Debra Basham

Living and Loving

Tag: Br. David Steindl-Rast

  • Imagine Healing

    Because humans process their subjective experience, in part, as pictures, when one says, “I just cannot see how I will get through all of this,” according to Dr. Emmett E. Miller, author of Deep Healing: The Essence of Mind/Body Medicine, we are not just hearing words, we may well be witnessing destiny.

    ~ From the SCS-Matters.com/Imagine-Healing/ home page.

    Imagine Healing has been my central work over the past two decades. Five simple steps to Imagine Healing can make all the difference if you or someone you know is anticipating surgery, going through medical treatment, or experiencing the need for healing in any area of life. These steps include:

      Relax to feel peaceful
      Discover what you need to know
      Create positive expectations
      Organize a support group
      Enlist the support of your [medical] team

    I am encouraging readers of Yellow Brick Road to use this process NOW, to imagine healing beyond the physical body. Imagine healing for our country, for our world, and for all sentient beings. You are invited to post this on Facebook, share it with groups, and use it to support yourself during these chaotic times.

    Identify a person, a pet, a place, or an experience which you find easy to love. Let yourself immerse yourself in that feeling. (One client used a stuffed animal!)

    Step 1: Relax to feel peaceful. Go for the basics on this one and take the few minutes to follow the links to some of my favorite (vital) reminders:

    PNS is BIG. You must activate your parasympathetic nervous system. Legs up the wall!

    Ten minutes wearing an icy gel mask is A Chilling Way to Calm Down.

    Another simple technique is to quiet yourself and imagine that you are sucking on a juicy lemon drop, bathing your tongue in saliva. If that does not work for you, fill your mouth with warm water and hold it, as you allow yourself to begin to relax.

    Let me know if you want access to the A to Z of relaxation (aromatherapy to Zen) handout. Knit, paint, walk, soak… use your W.I.T. (whatever it takes).

    Step 2: Discover what you need to know. Learn to “see” the tilting of truth within politics. Public record shows if there has been the erosion of environmental protection; don’t let your emotions confuse ideas with facts. The definition of politics is the activities associated with the governance of a country or other area, especially the debate or conflict among individuals or parties having or hoping to achieve power. Tilting of truth is happening…. Notice.

    Step 3: Create positive expectations.     Gratefulness.org had a beautiful message today by Br. David Steindl-Rast: “Imagine a country whose citizens—maybe even its leaders—are brave, calm, and open towards each other; a country whose people realize that all human beings belong together as one family and must act accordingly; a country guided by Common Sense.”

    Step 4: Organize a support group. Deep Spring Sangha is planning to open a ZOOM meditation hall at 9:15 pm Tuesday night. Volunteers will read and share sacred writings. People will meditate. Some will chant. Many online groups are offering support. Especially now, it is soothing to join with others who help you come home to your heart.

    In the use of Imagine Healing to prepare an individual for surgery, we ask, “Who do you know wants you to have a good outcome? Who will be thinking about you, praying for you, caring about you? What supports you?” People often list family members and friends. Pets or totem animals. Looking beyond these, loved ones in spirit? Saints? Spiritual Masters? Make a mental list of these supports. Hold a rosary or another tangible item, look at a photo, listen to an audio. So much support!

    These five steps were designed so you can recover more quickly and completely when you practice positive mental and emotional health.

    Ask to be shown the best possible outcomes: short-term, mid-term, and long-term.

    Throughout the process, call forth your capacity to be carried across the chasm: “Even though things won’t go exactly as you imagine, imagine a scene that proves to you — beyond a doubt — that things have gone so well, even better than you imagined….”


    Philippians 4:6-7

    Do not be anxious about anything,
    but in every situation,
    by prayer and petition,
    with thanksgiving,
    present your requests to God.

    And the peace of God,
    which transcends all understanding,
    will guard your hearts
    and your minds
    in Christ Jesus.

  • New Frontiers

      Sometimes people get the mistaken notion
      that spirituality is a separate department of life,
      the penthouse of existence.

      But rightly understood,
      it is a vital awareness
      that pervades
      all realms of our being.

      ~Br. David Steindl-Rast

    Today, it is this beautiful planet we call home that calls us home to our hearts. We are being asked to plant seeds of wisdom and love. I told John today one could consider if you are hearing or reading something that is stating who or what was or is to blame about anything, to please just consider this: Anyone can win the game of Monday-Morning-Quarterbacking. It is the coaching before and during the game that makes the difference.

    I have been patient (mostly) with the world around me. While not first in THE world, I was first in my world to not allow smoking in my home. While not first in THE world, I was first in my world to save things believing they would some day be recycled.

    I have been asking John for years to consider a more environmentally friendly yard. It makes little sense to spend time, energy, and money to kill what flourishes naturally, then invest more to plant things that cost even more to be fed and watered to survive and contribute little to myriad species called nature.

    But we are where we are: we are where wild fires rage and tropical storms blow: too much or too little wind or rain. The following powerful excerpt is from the Seattle retreat in the fall of 2019 (reviewed and with some additions and edits on 09-14-20). It was just posted on the Deep Spring Meditation Center Facebook page, and it is so timely.

    Aaron: These fires in California deeply concern me, not just for the immediate damage they are doing, burning people’s homes and so forth — although it is sad that people are losing their homes, their livelihood, even and especially their lives — but for what it’s doing to the energetic and spiritual environment. To me, if people choose to live in an area where there will be a likelihood of such fires, they know that this can happen to them. But the trees did not thusly choose. Well, yes, the trees agreed to grow there, but they agreed to grow there not to be burned away but to help support a wholesome environment.

    They agreed to grow there with no foreknowledge of man’s thoughtlessness of the environment. It was a possibility but not yet a fact. The earth is ancient and the short-lived choices of mankind are more recent. And so, the Earth is getting a different message. Trees and other vegetable life are beginning to say, “Maybe it’s not safe to be here on the Earth. We are not cherished as we need to be in order to flourish. Maybe it’s time for us to shift ourselves to some other kind of evolutionary space where we may evolve with love.” Such a shift or even thought to shift is going to further downgrade the Earth’s environment. Just as man destroys the environment for certain animal species, he can destroy it for trees, and even for the elements themselves.

    Once these fires are under control and out, I’d like to see large teams of people going into the woods, into the charred roads, thanking the earth, thanking the trees, and planting seedlings. With a strong commitment, speaking to the seedlings; speaking to each from their heart, “Thank you for making a new attempt to grow here. We will try very hard to cherish you, to take care of you and the environment in which you grow.”

    It is not only our planet that is suffering. Our emotional bodies are going through these turbulent times as well. After the wildfires of anger and jealousy, fear and disdain, it is imperative we are willing to plant seedlings of forgiveness, wisdom, kindness and compassion.

    One morning after we finished (virtually) sitting together in meditation, I shared a deep and precious conversation with Bob. Bob mentioned “A Course of Love”, describing it as sort of like the sequel to A Course in Miracles. “There are several chapters you can read for free,” he said.

    ACIM was one of the bridges over troubled water when my spirituality out-grew the religion of Christianity in which I had met and committed my life to Jesus.

    From Chapter 14: New Frontiers Beyond the Body and Mind, Form and Time, A Course of Love – The Dialogues:

    What might this situation look like if I forgot everything I have previously known about similar situations, and looked at this in a new way?

    Do I really need to worry about this situation, or can I affect this situation simply by not worrying about it and allowing it to be and unfold as it will?

    While I realize that the facts would tell me this or that is true, I wonder what would happen if I disregarded the facts and was open to this being something else?

    There is so much to disregard. Our old habits, thoughts, beliefs and actions are being invited to surrender. In The Language of Letting Go, Daily Meditations on Codependency Melody Beattie affirms: “We relinquish our tight hold and our need to control in our relationships. We take responsibility for ourselves; we allow others to do the same. We detach with the understanding that life is unfolding exactly as it needs to, for others and ourselves. The way life unfolds is good, even when it hurts. And ultimately, we can benefit from even the most difficult situations. We do this with the understanding that a Power greater than ourselves is in charge, and all is well.”

    I whisper to all sentient beings that we will do our best. We are able to cherish life and summon that vital awareness that pervades all realms of our being into new frontiers….