Do You Have A Place of Peace?

There is a place I go to soak up the sun, find respite from the chaos, and share food & festival with my friends and family.  The Blue Ridge Mountains create the framework with green rolling hills, tall finely leaved trees, and board fences as a background of peace and serenity.

This is a place where food is shared, art projects are imagined and dreams are manifested. Laughter and tears are shared here, memories are recalled, and much love is exchanged on this deck in my backyard. My daughters and granddaughter grace the table with their art and books. We plot and plan our dreams. My son and his wife share wisdom and belly laughs while my son-in-law photographs our smiles. Friends gather bringing wine, beer and the happiness of shared stories.

The meals that I’ve shared on this deck have been rich with flavor, blessed by hunger, and spiced with love. Whether linens, china and candlelight or peanut butter and bread, the sharing of food is ever an event to be remembered. 

Dahlias, sweet potato vines, creeping jenny, butterfly bush and hibiscus decorate the weathered wood. Birds, tree frogs, and crickets tweet, croak and chirp during the evenings when I eat dinner outside, providing a symphony of nature. Cicadas, recently wakened from their 17-year sleep, reached an epic crescendo with their song for many weeks. Reading a book and listening to music is pure pleasure in this small space of the universe.

Gratitude is abundant. There is not a day that goes by where I fail to give a shout to the Infinite for the grace that gives me the opportunity to live here. Driving home from a day of work is a privilege as I pass farms with sheep, horses, cows and donkeys along the way. Flowering spring trees, snow covered hills, reflections of summer’s bounty in spring fed ponds are the gifts that nature grants on the short ride from city to the country. Deer and dogs meander across the fields and show up at my door on occasion, a sweet surprise and blessing that country life bestows.

Each morning I greet the day with a the ritual of watering plants and inspecting growth to see what magic the sun and sky have bestowed on the leaves and flowers. No painting or photo can truly capture the beauty of trailing vines and bursts of color from petals and pods. Intricate spider webs, brilliant butterflies, and buzzing bumblebees create the details to a portrait only Mother Earth can provide.

So is the setting for the art journaling and paintings that color my world. I create for hours in this space with so much energy and inspiration… in this place of peace, my home sweet home. 

Do YOU have a Place of Peace? Here are some suggestions to help you create one. 

• Find a hiking or biking trail and look for places along the way that give you energy. Return to that place and spend some time enjoying the energy it creates.
• Create an area in your home, patio, or deck and designate it as yours. Put items that bring you calmness such as a book, plant, wind chime or photo that bring you comfort.
• Decide to make your drive home a journey of gratitude. Observe things from a different perspective. Try to use the eyes of child or a person who has never driven that road and see it through their eyes. 
• Have dinner or lunch outside if possible. Immerse yourself in the sounds of people laughing, the sunlight, the breeze. 
• Take a blanket and a book and find a place you've never stopped before. Sit and read for half an hour. 

Comment with your ideas and places of peace. I'd love to hear from you.