Blessings

My mother says there are different sorts of blessings. A person can say the words to you. Or do some action that translates into a blessing for you. Or, according to her this is the best, bestow a subconscious blessing.

A subconscious blessing is in response to some action of yours. It can be a lightning smile that illuminates the face for a brief second or a sigh of happiness. It is a blessing from the heart, requiring no conscious thought or formal acknowledgement.

On Valentine's weekend I was involved with a group of volunteers to host the fifth annual Valentine's Lunch at the Soup Kitchen (a Peace Ambassadors of West Texas project). We decorated, cooked, served, washed dishes, cleaned. We also visited, danced and sang. Both the guests -- the homeless and working poor --and the volunteers (a diverse group in terms of age, race, religion, socio-economic status) had a blast. Yes, I was tired by the end of it all, but smiling. Smiling from the inside all the way to the outside.

The breaking of a dream, a rejection, unanswered queries are all minor when compared to hunger and poverty. Life continues at its own pace, all we can do is live as best as we can. So, I haven't published yet, but I've done some things I can be happy about. And I've been blessed.

What is, is.

Today my dad asked how my writing was going and I had to tell him my writing is on hiatus. This earned me a lecture on how I should write religiously.

Well, this wasn't a planned hiatus. I am participating in my local community's 11 Days of Global Unity events and it's taking up more time, energy and brain cells than I realized. While writing is very important to me, world peace seemed a bit more important.

Today I learned about Taoism. The speaker was a shy and soft spoken woman, but her message was powerful. What is, is.

So, that's what I'm trying to do. Instead of fretting about the book not being written, I'm concentrating on learning as much as I can from these Peace events and making new friends.

The book that's meant to be written will be written, after September.