring for a friend or relative). Start by appreciating the Peace that is already present in your life and expand from there.

Lastly, I have a book recommendation. It's The Not So Big Life by Sarah Susanka. She's an architect who employs coaching principals to get her clients to discern clearly how their physical space works best for them, to see how they can design a space and a life they love.

It's Peace Tuesday! Who will you be to create Peace in your life and in the world today? Who are you already being?

Love,

Darlene