August 20, 2010 OF TIME, TWEETS AND SOULS FLYING FREE
With all the Facebook, Tweets and Twits stuff going on, I sometimes feel like it's all too much. Just give me a real live human being with whom to converse while sitting in the shade of the redwood tree in my own front yard. No computers, no cell phones, nothing that needs rebooting or recharging! (Except me!)
Especially this week, I feel deep appreciation for the simple things in life....and for life itself.
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Earlier this week, I spent nearly 72 hours with a dear woman named Jean, a former client. I had the honor of playing the role of "spiritual midwife" as she transitioned from her body. She'd been valiantly dealing with cancer for several years, and at age 74, it was now time to let go, and move on.
After many long hours, during which her body and soul prepared themselves for this transition, I was gifted to be at her side at the moment of release. I was able to witness the look of indescribable joy and awe that shone through her barely opened eyelids in the instant before she left her body.
She'd been unconscious for the better part of three days, so for her to return to awareness just enough to reveal that beauty to me - and to her daughter, Sherrie, who was on her other side - was an unspeakably precious gift.
I don't know precisely what Jean experienced in that moment, but I do know she wanted us to know it was beautiful beyond imagining. A single tear rolled down her parched cheek, and then she was gone.
Sherrie and I sat wide-eyed, feeling an indescribable awe and Lightness of Being, as we both cried and laughed and hugged across her mom's now-uninhabited body. Then, I turned and softly played "Amazing Grace" on my crystal singing bowls, as Jean's soul flew free.
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So, although time marches on at an ever-increasing rate here on this earthly plane, I've been freshly reminded that what truly matters knows not the bounds of time, nor the confines of the body. Who we truly are could never be expressed in a tweet, a twit, a blog, or a book of any kind - Face or otherwise!
As the birds flutter amongst the branches above me, singing their songs with joyful abandon, I find myself joyfully reflecting that each of us has a unique song to sing... and wings with which to fly.
I am blessed with that knowing. I wish for you the same blessing.
Namaste.
Relax Into Healing...
February 5, 2007 REFLECTIONS ON A HEALING JOURNEY
With the release of my six new Relax Into Healing titles, and having recently gone through my daughter, Mieka’s, cancer-healing journey with her,it seems timely to share a few reflections on my own journey through cancer…
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In December of 1998, when I first heard the news that I had uterine cancer, I had two simultaneous thoughts: “How am I gonna tell the kids?” and“Oh….okay… here we are at this chapter – time to play it out so I can get on with what it is I’m really here to do.”
It’s as if a part of me knew this was a very important and necessary step along my path.This is not to say that I didn’t go through my share of fear, confusion, and being shaken to the core. And yet, the pervading sense I had, from diagnosis to full recovery, was one of profound trust and even gratefulness.
My cancer healing journey was one I would not like to go through again, thank-you, but at the same time, I would not trade it for the world.The life-changing learning that occurred is unparalleled.I could (and perhaps someday will), write a full-length book about this very special chapter of my life.I learned so much about trust – in myself, in others and in the Higher Power – and about surrender, compassion, self-discipline, forgiveness…the list goes on and on. The challenges were many, the benefits were great.
This “cosmic sledge hammer” afforded me the time to step back, re-examine, and re-evaluate.It also afforded me the opportunity to put into application many of the approaches and techniques I’d been using for the past two decades with students and clients. I, of course, had been adhering to and practicing these spiritual principles and healing techniques myself as well, but never had they been put to the test as they were to be now. My most fundamental beliefs were uprooted and questioned.And strengthened.
I believe we all come to this earth to learn – the primary lesson being to learn how to love.I also believe each of us has our own unique gifts to share, and that by listening to our inner voice, we are guided to and through experiences that help us learn how to recognize and share those gifts…sometimes in ways we would least expect!
About 4 months before my diagnosis, I had prayed deeply, making a whole-hearted commitment to learn what I needed to learn, to heal what I needed to heal, to let go of whomever or whatever I needed to let go of, in order to fulfill my Higher Purpose and be a vehicle of Love, Light and Healing in a world so much in need of all three.
As they say, “Be careful what you ask for!”
And be grateful when you receive it. In whatever form it comes.
Namaste.
(For a personal account written in October of 1999, just months after my diagnosis, please see the second entry on the articles page.)
