JOYFUL PIECE #109

Darkness, where is the light? Light, where is the darkness?

This is a difficult time for Americans. We are all struggling to find and hold onto hope and joy. So, I am writing from that place.

In a link further below there is a beautiful message from Joan Chittister— clear and soothing. For her, darkness is a place where our uncertainties and doubts come.

For me darkness can at times be a place of ambush. Sometimes I find myself suddenly awake in the middle of the night assaulted by the anxieties of the hateful political environment in which we exist. While there is no easy way to fend off these ambushes, the thought has come to me of acknowledging the darkness, staying with it for a bit and letting the unpleasantness wash over me like a wave, knowing that I will get through the trial. I don’t know why, but this approach has begun to facilitate the return of my inner peace when those assailing negative thoughts show up to mug me, day or night. What strategies do others find helpful?

Maybe, as Joan Chitister says, the darkness of these times has become a mentor of sorts for me. She suggests that humility coupled with a focus on service to others is helpful in keeping our inner waters calm.

Growth is the boundary between the darkness of unknowing and the light of new wisdom, new insight, new vision of who and what we ourselves have become.

—JOAN CHITTISTER

While I am no guru, I think that it is our mission to live in these times showing through our actions what a compassionate world this existence can be.

Remaining joyfully resilient, or resiliently joyful, in the midst of these turbulent times, is the only way that makes sense to me.

Link of interest: https://email.cac.org/t/d-e-sujkrky-tlkrjkkrtk-z/

20250723