Stress Stacks and Reclaimed Peaces

We are a fast-paced, immediate-gratification, self-centric and selfish society.

We suffer from made-up illnesses and “conditions” like “FOMO” and “1st World Problems”. In the fantastical nature of the make-believe, we now give credence to these misnomers and find ourselves suffering from a fictitious sense of pain and regret...

What has happened?

Why are we allowing ourselves to fall into these false realities?

How do we escape these trappings?

Sometimes the only way to break the sick and cyclical patterns of comparison and fantasy is to have the rug pulled out from underneath us leaving us to flail about like a fish out of water...

Yet, even when we are seemingly unencumbered, living life fully and at our own pace, we are not immune to hurt, vulnerability and pain. In fact, we are more susceptible than ever, but why? Because we are human, and we live in a fallen world.

Engraved on my wrist as a permanent reminder and meditation are the words, be still.

How often are we still...

physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually?

Not nearly often enough...

However, when excitement turns frenetic, stress stacks to the nines, and tragedy lurks in the shadows, we turn around only to discover that shame and anxiety are no longer at our doorstep. They have partnered together and entered without permission. They are uninvited guests, false images of our condition, rude interrupters of peace.

How do we bar the door?

Is a bolt the solution or is it

just a stall tactic, an avoidance?

Where do we find tools to erase their ugliness?

What is our frame of reference, our shield of faith that rebukes such diminishers of self-worth?

What power do we have over that which seeks to destroy us? What happened to the goodness?

Has it been stolen by a thief in the night? Where is the joy?

Has it evaporated into thin air?

Where is center in this dizzying maze of unwelcomed, unavoidable pain and sorrow? Where is the light for our path?

How do we find our way home?

Maybe we unearth our map with a flick of the wrist, a spiritual encounter, the steady hum of the universe or the power of positive energy...

If so, how do we distinguish the voice of stillness amidst the din of ringing ears and the tumultuous reverberating of a pounding heart?

It may be that we will only feel the subtle softness of her breath in the wind as it skims the skin of our cheek. What if her breath is indistinguishable, trapped.

Still, we must find an anchor to steady the mayhem and hush the rackets competing for space in our brains.

Our champion of quiet is stillness. She lives within; thus, we must contemplate, meditate, remind ourselves that stillness is a choice, an ongoing, tangible chant that quiets the cacophony of chaos that relentlessly chatters within us and around us.

Stillness is our respite, our defense. She will come when we call.

Yet still, we wonder where to look...

The stillness of our being is as unique as we are. Peace and quiet may not look the same as others, but the results are similar in that we learn to "be still".

My still being awakens when I stand and bear witness to the pulsing beauty of the earth...

When I hear the chime of Aspen leaves as they make melody in the breeze

When I see moonlight reflected in a placid and peaceful pond

When I witness the sun setting behind a backdrop of fir-laden mountains

When I sense the wild freedom in the eyes of tiny daisies

When I smell the rain as storm clouds gather

When I taste a hint of honeysuckle as the wind whips through my hair

When I touch the silky smooth, dark chocolate skin of my youngest

My senses kick in and provide room for perception, equilibrium and clarity

When my stillness is no longer steady

When my periphery succumbs to its distractions

When my sense of peace is besieged by the enemy of despair

Again, I must sober up and remember to return return and

return again to the still, small voice who softly speaks life

the unconditional permanence of unbridled Love

so that I may uncover God's promise

that lies beneath the resounding beat of my heart

it is there the messenger of hope resides

therein this hope gives birth to a song

it is there that I find the clearest of calling

be still

be still

and know that

all is well

all are safe

in the unsequestered fountain of peace

and the unassailable arms of everlasting Love