Cultivating Peace – Advice from friends and poets by Mimi Simmons

First thing this morning, Mimi sent me this post with a note: I woke up early and wrote this while watching the sunrise. I can’t think of more perfect words with which to enter the spirit of Yom Kippur, which starts tonight. Yom Kippur concludes the Ten Days of Awe that began on Rosh Hashanah—days of reflection, remembrance, repentance, forgiveness of oneself and others. May this day be one of blessing for us all, and give us strength and faith to meet the challenges of the days to come.

Long-concealed records show Trump’s chronic losses and years of tax avoidance—The New York Times

Hurricanes near U.S. coast forecast to worsen and multiply due to global warming—WaPo

Napa County brush fire rapidly grows to at least 1,200 acres, forcing hospital to evacuate—CNN

Septebmer 27, 2020

Cultivating Peace – Advice from friends and poets
by Mimi Simmons, Washington State

As news from our troubled world brings reports of more conflict and suffering daily, we all work at staying centered. Decades ago, above the phone where it hung on the wall, I tacked a greeting card that said, 

Home is a place inside of me where all is well.

Every day I make my best effort to return to that place, to dwell in that place. That is my true home, 

the seed of the beginning and the end,

as Wendell Berry calls it in his poem The Wish to be Generous. A much-respected minister once advised,

instead of praying to God, pray from God within.

I aim to align my whole self with that place. From there, I feel calmer and more steady. From there I can 

take my stand on the earth like a tree in a field. 

And be a patient willing witness. Again, advice from Wendell’s poem. I work in the yard, 

give myself to what will answer with blossom and fruit 
and Let the radio keep its death toll and speeches,

advice from Deciduous by Elizabeth Austen. And I find joy. A friend affirms, 

I won’t let them steal my joy.

Yes, we authentically feel our sadness, then we do something, reconnect with nature. Thank you for that guidance, Roger Delmar in Port Townsend.

I so appreciate this Beloved Community of people, of all stripes, who are attempting to negotiate these troubled waters with universal love and enduring peace.