“Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this too, was a gift.”
–Mary Oliver

Very dear Anam Caras,

As we close off the horrible year that was 2020, I wonder if you are as exhausted as I am. I wonder if one more terrible outrageous news item will be the proverbial straw. I wonder if you, like me, are kept up at night witnessing the incomprehensible, totally unnecessary loss of too many loved ones, the loss of material and emotional security, and the loss of confidence in our society’s communal values.

And I also wonder if you are, like I am, heartened by the Light at the End of the Tunnel, this disastrous 4-year Tunnel of autocratic divisiveness, cruelty and assault on democratic values and the powerless. I wonder if you anticipate the return of authentic democratic leadership, inclusiveness, sanity, compassion, and decency. I wonder how 2020 has moved you, like it did me, out of the comfort zone of my privilege to a new uncomfortable, urgent willingness to stand for justice and inclusion. I wonder if, like me, you conclude this year taking nothing for granted!

“Is it possible for the rose to say, ‘I will give my fragrance to the good people who smell me, but I will withhold it from the bad?’ 
Or is it possible for the lamp to say, ‘I will give my light to the good people in this room, but I will withhold it from the evil people?’ 
Or can a tree say, ‘I’ll give my shade to the good people who rest under me, but I will withhold it from the bad?’  
These are images of what love is about.”
~ Anthony de Mello from Awareness: The Perils and Opportunities of Reality

What I do know for sure:

I am standing firmly in my Elder (purple velour) slippers doing what I can as part of the global movement that speaks for Unity and Justice for all. As the Coronovirus Vaccine is rolled out in America, it is vital that we recognize our planetary interconnectedness.

The world’s poorest countries, on the other hand, may not be able to get any vaccine at all until 2024, by one estimate. Julia Barnes-Weise, the executive director of the Global Healthcare Innovation Alliance Accelerator, said there’s an incentive for wealthier countries to make sure poorer ones get a vaccine.

“Nobody’s safe until everybody’s safe,” she said. “So as long as the virus is circulating, everybody is still in danger because we live in such a connected world.”

“Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone
They paved paradise, put up a parking lot.”
—Joni Mitchell, Big Yellow Taxi

I promise to stay awake and protect our Mother Earth, supporting movements like the Work That Reconnects catalyzed by ecologist activist, Joanna Macy, now 91 years old.

Another elder who is fierce about protecting our planet is 93 year old David Attenborough. He calls his compelling documentary, A Life On Our Planet, “his witness statement and his vision for the future,” based on his exploring the wilds of the Earth for 50+ years. If you want to inform yourself about the current reality of our planet, Attenborough’s Netflix documentary is grimly factual while also firmly factual and hopeful about what can be done to save our planet from annihilation.

After Harry and I watched, we were motivated to do our part as citizen Elders. We’re researching how we might change our energy use, be more precise in recycling, and alter our diet. We are all connected, so every small act makes a difference.

Most of all, I vow to continue to interrupt and release my destructive “Us vs. Them” thought-forms that feed World Shadow.

What will you stand for in 2021, Anam Caras? How will you shine your healing Heart-Light out for those who are struggling? I would love to hear your reflections and comments!

The Joy In Which we Come to Rest

“Learn by little the desire for all things
which perhaps is not desire at all
but undying love which perhaps
is not love at all but gratitude
for the being of all things which
perhaps is not gratitude at all
but the maker’s joy in what is made,
the joy in which we come to rest.” ~ Wendell Berry

As the Winter Solstice arrives, I invite you to take a few minutes to pause and enjoy two offerings from my past essays. I hope they bring you Comfort and Joy while nourishing your happiness.

The Season of Innocence Reborn

The Beauty Way of Rest

May you remember and share the beautiful Heart-Light of your true nature, dear friends.
May you rest in Joy as we learn the gifts of this box of darkness.
May 2021 bring you and ALL our planet’s beings healing, hope, and peace.

Most of all, may you walk in Beauty today and all the days of your life.

Love,

Take a break from the anxious churning of the endless news cycles. Here are some enlightening offerings:

• Two reflections on Mary Oliver’s Box of Darkness:
  • The Gift of a Box of Darkness
  • Tracy Cochran on A Box of Darkness

The Moment We Encounter True Happiness by Ilie Cioara

We were made for these times by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Ph.D.

Meditation teacher Eric Klein on 8 Ways to Find God in Conflict (it’s not what you think)

Finally, be inspired by the memoir of Sanford D. Greenberg, Hello Darkness, My Old Friend: How Daring Dreams and Unyielding Friendship Turned One Man’s Blindness into an Extraordinary Vision for Life 

Though blinded at age 19, Greenberg became a scholar, lawyer, entrepreneur. End Blindness by 2020 is the challenge he and his wife Sue have set forth. It is a comprehensive appeal to multiple disciplines to end terrible problem of global blindness for all.

Being able to satisfy my curious mind and comfort my lonely heart by reading has been a lifelong Joy in my life. Greenberg’s story will lift you up and have you consider your own resilience.