Here is Zeus, one of my kitty friends….

Great Egret coming to check out what we are cooking on the grill.

Blue is the water ways we were on.

Here is my happy face selfie, taken when we were back in the canal!

Ram Dass said, “We’re all just walking each other home.” My friend, Pamela Chappell, wrote a song based on the quotation.

 

On my way to the remote Buddhist Sangha for the weekly meditation, my van bottomed out in one of the ginormous mud puddles. Two wheels were up in the air, and water was up to the top of my fender. Two young women in a bright yellow jeep pull up, and one calls to me, “We will be right back and get you out. We have to go get a tow rope!”

 

Too far off the beaten path for satellite to locate me, I was still on the phone with Road Service when the jeep came back.

 

What motivates someone to help a total stranger? 

 

I am not talking about dropping a bill in the bucket as someone is ringing the bell, letting someone pull out in busy traffic, or buying a flock of geese for a family in a village in Africa. These are all worthy acts of kindness, but this was not that—picture throwing off your good shirt, stepping out of your good shoes, wading into foot-and-a-half deep muddy water and getting down on your hands and knees. 

 

“I go to a place near here where jeeps do off-roading in the mud flats. I don’t participate. I have too much money in my jeep for that. But when they get stuck, I pull them out.” Bonnie explained as she drove my vehicle to high ground where I could leave it and go to meditation.

 

“I am sorry we got your van dirty!” she called as they drove off.

 

They were capable—yes—but more than that: they were willing. I would guess you can easily understand why I was touched to tears by the compassionate action of these sisters!

 

Later, sharing my gratitude on a local issue social media site, I spotted a one line message: “Does anyone know a woman named Blah Blah here? I need to get in touch with her.” 

 

I responded. “I know her. She is a colleague/writer friend of mine. I have her cell phone number. Send me a private message and I will let her know to get in touch with you.” 

 

This morning, as I was preparing to participate online in a global meditation and prayer time for peace in the middle east with James Twyman via Dr. Mary Jo Bullbrook, my phone rang. It was my writer friend.

 

“Thank you! I don’t do much on Facebook. I don’t even have internet here. That woman’s husband had found my credit card. I did not even know I had lost it. I had left it at the ATM.”

 

The signature line on my email is by Mother Teresa: “If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.”

 

Tens of thousands were joined in a vision of peace. I kept hearing Pamela singing, “We’re all just walking each other home.” Maybe I need to change my signature line.

This morning a man who has written a daily thought for years put in his opening the following quotation about worry:

“How would your life be different if…You stopped worrying about things you can’t control and started focusing on the things you can? Let today be the day…You free yourself from fruitless worry, seize the day and take effective action on things you can change.”

—Steve Maraboli, motivational speaker, author, academic, social philosopher, columnist; age not provided

goodreads.com (website)

He went on to write about one of his readers, a woman who is addicted to worry, and encouraged other readers to reply to his post (sharing ways we have been able to overcome worry.)

“The emotions are a major catalyst for humans. They’re very powerful. They’re painful. They’re confusing. The best guideline I know is simply to ask yourself, ‘What is my highest purpose here?’ If the highest purpose leads you to enact the emotion, try it and see what happens. Perhaps insight will come that the emotion can arise without expressing it into the world, and without shame that it arose.”

 

FYI—I grew up with a mother addicted to worry. I have that as basic training. Meditation has been for me the ability to hold my worried emotions without shame, allowing them to rise and fall without my having to get caught up in them. 

Yesterday, on my way to mediation group, I was stopped for speeding (30 in a 20). I had seen the flashing light, and I had dropped to 20 MPH. However, I had returned to a normal speed before completely leaving a school zone.

As I sat in my car while the officer ran my information, knowing I would be late coming into mediation and would miss the coveted opening words of my dear friend who hosts the group, I started tapping. (See information on the FREE tapping summit) 

As I tapped, I was able to forgive myself for being reckless. As I did, I genuinely felt gratitude for the job officers do every day. When the officer returned my drivers license and insurance and registration, I was deeply appreciative to be let off with a warning!

I tiptoed in to meditation with another student, took my seat, began to breathe deeply while also hearing others breathing. I appreciated watching my hyper mind slow from its ordeal. 

As we moved from meditation to sharing, I was able to tell my story when the conversation came right around to how you can often change the outcome by managing your state of being.

Perhaps overcoming the addiction to worry is like getting off with a warning! 

My Gammie, My Grandmother, My Hero, My Role Model, My Go-To, My Advice Giver, My Friend, My Family, My Guardian, My Laughter, My Fat Camp Instructor, My World Traveler, My Picture Taker, My Massage Therapist, My Healing Touch, My Counselor, My Helping Hand, My Sous Chef, My Cinnamon Toast Maker, My Supporter, My Biggest Fan, My Moon, My Red Balloon, My Minister, My Mentor, My Author, My One and Only Gammie.

If we were looking at chakra development, you might say we are intimately aware of the seventh chakra: the Crown. In, Anatomy of the Spirit, Caroline Myss writes: “Live in the Present Moment.” Myss says this is the chakra of the spirit: extreme unction, Keter. We need to be open and attentive to the constant guidance we receive each day.

Rabbi Moshe Cordovero, in The Palm Tree of Devorah, writes: “One’s thoughts should be pure, one’s forehead should display no harshness, one’s ears should always turn to hear good, one’s eyes should distance themselves from noticing evil, always looking at the good, one’s nose should be free from the breath of anger, one’s face should always shine, and his mouth should express nothing except good.”