Equanimity

Equanimity is “mental calmness, composure, and evenness of temper, especially in a difficult situation.” Remember Rudyard Kipling’s lines, “If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you”? That’s equanimity.

To achieve equanimity requires practice in mindfulness and meditation. I’m working my way to two 20-minute meditations a day.

Equanimity is the antidote to today’s fractious environment. It’s the pathway to overcoming hatred with love. This season, join me in strengthening love.

An Image of Forgiveness

This morning I woke up with a clear image of forgiveness as a rubber raft that glides through treacherous rocks without harm. If you’ve ever rafted a river with rapids, you’ll know what I mean. The rubber rafts simply bend as they let the rushing water carry them through. I understand that even much harder canoes can be guided skillfully through the rocks and come out on the other side, unharmed.

Forgiveness. Coming out on the other side, unharmed.

You write or draw it: What is an image of forgiveness for you?

Leaving Large

I’m dedicating my blog today to Michelle Petties’ book, Leaving Large, which will be released on November 30 from 2:00-4:00 on Amazon. I recommend you buy a copy because this book is filled with heartfelt, truthful stories. When we read the truth written in love, it evokes truth and love within us. And our world needs more truth and love.

You write or draw it: When have you felt guided by truth and love?

Navigating Our World

For the last three weeks I’ve been navigating our world. Reading train schedules. Asking for help. Seeking translation. Seeing new sights. Having new experiences. Eating new food. Meeting new people. Following someone else’s rules. Accepting uncertainty. Deciphering maps.

In other words, as I traveled, I mostly exercised my logical/rational capabilities.

In two meltdowns, I learned that there is a limit to this approach. You might say I “hit the wall.” Not once, but twice.

Now I’m back home. This morning, as the sun rises, the yellow cottonwood trees come alive with the red rocks. My heart responds with love and with the ease of knowing my surroundings and how to live in them.

But when I am in unfamiliar territory, I still haven’t learned how to harness the fear of uncertainty and live through the eye of my heart. Have you? How do you do it?

Next Three Weeks

For the next three weeks my husband and I will be cruising down the Rhine River, followed by some stops in England and France. Not too shabby, as they say. I’ll leave you with a quotation from Teilhard de Chardin that is worth three weeks’ reflection:

“Someday, after we have mastered the winds, the waves, and gravity, mankind will harness for God the energy of love. Then, for the second time in the history of the world, we will have discovered fire.”

For the next three weeks, keep a journal of what happens when you put love into a situation.

Power of Love

Increasingly, I am drawn to the work of Cynthia Bourgeault. Here’s a quotation from her work: “As the heart comes alive as an organ of spiritual perception, we are able to perceive the invisible kingdom of love that surrounds us and live it into being.”

If you want your faith to come alive, read her book Eye of the Heart.

You write or draw it: What have you done recently that made your faith come alive?

All Is Well

Often, I sign off emails and other missives with the closing, “All is well.” I do that mostly to remind myself.

Oh, yes, I can easily find something to worry about or some problem to solve. But truly, in my life, all is well, and I need a constant reminder of that truth. It holds my mind in peace.

You write or draw it: What do you do to remind you to be at peace?

Ease

Quite a few years ago, I realized that what I focus on, gets stronger. I was not, in fact, allowing life to happen to me; rather, I was choosing my own meandering reality. With this realization, I decided to choose peace. I chose detachment from what other people think. I chose forgiveness. I chose love. I drew a circle and wrote inside it all that I wanted to experience. Slowly, my life changed.

This morning, as I watch the horizon redden with sun’s rising, I choose ease.

You write or draw it: What do you choose for your life today?

Uncertainty

“I am content with uncertainty,” I said to the travel agent assisting my husband and me with a Rhine River cruise.

Tomorrow I leave for a visit with my sister, who has recently been diagnosed with liver cancer. We do not yet know the extent of the disease. We’re waiting for a biopsy and results.

I’m living life in a gap of not knowing. so I’ve been relying less on my brain and more on my heart. “Let my presence be love” is my mantra and my prayer.

Next week I’ll be away from my computer, so I’ll post again in two weeks.

You write or draw it: In this moment, how is it with you?

Autumn

Two days ago I arranged my fall decorations—beautiful glass pumpkins, red and yellow leaves. This morning it was too cold on the terrace to sit there. Autumn is here.

There’s something about the changing of the seasons that is sacred, which Emily Dickinson captured in this poem:

These are the days when Birds come back--

A very few--a Bird or two--

To take a backward look.

These are the days when skies resume

The old--old sophistries of June--

A blue and gold mistake.

Oh fraud that cannot cheat the Bee--

Almost thy plausibility

Induces my belief.

Till ranks of seeds their witness bear--

And softly thro' the altered air

Hurries a timid leaf.

Oh Sacrament of summer days,

Oh Last Communion in the Haze--

Permit a child to join.

Thy sacred emblems to partake--

Thy consecrated bread to take

And thine immortal wine!

You write or draw it: What is the changing of seasons to you?

Serenity

“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change” is the beginning of the Serenity Prayer.

As I write, a family member is seriously ill, the extent as yet unknown. Another family member is facing legal issues whose outcome won’t be known for awhile. A European trip for my husband and me is in limbo. And yet, this morning the sun’s rays appeared on the horizon, and a new day is here. I agree to accept the things I cannot change.

You write or draw it: How do you stay free from worry and dread?

Two Questions

When I taught high school English, at the end of every year, I would ask my students, “What went well that I should continue to do? What would you like to see me change?” In response, my students gave me very valuable feedback that I always used to improve learning. for the next year’s students.

Then I left the classroom to go into administration, with no end of year. The mistakes and omissions I made followed me, and I never had the sense of new beginning.

Now I realize that, in any situation, I can ask those same two questions. They are relevant for jobs, for marriage, for relationships, for volunteerism. Two simple questions to restart and refresh.

Nancy Oelklaus is the author of Journey from Head to Heart and Alphabet Meditations for Teachers. Her latest book, Simple Serenity, will be published in the first quarter of 2022.

Sweep

When someone I love dies, I

Find something to sweep—

A driveway, a terrace—

Something usually unnoticed.

I don’t know why I sweep.

Moving the energy, maybe—

Perhaps avoiding grief,

Or controlling the things I can.

I sweep.

You write or draw it: How do you manage grief?

Nancy Oelklaus is the author of Journey from Head to Heart and Alphabet Meditations for Teachers. Her latest book, Simple Serenity, will be published in the first quarter of 2022.

Life Is Good

It’s a beautiful day in Sedona, Arizona. Recent rains and cooler temperatures convinced the pink muhly to begin blooming, weeks before its normal time. The sky is clear blue, with a slight breeze. The red rocks bask in the sun’s warmth. Life is good and all is well.

You write or draw it: How is it with you?

Life Goes On

A cancer diagnosis is given;

Life goes on.

Peaches are abundant;

Life goes on.

An angry young woman confronts the world;

Life goes on.

A loving friend makes peach cobbler;

Life goes on.

Energy

Invisible yet powerful, energy emanates from us. If we default to weak energy like resentment or blame or simple worry, we are easy prey for constant depletion.

But if we choose strong energy like acceptance or love (“the greatest of these”) we live happy, peaceful, fulfilling lives, regardless of our circumstance.

Begin this journey with awareness: What energy is driving you right now? Is it what you want?

Grace

A day comes

When all the battles

Have been fought,

And all I have to give

Is grace.

Tapestry

Confederate statues are removed.

Children heal in a neighborhood garden.

A billionaire celebrates his first space flight.

Photos of children killed by a tyrant are aired.

Angry crowds spew hatred and lies.

An unstable country looks for leadership.

The desert breeze flows.

Weeds

Outside my office window is a rock-strewn patch that was meant to be bare. But I constantly had to weed it, even though there was a fabric weed barrier under the rocks.

One day during the pandemic, I decided to put a wildflower garden in that space. I reasoned, “If weeds can grow here, so can wildflowers.” So I mixed some seeds with potting soil and simply spread them by hand, on top of the rocks. To my delight, they grew. Then they grew some more. Then they bloomed. It’s July, and different species have been blooming since February. Not only have they given the beauty of their multi-colored flowers, but they have also attracted birds, who love the seeds.

Here’s the surprise: No weeds. On the periphery, yes, a few. But not in the heart of the garden.

There’s a lesson in this story somewhere. What do you think it is?

Bees

I went back to the store to buy more of the best honey I’ve ever eaten.

The shelf was empty.

“A fire,” the clerk said. “All of the bees are dead.”

An ache pierced my heart for the innocent bees.

You write or draw it: When was the last time you felt your heart pierced?