So, what are the options? The first one is to find ways to create harmony in your life as you arise and go about your day. Harmony is having a positive and pleasant disposition about yourself and what lies ahead. Heading off the negatives and down sides of one’s disposition requires keeping your heart happy, your head clear, your body energized, your spirit motivated by good thoughts and positive motives.

It is difficult for fatigue to seize the day when your other motivators are at work keeping the negative influences from invading you. Of course, if you are attacked by physical ailments, psychological depression, personal issues that affect your attitude, then the job gets harder. It is no small task to take on the various emotional interferences that would work their will and wiles on

Permission is granted for a period of relaxed meditation as you begin this new week. Seniors are allowed as long as you wish today to set yourself a frame of mind which offers peace and calm. Do not permit any other interruptions. This is your time for drifting into silence and serenity. This is your occasion to give your body and spirit full control of your persona. This is your opportunity to release yourself from all fret and worry, any anxiety, any despair. Be free of the troubles that would pull at you, free yourself of any frustration and troubling thoughts.

Allow as much time as you will. Go to a quiet place. Choose an environment that lends itself to solitude. Listen only to the sounds of nature and the quiet murmuring of the wind. Offer no attention to anything

There is something to be said for quiet days and clear minds. There are too many occasions when interferences invade. When the luxury of days that offer serenity and solemnity come, it is a time to take advantage. Quiet days are those times of luxury when the house is empty and the only sounds are occasional ones introduced from out side, a bird, a jet flying over at 33k feet, an infrequent car passing by. All the rest is relaxing silence and an invitation to read something that contributes even more to the quiet of the day.

These are times for allowing your spirit to be at ease, your body to be totally relaxed, your mind to be uncluttered. There is much to be said for such opportunities. They do not come our way often enough. When they do, taking advantage of them is a clear signal that such is needed and such is required for putting you and all

Now, a week later our attention is focused elsewhere. Last week we were absorbed in sensitively done reminiscences of 9/11. It was appropriate and wrenching, all at the same time. Our national heart beat in empathy and sympathy yet again. We watched as those most intimately touched by the tragedy ran their hands and eyes across the names of those who had died.

I was reminded of familiar lines of a very old poem, (R.L. Sharpe, “A bag of tools,” circa 1809), which seemed to pull us all into the mix of a commonly felt moment:

Isn’t it strange

That princes and kings

Today, we seek to redefine the nature of meditation. Meditation is often seen as passive, a settling in and calming of spirit, soul, body and mind. To be sure this is a worthwhile undertaking. It allows for a serenity to be imposed on our otherwise too busy and too hectic lives.

However, there can be another dimension to meditation that is active. It is prompted by the need to make meditation a verb, to involve yourself with others and their lives. One that occurs to me is visiting in a care facility, where family members or friends or persons you may not even know would enjoy a drop in visit for a while.

I have been in two such facilities over the past week. What I discover is how persons, whether the one to be visited or others

It is so easy to let life take over. It is so easy to give in to the moment when demands and agendas and frustrations seem to be guiding us in what we do with ourselves. It is so easy to overlook taking our time, making our moment count, letting the spirit invade, giving over to the calm and reflective.

What we need, at least once in a while, is a chance to surrender. What we need is an opportunity to permit our being to be guided by thoughts that have nothing to do with the bombardments of daily life and living. What we need, if we are to be invaded at all, is to be invaded by meditative calm, a placid letting go, an undisturbed season, when we are totally and completely at peace.