8. Day 18: Wonder, Marvel & Curiousity
It is more obvious, when you are away from home that your inner life is your true center. I continue to check in within my heart because that is really all I can do. I can’t consult a friend, or watch TV or even have quiet time in familiar surroundings. But I can get quiet and be still and breathe mindfully anywhere, any time. Being in a large city is different in itself. It is a walking culture rather than a driving culture (even the prams, coats and bags reflect this). I have been continuously grateful for my preparation started in July with walking daily. I would’ve...
Read More8. Day 17: There’s No Place Like Home
I had a very unsettling experience yesterday. After a wonderful last lunch with our reunion friends at the Victory Services Club we headed out across Hyde Park for a brisk walk in the fresh air and drizzle. Though we were still a bit weary from our big evening the night before the walk felt good. We passed Speakers Corner where several “speakers” were gathered to discuss taxes, how objects can own us, and singing hymns to Jesus. We walked along the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Walk through stretched acres of green, damp grass, along the Serpentine and past the building...
Read More8. Day 16: The Queen’s Keys
I got a tiny glimpse of what heaven might be like yesterday. It is history, privilege, gratitude, wonder and reunion. It is art, silver, medals for valor and welcome. It is gathering, eating and drinking and applause. It is full and complete satisfaction,wholeness, full circle and return. And joy. Joy and “pinch me is this real?” delight. It is all these things and more. In 1983 my husband did a Long Armor Infantry Course in Bovington, England for the year. It was a year that changed the course of our lives, as overseas postings do. I discovered you live your life to the...
Read More8. Day 15: The Luxury Of Ordinary
The biggest surprise so far in our sojourn in London is just how satisfied we both are doing the ordinary things. We still are waking at Midnight for a time then going back to bed at 2am. I welcome this middle of the night time of quiet togetherness. We tend to each read or write quietly, just sitting in the same room in silence with no immediate meeting imminent is itself a gift. We are discombobulated by the rapid change of fortune from working every minute to this thing called time off. That it takes getting used to is the surprise. This is where ordinary comes in. We are...
Read More8. Day 14: Why Takes A Holiday
I need to know why. Why??!!! My husband asks “How?” Together we want to know. And this is the month of extending love to Not-Knowing. How perfect is it then that we get to be in a brand new, yet ancient place. We have now arrived in London and woken to rain. Rain, alone, washed away my usual need to know “why?” Coming from such drought in California it is such a glorious gift and joy just to see gray skies and hear the rain drops steadily on the roof I am deliciously immersed in the present moment. I think, for me, why includes past, present and future...
Read More8. Day 13: Dread Locks Open To Holiness
I have woken with a feeling of compressing, heavy tightness in my chest, I feel like a black hole is forming in my chest and it is so dense it could drag all of me in. I don’t necessarily feel fear but……..what? Anxiety? Exhaustion? Would’ve/should’ve/could’ve? Worthlessness? Fake/phony? I am dreading that our trip could not possibly be all that I hope it to be. Maybe that is the feeling, dread. Oh. Ok, what is this feeling HS? Help me to extend love right here, right now. Thank you. I extend generosity to this thought. Dear Dread, Whatever you...
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