In this new year I wish to make peace. I do not want to hold hands, sing songs or chant mantras. I have no desire to go to church, mass or temple. I grow tired of reading spiritual and religious texts. I do not want to hear a sermon or lecture. I do not want any of that. I simply wish to cultivate true peace -- the kind that comes from within.
For this new year I seek to take time each day to be quiet -- simply sit and be still. In this new year, I wish to know a peace that sees my mistakes and judges not. Peace which welcomes even the darkest recesses of my mind, welcomes all the unloving thoughts, self-deprivation and self-denial. All the thoughts that make me cringe and turn away from myself -- welcome. In quiet I will bring them to peace.
For this new year I wish to cultivate peace within and let it spread as a smile on my lips, a soft touch of my hand, a warm embrace. I will bring this gentle peace with me to work as I help hospice patients and their families. I wish to cultivate a peace so great that when I am angry with my teenager or impatient with my four year old I am gentle and forgiving of my own mistakes.
In this new year I wish to cultivate a peace that finds beauty in turmoil and weathers disorder and change. A peace so grounded as to not be moved my chaotic thoughts or the disarray of my busy home. This new year I wish for peace that remains serene while standing in a busy grocery checkout line when short on time. Peace that comforts when I cannot ease my child's fear or a hospice patient's pain. In this new year, I wish to foster peace not dependent on how I look, whether or not I am appreciated or how much money is in my bank account.
For this new year I hope to nurture a peace so encompassing as to be unaffected by dispositions and judgments -- my own and of others. Peace which sees anger, attack and confrontation simply as innocent confusion to be met with understanding.
In this new year I hope to cultivate peace untouched by unhealthy societal norms, global unrest and fear. This new year I intend to give myself the gift of true peace -- the kind that can only come from within. Peace which may be understood as to surpass all understanding.