And now it's Christmas

-
First I thought it couldn't be September, now I think it can't possibly be Christmas - but the day after tomorrow really is Christmas.

It's been quite a fall-in September on a writer's retreat in Cambridge, Massachusetts with DiLoPi - Patti Digh, Jennifer Louden, and Susan Piver, "Walking Into Fire" and in October (the weekend of the Halloween snowstorm) on retreat wiith Pema Chodron and Meg Wheatley at Omega.

Me with Patti Digh
All of this retreating has been great for my meditation practice-I bought the MP3's of the Pema Chodron retreat (Living Beautifully with Uncertainty and Change) and I heard Meg say that the purpose of meditation is to notice that you are thinking-I love that.  My brain is a little thought factory-it just keeps right on thinking.  Susan Piver and the Open Heart Project has helped me to direct all that thought to my breath-not easy but it does bring me a modicum of peace.

So what do I wish for in 2012?  World peace, the end of poverty, the end of AIDS and of all disease and oppression.  What, that can't happen in 2012?  Not even one of those things?

Well my second choice is that I become one who doesn't add to the fear and aggression in the world.  That I claim my "spiritual warriorship" as Pema puts it and become one who truly leaves this world a better place than she found it.

My dear Aunt Mary kept St Francis of Assissi's prayer on her bulletin board at work-Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.  And on those days when I want to scream, when it feels as though everything has gone wrong, from simple things like spilling tea all over me and the car, or being tailgated on Route 9 by someone who clearly thinks that the speed limit is a guideline and doesn't apply to him (or her),  to bigger things like not making goals I've set, or watching friends suffering with illness, or loss, I must remember that I can choose not to give up.

And that's my intention for 2012-not to give up.  To figure out how to take what I've learned and use it to serve others.


Location: Ossining, NY, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is it really 2023?

-
 Where have the pandemic years gone? Feels like "down the drain." It's been nearly two years since I last posted, and although life has returned to some semblance of "normal," whatever that means, I'm still having difficulty remembering when things happened. I've taken to saying, "Is that BC (before COVID)?" And now it's Passover and Easter again. Back to large seders--fourteen this year on the second night of Passover-and sunrise services. Wishing everyone a healthy and happy Easter/Passover/Ramadan. Peace.
Read more

Coronavirus and the election? Thank heaven it's over

-
 Things are weird in the Corey-Knapp household. I just found a draft of a post I wrote in July but never published. Oh well, that's old news. We're going a little stir crazy. Oh, we've been out of the house. We've gotten haircuts, gone shopping, been to the dentist (both of us), and even a few doctor's appointments. Okay, more than a few--remember, we're old. But now that we're both retired we would like to be traveling, to somewhere other than Whole Foods. And now this (as John Oliver would say)-the election! I am stunned that so many people could vote for Trump after these past four years, especially after these past eight months. But I'm particularly stunned that people who call themselves Christians could vote for him. When I see signs like "Catholics for Trump" or learn that friends of mine think he's done great things for the economy, I realize that we live in two different Americas. A friend recently posted on Facebook "Well,
Read more

Summer Vacation

-
Image
How great to be able to post about summer plans, even though one set of plans was precipitated by my dad's death. A big part of our summer (unplanned for!) is cleaning out the house on Rhodes Street. My dad died on May 29th, at 99 years and 4 months (although I’ve been saying 99 ½). The picture below was taken on January 11, 2020, Dad's 98th birthday. We were at Jonathan's in New Hyde Park. Jonathan's was dad's favorite restaurant, and where we had the funeral lunch. We moved into the house on Rhodes Street in New Hyde Park in 1955 and although we cleaned it out a bit when mom died in 1998 there is still a ton of stuff, including furniture, that nobody wants.  My sister Gini, my brother-in-law Bob, Anne, and I have spent five full days working on this over the last six weeks. Two of those days included filling a dumpster with the help of our cousin Jack. The plan is one more day of work and then we’re hiring someone who specializes in cleaning out houses. Once it’s
Read more