Debra Basham

Living and Loving

Tag: Deep Spring

  • Goldfinch Grace

    A pair of goldfinches are active just outside my window on this early morning. I love early hours and beautiful bird songs that accompany their activity.

    I look up the spiritual meaning and am informed by AI:

    The goldfinch spiritually symbolizes unbridled joy, positive transformation, and divine grace. Because of its bright yellow plumage and cheerful song, its presence is a reminder to embrace optimism, celebrate life’s simple beauties, and express your true self without constraint.

    My attention leaves my window as the birds find some privacy in the lush leaves on the large shrub. I continue to hear their sweet singing as I begin to check Facebook. This message (attribtued to Deep Spring, and posted by a woman I used to attend their retreats with) speaks to my heart:

      “Hold in mind what you wish to create. Chaos is always uncomfortable for you. I’m not supporting the disruption of the world, but I’m reminding you that perhaps some of this disruption is a necessary process to move from the old into the new. The most important thing here is first, to watch your fear of letting go of the old, the fear of what will replace it. Will we all die in this process? Will everything be lost, everything we have loved? And then, to remind yourself of your power to co-create. As the old falls away, it is so important that you are able to step in and say, “Now, in this space that has opened, here is what we choose to co-create: a world of mercy, peace, friendship, loving kindness, well-being, joy.” You are being invited into that time, a time of letting go that is so hard for the human, a time of dreaming the big dreams. What would a world look like that is truly at peace? Envisioning a world of peace, of cooperation, of co-creation, of well-being for all beings. What would that look like? You are not the politicians who are going to put together the political structure, but the political structure is an outflow and not a ground. You are the ones who create the ground as you are able to be present with your feelings of fear, your presence with a world out of control, your feelings of anger at some of the authorities who are trying to push this world only for their own individuated use. Stop and note, “I am Shanti Das, a servant of peace, and I can use my energy to support peace in the world, or I can use my energy to further hatred and oppositionality.”

    I treasure the reminders we have to see the gifts life is offering. It is grace that holds steady the willingness to see this day as alive with possibilities. Of course there are conditions that challenge us. I certainly see that living here in our 55-and-over community. We have neighbors in wheelchairs who cannot even get out of their house and onto their porch. We have friends and family members who are navigating ongoing situations that call for Herculean strength every day.

    I don’t remember where I saw this, but these are wonderful words: Sometimes the things we can’t change end up changing us.

  • The Whole World Matters in the End

    Grateful John and I had an uneventful trip North. We sauntered along Georgia’s secondary roads to avoid Atlanta and stayed the night in Alabama before arriving in Smyrna on Thursday, March 26. We had a busy week of fun family time and an easy drive to Michigan on Monday, April 6. No one feels sorry for snowbirds who speak of the work of moving twice per year, and we get that, but it does take more energy every year.

    We loved our time on Lazy Lane and the fragrance of friendships forged still linger in our hearts. It is interesting to feel at home in so many places.

    There certainly are changes here. The neighbor whose porch light is left on. That person, and others, now “gone.” Another neighbor is now in assisted living. The evidence of impermanence is everywhere.

    Everything is presenting as precious and passing….

    A couple days ago the Daily Reflection Quote from Deep Spring seemed to have said it all: There are two ways in which one may experience God, the God without and that within. To experience the God without is to experience an expression of God. To experience the God within is to experience God directly. There is nothing in the drop of water that is not of the essence of the sea. There is nothing lacking for it to know the whole essence of the sea. When we enter into that divine-most essence of our being, it is a direct experience of God.

    I have stripped the bed and linens are in the dryer. My niece, Jen Marie, is bringing her mom’s cremains today and we will be meeting at the cemetery to determine if that will be their “final resting place.” Of course, we are not our cremains and the neighbors passed are still present in our hearts. What lasts? A very common question with not-so-common realizations.

    We are finally caught up with The Voice and as John and I were watching the final nine episode last night many times I had a catch in my throat. I love seeing those with so much passion receive recognition for what they do. And although the judges are competing against other judges and the contestants are competing against other contestants, genuine appreciation, admiration, and awe for all is palpable. That touches my heart.

    Last year when we came home from Florida, the haunting song I had heard at jams was “The Whole World” by Vince Gill.

    This year I come home with Dale Ann Bradley’s “In the End” resonating. This song was brought to us by our dear music friend, Kevin Mabry, and I previously posted those lyrics here on the Yellow Brick Road.

    What matters in the end? The whole world. There is nothing in the drop of water that is not of the essence of the sea.

  • Wrapping Up Winter 2026

    We were blessed to enjoy a visit with our granddaughter, Courtney. She is mom of our great grandson, Jackson, and it is tax season at work for Jackson’s G-ma, Stacey. It took a lot to get Courtney here, and we loved being able to spoil her while she was here.

    Our central theme was karaoke! She sang at the American Legion out on Pine Island, then here at Lazy Days in North Fort Myers, and finished her run with her favorite Karaoke DJ, Bobby Mann, at the VFW back out on Pine Island.

    She played shuffleboard with her Gampie and puzzled with me. Whether here at the house or out-on-the-town we fed her a few of her favorite things. We enjoyed watching 25 Words or Less, finished the current season of Virgin River on Netflix, and were all thankful she had time to read and nap. She and I often found ourselves in deep conversations about the most mundane subjects.

    Her flight home was delayed and delayed, stranding her at the airport from 4 to 9 pm, until she finally got home safely sometime after midnight!

    It had been exactly 7 years since she was here for a winter visit with us, and so much has changed. Her previous visit was pre-Covid for our world, pre-Quadruple Bypass Surgery for Gampie, and pre-Jackson for all of us. But life is about change. In fact, it is said that change is the only constant.

    It has certainly been an unusual season for John and me: (1) Not co-housing with or being within easy walking distance to Linda and Larry (2) Colder than ever for longer than ever temps (3) Learning curve with a new residence and area (4) Meeting and loving new people where we are.

    Gene, one of our new neighbors and friends, underwent open heart surgery while we were here. Jim and Mary, homeowners of our beloved Blue House we shared in Punta Gorda have listed their home with the hope of moving to the northeast coast of Florida. We did not get to see several of our Pine Island friends. Davey and Eli are in Canada navigating her health situation. We are grateful for and already missing our new homeowners, Jimmy and Renee. We have loved our time spent with Florida music friends! And the relationship with Travis and Brenda has been such a shared journey.

    We are grateful for all the friends we were able to spend time with! Now, packing has begun in earnest, with some loading already happening. We are leaving things here with the intention of being back in this space next season. With every passing day, this beloved home is feeling and looking less and less like our home and we are now earnest about eating our way out of the freezer and back to other people and spaces we love.

    This morning’s “Daily Reflection Quote” from Deep Spring speaks to the truth of the heart with life’s constant comings and goings and shines a light onto what is truth beyond thought and belief. Yes, there is truth that exists even beyond our own perceived experience!

    “You’re on a boat,” he said. “The boat is riding too low on the water and there are waves. You’ve got to toss one person out. In the boat are a loved one, a person about whom you feel neutral, a person who is a difficult person, and yourself. You’re the one to decide: which one are you going to cast into the water?”

    She thought about it a while and said, “There are no grounds for decision.” He just smiled and bowed and indicated that the interview was over.

    “Did I get it right?” she wondered.

    But of course, when you get to that place where you understand your interrelationship with all beings, there are no grounds for decision. You cannot cast yourself into the shark-infested sea to save others, nor can you throw others in to save yourself.

    ~Aaron

    John’s brother, Jack, is back in the hospital again with Cindy’s heroic plans in place to get him safely home to Michigan from Florida early next week. Asking for prayers for them and for everyone and everything in the way your heart earnestly prays.

    “May all be at peace” is a universal, compassionate wish often associated with the Buddhist Metta Sutta (Loving-Kindness prayer), aiming for all beings to be free from suffering, happy, and safe. It is a mindfulness practice used to cultivate, promote inner peace, and foster well-being across the world, including, and without, exception.

    May all be at peace. Here, we are wrapping up winter….

  • What Are You Doing Today?

    The farmer may only be planting a seed,
    but if he opens his eyes
    he is feeding the whole world.
    ~ Omaha Bee

    This opening quotation kicked off a precious story about a three-person construction crew who was approached by a man asking what each was doing. The first said he was working for pittance and was getting tired, the second said he was laying concrete, the third (a woman, in the version I read) said, “I am building a hospital where people will receive needed medical care and many lives will be saved.”

    The man responded, “Yes… You are building my hospital.”

    The man was the benefactor, and he made the woman head over the entire project.

    I don’t know if this story actually happened as it is written, but the essence of this story is happening all over the planet at every moment as we are either working for a pittance, laying concrete, or saving lives.

    What are you doing today?

    Deep Spring Center
    Thought for Today

    You ask why there seem to be increasing obstacles. If you’re muddling around thinking about being more loving and caring and connected in your lives but not really doing much about it, negative polarity can relax. They see you’re not really getting anywhere. Since WWII, there has been a tremendous move toward positive polarity in the world. Many old souls are coming into birth, especially in the past 30 years. Here are many beings really intent on finding a way to live with love in the world rather than with an ‘eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth’ doctrine. Negative polarity looks around and says, ‘What’s happening? This is getting out of hand! Look how loving they’re becoming. Let’s toss in some opposition here.’ ~ Aaron

    Deep Spring has a new blog! Here is a link to the first post: The Vibration of Love is Protection from COVID-19

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  • Human Feet

    My mind is so busy. I pull myself away from the Tapping Summit to join my Friday morning writing group, and the group seems so focused on the mundane I want to leave. I want to be inside where it is safe.

    Finally, Mary reads an incredible poem: “For Calling the Spirit Back from Wandering the Earth in its Human Feet” by Joy Harjo

    I hope you will read this poem. You will relate. We all have human feet.

    I begin to write:

    Loss and Gain

    Searching for safety and security we wander aimlessly through the lostness of our own minds, opening door-after-door only to look into a mirror. Caught in the haze of a maze, thinking the same thoughts year after year without so much as questioning where they are leading us.

    A few tell-tale feathers lay on the ground outside the window

    A ghost-like image where they wiped the dust upon impact

    Beak, wing, and silence now where the THUD had been

    Heart breaking loneliness hits my mind the same way the bird hit the window: suddenly and without malice of forethought. An old friend, this feeling of not being wanted, loved, or safe. I open another door. Perhaps this time something else will be there.

    Eyes grow dull

    Search for a stress-free environment begins

    Danger results from well-meaning help

    Snakes shed their skin to allow for further growth. The process is natural and happens throughout their lives, but it is not an easy process. Being human is not an easy process either, and I, too, search for a stress-free environment in which to shed.

    Nigger

    Negro

    African America

    Black

    Words reveal our progress

    Slogans from mindfulness t-shirts I have seen come to mind: Meditation is not what you think, You Have the Right to Remain Silent, Don’t Believe Everything You Think.

    Perhaps hopeful, trusting, and calm will be the result of my new skin.

    P.S. The Deep Spring Dharma Path Study Group with Barbara Brodsky is finishing our two-year commitment. We are finding the light within Sacred Darkness. Whatever the conditions in your life right now, you in your human feet are never alone.

  • Hearing, Sitting, Touching, Breathing

    For those who believe, no words are necessary.
    For those who do not believe, no words are possible.

    ~Attributed to Saint Ignatius in Think of an Elephant : Combining Science and Spirituality for a Better Life (2007) by Paul Bailey, but earlier attributed to Franz Werfel, Philippine Studies (1953) by Ateneo de Manila, p. 269; also in Everest : The Mountaineering History (2000) by Walt Unsworth, p. 100.

    I spent October 6-13, 2019 at a Deep Spring meditation retreat at Oakwood Retreat Center in Selma, Indiana. Great advice on how to respond to the question if you had a good retreat is to simply smile and say, “It was Divine.”

    Truly, for those who have a practice of Vipassana (mindfulness), no words are necessary. For folks who admit to being terrified by the mere mention of seven days and seven nights of silence there are no words possible to describe the depth of experience.

    This is from the Deep Spring website: A meditation retreat is a wonderful opportunity to experience our own inner being while sharing in the support of others. Mindfulness throughout the day will be a focus, with alternating periods of sitting and walking practice. The retreat will be held in silence, free of conversational talking. This kind of retreat may not be appropriate for all people. If you have concerns about your emotional stability under the pressures of a deeply introspective meditation experience, please discuss your concerns prior to registering.

    More specifically, this was our week’s schedule: First sitting 6:30 am. Breakfast at 7:30 am. 8:45 instruction and sitting. 10:15 walking meditation. 11:00 am sitting. Noon lunch. 2:00 sitting. 2:45 walking meditation. 4:15 various afternoon programming. 5:15 dinner. 6:30 pm evening sitting. 7:15 dharma talk. 8:30 final sitting. 9:00 rest. (It is almost incomprehensible that one could lie awake staring into the darkness much of the night after such full days, but we often did.)

    The theme of this retreat was experiencing light within the darkness. Sunrises were exquisite!


    We were guided to stay present with the aversion or dislike, the wanting to escape. You can hold attention skillfully with openness of heart. Being present with kind attention, you are including everything in your experience.

    It was easy to see beauty within destruction on the Oakwood campus because they sustained severe wind damage a few weeks ago. The bridge between the meditation hall and the teaching space was roped off, but brave meditators ducked under the “CAUTION” tape and gingerly tiptoed across to the other side.

    Breath-taking beauty resulted from branches having been cut off a pine tree.

    Perhaps it is true that beauty grows up through the cracks of our pain.

    People came to this retreat with genuine human burdens: incurable cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, history of abuse, addiction, loneliness, anger, sadness, grief, physical pain.

    And we each sat with what we brought…. sitting in meditation is done for relief for all sentient beings.

    Pain. Unpleasant. Fear.

    We were instructed to understand the difference between armoring and shielding. It is very appropriate to shield. We appropriately shield without moving into a place of armoring. Shielding with physical pain might mean applying some arnica cream or taking an aspirin.

    The armor does not just appear. There is a feeling ‘unsafe.’ There is a wanting to armor. There is a wanting to feel safe. There are stories made up.

    On Tuesday morning I noticed I had been gently rocking back and forth as I sat in the instruction periods. I vividly remembered having done that often as a child, and even into my adulthood, to comfort myself.

    “Hindrances come as stepping stones to awakenings,” our teachers assured us.

    The Buddha said, “It it were not possible, I would not ask you to do it.”

    I reflected about so many of the attendees sharing deep agony of their habit patterns of self-loathing and self-criticism. I wrote in my journal: Perfection is present in every stage. The perfection of an infant only capable of lying and being held. The perfection of a toddler beginning to walk. A preschooler running with abandon. Teenagers active with hormones raging. A mother walking a child to the bus. A grandmother being helped to walk down the street. Every age has its inherent beauty.

    I was given this focus for my practice: “You love so deeply. You support so many. But you often ask, ‘Did I do enough? Could I have done more?’Spend this week really feeling what it is to truly cherish yourself. You are enough. Cherish yourself.”

    Thursday afternoon we had darshan with the Mother. There were very few words spoken. I wrote these down.

    What if there were no right or wrong?

    You are loved. You don’t have to earn that love.

    You carry family karma. You did not cause it, but you must tend to it because you carry it.

    I wrote in my journal: I set my intention for total relief of the karma of sexual guilt.

    People found ways to skillfully process the heavy emotions. Like this art on the table in the dining hall:

    I wrote a haiku.

    Shadow Haiku

    Stink bug in window
    Its shadow toys with my mind
    Are there one or two?

    Who leads? Who follows?
    Shadow looms larger than life
    Illusion brings fear

    Lips curl in a smile
    Such games the light plays with me
    I let myself play

    Bees buzz and birds fly
    Butterflies flit and then land
    So brief their sweet lives

    Does some distant God
    Watch with curiosity
    As I move through life

    Perhaps we are all
    Light and shadow just dancing
    Nothing ever dies

    Debra Basham
    10/08/2019
    Oakwood Retreat

    I wrote “Am I Enlightened” and shared it at the campfire when we were invited to share about our week:

    Am I Enlightened?

    Many people have said I’m the most enlightened human being they’ve met. I don’t know what enlightenment is.

    Am I enlightened because I think to close the door softly when my roommate is sleeping? Or when I pick up a piece of trash remembering the day the sheet of paper was sucked off the front seat of my van while I was driving on the highway leaving me with no way to retrieve it?

    Am I enlightened when I taste the soil and the sun, and the sweat from the hands of the laborer, and the smoke from the cigarette held by the yellow-stained fingers of the delivery man on the bread I toasted dark brown and slathered with jam?

    Am I enlightened because I celebrate like a 2-year-old every time I poop? Am I enlightened because I find no satisfaction in getting even or getting done?

    Am I enlightened because I have felt a baby’s birth and an elder’s death and I know they are the same?

    Am I enlightened because I crawl into bed at night saying, “I love my bed,” humbled knowing based on national reports, it’s estimated that no less than 150 million people, or about 2 percent of the world’s population, are homeless, and about 1.6 billion, more than 20 percent of the world’s population, may lack adequate housing?

    Am I enlightened because unloading silverware from the dishwasher and putting it into the drawer, I hear the bell that rings calling us to meditation when I am on retreat?

    Am I enlightened because I remember I am walking on the home of ants and moths and moles as I walk across the grass still wet from the morning dew?

    Am I enlightened because I heard Ella tell me hers was a perfect incarnation for someone who desired to feel loved and wanted every second of their life as I was making the hour drive to be at the hospital to baptize her knowing a baby born with anencephaly might be stillborn or survive only a few hours to a few days after birth?

    Am I enlightened? I do not say I am for I know wisdom and kindness and ignorance and cruelty and I know I am none other than All That Is.

    Debra Basham
    10-11-2019
    Oakwood Retreat

  • Learn the Tables

    Recently I wrote a poem titled ‘Longing’ that was inspired by an exchange with a dear friend that left me feeling less than valued, wondering if I should have, or could have, done something differently in our past to allow for a more pleasant current exchange.

    Sitting heart-to-heart with another precious friend a week or so later, I was stunned to have her say to me, “You are more invested in saving my marriage than I am.”

    Later, as I was writing in my journal, some clarity came about all of this, inspired in part by the Thought for Today from Deep Spring Center.

    You as a world are inviting conflict but then not doing the needed practice with it, so you must invite it again and again. You are like the child in school doing endless multiplication table drills; they are unpleasant but you have not studied the tables, and will not, so the teacher repeats the drills. Your inattention calls forth the repetition. If you wish the drills to cease, learn the tables.
    ~ Aaron

    The “D” stands for Debra, and the “V” stands for the voice of wisdom I call Holy Spirit, from my journal entry:

    D: I know the truth that ‘wherever you go, there you are.’ If she is so easily offended because he yelled at her, she will encounter that energy again. It is today’s quotation from Aaron about calling difficulties to us over and over to learn what we need to know.

    V: If you had a lesson you are still learning that expresses itself in the ‘Longing’ poem, what might that lesson be?

    D: Take nothing personally. I am not responsible for another person’s emotional state.

    Note—As I wrote these words on to the journal page, I could feel something leaving my energy!

    V: What else?

    D: Wonderings are a symptom of not being present moment where I can gently say, “Oh, this is that old habit energy. I know you. Come, sit, have tea. I’ve been expecting you.” *

    V: Tell all who know. They all know. Love, Holy Spirit

    A very wonderful message on an Easter morning.

    Going right along with that, was the quotation, “When humanity awakens, it will move beyond time,” which came from the Brahma Kumaris with this image:

    *This is a reference to the stories of Milarepa (c. 1052 – c. 1135 CE), one of Tibet’s most famous yogis and poets.

  • Love Will Find a Way

    The future won’t always be fair.

    But we can try.

    We can care.

    We can choose to connect.

    It can be better if we let it.

    ~ Seth Godin

    Many of my days are spent bearing witness to the clarity secure within our souls as our personalities fling destructive BS into our lives. One recent conversation went something like this:

    “You never invite me to Christmas.”

    “I don’t even have Christmas.”

    “I am never included.”

    “You are the one who moved away.”

    Pain, upon pain.

    I claim again the gift of knowing that under any message filled with blame and accusation is a legitimate need even if it is being expressed unskillfully.

    What a relief….

    I love poetry. Something about the way a person shows you a feeling without saying what that feeling is excites the part of you that thrives on curiosity. Too much of the time our logical mind tries to run the show. We plan. We manipulate. We hide.

    In a poem the words are expressions of the heart, being heard by the heart.

    I had not intended the following poem to give away so much of my own heart, but it does.

    The prompt is from The Crafty Poet: A Portable Workshop, by Diane Lockward. Instructions were to choose an odd job. One example was snake milker’s daughter. We were to jot down some relevant language, choosing words that are specific to this job and sound great.

    Medium Mayhem

    Secrets slip into my awareness unheeded

      from somewhere or someone

    Listening hands hear, “Bell’s Palsy.”

    Babies believed long dead

      babble difficult directives

    “Tell her I am not dead.”

    Fifty years she has carried abortion’s guilt

      Searing pain shoots down my leg

    Relevant to ask, “Is this mine?”

    The task is always to realize

      we are energy

    swimming in one sea

    Hearing, seeing, feeling, knowing

      not always easy to distinguish

    fact from fiction

    Fantasy or wishful thinking

      the taunting

    fortunately only on occasion

    Echoes of accusations

      hang over (or come from

    my head

    Ghostly guesses

      and grisly gallows

    shake confidence at core

    What do you do?

      generates no easy answer

    “I talk to dead people.”

    Likely not heard

      at the dinner table

    of the mentally stable

    Truth be told

      I don’t just

    talk to dead people

    They also talk

      to me

    No blasphemy!

    Mystery

      mocking mayhem

    Famous or infamous

    Sinner or saint

      life as a spiritual sensitive

    is understandably quaint

    Debra Basham 4-8-2018 (WC 153)

    Perhaps the Deep Spring Center “Thought for Today” (April 12, 2018) is the perfect closing for this blog post.

    “Do not despair that you have no vision. The vision is right here in your own radiant hearts, your kindness and your commitment to your practice. There is not one of you that does not vision a more harmonious world. Hold that in front of you and know that it is possible and then just ask yourself, ‘What will support this?’ Do not be afraid. Hold your vision ahead of you. There is a saying, ‘The dharma takes care of those who take care of the dharma.’ Love will find a way.”

    (See Message, Subtext, Metamessage in Healing with Language by Joel P. Bowman and Debra Basham.)