Friday Five: healing spaces

Deb over at RGBP is "an enthusiastic newspaper reader. Lately, however, world events have made it hard to read and process the pain in the world around me. Perhaps you have struggled with this, too. So, with the events of the violence and tragedy from the Boston Marathon fresh in our memories, I thought it would be good for us to focus on where as RevGalBlogPals, we find healing, peace and strengthening. As a chaplain, there are days where I never seem to catch my breath, and invariably, those are the days that I need it the most!"

 So with all this in mind, share with us these healing things:

1. A piece of music 
hmmm....I think I have several go-tos, depending on the situation. probably here first:

But I might pull out the Indigo Girls. Or a Mozart piano concerto. Or the music for this Sunday. Or I might decide to go with a podcast instead, because learning something new helps my brain let go of some of the crazy badness all around.

 2. A place 

Port Ban, on the west side of Iona

 3. A favorite food (they call it "comfort food" for a reason) 
Mashed potatoes. Mac-n-cheese. things with carbs. But also veggie enchiladas, refried beans...things my mom used to make. (and if anyone says "salad" in the comments...well...I'll try to remain non-violent.)

 4. A recreational pastime (that you watch or participate in) 
reading reading reading! Weeks like this make me want to hibernate--curl up on the couch with a good book, a cat, and a cup of tea. Luckily, I have a stack of books...unluckily, a day or two of hibernating is not on the schedule, even if it is decidedly un-spring-like outside.

 5. A poem, Scripture passage or other literature that speaks to comfort you. 
The end of T.S. Eliot's "Little Gidding"...

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
Through the unknown, unremembered gate
When the last of earth left to discover
Is that which was the beginning;
At the source of the longest river
The voice of the hidden waterfall
And the children in the apple-tree
Not known, because not looked for
But heard, half-heard, in the stillness
Between two waves of the sea.
Quick now, here, now, always—
A condition of complete simplicity
(Costing not less than everything)
And all shall be well and
All manner of thing shall be well
When the tongues of flame are in-folded
 Into the crowned knot of fire
And the fire and the rose are one.

 BONUS: People, animals, friends, family - share a picture of one or many of these who warm your heart.

andrew

ollie

Gao Gao, panda papa of the San Diego Zoo