Yuccabloom: A Memoir of Meaningful Meanderings: Peace Garden, Chicago

Peace Garden, Uptown Neighborhood, Chicago, IL

This is not much more than a little garden nook in the middle of a city park, but Peace Garden has been in existence for a long time and provides a nice respite from busy city life. Located just south of Montrose Avenue, it features a little waterfall with stone accents, including places to sit and enjoy the flowers in bloom. The limbs of large trees overhang and provide shade from the sun. While Peace Garden is nothing spectacular or extravagant, I have always found this modest patch of park to be magical. Even in the midst of so much activity, there is a soothing stillness in this little garden, something that can instill calm. Peace Garden can easily serve as a meditation garden. Maybe if more people engaged in meditation, practicing mindfulness over their thoughts and feelings and learning to embrace the present moment, then mindless acts of violence might cease to happen in this oftentimes troubled world. There's always room for hope.

This pole wishes for peace everywhere

While I captured this side of the pole that only wishes for peace in Chicago, this pole has a message engraved on each side wishing for peace in Illinois, the United States, and the entire world. But maybe this photo, starting at the micro-level, is an indication of the proper direction for promoting peace in the world. We're a culture enslaved by impulsiveness and the egotism of a popular culture that celebrates materialism and aggression. We cannot effectively promote peace in the world if we do not first cultivate peace within ourselves, and then work outward. Such quiet places as Peace Garden can make for a perfect place to begin the meditative process. But you don't need a special park to start. You can start meditation or engage in heart-felt prayer anywhere, including the middle of your living room. We need to look inward, understanding how we react to moments of stress and insecurity, patiently giving these reactions our mindful presence, and learning to open that tight fist of a heart into an open palm offering an abundance of peace, love, and compassion. Peace can start now, but it must begin with you and me. It is an inward process that unfolds outward, like a flower blooming and bringing beauty to a garden, beauty that can inspire peace in all of its beholders. So, let us start to promote peace with each mindful breath and the stillness of lovingkindness. Enjoy these photos.