Tuning Into Peace in Every Circumstance

Peace: I can tune into peace in surprising places and not so surprisingly, I'm a big failure at tuning

This photo was taken several years ago: this was a great time one holiday season several years back. I remembered to choose peace (that's me on the right) with two of my friends.

into peace in other spaces.

I find peace while writing in crazy busy sports bars. I find it on hikes with a group of dear friends. I find it giggling with my children, hysterically, over ridiculous to others but just hilarious to us stories.

I find peace in the night sky. I find peace while photographing shopping carts and sunsets and buildings being demolished. I find peace in long, significant conversations.

Then there are the places I don't find peace that I am working toward empowering myself to tune into the peace even though it may have been difficult in the past.

Ready for some brute honesty?

I can not remember the last time I looked forward to the Christmas holidays. Was it when Emma was a baby? That might be it, actually. Ironically, that was the last Christmas we celebrated with extended family.

How old is Emma now? Sixteen.

This year my core family is going to Disneyland. There are many things about this that shreds me to pieces. I have been having a really hard time coming to terms with Christmas Eve in a hotel room. Yesterday I found a smallish artificia tree we could put in our room. It is now in our dining room on our buffet in front of the window so that it makes our light display even more festive.

The girls and I are planning our DisneyBounding wardrobe for our four day visit.

I am committed to finding peace there and not spending time about wishing what could be for my core family and what isn't.

I intend to find peace in the what is.

I know many families would want to go to Disneyland for Christmas. I wasn't consulted before arrangements were made so I had no say in the matter for one thing, and another - if we were going anywhere beside our home, I would have wanted to go to a place like Yosemite or Sequoia where there is real snow.

I've actually been doing a sort of meditation on Disney lately and why I am not the biggest fan. I suppose most people are attracted to the magic which leads to the always happy ending.

Well, I find that to be so artificial plus I know, the greatest true joy in my life has come when the ending wasn't happy - when it was completely contrary to what I would have chosen. Now that I think of it, just like I would have never chosen Disneyland for Christmas! Intriguing!

Even in the big things, though - significant losses, for example. My life has changed significantly and for the better because of each hardship I have experienced.

There is true peace that comes from allowing that to be so.

I feel much better than I did when I started writing this!

If you are feeling anything less than peace in this moment, try it for yourself.

Check out the prompt today for the specific wording and ways to connect by visiting Reverb13 KatMcNally.com.

=====

Studio me Julie Jordan Scott is a writer, performance poet, Mommy and mixed-media artist. Her word-love themed art will be for sale at a First Friday soon, when it is warmer than it was in December!, in Downtown Bakersfield. Check out the links below to follow her on a bunch of different social media channels, especially if you find the idea of a Word-Love Party bus particularly enticing.