Hello Love,

For decades I was on the hunt for the serenity of “inner peace”. That peace seemed like an elusive destination.  I didn’t know exactly what that peace would look like, but I assumed I would know it when I got there.   
 
Ends up, the peace I discovered wasn’t anything like my imagined arrival. This peace was alive and engaged; curious and present, bubbling with possibilities. That’s why, after reading this poem by John Roedel, my body softened, and I felt exhilarated. Something true spoke to me through John’s words.  And you are who I wanted to share this poem with.
 
Jump right in with me. Make a splash.
In peace,
Sharon

~*~*~

I used to think that
achieving inner peace
would make my heart look
like a calm lake

I thought being in
harmony meant:
 
no ripples
no waves
no lapping shores

~ just still water
  
it turns out that
serenity isn’t the absence
of movement

~ in fact
 
~ it’s quite
the opposite
 
because the more
peace I feel
  
the more my heart
churns and bubbles
  
like a lake boiling
as a ribbon of lava breaks through
underneath the water
 
I don’t think we were created
out of nothingness to come
here just to let our hearts become
an unmoving body of cold water
covered in standing algae
 
I think the Great Love placed
a fire in us so that our lives will
be a natural spring of swirling
hot healing water that never  
looks the same way twice

the war machine thinks
it is the only thing that can
move and lumber
 
~ and that’s simply not true
  
peace is the most disturbing
force in the universe
 
peace is the tide that washes
away the ancient seaweed of
division that builds upon our shores
  
peace is anything but still
 
it’s a tsunami that can terraform
rock fortresses into open-air chapels
 
my love,
  
I’m starting to realize
that the less my heart moves
 
 ~ the heavier it gets
~ the more dust it collects
~ the less kindness I feel
 
but when I let my heart
constantly stir
like a cotton candy machine
 
~the lighter and
sweeter it becomes
 
empathy is an act of chaos

it takes the narcissistic
scripts we have been given
and rewrites them into
a handwritten gospel
of understanding
 
peacefulness is
anything but still

~ it is pure motion
 
peace is the ripple
that starts in the center of my heart
and rushes out through the faucets
of my eyes, hands and tongue
out into the world
  
my love,
 
ripples
are remarkable
because
 
we aren’t here
to be stagnant
 
 we are here to make a splash

~ john roedel