I went on a walk to get away from some problems that were generating too much mental babble. Craving silence, I tried thinking of nothing, just feeling the stillness – but mental silence, though lovely, is hard to sustain. Then I thought of the meditation where you imagine a luminous sphere that descends into your heart and then expands out beyond your body. I’ve always loved this meditation; it puts me in a soft, expansive state of calm. I generally do it sitting down with my eyes closed, but why not try it while walking? I did, and it was good, so I wrote a poem.
 
 
 
A Way
 
                                                                                           
Here is one way 
 
of the many true ways
 
to lose sadness 
 
and find some peace:
 
Take yourself on a walk 
 
in the open air
 
and call down for company
 
a luminous sphere
 
that you bring inside
 
to settle
 
like a light
 
in your heart
 
Then let it expand
 
all around you
 
most softly
 
growing past body
 
and thought
 
and deed
 
and everything else
 
you might have been
 
until you are happy
 
floating at ease 
 
suspended in quiet,
 
in the home of kindness,
 
and patience and wonder, 
 
sweetness and trust 
 
and true dreams.
 
Then filled up with wellbeing 
 
take yourself homeward
 
to your friends 
 
and your dearest loves
 
and give them this gift:
 
Tell them what wonders
 
have found you this day
 
through the grace
 
of quiet release.
Losing Sadness and Finding Peace
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Trudi Lee Richards

Trudi Lee Richards

Trudi Lee Richards, a poetic and musical member of the Universal Human Nation, is the author of On Wings of Intent, a biography of Silo; Soft Brushes with Death, a Jorge Espinet Primer; Confessions of Olivia, a fictional autobiography; and Fish Scribbles. She has also co-authored two books: Experiences on the Threshold and Ambrosia - Poetic Recipes/Recetas poeticas. Exactly two of her poems have been published by anyone other than her less-than-modest self: “The Great 21st Century Poemic" appeared in the April 2021 edition of Global Poemic (globalpoemic.wordpress.com); and "Fairies of the Forest" appeared in the Palo Alto Times "Youth Said It" column in 1957. In the '90s she also wrote for, edited and published an independent San Francisco newspaper, Human Future; and in the '70s she co-founded the San Francisco arts publication La Mamelle, which morphed into Art Com before it died, and whose remnants are now housed in the Stanford Archives. A graduate of Stanford University, she helped raise several humans from infancy, and is now enjoying their friendship. Currently she tends to wander between Oregon and California, enjoying the company of her beloved community of friends and family. She can more or less reliably be found at the west coast Park of Study and Reflection, outside Red Bluff in Northern California, on the third Saturday of every month.