The price of peace

Happy Halloween, boils and ghouls!

This holiday has been such a fun one for me already, which is kind of unexpected, since I was pretty upset coming into this weekend not to be spending it with any friends or family.

But as it turns out, at least from my re-thought perspective, no matter where you are and what you're doing, there are always friends and family around, right?

For instance, laying down not 5 feet away from me is O the cat. He and I are very close these days, and I am so happy that on this weekend, which is shaping up to be beautiful, warm weather, I can leave the porch door open, let the breeze blow in, and have O here with me to sniff the outside air, bat at the window treatments, and just chill out.

Last night I started off Halloween right by seeing Shawn of the Dead at St. J's. I had forgotten how heartwarming a story it is (The main character loves his momma, and his best friend so much that even when his buddy becomes a zombie, he keeps him alive by chaining him up in the shed in front of a video game system and contining to enjoy their "undead" friendship with a game or two now and then. And he gets the girl! Okay, well at least this is heartwarming to me). After I got home I downloaded this Thursday's episode of the Office, which was pretty awesome, and reminds me of just how much I am like Michael Scott in spirit (I agonize over who will be my T-Mobile Fave 5 and am constantly falling, though not into fish). Tonight I am going to carve our family pumpkin, with O likely interfering, and S on Skype to witness the tradition for himself (He promised to Skype me some of the trick-or-treaters who come to his house if he gets the chance.)

Today I slept in as long as O would allow me, and even a little while after he started scratching my face/biting my head/pulling my hair, etc. I woke up and got to stay in my jammies (t-shirt and sweats) to go to yoga class! I signed up for a year with this really great center called Healing Tree Yoga. I can take yoga, pilates, meditation, self-defense, etc., all included in a really discounted rate since I signed up for a year! Oh, excuse me, I mean 14 months, since that was also included in the deal! There are approximately 10-12 classes per week I am interested in, so I really think I will get my money's worth. Additionally, since I will be on-site in the evenings for work next week, at this lovely institution of learning, I will be able to take classes all next week in the morning, catch a quick shower, stroll into work around noon, and go off to my classes and workshops at said academy in the evening! It's so fun to shake a work week up a little bit, even if it means tons more driving and consequently tons more getting lost in the great New England state where I reside.

Since it took a lot of consideration, and weighing of pros (health, fitness, spirituality, friendship, routine, fulfillment) and cons (less money) to decide whether or not I wanted to commit to yoga this year, I got to thinking about this blog's title, the price of peace. I think we think quite often about this concept on a global scale, such as, what would it cost us financially and culturally to bring clean water, adequate amounts of food, health care, and political/economic stability to the four corners of the earth? We think about the American Red Cross, or international treaties, or the throwing over of the world's dictatorships. But maybe that's a little ineffective actually. How many international treaties have actually been honored, and how many times has the rejection of a peace treaty in fact brought about war?

Maybe peace, and its price, needs to start with every individual. Our tax dollars come out of each of our pockets and contribute to welfare, education, and development programs, so should our personal investments in peace start with our own development of disciplines and mercies that help us live in harmony with God's creation. In our finite case, that should be harmony with our earth and it's animals and our connections to other humans. In our infinite case, that peace investment should be in accepting ourselves as great in nature, yet sometimes flawed in action, eternal beings, and in getting to know, understand, and love our relationship with the greater existence.

In my life, peace comes in accepting who I am in character naturally, whether or not that is who I anticipated I would be, or who is different than, or alike me in character, and how I feel about that. Peace also comes in not holding people to expectations of goodness, but expecting good to be present, flowing, through interactions and situations that may outwardly seem positive or very negative. Peace comes in laughing at my mistakes as they happen, and in simultaneously engaging in a life-long pursuit to right the wrong thinking or wrong acting that contributed to them. My peace comes in seeing this life as a gift and part of a larger process we all will come to know through death, and we all have known prior to our birth.

Okay, now I'm certainly not always the most centered of people. Like I said, I get lost, I fall, I get irritated when people around me move "too slow" or "too fast" for my liking, and I deem myself a constant judge of others while remaining fully aware that I don't have the authority to take on this role. But I'm working on it, and I think that's more than half the battle! And I think thinking of what I can do right now to contribute to world peace is better than the alternative - disillusionment, bitterness, and desperation. Oh, and lots and lots of peace treaties.