How many thoughts do you have in one day? Probably a billion. Just now, mine quickly jump from this sentence, to tides, to a far-away person, to breakfast, then to writing. It is action that is difficult for me, because I live so much in my head and I’m full of ideas. This is why I am devoted to walking. I leave thoughts on the road, or in the sand, or on a tarmac. Perhaps you’ve run into them?  Or found one on the bottom of your shoe? It won’t stay unless you want it. They are discarded shells, or dried rinds. They could hang prettily on a mobile, turning in the sun.

One of my thoughts is this: It is important that I live fully, no matter what is happening in the world. It’s easy for me to say and to write this, but not easy for others, especially as the world is at war.

I think about peace and how it must come from within. I want everyone to find some level of peace in this crazy world. 

I think a lot about power and control; I don’t understand why a person wants to control others, but I think it must stem from feeling alone and afraid, and not knowing how to deal with those feelings. Perhaps they look outward for stability.

The attempt to control others has led to war. There are many, many people in the world who don’t want war. And I believe, for sanity’s sake, for soul’s sake, that love is more powerful than control of others. I don’t make room for control. I leave it on the beach where gulls trample it under their webbed feet, or sweep it with a yellow broom, out the open door, and let the wind take it and divide each particle.

I think about the answer to the question the poet Mary Oliver wrote in Poem 133: The Summer Day, “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” 

Like many people, I want to live freely and fully, controlling little, perhaps only myself and my car.

Until next space…