Choosing Peace and Purpose

“The world is quiet here.”

Lemony Snicket

“War is over ... If you want it.”

John Lennon

“Peace is always beautiful.”

Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass

I went to the movies tonight with a friend.  The company was great and the movie was good, but I came away with a headache.  I think there was just too much stimuli, too much noise.  I’m glad to be home and writing, listening to soft, quiet music and breathing calmly again.  I really like the quiet.  I like things to be calm.  I like me to be calm.  If I’m calm then everything around me can be calm, but I have to remind myself of this.

At the moment, though, it’s calm.  I feel very, very grateful.  I really don’t mind being alone, especially when it’s time to write.  In fact the only person I want to be with while I write, and much of the time, is my Muse.  I want to listen to what she wants to tell me and for that I need quiet.  I don’t mind listening to her.  She never gives me a headache.

So at this moment I have a choice.  I have a headache and an earache.  But I also, at this moment, have the following:

·      A very quiet atmosphere in which to work

·      Some soft music

·      A computer that works so I can write

·      My health (despite the headache and earache)

·      Pain reliever to take away the headache and earache

·      Warmth

·      Safety

·      External calm

·      Books to read

·      A cup of warm coffee

·      Slippers

·      The full undivided attention of my Muse

·      God’s blessing upon me.

I am a very fortunate man.  Tonight, despite some minor complaints about past incidents, I realize that I have been tremendously blessed.  So the choice I referred to above is to focus on what hurts me now (head and ear) or what has hurt me in the past or to focus on all the blessings I have at this very moment.  

It’s often said that it’s easy to be peaceful when things are going well, but sometimes it isn’t.  Sometimes, even during peaceful times, the mind rages and races.  It reviews past wounds or fears the future.  It rehashes the same old stories and continues the same old diatribes.   It argues with the policeman who wrote a ticket six months ago, or the teacher who gave an unfair grade back in high school, or the former employer who was too harsh.  We love telling off people who have long been in the past.

Peace really is a choice.  It’s a choice during the peaceful times that we can easily make unpeaceful.  And it’s a choice in the unpeaceful times that we can easily make peaceful.  So I’m choosing to be peaceful and create peace whenever I can, wherever I can and for as long and as often as possible.  This is part of my Purpose.  This should really be part of everyone’s Purpose.

I’m also choosing to Get Started and Keep Going…peacefully.