The Peace of Progress -- Sunday Serenity

A Piece in Resistance

This is an update on Friday's fiber art post about the frustration of a day of putting in and taking out four short rows so many times I lost count.  Well the next time I picked it up after the photo above, I discovered I needed to take out that row 4 of the post stitches yet again.  I'd started front posting on the row I was meant to back post on.  Sigh.  So demoralizing. 

I put it away and went to bed and the next time I picked it up on Saturday evening I frogged that row and put it back in without incident and then added the last two rows of post stitch with no frogging.  And then started the second virus stitch repeats and so far have gotten two full iterations of the virus stitch with zero frogging.

I wonder if it was sleep deprivation playing a roll in the mistakes.  Or was it because I switched my magnifying glasses from 1.75 to 2.50 on Saturday..
 

A Piece in Progress

Whatever it was, I'm grateful and was feeling peaceful as I set it aside to prepare for this post.

Now, tho, I mustn't sit here and revel in it as it is time to return to my story weaving project.  Can you believe we are almost at the halfway point for NaNo?  I'm way behind in word count and yet I'm peaceful about it.  What matters more is that I'm swimming in the story and loving it.  But more on that Wednesday.

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Sunday Serenity #404

August 31 Sunday

4400 Titles Song:
Amanda Abizaid -- A Place in Time

I've been watching 4400 episodes on Netflix this weekend as a reward for excellent progress in the sorting and organizing project.

I love the theme song.  It speaks to me on so many levels.  Especially to the ongoing, unwanted separation from my husband.

So lonely...

Such longing...

So well expressed.

Even so the song is soothing and leaves me feeling a little bit more hopeful every time I listen to it that we will soon find our place in time.

Our Place in Time

[This is one of the posts going up retroactively after the weeks long unintended hiatus that began the week after July 4th.  See She's Back for more detailed explanation.]

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Sunday Serenity #392

This is not only relaxing and trance inducing, it feels like it's reorganizing my brain.

While listening to trance drums, something ineffable is happening to the emotional charge of my memories.  I'm able to experience the memory along with the emotion while not getting sucked in.  Owning it instead of being owned by it.

Also I'm switching back and forth between the sadness charged memories and the happiness charged ones at will so that the joyful memories of Merlin's life with us now carry equal weight with the grief of his loss--if not more.

This is remarkable as I've always experienced the 'negatively' charged emotions like sadness, anger, despair and fear as having more substance than the 'positively' charged ones like love, joy and peace.  My sense (belief?) while in the grip of the 'negative' emotions has been that they were the true reality while the 'positive' ones were illusions, flukes--something that was going to pop like a soap bubble at any second.

Thus just by being conscious of happiness or peace I'd automatically be probing for the feelings of anxiety and sadness, knowing they had to be nipping at my heels.  And while suffering through the anxiety, bitterness and despair, they'd feel endless and the chance of happiness or contentment returning felt random and unlikely.

Now I know, from my reading on the neurology of emotion, that both of those stances are illusions.  Whether the positive or negative emotions get the upperhand has to do with how you tended to focus on them when the neurological pathways were being laid down in infancy and toddlerhood and whether or not you learned how to manage those connections, with appropriate coping skills, as you got older.  If one was emphasized over the other there are more connections and cross connections for them and thus more triggers--memories, odors, sounds, touch sensations, thoughts--that just take you there instantly and seemingly against your will.

But that too is illusion.  This is essentially a habit (an autopilot algorithm of neurological, physiological, and behavioral activities) and habits can be changed.  Not easily but it is doable.

Thus, I had it right about the positive emotions being temporary.  But wrong to think them less real.  And I had it wrong about the negative emotions being unending.  Truth is all emotion is fickle and fleeting.  So the true stance to take with all of them is:

This too will pass.

But that doesn't mean we have to deny ourselves the enjoyment of the positive emotions when they are in the ascendancy.  In fact the enjoyment of them is a form of gratitude which is also a positively charged emotion.  By enjoying them we also focus on them which increases the neurological connections, making it easier for them to keep or retake the upperhand.  Reinforcement is aggregate.

We can also increase those connections by probing for the memories charged by them, choosing to look for things to appreciate, choosing to willingly give of your time, effort, talent or money for the good of another, choosing to focus on the love that exists in our relationships with family, friends, partners, self and Divinty,  choosing to look for the potential for good in even the moments, past and present, charged by the negative emotions, and seeking out experiences guaranteed to produce positively charged emotions.

Experiences like fellowship (aka hanging out) with friends and family, listening to uplifting music, watching funny videos or comedic or uplifting movies/TV, reading uplifting stories or spiritual writings, meditate, walk in nature, sports activities or creative activities you enjoy, give and receive hugs, hold a sleeping baby, play with a kitten or puppy...

Do not mistake the use of the words 'positive' and 'negative' for the emotion categories as synonyms for 'good' and 'evil'.  All emotions are neutral in that regard.  It isn't the emotion that has moral or ethical weight it is the behavior of the individual while under the influence of the emotion.

Nor should one think that by calling them 'negative' the emotions of anger, sadness, and fear should be eliminated, disallowed, repressed or otherwise denied.  These emotions, like physical pain, have a valuable role as signals that something needs focused attention and action right now.  Too often we focus on the emotion itself  and not on what triggered it or what needs to be done about it.

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So Long Mr Wizard

So Long Mr Wizard

by Joy Renee

Merlin our impish wizard kitty,
named for that Camelot wizard of yore
(escape artiste par excellence),
just escaped from the nitty-gritty
where pain and weariness stole his zest
and with it all his bright eyed joyance.

Like his name-sake, our sly escapist
broke free of all constraints--duffle bags,
zipped up jackets, two-armed embraces,
tucked blankets, leash, box, cage, door--he'd best
them all. Now, with this, his last escape
o'er Rainbow Bridge, he's loosed his traces.

No more picking him up by the nape,
cat fishing with feathered toys on strings,
comforting purrs throughout lonely nights,
nor witnessing his excellent japes.
Now he plays where string-free feathers float,
running's but a whisker width from flight,

and stars ride rivers of light like boats.
See them skitter, jostle, bob and roll?
What fun is yanking the river's tail!
Hear his skirl join the dogs' adagios,
calling for Moon to play bounce-n-pounce.
Watch as he drapes yarn on Libras scale,

jerking it once to give it a jounce,
braids ninety braids in Leo's mane,
shoots rubber-bands at Scorpios jaw,
pulls strutting Peacock's feathery flounce.
Now see him walking beside dark browed
Raven, hunting worms to fill his maw,

Keeping Trickster Taleteller endowed
with all he could conceivably need,
so his stories flow like River Lethe.
Wanting a nap, he leaps on a cloud,
catching an angel in mid refrain.
Curled on her harp, she strums him to sleep.

Rest in Peace Merlin
You are so missed!


Note: Merlin lifted his head when I checked on him at 8am but when I checked again at 10 he was already stiff and cold.

I started this post on Wednesday June 4th but just now got the poem finished--afternoon of the 10th.

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Sunday Serenity #390

OneJourney.net

Spiritual quotes from sacred books and philosophers across time and cultures grace beautiful, images of nature and human communing wrapped in uplifting music.

Enjoy in

Love Joy Peace Hope

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Sunday Serenity #381

Simple Joys

My sister got this for me on one of her excursions this past week.

It's ceramic and has no mechanism for hanging on the wall.  I've a scarcity of wall space in this room anyway and flat surfaces available for knickknacks is extinct so I'm thinking of standing it up in the window slide track which would place it just at eye level when I look beyond the top rim of my laptop screen...

Done.

There, an exercise in taking action on an idea as soon as possible.

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Sunday Serenity #380

Serenity Is...

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Sunday Serenity #246

On this day I hold the nation and the world in my heart, and in my heart I hold the intent of enjoining the Spirit of peace and love upon the human family as I join hearts and hands with those holding the same intent. For, as I said here yesterday, the Story we tell ourselves becomes the Story we live. The Story I wish to Live is one of Love, Joy, Peace and Hope

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Dona Nobis Pacem

Blog Blast for Peace

I composed this paired haiku poem a bit over a year ago inspired by the picture below. It is my sense that it is only with the power of story that we can can recognize and implement solutions to our problems. The best hope for conflict resolution at any level is for all parties to know the other's story with the same intimacy as they know their own. And I don't mean 'the story as written by' I mean the story as known by and lived by the others in the same way you know and live your own.

It takes great courage to be open to this knowing.

Our stories are like trees with roots going deep, nurtured by the soil of our history and the waters of our memories. The roots of our individual stories entangle in the deep past. We can no more isolate our story from that of our 'opponent' then a spruce can isolate its roots from that of the oak in the forest. And above the surface of the soil in the light of each day our common dreams and hopes, fears and angers weave the stories that are making our tomorrows. Our stories are poisoned by fears and can be healed only by love.

Peace is not a gift granted or imposed by an other (or Other) in response to a simple request. Peace cannot be granted unless and until the recipient's yearning for the peace of his br(other) is as unreserved as his yearning for his own peace, Peace cannot be parceled out or fenced in. Anyone wishing for any br(other) to be excluded from it cannot himself have it.

It is within each of our hearts that peace must be made welcome and it is by welcoming our br(other's) heart into our own that we invite peace in. For if peace is not everywhere it can be nowhere.

Tree of Peace
by Josephine Wall
poster for sale at art.com

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Thursday Thirteen #50

Quotes From Thirteen* Peace Advocates

• Moshe Dayan (1915-1981)
  
  If you want to make peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies.

• Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)
  
  Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding.

• William Gladstone (1809-1898)
  
  We look forward to the time when the Power of Love will replace the Love of Power. Then will our world know the blessings of peace.

• Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968)
  
  We will not build a peaceful world by following a negative path. It is not enough to say we must not wage war. It is necessary to love peace and sacrifice for it. We must concentrate not merely on the negative expulsion of war but on the positive affirmation of peace. We must see that peace represents a sweeter music, a cosmic melody, that is far superior to the discords of war. Somehow, we must transform the dynamics of the world power struggle from the negative nuclear arms race, which no one can win, to a positive contest to harness humanity's creative genius for the purpose of making peace and prosperity a reality for all the nations of the world. In short, we must shift the arms race into a peace race. If we have a will - and determination - to mount such a peace offensive, we will unlock hitherto tightly sealed doors of hope and transform our imminent cosmic elegy into a psalm of creative fulfillment.

• Lao Tzu (570-490 B.C.):

If there is to be peace in the world,
There must be peace in the nations.

If there is to be peace in the nations,
There must be peace in the cities.

If there is to be peace in the cities,
There must be peace between neighbors.

If there is to be peace between neighbors,
There must be peace in the home.

If there is to be peace in the home,
There must be peace in the heart.

• Jesus
  
  Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God.

• Federico Mayor
  
  It is a good moment to repeat that a war is never won. Never mind that history books tell us the opposite. The psychological and material costs of war are so high that any triumph is a Pyrrhic victory. Only peace can be won and winning peace means not only avoiding armed conflict but finding ways of eradicating the causes of individual and collective violence: injustice and oppression, ignorance and poverty, intolerance and discrimination. We must construct a new set of values and attitudes to replace the culture of war which, for centuries, has been influencing the course of civilization. Winning peace means the triumph of our pledge to establish, on a democratic basis, a new social framework of tolerance and generosity from which no one will feel excluded.

• A.J. Muste (1885-1967)
  
  There is no way to peace; peace is the way.

• Peace Pilgrim
  
  This is the way of peace: overcome evil with good, and falsehood with truth, and hatred with love.

• Mother Theresa (1910-1997)
  
  If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.

• 3 from Elie Wiesel (1928- );

Of course some wars may have been necessary or inevitable, but none was ever regarded as holy. For us, a holy war is a contradiction in terms. War dehumanizes, war diminishes, war debases all those who wage it. The Talmud says, "Talmidei hukhamim marbin shalom baolam" (It is the wise men who will bring about peace). Perhaps, because wise men remember best.
Nobel Lecture (December 11, 1986)

None of us is in a position to eliminate war, but it is our obligation to denounce it and expose it in all its hideousness. War leaves no victors, only victims.
Nobel Lecture (December 11, 1986)

Time itself becomes subordinate to war. If only we could celebrate peace as our various ancestors celebrated war; if only we could glorify peace as those before us, thirsting for adventure, glorified war; if only our sages and scholars together could resolve to infuse peace with the same energy and inspiration that others have put into war.

• Maya Angelou
  
  We cannot change the past, but we can change our attitude toward it. Uproot guilt and plant forgiveness. Tear out arrogance and seed humility. Exchange love for hate --- thereby, making the present comfortable and the future promising.

• Muhammad (570-632)
  
  Shall I not inform you of a better act than fasting, alms, and prayers? Making peace between one another: enmity and malice tear up heavenly rewards by the roots.

• 3 from Thich Nhat Hahn:

The war is in our souls.

You may think of peace as the absence of war, that if the great powers would reduce their weapons arsenals, we could have peace. But if we look deeply into the weapons, we will see our own minds - our own prejudices, fears, and ignorance.

The practice of peace and reconciliation is one of the most vital and artistic of human actions.


*OK so there's 14, 15 counting Black Elk's quote on the poster at top. Be sure and enlarge to read it is well worth it. I've already cut over half a dozen and can't bear to cut one more.



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