December 2022 News from Joy
Dec 22, 2022
Wishing you a holiday season full of deep-abiding peace, compassion, and the courage to shine brilliantly! Sending love to all.
Joy's version of a Gaelic blessing
Deep peace of the running river
Deep peace of the silent stars
Deep peace of the running river
Deep peace of the silent stars
Let peace, let peace, let peace make you whole.
May peace, may peace, may peace lift your soul.
I used to sing my adapted version of a Gaelic blessing to our kids when they were babies -- to calm them to sleep, to calm me as a young mother. Being reminded of that song evokes a reflex of inner peace and the nourishment of silence. My sensitive system, which can get overstimulated, comes to a gentle rest.
This time of year, I am reminded of a mesmerizing dream I had many years ago. It was December; I was eight months pregnant, with a lot on my mind. That night, when I realized I was in a lucid dream, I was wearing a long black simple cloth garment, riding on the back of a camel in a long line of camels. With quiet purpose, we stopped our travel and sat in a large circle in the pitch dark of a moonless night. Our eyes adjusted to the star-filled expansive sky.
I was there to learn.
In our silence, we communed.
In that dream, I was gifted with reverence. And a deep abiding peace.
When the holidays come around, when one can get overwhelmed, I think of the Wise Men's travels, and I am transported back to the sacred quality of my dream, the gift and beauty of silence. A profound reverence reawakens in me. I am whole. I am connected.
I am reminded of Rumi's words: "You are not a drop in the ocean; you are the ocean in a drop."
For this story, I can adapt that to be: I am not a star in the Universe; I am the Universe in a speck of stardust.
(Eryka Peskin took this beautiful night sky photo. You can view more of her photography on Instagram)
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