Wage Peace by Judyth Hill (08/14/2009)
Wage peace with your breath.
Breathe in firemen and rubble,
breathe out whole buildings
and flocks of redwing blackbirds.
Breathe in terrorists and breathe out sleeping children
and freshly mown fields.
Breathe in confusion and breathe out maple trees.
Breathe in the fallen
and breathe out lifelong friendships intact.
Wage peace with your listening:
hearing sirens, pray loud.
Remember your tools:
flower seeds, clothes pins, clean rivers.
Make soup.
Play music, learn the word for thank you in three languages.
Learn to knit, and make a hat.
Think of chaos as dancing raspberries,
imagine grief as the outbreath of beauty
or the gesture of fish.
Swim for the other side.
Wage peace.
Never has the world seemed so fresh and precious.
Have a cup of tea and rejoice.
Act as if armistice has already arrived.
Don't wait another minute.
Source: Written in response to September 11, 2001
Putting this into practice in the small ways: for all those moments when someone cuts us off, speaks unkindly, treats us unfairly...We have the opportunity to choose to turn that negativity into something beautiful and positive for the world around us. Take the moment, whatever causes you anger, pain, heartache....and through your breath, create something positive so that you exhale goodness and peace! Try it....sometimes it takes quite a few breaths but it is possible. The author of the above poem gives us plenty of images to work with....what shape does your breath take in this world?
Thank you for trying this out....and for waging peace in every small moment. Blessings! ~Jeni
