Where did the time go, we wonder, as we prepare to leave 2014 and enter a new, hopefully prosperous and healthy New Year.
As a survivor, and as a wife of a survivor, I have examined and re-examined ad nauseum my life, my food choices, my level of activity, my choice of endeavors and, perhaps most importantly, the people that I allow to populate my energy fields of conscious and unconscious existence. As most people do, or at least intend to do on this day is to make resolutions of how we will live and/or change how we will live in the coming year. Diet, exercise, increased financial prosperity, renewed purpose at work and/or play, more vacations. The lists are pretty typical and consistent from year to year. And the statistics of success are rather amusing as we reflect back on such promises to ourselves on December 31st.
So again, as a survivor, and a survivor who intends to remain in this healthy category for the duration, I have considered what my resolutions should be this year. I am incredibly healthy and happy, and am not suffering from any residual effects from my 2 year sojourn with cancer, with the possible exception of my frustration with my slow hair growth on my head and, yes, on my face. But then I am reminded that “Virtue would go far if vanity did not keep it company.” Francois de La Rochefoucauld So what if I have to mousse and tease and gel my hair and draw on eyebrows and eyelashes before venturing out in public?
So, what do I want to commit to for the next year of my life and beyond? Of course the usual goals (lose weight, exercise more, etc.) come to mind, but I have come to realize that there is only one goal that resonates for me now. That goal is Peace. Peace within and Peace for all mankind.
My whole adult life I have fought the good fight, as they say, raging a war against poverty, injustice, war, death squads, inhumanity to man, cruelty to animals and plant life. I have traveled to Nicaragua, the Pine Ridge Reservation, East L.A., the central Californian agricultural fields, homeless shelters, rescue missions, to mention a few of my personal battle fields. Then I was stopped cold in my tracks with a diagnosis of breast cancer, having to fight that good fight just to live. And now I find that I want to strive for peace and love in a whole new way. Starting (and perhaps ending) with myself.
For 2015 and beyond, I am committed to meditating daily on those things that I wish for for myself, for my loved ones and for the world. Here is the reason that I meditate:
If there is to be peace in the world,
There must be peace in the nations.
If there is to be peace in the nations,
There must be peace in the cities.
If there is to be peace in the cities,
There must be peace between neighbors.
If there is to be peace between neighbors,
There must be peace in the home.
If there is to be peace in the home,
There must be peace in the heart.
Lao Tsu, a Chinese philosopher and founder of Taoism
From my heart to yours, I send you love, light and peace.
Dec. 31, 2014
Judy Richter 