Where Are the Halcyon Days of Yore?

Lately I've had a lot of time to think about all the great experiences and adventures throughout my life. Not the least of which are the literary tours to England and Scotland that I led for my students and their families--glorious theatre trips to Stratford and London, tea time in Bath, a train ride through the sheep-dotted Yorkshire moors to the home of the Brontës, an excursion through Canterbury and Dover, tracing the footsteps of Bobbie Burns and Robert Louis Stevenson in Edinburgh. Ah, those were the days. And how could I forget my recently life changing trip to Ireland with my sister--renting a car and driving through eleven little towns and villages along the southern coast. Unfortunately, the coronavirus Covid-19 has put a crimp in the travel plans of many of us.

No matter. Happy memories sustain us and make us remember what we have accomplished and how our lives have been full of purpose. We often look back on them as calm and peaceful, maybe even carefree. Whether or not they actually were all of those things we might not know for sure, for time has a way of healing and softening the hard edges. Our photographs prove how happy we were and allow us to relive those glorious moments.

Our dependency on our halcyon days of yore, however, can be a slippery slope. Living in the past often prevents us from taking advantage of opportunities that lie ahead of us and helping us create new memories. But let's pause a moment to learn more about the word itself.

A word that means calm and peaceful should have a pretty poetic story behind it, and indeed halcyon does. According to Greek mythology, Alcyone was the daughter of Aeolus, king of the winds. She and her husband Ceyx, king of Thessaly, were so in love that they called themselves Zeus and Hera. Father of the gods Zeus interpreted their pet names as disrespect, and he turned Ceyx into a vulture. Alcyone was hunting everywhere for him when the Olympians in their sorrow for Alcyone turned her into a bird as well, the Alkyona bird. She was condemned, however, to lay her eggs near the cold raging seas of winter rather than spring or summer. Zeus felt sorry for her and ordered sunny weather for fifteen days every January so she could lay and hatch her eggs in calm and peaceful weather. Alcyone--alkyon, meaning kingfisher in Greek, became known and used as halcyon between AD 1340 and 1400. The beautiful bird below is a kingfisher.

As the first wave of Covid-19 lingers, and in fact is spiking in Texas as I write this, we continue to find ways of coping and bringing stability to these irrational months of uncertainty and hardship. We may not have a Zeus whose pity for us ushers in that metaphorical sunny weather, but God gave us the wisdom and patience to be creative in recreating a purposeful life in spite of the obstacles we now face.

How do you achieve peace? Are you responsible for your own state of peace? What can you do to contribute to peace outside your sphere? These are the questions I posed to my family and friends, and they were kind enough to offer some insight. Here's the short list:

• Remove yourself from unhealthy situations (emotional as well as physical)
• Make a commitment to love.
• Communicate your wants and needs clearly.
• Occupy green spaces as often as possible.
• Forgive. Not just others but yourself, too.
• Find order in your life--clean out your refrigerator, pay your bills on time, get enough sleep.
• Let go of the things beyond your control.
• Set boundaries and follow them.
• Learn how to praise others and also how to accept praise. Look for the good in people. This does not mean you have to agree with them or even become best friends with them.
•  Learn more about yourself, your likes and dislikes, and start a new hobby or continue an old one.
•  Take care of your body. Exercise and eat healthy meals for sound body and mind.

One day--yes, maybe it will be a year from now, you will travel again. You will experience those life changing moments and have those incredible adventures once more. Until that day, like Alcyone, we must forge our own individual "fifteen days every January," the halcyon days of now.

Sending love and hugs to all the people who followed me to my beloved UK!