Debra Basham

Living and Loving

Tag: inspiration

  • Norman Hans Thor

    Sacred Stories

    It was Christmas following the passing of her husband in November.

    Searching for anything that would allow her to celebrate with their son and daughter, she settled on a three-wicked candle.


    They would each light a wick, as an expression of their continued love of him.

    But Norman Hans Thor, a near-life-sized moose, caught her attention as she passed a toy store window on her way to purchase the candle. The totally spontaneous purchase of Norman, as he is affectionately called, took over her mind completely. She forgot all about the candle in the excitement…


    Later, when she returned to town to purchase the precious candle, she was thrilled to find that it was on sale at 50% savings!

    Later, she found a Christmas candle holder that fit their special candle perfectly. Despite being totally blackened, the silver-plated holder cleaned up to reveal it’s true light.

    One of her husband’s nicknames was “Young Buck.”


    She shares, “Meeting a moose in a toy store window and finding a silver plated candle holder in the trash at a gas station is all about reminders that we are supported in every moment.”

    And the EnneaThought® for the Day (Type Six EnneaThought®) expressed this same truth:

    As you approach the start of a New Year, you can prepare for the transformation of your personality into Essence by realizing how extensively you are supported in every moment.

  • I Am So Blessed

    Sacred Stories

    As she finished the morning yoga practice, reclining in rest pose, she began to spontaneously sing, “I am so blessed, I am so blessed, I am so blessed, I am so grateful for all that I have.”

    She grabbed her phone, did a search and came up with that single by Karen Drucker on YouTube.

    Curious, she said out loud, “Alexa, shuffle songs by Karen Drucker.”

    “Shuffling songs by Karen Drucker. Playing first, I Am So Blessed,” Alexa announced!

    May the wonder of the world find ways to guarantee that we notice….

  • 21st Century Mystic

    Sacred Stories

    They were on FaceTime, sharing their reentry to the “real” world after having been on retreat for a week. The conversation turned to the awkwardness that can arise when using intuition in our everyday work life, especially in fields that do not embrace this path.

    One mentioned having heard author Alan Seale say, “In the 21st century we will all become mystics or we will be nothing at all.” She went on to mention how spiritual practice historically had been cloistered, where those called to service were likely living within religious community that understood such a calling. On Becoming a 21st Century Mystic: Pathways to Intuitive Living, was written in 1997. Very different from today!

    A few minutes after their conversation ended, the other friend sent a text message with a photo of a paragraph written by the Buddhist nun, Pema Chödrön:


    Along with the quotation was her comment, “I guess women have always had to figure out how to be busy mystics when cloistering was not available for them. Thought this part of my reading was a synchronicity with what we had discussed.”

    From the back cover of On Becoming a 21st Century Mystic:

    Intuition, in its highest form, is nothing less than the voice of God within you. It is one of God’s greatest gifts. Journey deep into your heart. Uncover your innate intuitive gifts. Discover vast realities beyond your outer senses. Experience the oneness of your rational and intuitive minds. A breakthrough book – a clear and practical guide for spiritual and intuitive living in the 21st century.

  • Blue Jays!

    Sacred Stories

    She was out of state, caring for/visiting with her elderly father, when she received a text message from a friend: “Not sure what’s going on with you, but Blue Jays are hanging out here in groups up to a half dozen.” Her friend knew that Blue Jays were often a spiritual visitor for her….

    She wrote back: “I am here at Dad’s, enjoying many ordinary moments. I had many Blue Jays at my feeder before I left and wondered where they would find food while I was gone. I had hoped they would head to your nearby home. Perhaps they have!”

    They both understood.

    EVERYTHING responds to loving intention….

    (Note* – The “totem” meaning of Blue Jay is strength and endurance; we are able to endure difficult situations in life.”)

  • Airbnb

    Sacred Stories

    Difficult as it was, she determined she probably needed to cancel her plans to go to an Airbnb for her birthday. Money was tight.

    Going online, there was a message on the listing: Aaron wants you to enjoy your stay!

    Her spiritual teacher’s name is Aaron….

    “According to Vedanta, there are only two symptoms of enlightenment, just two indications that a transformation is taking place within you toward a higher consciousness. The first symptom is that you stop worrying. Things don’t bother you anymore. You become light-hearted and full of joy. The second symptom is that you encounter more and more meaningful coincidences in your life, more and more synchronicities. And this accelerates to the point where you actually experience the miraculous. (quoted by Carol Lynn Pearson in Consider the Butterfly)”
    ― Deepak Chopra, Synchrodestiny: Harnessing the Infinite Power of Coincidence to Create Miracles

  • 1:30 pm

    Sacred Stories

    She used her “walking meditation” time to enjoy a bike ride. Summer was gone now, and winter was closer day-by-day.

    Today was beautiful, and she was debating taking a longer ride — soooo welcome after seven long days of sitting meditation. She could use the time set aside for lunch/rest to log another five miles.

    Observing the practice of noble silence throughout the retreat, she had her phone with her but the ringer was shut off. Something nudged her to check her phone, and she saw a text message from the Zoom host. The message had been sent at 12:52 pm.

    “I have some things to attend to this afternoon. Okay to make you the host starting at 1:30?”

    She immediately sent a text message back: “I am out on my bike right now, and it may be a couple of minutes after 1:30 before I get there, but I’m heading back right now.”

    That nudge to check her phone came at the exact point where she could get back.

    She logged on to Zoom as host at 1:30 pm….

  • Barbara’s Call

    Sacred Stories

    She sent email sharing a funny experience:

      While lying in a yoga pose listening to a friend/spiritual teacher’s (Barbara’s) instructions, recorded at retreat the previous day, almost falling asleep, the phone rang.

      Strange.

      It said the call was from Barbara.

      How could she be calling while I am listening to her giving a talk? It was almost an out-of-body experience.

      I answered the phone and indeed it was Barbara!

      Duh!

      I told her about it and she thought it was funny, too! (Sort of like dreams I wake up from, feeling they’re so real, that people are with me in the house, so I go to the back bathroom instead of the one I usually go to so that I don’t wake them up! And then I see that no one is there!)


    The world of reality has its limits; the world of imagination is boundless.
    ~ Jean Jacques Rousseau

  • Poppies

    Sacred Stories

    She had just spent 8 days on “virtual” retreat. Her closing remarks included her sharing of Poppies, a beautiful poem by Mary Oliver. As many, this Mary Oliver poem focuses on elements of nature.

    Moments after her sharing of the poem, a friend also attending the “virtual” retreat sent the following photo and message:

    My recent purchase: poppies on glass.

    The following morning, she sent her friend this message:

    Just had to share with you this amazing additional piece of synchronicity with poppies, this one by this year’s Nobel Prize winner Louise Gluck (whom I’ve only recently discovered and like a lot). This came just yesterday, as the poem of the day, but I saw it in my email today. I think it’s interesting that once again, the themes of our retreat and the teachings we receive in general are mirrored in this poem in the voice of a poppy.

    A few lines from Mary Oliver’s poem: Poppies

    There isn’t a place
    in this world that doesn’t

    sooner or later drown
    in the indigos of darkness,

    But I also say this: that light
    is an invitation
    to happiness,
    and that happiness,

    when it’s done right,
    is a kind of holiness,
    palpable and redemptive.

    Thank you, Mary Oliver, thank you poppies….


  • Happy 37th Anniversary!

    Sacred Stories

    A big storm blew through and flattened a huge stem of her cosmos. She found it very wilted along the driveway.

    She brought it in and put it in the vase that friends had given to her and her late husband for their wedding.

    The following morning she was so surprised she excitedly sent this photo and accompanying message:

    “Look what greeted me this morning on my 37th wedding anniversary!”

    The ones who love us never really leave us… J.K. Rowling

  • All Roads Lead to Somewhere

    The headline: The first debate between President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden deteriorated into a bitter showdown …

    It would be so easy for me to pass judgment about how unskillful bitter exchanges are were it not for the fact that I had just let myself get triggered by a friend I care for very deeply.

    We knew we had only a few minutes to talk before I was to be online for meditation, so in those few minutes she got to the heart of the matter for her: “I feel betrayed.” This was not the first time I had heard her express these same words about her boss over the years. But on this day I had an expectation for something else.

    When I argue with reality, I lose —
    but only 100 percent of the time.
    ~ Byron Katie

    All suffering is essentially wanting something other than what is.

    The following morning I was still watching the subtle contractions with my friend when I said, “All roads lead to Rome,” and she responded, “I don’t know about that, but all roads lead somewhere.”

    The saying that all roads lead to Rome was reality in the days of the Roman Empire. All the empire’s roads radiated out from the capital city, Rome. Commonly, the saying now often means all the methods of doing something will achieve the same result in the end.

    Whether Trump or Biden wins the Presidential election, “Election Day” will take place on the last day of Mercury’s last period of retrograde motion in 2020! (This one lasts from October 14 to November 3.)

    According to the age-old practice of astrology, we are all influenced by the effect of Mercury in retrograde. This from The Old Farmer’s Almanac: Mercury Retrograde Dates in 2020:

    Review projects and plans at these times, but wait until Mercury is direct again to make any final decisions. You can’t stop your life, but plan ahead, have back-up plans, and be prepared for angrier people and miscommunication.

    Some people blame Mercury retrograde for “bad” things that happen in their lives. Instead, this is a good time to sit back and review where you put your energy in your life.

    The Deep Spring Center Thought for Today addresses this, too:

      Please do go out and work for the candidate of your choice and also listen carefully to the other candidate and try to understand any basis of fear or confusion from which the statements seem to be coming. Do so in order not to condemn from a place of opposition but truly try to understand, because you will then have compassion for this opposition view rather than just condemnation for it. From the strength of that compassion you are much better able to say no than from the place of condemnation and oppositionality.
      ~ Aaron

    I drew a couple of Osho cards, inviting balance. Key words from the first: “It is a time when you are ready to let go of any expectations you have had about yourself or other people, and to take responsibility for any illusions you might have been carrying.”

    Key words from the second: “He has no private goals, no desire that everything should be other than the way it is.”


    Oh, my.

    I guess all roads do lead somewhere…