Monks

In which I take some walks.

Hello, friends. It’s Thursday morning, early-the sun is still asleep but I am awake with a cup of coffee and a candle burning.

As you know I am quite concerned about the path the ‘government’ is taking this country…..but I only want to talk about that in relation to two things that happened this week.

The first was, I went to the doctor the other day for a checkup. I’m fine, but one thing the Physician’s Assistant said to me was ‘your heart rate is strong- do you walk a lot’?

Well, yes. I do. Quite a bit, actually. Nice to know it makes my heart stronger.

Strong hearts make strong people.

The other thing making my heart stronger is the teachings of the Buddha. I studied his work for many years and find these days needing it quite a bit.

Indeed, I saw the monks yesterday (twice, actually) and both experiences were lovely. The first time they passed I saw them quite clearly; they passed a few feet in front of me and I felt a light bulb turn on inside. The second time it felt like a cloud of peace floating past.

That’s all from me now because I want to share with you some words directly from the monks’ website, https://dhammacetiya.com/walk-for-peace-day-76/ as they are helpful:

“ Some people may ask: “How can I stay peaceful when difficult situations arise?”. We must begin by understanding: we are where we are. Situations happen—often without warning, often beyond our control. We cannot always prevent or change them.

But here is what we can control: the way we respond.

When difficulty arrives, our minds rush forward—overthinking, catastrophizing, creating stories about how terrible things are. We make situations heavier by adding layers of worry and fear on top of what is already challenging.
But if we pause, if we become mindful of our breath in that moment, if we notice our thoughts without getting swept away—something shifts. The situation doesn’t disappear, but we stop making it worse. We create space for clarity, and in that clarity, we can see what we should actually do to help the situation, instead of just worrying and feeling defeated.

In that mindful pause, we might also remember something we’ve forgotten: right now, countless conditions are still nourishing our life. We are alive. We can breathe. We can eat. We can walk. These are profound gifts, genuine happiness—but we rarely see them because our minds are too busy racing toward worry, too consumed by what’s wrong to notice what remains right.

This is what mindfulness offers in difficult moments: not power to control what happens, but wisdom to see clearly what helpful action we can take, to breathe consciously, to remember that even in difficulty, we are still held by life, still capable of responding wisely instead of simply reacting.

The situation is what it is. But we can change how we meet it—with presence instead of panic, with clarity instead of confusion, with wise action instead of helpless worry.

Peace in difficult times doesn’t mean nothing bothers us. It means we stop making everything worse by losing ourselves in our thoughts. It means we stay grounded enough to see what we can actually do, then do it with a calm heart.
May you and all beings be well, happy, and at peace. “

I hope you all have a great day.

XXOO Dorne