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...
September 30, 2007 TWIDDLING THUMBS, GRATEFUL HEART
The only thing constant is change. My commitment to keep up with my “blog” entries was superseded by my commitment to care for myself, which in this case meant stepping back for awhile from many of my professional “duties”, resting, re-balancing and recovering from a couple of pretty intense, non-stop years. So (almost) without apology, I now return to this writing. Because I want to, not because I should!
While writing my Fall Newsletter, I spoke of my choice to honor my body/mind/Spirit’s need to just “STOP!” for awhile, and hence, I reported, I had no upcoming public appearances planned in the near future. I hastened to add, though, that I was certainly not just sitting here “twiddling my thumbs”.
Writing that phrase led me to pause and actually twiddle my thumbs, which, surprisingly, I found to be quite amusing, and enlightening! In fact, I’d highly recommend you take a twiddling break right now. Done with mindfulness, a nice slow, rhythmic twiddle can be extremely meditative, even sensual...a very calming experience.
Perhaps I understand now why my father, who was a brilliant research engineer, an inventor, would spend hours twiddling his thumbs…much to my embarrassment as a teenager! He would be off in his own little world, with a vacant stare or even closed eyes, his revery accompanied by the gentle, repetitive rhythm of his thumbs slowly going round and round, while perched on the shelf of his modest little paunch.
It is with fondness (and forgiveness of those embarrassing teen moments), that I now recall the form of meditation employed by my highly intellectual father, whose world view did not include a “spiritual practice” per se. But it did include a quiet awareness of the natural world and all its inhabitants, and a level of patience I’ve come to appreciate more and more as I’ve matured. What once raised my own impatience, now elicits my deep respect. (Funny how that works!)
So perhaps this is why the simple act of twiddling my thumbs triggered something very deep in me: a present moment awareness that awakened that wonderful sense of “Oh, that’s right. This is what matters…”, as a gentle wave of gratitude quietly filled my mind and heart.
The “to-do’s” will get done. Never all of them. And that’s okay. I AM here. Now.
