POETRY
As I Walk with Beauty
~ Traditional Navajo Prayer
As I walk, as I walk.
The universe is walking with me.
In beauty it walks before me.
In beauty it walks behind me.
In beauty it walks below me.
In beauty it walks above me.
Beauty is on every side.
Symptoms of Inner Peace
~ Saskia Davis
Be on the lookout for symptoms of inner peace.
The hearts of a great many have already been
exposed to inner peace and it is possible that people
everywhere could come down with it in epidemic
proportions. This could pose a serious threat to
what has, up to now, been a fairly stable condition
of conflict in the world.
Some signs and smptoms of inner peace:
-
A tendency to think and act spontaneously
rather than on fears based on past experiences.
-
An unmistakable ability to enjoy each moment.
-
A loss of interest in judging other people.
-
A loss of interest in judging self.
-
A loss of interest in interpreting the actions of others.
-
A loss of interest in conflict.
-
A loss of the ability to worry. (This is a very serious symptom.)
-
Frequent, overwhelming episodes of appreciation.
-
Contended feelings of connectedness with others and nature.
-
Frequent attacks of smiling.
-
An increasing tendency to let things happen rather than
make them happen.
-
An increased susceptiblitiy to the love extended by
others as well as the uncontrollable urge to extend it.
Warning:
If you have some or all of the above symptoms, please be advised
that your condition of inner peace may be so far advanced as to
not be curable. If you are exposed to anyone exhibiting any of these
symptoms, remain exposed only at your own risk.
It is Possible to Live in Peace
Mohandas K Gandhi
If someone with courage and vision can rise to Lead in nonviolent action,
the winter of despair can, in the twinkling of an eye, be turned into the
summer of hope.
It is possible to live in peace.
Nonviolence is not a garment to put on and off at will. Its seat is in the heart, and it
must be an inseparable part of our being.
It is possible to live in peace.
Nonviolence, which is a quality of the heart, cannot come by an appeal to the brain.
It is a plant of slow growth, growing imperceptibly, yet surely.
It is possible to live in peace.
If a single person achieves the highest kind of Love it will be sufficient to
neutralize the hate of millions.
It is possible to live in peace.
The future depends on what we do in the present.
It is possible to live in peace.
I Experience Inner Peace When
~ Southern Maryland Meditation Community
September 4, 2018
I experience inner peace when....
I arrange flowers
I play music
I improvise on my recorder
I walk my dog at dawn
I walk in the woods
Floating in the water
I watch ocean waves
I meet someone new
I am outside in the dark in front of a fire
I am hiking
I have an ice cream cone on a hot summer day
I receive Holy Communion
I hear the first cry of a newborn baby
Someone in my family smiles
I am with animals
I am in my own company
Walking on the beach with my grandson
I sit in the garden first thing in the morning with a perfect cup of coffee
I include and allow everything and it doesn't matter where
I kiss my wife
When my granddaughter smiles at me
I see my sons enjoy each others' company
I am cooking
I am having lunch with my friends
I see sunrise over the Chesapeake Bay
….AND ALL OF THE ABOVE!!!!
The Sun Never Says
~ Hafiz
Even after all this time,
The sun never says to the earth,
"You owe Me."
Look what happens with
A love like that,
it lights the Whole Sky.
Why I Wake Early
~ Mary Oliver
Hello, sun in my face.
Hello, you who made the morning
and spread it over the fields
and into the faces of the tulips
and the nodding morning glories,
and into the windows of, even, the
miserable and the crotchety -
best preacher that ever was,
dear star, that just happens
to be where you are in the universe
to keep us from ever-darkness,
to ease us with warm touching,
to hold us in the great hands of light -
good morning, good morning, good morning.
Watch, now, how I start the day
in happiness, in kindness.
Clearing
~ Martha Postlewaite
Do not try to save
the whole world
or do anything grandiose.
Instead, create
a clearing
in the dense forest
of your life
and wait there
patiently,
until the song
that is your life
falls into your own cupped hands
and you recognize and greet it.
Only then will you know
how to give yourself
to this world
so worth of rescue.