Archive for the ‘Spirituality’ Category

>     There’s a
fascinating “exercise” I once read about and it goes like this. Each
morning, upon awakening, picture an Angel walking in front of you
everywhere you go. Now picture that same Angel preceding your every
arrival by announcing these words: “Behold! The image and likeness of
God.” Imagine how you’d feel throughout your day, and imagine how that
would affect how you behaved. Pretty powerful stuff.
    Now, take it one step further.
    Picture everyone else in the world also having an Angel preceding them announcing their arrival, proclaiming the very same words.
    Now, we’re beyond powerful stuff. Now we’re talking Earth-changing.
    That’s the point.
    I was reminded of this “exercise” as I listened to, and read, this
morning’s news. As the economy slips towards recession and people are
generally concerned for the 2008 Presidential election and the
candidates capabilities to handle tough issues in a new and meaningful
way, these concerns pile atop the existing stressors with which each of
us is already trying to manage. As all these stressors reach critical
mass, I see the seeds of discontent beginning to spout around an “us”
vs. “them” mentality.
    Historically when times are difficult,
it has been easy for individuals and groups, with less than noble
intentions, to rally the masses against a common enemy, or target a
scapegoat, to distract us from the real challenges of the day. By
exaggerating differences as opposed to highlighting commonalities, the wedge of separation and the indifference it engenders, opens the door to a place where hateful speech and actions follow.
    Ever the optimist, this crossroad we now face also holds the
potential for a very different outcome. If, instead of falling into the
rut of worn out paths that have not served us well, we acknowledge and
honor our differences while simultaneously acknowledging in word and
deed that we are of One Source having One Intention, then it will be
possible to forge a new path where diversity becomes the capital we
exchange to enhance not only ourselves but also one another as well.
    What does “in the image of likeness of God” mean?  Well, I would
say that “in the image” is some reference to our biological and
physiological components. And while not meaning that literally, I do
mean that on some level, our physical composition and
functioning is an energetic semblance of the essential components of
Source. There is nothing we need do to be in the image of God. Our physical existence makes us so.
    However, to be “in the likeness of God” means to act in a way that also reflects how God “acts.” I
would suggest that the answer to that conundrum in evidenced in the
beauty, harmony and self-organizing principles we see manifested all
around us in Nature. There, exists clear evidence of a level of harmony
and cooperation that is for the highest good of all concerned. Not that
it is free of death, but that it is free of greed and
baseless aggression. There, diversity is the stuff the continued
existence of All is made of and, so, has it’s rightful place.     In
Nature, it is as if before every living creature, except humankind,
there goes an Angel proclaiming, “Behold the image and likeness of
God.”  From this, we can now learn a valuable lesson.
    Or not.
    We can be blindly led and ultimately consumed by the purveyors of
hate and division, or we can say “no” to that choice and instead say
“yes” to our own inherent divinity as well as the inherent divinity of
all others.
    Remember, at the beginning I said it was an
“exercise”…this walking with you Angel and seeing others in the same
light.  As such, it will take the practicing of that exercise to shift
our consciousness to the point where this becomes for us the natural
state of things. But losing 10 pounds or becoming proficient at tennis
or piano are also exercises that take practice.
    I don’t know about you but I certainly think having my own Angel is definitely worth the workout.

I’ve been asked to publish a speech I recently gave to 500 high school students in New Jersey on the topic of attempted suicide. Although it is my habit to speak without notes, what follows is my best recollection of the substance of the presentation. Time and space do not here permit me to replicate it in its entirety.

I am a wife and mother of a 14 year old daughter. I am also a former practicing Family Law attorney. Currently, I am a writer and motivational speaker. At age 24 I tried to commit suicide. It is the story of how that came to be and what I have done with my life since that I am here to share with you.

I grew up in an affluent suburb of Philadelphia. My family was financially very well off and as far as material things went, I pretty much had whatever I wanted. To underscore the point, I was given my own car, a Mustang, at age 16 and by age 20 had owned 2 corvettes. In school I was part of the “in crowd” and had lots of friends. My grades were excellent. Outwardly, I seemed happy.

Inwardly, I was living a very different existence.

Despite all of what was seemingly “right” with my life, I was very unhappy. I felt alone in the world. I didn’t feel I really “fit” anywhere or that I understood the game of life. I felt, alternately, not understood at all or at best, misunderstood. While everyone else went about their days with some sense of purpose, or so it seemed to me, I lacked any sense of who I was, what I wanted to do with my life, and most importantly, how to stop the emotional pain.

I went off to college after graduating high school but lasted only 6 weeks. Mostly I cut class and went to the beach. I withdrew mid-first semester (I would have flunked out anyway) and returned home. I them enrolled in a local university but lasted there only one semester before dropping out again. Realizing I had to do something (all my friends were in college) I got a job as a receptionist at a hospital. What followed were a series of receptionist positions until, at age 23, I met a young man at a party whom I married one year later. Eleven months after we married, we separated. We were a bad match…probably the result of how little I knew about myself before getting married. One month after separating, I tried to kill myself by taking an overdose of anti-depressants that had been prescribed for me at the time of separation.

Without belaboring it here, I was miraculously found in my apartment and rushed to the emergency ward, where I had a near death experience. I actually witnessed the doctor and nurses tending to me, pumping out my stomach and trying to keep me from dying. I witnessed it all from some vantage point way up in the air and remember thinking, “Why are they doing all of that to her. Why don’t they just let her go?” Then I felt a sharp “punch” in the middle of my back and “heard a voice” say “You have to go back, Carole. You have work to do.” My perspective immediately shifted from above the scene to being back in my body looking up at the doctor.

I share the details with you solely to impress upon you that I had almost succeeded in dying. It was that experience that I believe changed the direction of my life.  Despite difficulties and challenges that have remained ever since that day, I came away from that experience with a determination to find out who I really was…as opposed to who I thought I should be.

I enrolled in Villanova University at age 24 and graduated at age 28. I worked for a few years, had a meaningful personal relationship, then at age 33 enrolled in law school, graduating at age 38. I began to practice law on my own immediately after passing the Bar Exam and had a successful Family Law practice for 13 years. At age 41, I bought a home and shortly thereafter, met and married my husband. At age 43, we adopted a daughter form China.

Now the important part. What I know from what I have lived.

No two snowflakes are alike. No matter how many there are, each has it’s own unique pattern. You are like a snowflake. No other human being that has ever lived or ever will has your pattern, your unique set of Life gifts and challenges. Because of that, only YOU can live the Life you’ve been given. You are an aspect of Creation. That fact, and your unique nature demands that you too be a Creator of Your Life, not a “regurgitator.” Life does not need you to parrot or mimic the ideas and values of those who came before you…or even those who are here Now. What Life seeks of you is to experience Itself thorough You in ways never before known.

What keeps us stuck, and sometimes paralyzed, is the belief that there is some “right way” to be. Some “right way” to live Life. I can assure you that there are people and organizations everywhere you turn that will tell you they know “the way.” But there is no one way, simply one action that each of us is called upon every minute to partake of and that action is called “choice.” When Life comes knocking, make choices that emanate from your highest Self. For what is right for another may not be right for you. And you can only know what IS right for you experientially. You cannot know it from a book, or movie or even from another person. So to live the Life you were created to live, you must experience it through your unique choices.

Now some of you will think, “If there is no right choice, then anything I want to do is OK. I would answer “yes” if your choices are from your heart and not your mind and if, in choosing, you harm neither yourself or another. You see, there are only two emotions, Love and Fear. Every other emotion is a derivative of one of those. Love feels good. Fear feels bad. If you allow your emotional center, your heart, to be the guiding light that illuminates your choices, then yes, any choice you ever make will be the right one for you as well as the highest good for all concerned.

We all have what I call appointments in life that only we can show up for and if we don’t, no one will. For me, today is one of those appointments. If I had died that day, not only would I never have had all of the rich experiences that followed the attempt, but I would never have been able to keep the appointment with our daughter, which is the reason I am here talking with you today. And if only one of you needs to hear any of this to help you understand how unique, important and priceless you are, then I would go through it all over again. Every moment of it.

People who try to commit suicide don’t want to die. They have simply misplaced hope. They have strayed too far from home, from their inner center, and think they will never be able to find their way back home.

I came here today, and stand before you, as an arrow pointing you in the direction of home and the best part of your life.

Remember Who You Are. Remember Why You Came. Know How Much You Matter. Keep Your Appointments.

And above all, never give up Hope.

P.S. I gave each student a little handout paraphrasing J.R.R.Tolkien:
“All that glitters is not gold. All who wander are not lost.”

>     How timely that in yesterday’s blog I wrote about the ways to deal with chaos born of change and today we have a three-continent wide interruption to internet and electronic communications as a result of a severed underwater cable. This “interruption”, as governments and media are characterizing it, is more like a high-tech tsunami. And it’s just one of many such “interruptions” that will be occurring. As I said yesterday, we are in the midst of enormous change and change’s “middle name” is chaos.
    For those of you who may not have read the previous blog, the point was that the challenging economic experiences we are encountering are symptomatic of a deeper and more profound shift taking place in the “non-material” realm. You can read “non-material” as “spiritual”, “religious”, “cosmic”, “extra-terrestrial”, or “religious”…whatever your preference. What matters is that you secure your boat for these are rough seas approaching. While I don’t intend to sound like I’m prophesying anything, or giving credence to prophecies gone by, I can’t help calling it as I see it.
    What I see is an
imbalance among Nature, humanity and technology. At some point in
our development we lost sight of the inter-relationship and necessary
balance between these aspects of our existence.     The natural state of an organism, if allowed, is to self-organize when out of balance. Given the “opportunity”, it will bring itself back into balance through realignment of those parts that are the source of the imbalance. We are now experiencing the correction, or realignment, of the parts of our world, our reality, that have become so misaligned as to inhibit it’s proper functioning and impede movement along it’s intended path. Simply stated, our choices have created misalignments that are in need of correction. Now, also as I see it, all parts are impacted by realignment but not all parts are impacted equally. Depending on where a part(you) are “located” in relation to where the “change” occurs, you will experience that change differently.
    Since the “organism” in this case is human consciousness and what we have created with it, changes will occur at critical points where misalignment is most egregious. So, if for example, you are a day trader in Dubai and you’re working on a multi-billion dollar trade that needs to take place today or it will result in a loss of mega sums of money, you will feel the effects of the damaged cable, “the realignment”, significantly greater than a charitable person feeding the homeless on the streets of New Delhi. Same part of the world, same humanity…just positioned differently in relation to the misaligned part and the applied correction.
    If it all sounds a little mystical, or just a little esoteric…let me simplify it.
     We have let the technology that we created run us. We became too caught up in power. We lost sight of our connectedness to one another and the responsibility of what that means. We abandoned the children. We abandoned the women. We abandoned the elderly. We became egocentric. We, humanity, lost our way. That’s the bad news.
    Wait. There’s good news.
    You can’t find your way home unless you’ve been lost. Well, maybe you can but it’s not the same. Once you’ve been lost, the journey home takes on profound meaning and the arrival untold joy. Yes, we have been lost and the journey home is a difficult one filled with obstacles. We can surmount those obstacles with lesser or greater difficulty, depending on where we put our thoughts, words and actions. Like the day trader in Dubai and the person feeding the homeless in New Delhi.
    We are on our way home and determined to get there. Each of us has a faint memory of how wonderful it feels to rest safely in the warm Light of Home. It is toward that feeling, and by that Light, we now travel. Welcome and embrace the opportunities to make personal choices that help move the collective consciousness, Oneness, back into alignment with Itself.
    That’s a homecoming no one should want to miss.

>     There’s a buzzword on the campaign trail for 2008 and it’s “change.” It started with Senator Barack Obama and has now spread to almost every candidate, regardless of party affiliation. When I first wrote about   Senator Obama back in the Fall of 2007, I made the observation that while I wasn’t sure he was “the man” he was certainly carrying “the message.” The message has taken off to the point where the word “change” itself has become the object of political punditry. So let’s be careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater, so to speak.
     There is a very real reason that Senator Obama’s appeal caught on so quickly and, some might say, surprisingly. It is because he uses language in a way, and espouses a specific message, that speaks to what so many of us are feeling within ourselves as well as experiencing in our daily lives. The message is that old systems and methods of conducting business as usual…be they personal or professional…simply aren’t working. The feeling is endemic and it is real. Old ways of “doing” are not, in fact, working because something has shifted.
    That something is an awakening, across the planet, by people who are experiencing their own inherent, creative power to manifest a reality other than the one they have been previously presented. When power shifts, it must necessarily go from one place to another. Remember, energy is neither created nor destroyed, simply redistributed. So, the shift that we are living through, the Paradigm Shift if you will, is a redistribution of power (the energy) from the few to the many. 
    While historically it has been the habit and custom to search outside ourselves for guidance and answers to Life’s big questions, to look for gurus and groups to show us the way, we are now both realizing and experiencing the blossoming of the seeds of personal power that have been germinating within our consciousness since the first act of Creation.
    The change we are now evolving through is both monumental and long awaited. It is important that we give it the recognition and depth of attention it warrants. And while the political process is reflective of this change, it is not the root but merely a symptom.
    It will take more than superficial references to change to transit this shift. It will take focus, attention, intention, and an unquestioned knowing that each of us is directly responsible for the choices we make. Whether that choice is the lever we pull in the voting booth or what we think about and say to the stranger in our midst…we are each empowered with the potential to create or destroy.
    There is a teaching in mystical Judaism that says that when the Messiah comes there will be a new circumcision… and it will be a circumcision of the heart. That the spiritual barrier that surrounds our hearts and causes us to see one another as separate will be removed, allowing us to know Oneness, finally.
    Change is at hand. Let us keep our eyes and ears on it and not be sidetracked by marketing attempts to water down it’s magnitude or it’s potential. Change is as hand, surely.
    Know that YOU ARE THAT CHANGE.
  

>     Someone made an interesting comment about my blog yesterday. Because it’s my nature to see if there is any credence or learning for me in the truth of another, I have given the comment due consideration and come to my conclusion.
    But first, the comment. The person told me that as to the content of my blog, “it’s always the same message” and so he has stopped reading it. Now, ordinarily this might be a hurtful message to give a writer, especially one who aspires to inspire others. So, I had to look carefully at the comment and be honest with myself. After due consideration, I have decided that he is right. However, rather than it being the basis for folding my tent and moving on, so to speak, his observation re-energizes me in my mission and motivates me to continue along this chosen path.
    Why?
    Because he is right. There is only One message. Just as there is only One Source, One You, One Me, and One of Us. That is the underlying structure upon which I build every blog entry. And the reason it is both the foundation and the repetition is because like all things new, it will take time and reinforcement to become the accepted norm.
    We have lived thousands of years under an illusion of separation and the consequences of division, aggression, competition and war that separation breeds. It will take time to establish a comfort level with the new awareness of our connectedness and all that it implies.
    It will also take repeated exposure to the multifaceted and multidimensional ways in which that connectedness, the Oneness, plays out in our lives. My contribution to reinforcing the underlying principle is to show how and where, in our daily lives, the principle can be detected and applied. And so, I look at personal, local, national and international stories to extract and highlight the seed of Oneness that is inherent in everything that occurs, no matter how obscure it may seem at first glance. For what I am doing is teaching an exercise in consciousness development that is here for the taking.
    One of the things I have learned in my life thus far is best summed up in a parable about the Buddha.

One day there was a knock on the Buddha’s door. Upon opening it, a man confronted the Buddha and began to rail against the Buddha’s teachings, insulting the Buddha as well. After allowing the man to express himself fully, the Buddha looked the man in the eyes and said.”Thank you. But I cannot accept your gifts. You’ll have to take them with you when you leave.”
    The man who made the comment about “there being only one message” has obviously chosen to pass on the opportunity to reinforce the message. I can only hope that in so doing, he is choosing to find alternative resources that mirror and thereby reinforce for him, on a daily basis, the magnificence of the unfolding that we are All Now a part of.
    And I wish him well as he leaves on his journey.
   

    
    
    

         >There’s a great scene in the movie “Jerry Maguire” where Tom Cruise,having been fired from his corporate job as a Sport’s Agent, scrambles to retain the one client, a recent college graduate all star, who could make Cruise a success all on his own. After meeting with the young man and his father and getting their agreement to exclusively sign with him, Cruise heads off to catch his flight back home. Exhilarated by the coup, Cruise is seen driving his rental car while station-surfing the car radio to find music that resonates with his mood. When he finally finds the song, it’s “Free Fallin” by Tom Petty. Both the lyrics and the music seem to capture the precipice that Cruise is walking between the “valley of death” and “heaven on earth.”
    I should be humming that same song today following another in the series of Democratic debates last night on television and this morning’s economic news of a DOW and NASDAQ in free fall. You see, we are traversing a precipice of our own and it has to do with Consciousness.  
    Let’s liken Tom Cruise’s firing to the huge drop in global markets over the last 24 (and perhaps coming 24) hours. What was the given is suddenly no longer true or reliable.  A sudden and, on the surface at least, devastating occurrence takes place. At such moments, one is suddenly confronted with two options: succumb to the apparent devastation with panic, fear and immobility or seize the moment to source oneself for calm, meaning and appropriate action.
    Now let’s liken Cruise’s decision to go out on his own and seize the opportunity to create a reality that exceeded even his own prior expectations of himself to what Clinton, Obama and Edwards did last night in the 2nd hour of their debate. In that hour, there were no time constraints on the candidates for their answers. In fact, there were no rules. They went from standing at podiums and answering pre-determined, moderator-imposed questions in the first hour to sitting down in three chairs and having a “conversation” among themselves in the 2nd. It was glorious. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anything quite like it.
    We, the People, were able to see them more relaxed, more unscripted, and more like what they might be like in talking with heads of state where policy concerns differ. It was previously unavailable insight into all three of them, for those of us who looked, although my point here is not about those insights or who they are. Kudos for whoever had the courage to put forth that format! We, the People are not interested in the show any longer. We want the Truth of the matter…and if you have the courage to present it to us we are awakened and courageous enough ourselves to see and hear it.
    My point is that humankind is walking a precipice between the old and the new, between what has always been and what is now possible in real time, between being pushed by fear or led by hope. We are Jerry Maguire. We’re in that car, taking that chance, and station-surfing for the music to express our heart-songs
    “Free Fallin” works for us as well.
    Ignore the economic news. It’s just an opportunity to move past the external, fear-based reality construct that has been in place for thousands of years and move towards sourcing inner guidance that propels you towards your highest good and the good of all concerned.
    Times of uncertainty create lots of unknowns which generate many questions. It is neither those questions nor their answers that matter. What matters is knowing with certainty that the Source of All questions and their answers Is within you…for you alone to discover.
    Walk this precipice with your eyes and heart wide open and discover a landscape rich and beautiful beyond your wildest imaginings.
    It just might turn out to be heaven on earth.

>     There isn’t any subject that does not have an expert these days. It used to be that having an advanced degree in some field, or many years of employment at a specific job gave a person the apparent authority (right or wrong) to speak on a topic. Now, even those requirements seem to have vanished as everyone and anyone who can type (and find a publisher or self-publish) is an authority…or at least has the answers to whatever physically, emotionally, mentally or spiritually ails you.
    And for a small fee, perhaps the price of the book, you too can know the “secret.”
    Well, here’s my secret. There are no secrets.  No one is a better authority on your life than you are. And no one is a better arbiter of what matters in life than you are. The challenge we all face, and try to avoid, is the necessary inner journey to where those answers lie. And the reason we try to avoid the journey is because it’s solo and it’s hard.
    No way around that one.
    I mean, you can try and pass it off to someone else by seeking their counsel, or opinion, or advice but all you’ll have to show for it is their view of the world and their view overlaid upon your unique landscape. None of us is born with more or less access to Truth. The question isn’t how much can we amass as a testimony to our accomplishments but rather how far inward can we traverse and how close can we get to that place of silence from where all knowing emanates?
    “Knowing” is an interesting word. We tend to take it to mean some intellectual awareness or clarity around information or data. But true knowing is as in “and Adam knew Eve.” It doesn’t mean he understood her, or that he had sexual relations with her…it means he was One with her in spirit and, as One, had an innate knowing of all there was to know. This is our birthright…to know all there is to know about Our Selves and The Source of All Selves.
    Birthright doesn’t necessarily mean cakewalk. Our pain originates from our sense of separation. But without a deep sense of separation, it would be almost impossible to know and appreciate Oneness. For it is in the awakening from separation, and the transcendence of it, that we are finally able to experience the fullness and wonder of knowing All That Is.
    So, the next time you’re inclined to buy that book, CD, DVD, or enroll in that course…remember that neither Moses nor Jesus nor Buddha nor Lao Tzu ever charged a fee although they did spend a lot of time and energy on the journey within.
    
    
    

>     There is so much talk these days from the Conservative Right likening what is happening in the United States, and globally, to Fascism that I think some perspective might be of value.  Yes, I am certain there are those in today’s world who would like to wield the power of the few over the control of the many. Such people have always existed. What changes is simply their methodology of choice and our willingness, or unwillingness, to play by their rules.
    Fascism’s method of choice is to convince us that we are indistinguishable from one another, interchangeable, and subject to the opinions of a ruling elite as to what each of us has and has access to achieving. Under Fascism, the rights of the individual are subordinated to the rights of the State. Perhaps its overriding characteristic is zero tolerance for anyone who thinks or acts “outside the box” of that which is legally and societally mandated to be “correct” thought and “correct” behavior. And yes, Fascists exist here and now.
    However, the more important issue is where, exactly, is your Here and Now? For where you “Are” in your consciousness determines the experiences you will have. So, naturally, those people who are motivated by fear and living in a world where victimization is the result of circumstances beyond their control rather than the outcomes caused by their own choices, see the evolving concept of world unity within the confines of their narrow and fear-based view. The enemy is out to get them.
    The evolving concept of Unity, or Oneness, to which I and so many others have awakened, exists in opposition to all that Fascism strives to create. Oneness is not an abdication of personal rights, responsibilities and identity. To the contrary, it is a heightened awareness of what each of those States of Being means. Guidance under Fascism is externally imposed by others while guidance in Oneness is an internal choice directed by one’s own preferences. Where Fascism is intolerant of deviation from the “norm”, Oneness celebrates diversity in every form as a unique expression and experience of Itself.
    The “oneness” of Oneness is simply a knowing that we all originate from One Source of Creative Energy that has as its only intention Love of Self. This is, admittedly, a huge understanding. If it is also a frightening and overwhelming concept to some, for all that it implies about the magnitude of our own choices, perhaps they are more comfortable creating a reality where they must stand alert for Fascists and others who would rob them of their personal power.
    In the State of Oneness, nothing can be taken from you other than that which you relinquish by failing to take responsibility for your every thought, word and deed. When that intellectual realization becomes a conscious knowing, then there are no Fascists, Communists, terrorists, or “others” by any name who hold power and direction over your life and the fulfillment of it’s unique purpose.
    We are each end-points of light shining brilliantly at the outermost tips of an infinite number of light-beams emanating from One Source of Divinely Inspired Energy.
    Not Fascists.
    
    

>     Yesterday I was the guest speaker at a local high school, speaking for 6 straight hours to over 500 students in the 10th grade. My daughter happens to be a Freshman at the same school so it made the occasion a little tricky. I was a guest speaker in the Health Department teaching a unit about suicide. I had tried to kill myself at age 24 and have first-hand knowledge and experience on the topic. It was an opportunity the Health teachers didn’t want to pass up…and quite frankly, neither did I.
    While I have spoken privately on the topic over the past few decades, I had never before spoken about it publicly. Having discussed it several years before with our daughter, she was remarkably accepting of my presence at her school and even supportive of it. I take more than a little pride in this fact.
    One of the things I shared with the students, and I shared only what I know to be true from having lived it, is that we all have what I refer to as “appointments in Life” at which we are expected to “show up.” Those appointments are uniquely ours, as are our talents and challenges as well. While it is not always for us to know, in advance or even ever, why we need to be in certain places at certain times, the purpose of our presence in those moments is in support of the overall and ever-expanding consciousness and growth of humanity.
    Heady stuff, I know. But it’s how I see things none-the-less.
    I have spent all the years since the attempted suicide exploring many different roads in search of Who I Really Am. Each road was a choice I made to have the experience I had. Some of those choices were productive and some not so much…but all were my choices made in pursuit of what is true for me. And while I try to find the positive meaning and highest good in all that happens, even I have had my share of wondering if all the adversity and struggle that is a necessary part of Life can be worth it.
    At yesterday’s appointment I finally got my answer.
    As I looked into the faces of those children who were looking back at me with rapt attention, I knew with certainty that everything that had happened in my life happened so that I could be there at that moment and share with them the magnificence of transcending Life’s challenges.
    I have always wanted to “serve” in some capacity and oftentimes have prayed for a way to help me do that. Typically I have expected to find a particular cause or organization to which I might dedicate my time. But standing there yesterday I realized how many ways there are to serve and just what mine looks like.
    My service is one of Hope.
    By opening up to those children and honestly sharing with them both the triumphs and tragedies of my life’s path, and mirroring for them the Beauty and Love inherent in their own, I was able to “pay forward” the gift of hope I was given when I most needed it. For in the end, we are each “way-show-ers” for one another, not only by how we live our lives but also how we choose to reflect the lives of others. Having been both affirmed and denied at various times in my own life, I know well the power, and responsibility, of both thoughts and words.
    There was no financial compensation for my appearance yesterday. But if you could have looked into that sea of faces, as I did, you would feel today as I do.
    Yesterday, I hit the Lottery of Life.
    
    
   

>     I have a friend who has a particularly difficult time adapting to change. She has a tendency to want to keep things as they are out of fear for what the unknown will look like. She is so adept at the “Art of Holding On” that she literally retains excess fluid in her body during times when she is particularly resistant to Life’s inevitable changes. In fact, she’s so “good” at holding on, I have actually seen her body repeatedly swell as we spoke about changes she didn’t want to face. Ironically, she is in a healing profession yet cannot seem to harness her own ability to heal herself. And while she’s not alone in that regard, there’s an important lesson her example can teach us all.
    Holding on is counter-productive and not good for our bodies…as in the state of our health. Understanding how this is so goes a long way towards supporting wellness as opposed to the alternative…treating illness.
    We humans are not, by nature, skilled at change. Learning how to accept the impermanence of things throughout life is an exercise in accepting the impermanence of Life itself. Because we have such difficulty with the latter, we tend to resist, or deny, the former. This is most commonly manifested in how we try to acquire and accomplish in order to calm our fears about facing both Life and Death empty handed. And so the downside of resisting change is what my friend has come to teach.
    By holding on to where we are when Life asks that we let go and trust the ride instead, we not only impede getting where it is Life wants to take us but simultaneously overload our systems with excess energies that are better off jettisoned and left behind. Hence, my friend’s instantaneous ability to bloat rather than change. And while it looks simply like bloating on the outside, I’m pretty sure it’s doing some unseen damage on the inside as well. For every action (or inaction as it were) there is an equal and opposite reaction. That’s neither me nor my friend. That’s Newton’s Third Law of Motion.
    The cure or, actually, the preventative measure, is to trust Life and be open to what comes your way…making the best choices you can at any given moment. The simple act of choosing, of setting forth preference and by so doing giving momentum to movement, is the surest way to emotional and physical health. And remember, there are no right or wrong choices, simply different paths along a common journey that each of us is making.
    Every experience you choose to have has a way in and a way out. Think of Life as a house with many rooms. Each room has two doors. A door to enter and a door to exit. If you walk through the “in” door and decide you don’t like the room, you can always exit through the “out” door and repeat the process again at the next room.
    There are an endless series of choices and opportunities to choose in Life…if only we would make them.
    So, as with everything in Life, it’s up to you and me to see the glass half-empty, half-full, or in my friend’s case, filled with some immobilizing fluid that keeps her stuck in some endless cycle of fear.
    Since that’s a really awful thought to end on…I choose to end on something lighter and more positive.