The Peace of Wild Things

Have you become too accustomed to despair? Do your loved one’s struggles with addiction, combined with the steady stream of bad news about fires, shootings, and hurricanes make you feel hopeless at times?

It is too easy for negativity to become the norm. That’s why it’s important that you step away periodically and hit the pause button. Inner peace is possible, but you must make time for it, whether it's through meditating, walking, reading, watching a funny movie, or simply reading posts like these in the AiR Sanctuary. 

Wendell Berry’s poem “The Peace of Wild Things” is a tribute to such moments of stillness. Berry reminds us that we are constantly surrounded by beauty and tranquility if we just take the time to notice. 

So step away from the chaos. Make a commitment to seeking peace on a daily basis. Read and listen to Berry’s poem and consider how you can apply his idea to your own life.

Ponder this question: when do you feel most at ease, relaxed, and hopeful? Write a list in your journal and repeat these activities regularly. 

The Peace Of Wild Things

by Wendell Berry

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

(Thanks to the podcast On Being for sharing this recording.)