Tag: Debra Basham

  • Catching Rays

    Have you ever seen any of those 3D “magic eye” images? You have to hold the image close to your nose, look through it so it is blurry, and maintain your gaze as you slowly move the image away from you. As your eyes relax, your focus changes, and you can see amazingly beautiful things. This image contains two giraffes.

    Just like those hidden images, you have undoubtedly been able to see the way an unusual event will bring something else into view. Like seeing not one, not two, but three gopher tortoises one day during a bike ride. Or catching not one, not two, but three stingrays one day fishing off the dock.

    The odd thing about catching the rays while fishing off the dock is that the people right next door who have fished from the dock for years have never ever caught one stingray here. Let alone three in one day.

    So, I looked up the symbolism of stingray.

    Stingrays represent your emotions and how you may be hiding them from others. If it’s calm, stingray suggests maneuvering a challenge in your life with ease and grace. If the ray is aggressive; it means you may be reacting to your emotions, rather than using careful deliberation in your approach, which could be costly.

    Oh, my goodness. The first and largest of the three rays fought very hard. For the longest time. Taking the line way out. Darting away from the dock. Digging down in the mud. This first and largest one was about the size of a garbage can lid. In case you are wondering, the ray was able to be safely released.

    The guy who managed to wrestle with and land that big old ray on an ultralight rod and reel currently has two younger brothers navigating cancer treatment. One of his brothers was having his right kidney removed at that time! Another of his brothers has been dealing with the side-effects of radiation and chemotherapy treatment for lung cancer. His platelet count was too low for him to receive chemo at that time! While the fisherman has been snow-birding in Florida this winter, he has begun saying he is bored with being here and thinks he might go home early.

    Stingrays may be telling you to not overreact to your emotions, to calm down and wait before reacting. Stingrays maneuver themselves quite well despite their size and shape and they tell us to also carefully maneuver the complex emotional waters of our inner world.

    This week, I am participating in the World Tapping Summit. I especially enjoyed the interview with Dr. Paul Sheele, “Feeling Abundant: Attract More Wealth and Prosperity Into Your Life!”. Sheele made the distinction between abundance and prosperity. The universe is abundant. Prosperity is the degree to which we are aware of and participating in the true state of the universe.

    I am thinking about all of this in relationship to catching the rays, and those magic eye photos. I am going to think about it this way: well-being (like abundance) is there even while going through all those challenges, hidden right there just out of view.

  • Psychic Readings

    Sacred Stories

    On her way in to the restaurant for a business meeting, she noticed a sign advertising “psychic readings.”

    While in the restaurant, a woman caught her attention.

    Her meeting finished a bit early, leaving her a few extra minutes, so she decided to go for a reading.

    When she entered the office, the psychic was the patron who had previously caught her eye at the restaurant!

    These are sacred stories. What does this all mean to you? Do you have as story to share? Send email to debra@scs-matters.com.

  • Life’s Squalls

    So many sweet friends and family members are going through major STUFF right now. One of the dynamics is how stuff comes out of the blue.

    That reminds me of the Captain Ron movie. Kurt Russell, who plays Captain Ron, says, “It’s just a little squall. They come on you fast, and they leave you fast.” Hear this message in a gravely, pirate-style, voice and you will get the picture.

    I enjoyed my daughter, Stacey, belting that out several times while we were at Cayo Costa. We went for a beach day. It was sunny when we got dropped off at the dock, and sunny when we started walking along the beach on a shelling adventure.

    Off in the distance was an amazing cloud formation—what at home we call a “front”.

    As we shelled, that front drifted right over our heads. Before we got back to where we had left our chairs and cooler, the sky overhead was very dark, the wind was quite cool, and the mist that was blowing our way was definitely more than sea spray.

    This week, a good friend ended up in ER with chest discomfort and high blood pressure. Her heart checked out fine, but they spotted two lung nodules. She will be having a lung biopsy.

    Captain Ron’s words popped into my mind. “It’s just a little squall. They come on you fast, and they leave you fast.”

    Over the years, I have been privileged to witness so many folks weather storms in their lives.

    From Presence, Kindness, and Freedom: Aaron’s Teachings on Living from an Open Heart by Barbara Brodsky:

    Certainly, there are issues that need to be resolved, but you can relate to them in loving ways. First, know that there are no problems, only situations that ask for your loving attention. If you are willing to risk being undefended in a place of pain, as you open your hearts to these difficulties, then there is no “problem,” which implies a negative experience, only a situation that asks for attention. (p. 37)

    I am enjoying a poetry group. The group leader, Gail Berreitter shares different poetry forms. The current assignment, Found poems, take existing texts and refashion them, reorder them, and present them as poems. The literary equivalent of a collage, found poetry is often made from newspaper articles, street signs, graffiti, speeches, letters, or even other poems.

    A pure found poem consists exclusively of outside texts: the words of the poem remain as they were found, with few additions or omissions. Decisions of form, such as where to break a line, are left to the poet.

    As a sort of poetic prayer for loved ones, I took that quotation from Presence, Kindness, and Freedom, and I created a Found poem.
    No Problems
    by Debra Basham 2/24/2017

    Certainly (3)
    there are issues (4)
    that need to be resolved (5)
    you can relate to them in loving ways. (10)

    First, know that (3)
    there aren’t problems (4)
    just situations (5)
    asking us for our loving attention. (10)

    If you are (3)
    willing to risk, (4)
    be undefended (5)
    in a place of pain and with open hearts (10)

    to these (3)
    difficulties (4)
    there is no “problem“ (5)
    nothing negative, just a call for love. (10)

    After that squall, the sun came back out. We had a marvelous day.

    May all beings relate to the issues that need to be resolved in loving ways. They come on you fast, and they leave you fast.

  • Google Maps

    Sacred Stories

    Google maps on her phone told her to get off I 65. They were south of Louisville.

    Never had Google maps just told her to get off. If something was going to cause a delay—an accident or construction, the app had always offered an alternative route, leaving the choice to her.

    The “unusual” behavior caught her attention!

    She decided to follow the prompt because it was so unusual.

    The detour was uneventful, and put them back on I 65 avoiding a complete accident-related shutdown.

    These are sacred stories. What does this all mean to you? Do you have as story to share? Send email to debra@scs-matters.com.

  • My Side

    Where has the month of February gone? I know one week of it was spent with a friend who was going through a painful time. Without sharing personal details, suffice it to say, it is easy for some people to pretend they are something they are not.

    What did “he” think? For sure, he knew he was making promises he would not keep.

    This image (from the Brahma Kumaris’ Thought for Today) was accompanied by these words:


    Just because you are right,
    does not mean I am wrong.
    You just haven’t seen it from my side.

    From her side, she was honest, open, vulnerable.

    One thing I can say for sure: She did not lose anything by being authentic, but it is very likely that he lost a lot by not being…

  • November 30

    Sacred Stories

    Her mother passed on November 30.

    One week later, thinking about her sister, she looked up her sister’s obituary.

    Looking at the obituary, she was stunned to see that she too had passed on Nov 30.

    These are sacred stories. What does this all mean to you? Do you have as story to share? Send email to debra@scs-matters.com.

  • Cookie Magnet

    Sacred Stories

    Missing her grandmother, wishing she could have talks about parenting, she and her young son stopped to visit some friends. Asking, “Can he use one of these?” the friend reached into the cupboard and took out a Tupperware sippy cup. It was just like the one her grandmother had.

    A little bit later looking for some appropriate toys, the friend produced a couple of refrigerator magnets: an Oreo and a chocolate chip cookie—just like her grandmother had!

    “I was really missing my grandma. So glad to know she is right here with us today!”

    These are sacred stories. What does this all mean to you? Do you have as story to share? Send email to debra@scs-matters.com.

  • How Do I Look?

    Even in a world that’s being shipwrecked,
    remain brave and strong.

    HILDEGARD VON BINGEN

    At no time more than right now, remaining brave and strong is an important reminder. It seems there are more than the usual things to be distressed or discouraged about. In our personal lives, in our communities, in our nation, on our planet.

    I loved this image when I saw it on someone’s Facebook page:

    Observing the way we look is vital. Recently, I awoke from a dream in which a teacher was telling me some day we would not tell people what to think, we would teach them how to think. This is certainly what my life with Subtle Communication Systems (SCS/NLP) is all about.

    Along these lines, I was deeply moved by this excerpt from Chögyam Trungpa’s The Heart of the Buddha: Entering the Tibetan Buddhist Path (page 126). Chögyam Trungpa was a Buddhist meditation master.

    The simultaneous experience of confusion and sanity, or being asleep and awake, is the realization of coemergent wisdom. Any occurrence in one’s state of mind—any thought, feeling, or emotion—is both black and white. It is both a statement of confusion and a message of enlightened mind.

    How do you look? Are you aware? May all beings awaken their enlightened mind. It is within every one of us.

  • Snake!

    Sacred Stories

    They had both been in Florida almost three months. He had stopped by on his bike.

    “I have not seen any snakes this year,” she commented.

    “I haven’t either, ” he responded.

    A few minutes later as he was leaving the house, they saw a snake in the carport!

    These are sacred stories. What does this all mean to you? Do you have as story to share? Send email to debra@scs-matters.com.

  • Pearls from Clams: Cinquain

    Does it make sense to you that when you keep bumping into something in your life, it is about you rather than just about what (or whom) you are bumping in to? That has been happening for me again. I enjoyed using a new poetry form to gain insight and freedom.

    The form of poetry is called the American Cinquain.(See Cinquain.org)

    Adelaide Crapsey (1878-1914) was an American poet best known for establishing the five-line form known as the cinquain.

    She had a deep appreciation for metrics and was an admirer of Japanese tanka and haiku. Her cinquain was developed partly as an American analogue of these forms.

    Her poetry was published posthumously in 1915 in a collection titled Verse.

    She is considered one of the first Imagist poets.

    The insight gained related to a struggle I had had at Holistic Alliance—wanting to please everyone, thereby sacrificing my own integrity and the integrity of the relationships with everyone else. I hope you will enjoy the poetry!

    Regret
    Unbidden, pervasive
    Wrenching, gripping, haunting
    Makes a poor bedtime partner
    Remorse

    Forgiveness
    Sweet, welcome
    Freeing, expanding, relieving
    Opens one’s heart to new beginnings
    Mercy

    Ashes
    Broken promises
    Our dreams dashed
    Can we ever recover
    Willing

    Humor
    Brings healing
    Makes us laugh
    At or with others
    Lightheartedly

    Nature
    Once feared
    Then sadly forgotten
    What will the future
    Hold

    The truth
    My honesty
    Why give anything else
    When all is given to the self
    Live clean

    In one form, your last line should be a synonym of your first line. It should mean exactly the same or nearly the same of that first word.

    Friends
    Such treasures
    Some for life
    Some for a time
    Beloveds

    Passion
    Wild, hot
    Wickedly, wantonly, willingly
    Giving over to my heart’s desire
    Devotion

    Great stuff can come from inner struggle just like pearls from clams…

    Here are more related websites about the form, thanks to Gail, president of Pine Island Writers!

    http://examples.yourdictionary.com/cinquain-examples.html

    http://hrsbstaff.ednet.ns.ca/davidc/6c_files/Poem%20pics/cinquaindescrip.htm

    http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson43/RWT016-1.PDF