His twin brother had recently died. Feeling bereft, and needing to get away, he went to visit girlfriend.
He looked out the window and saw a bolt of lightening coming straight down. The lightening struck a tree outside the window, breaking off a large branch. The branch fell onto the truck he had just driven there in.
It was his brother’s truck.
His brother’s password for everything was “Lightening!”
These are sacred stories. Pay attention to happenings in your life. Do you have a story to share? Send email to debra@scs-matters.com.
Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying;
And this same flower that smiles today
Tomorrow will be dying.
The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,
The higher he’s a-getting,
The sooner will his race be run,
And nearer he’s to setting.
~ Robert Herrick
My fingers have been missing in action from the keyboard as I have enjoyed spending time with a precious friend. We played dominoes, went sightseeing, dined with decadence, and shared about dealing with pain.
Today I am catching up.
This is the beginning of the February 6, 2019 daily thought of David J. Bloyd:
“Memories— the one thing that can never be taken away from us. Make lots of them! “
—Catherine Pulsifer, Canadian author; age not provided
wiseoldsayings.com (website)
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But be careful…very careful…because it’s just as easy to form a bad memory as it is a good one. I recall a story I read many years ago. A family was on a trip in their car, carefully planned regarding timing and distances, and on-target to fulfill those plans. Their little boy was in the back in his car seat playing with his favorite stuffed toy. His window was open to give him fresh air. Suddenly he cried out that his toy was gone. The father asked where it went. “Out the window”, the boy replied. Now the father had three choices: Chew the little boy out and keep driving; just keep driving and let the little boy suffer the loss; stop, turn around, and go back to look for the toy. He chose the last option.
Later, when with friends, the wife told the story. One of the friends asked the man “Why? Why did you ruin your schedule over an inexpensive teddy bear?”
The father smiled and said “Because the toy was his favorite.”
Now why is that important?
Because whatever choice he took, it would have created a memory for the little boy—either a sad one or a marvelous one. We have future memories in our control. Whatever we do today we’ll re-live tomorrow.
Reliving pleasant things is very pleasant. I have been doing some of that around my last week. Reliving unpleasant things can be even more unpleasant than the experience itself.
My friend, Sheilana Massey, wrote Peace Has No Space for Memories. The book encourages us to live in the moment of right now, without dragging in the past or living in the future. She says we can live with Love for what is, not for what was or what will be. From this space our planet will move into Peace, Love and Joy for all Creation.
The Buddha taught that we cannot prevent pain, but we do not have to suffer. “In life, we cannot always control the first arrow. However, the second arrow is our reaction to the first. And with this second arrow comes the possibility of choice.” (A search for ‘the second arrow’ will yield lots of pages, or check out How the Buddhist metaphor of ‘the second arrow’ can help you to be nicer to yourself.)
This is often summarized as, “Pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional.”
My friend is enduring a lot of pain.
Amidst the pain, however, she is ecstatic about her new life with her new husband. She eats with enthusiasm. She loves music. She laughs a lot.
Lou was a young pastor just finishing up his first year in his first church. That September, he said to one of his church leaders, “Hey, David, do you think I could take off the Sunday after Thanksgiving?”
“Sure,” he said, “just make sure you get someone to do the service. Are you and your wife going to go away to a football game?”
“No, I will have to leave town that weekend. My Grandmother is going to die then.”
“What? How can you possibly know that?” David demanded.
“Well, she is dying, and when her son, my Uncle, visited her this week, she said her goodbyes to him. He wasn’t ready for that, and made her promise to be with him this Thanksgiving. So she will stay for that, then go.”
About ten weeks later, Lou got the call that his grandmother had died—the day after Thanksgiving. He was able to go to her funeral.
If we listen to the people we love, they will tell us what their plans are!
These are sacred stories. Pay attention to happenings in your life. Do you have a story to share? Send email to debra@scs-matters.com.
My daughter is teaching a class at her church. The assignment was to identify something you know as absolute truth. It is an amazing experience to look at what you believe and why you believe what you believe.
The absolute truth I came up with years ago was that life does not begin at birth or end at death. I was naïve about how much holding this truth central in my awareness would change my beliefs.
Absolute truth is true across platforms. For example, the truth that light dispels darkness. We certainly experienced this truth standing in Mammoth Cave. All lights were turned off. We stood in pitch black before our guide lit one small match. It was incredible how much that tiny flame illuminated the space.
“This too shall pass,” is another truth we talked about.
You may appreciate watching the talk ‘How Do You Define Truth?’ put out by the C.S Lewis Institute. The Institute is a nonprofit organization designed to develop disciples who will articulate, defend and live their faith in Christ in personal and public life.
The definition of truth given in this talk: A statement is true when it says what is is, or what is not is not. A statement is false when it says what is is not, or what is not is.
Other comments about truth include: Reality supports the claim truth makes.
Think for a moment about a thought like justice or love.
I appreciated the talk. Opinions can be fair minded. Reasonable people can differ about their opinions.
Truth is said to have three facets: Truth is descriptive; has meaning and application; and is prescriptive.
This past week I sat with two other poets. We have been meeting to write and share. After about an hour of writing, the discussion that followed began to paint the illusion of distance between us. Watching the illusion of this distance expand, I spoke of what I was sensing.
One of the women said, “I think what you are feeling is coming from me.” She went on to share the pain she has felt being ‘right-brained, living in a left-brained world.’ She described how she coped with the pressure of formal education by becoming a people-pleaser. She said she did whatever was necessary to gain approval.
I could feel myself holding space. Almost breathlessly, I watched these two women I respect and love speak from their perspectives.
As I sat holding space, I was aware of my own experience of not being allowed to attend high school because I was a female and married. John was a male and married, so he was allowed to attend.
What is truth?
That which cannot be argued with.
May our opinions — even those justified by truth — be recognized as opinions and not be confused or claimed as absolute truth.
Today is my birthday. I LOVE birthday ritual. This morning I wrote in my journal: Today is my birthday. And Wayne’s. It seems significant Claudia is feeling sad. She said Wayne always said, “It is what it is.”
What ritual is honest for me today?
I hear: “Draw a card.”
I draw a card. Angelic Messenger Card #12 Forgiveness.
Accepting responsibility for your life; releasing blame and the judgment of others. Immense beauty and opportunity live beneath your old emotional scars.
This time in your life represents the final pass-through for many of these persisting lessons.
You can truly know and appreciate only your own life’s journey and perspective.
Pay attention to the thoughts you have as you fall asleep ad those that are on your mind as you wake up. These thoughts embody the situations and the people needing your forgiveness.
“I forgive you, and I forgive me for being caught in the process of change and for our being unable to see each other clearly.”
Angelic Messenger Cards: Divine Guidance for Personal Healing and Spiritual Discovery by Meredith L. Young-Sowers.
“It is what it is.”
I draw a card. #54 Epona’s Wild Daughter, from The Fairies’ Oracle (by Brian Froud and Jessica Macbeth), in the reversed position.
“The wise person prays for guidance and actively seeks it. The answers we truly need are to be found deeply within ourselves. What do our nightmares tell us?”
The phone ringing woke me up this morning. I was dreaming I was at a training but had left the classroom and gotten distracted futzing in the kitchen. A little boy was now with me as I was hustling to get back to the classroom. Suddenly I realized the class had already ended. I had been thinking it did not end until 3:00, but it had ended at 2:00.
I draw one more card. Page of Water: Understanding from the Osho Zen Tarot: The Transcendental Game Of Zen.
“Move with the sweetness and gentleness of the present moment. Feel the fluttering within. Spread your wings and be free.”
I wrote in my journal how much I love these messages from the cards. They all point to the truth that freedom is here now.
The voice responded:
Of course, freedom is here now. If something had blocked your freedom, that IS no longer. Each moment is new. Each breath is NOW.
In your dream you thought the class went until 3 o’clock, but when you realized the class was over you were afraid you had been negligent, that you had missed something.
You had missed the awareness of completion!
The class had ended and you were still frantically trying to get there.
Give yourself the greatest birthday present ever—the PRESENT.
Allow yourself to bask in the luxury of this moment. No regrets. No planning mind.
Her husband was being cared for in a facility, due to advanced Alzheimer’s disease. She was feeling some concern about her upcoming scheduled time away.
Before going to visit him that day, she said a little prayer, asking if he was doing OK.
His communication essentially had become “word salad.” The term word salad refers to random words or phrases linked together in an often unintelligible manner.
During that visit, her husband burst out in a spontaneous clear declaration, “I don’t have anything to be concerned about!”
These are sacred stories. Pay attention to happenings in your life. Do you have a story to share? Send email to debra@scs-matters.com.
This quotation by William Blake was hand lettered beautifully onto the whiteboard hanging on the wall. A fortunate few gathered at the Pine Island public library last evening for a presentation by Zan Henegan Lombardo—artist, poet, friend, and teacher extraordinaire.
Once in a while, you are soooooo blessed to be part of something organic, unimaginable, and magnificent. Previously, I have written about Zan’s first 30-foot watercolor painting. Now she has done it again, this time with a piece about some of my favorite sentient beings: trees.
Here is the dazzling 4 foot by 30 foot painting, titled, “Dance of All This,” when it was hanging in the round at the Sydney and Byrne Davis Art Center, 2301 First St, Fort Myers, Florida:
And, shared with her permission, Zan’s amazing poem that goes along with the new painting:
Listening to the Lights in the Trees
With forehead pressed against the trunk
Where the music is embedded,
I make this request: “Please, sing to me about your angels.”
The slender tree responds with percussive impulse,
Pushing me squarely back,
Flaying my chest, exposing my heart,
Invisible wings flexing from shoulder blades.
A cacophony of sounds and light flash through me,
Full on,
Indecipherable.
I back off.
Old trees offer more seasoned melodies, I hope.
Gingerly stepping over gnarly roots to a
Welcoming section with thicker waist,
Gently placing my brow in contact with the weathered bark,
Silently, I ask.
This time I find myself in the heart of God,
Wings still flexing from my shoulders.
And the messenger says,
“The ballad is more than can be sung
In a single verse.
Our angels require you sit
In communion with us
Throughout your life
In order to internalize the lyrics
Of that which you desire.
It’s complicated.”
–Zan Lombardo, 2018
Zan led us in an exercise about listening, during which were asked to share a memorable experience we have had with a tree. Mine was from the 1970’s, when I was a camp counselor at Lake Louise United Methodist Camp, in Boyne Falls, Michigan. The theme of the week was ‘Acclimatization.’
The activities were designed so we experienced ourselves as a part OF nature, rather than a part FROM nature. We worked with a partner, who guided us safely in the woods. We were invited to listen, and let a tree call to us. We remained with that tree for some time, practicing hearing it, before being led out of the woods.
Once safely at the edge of the woods, our blindfold was removed, and we were invited to use our new-found listening skills to return to our tree. I did that! It was truly amazing.
We were asked by Zan to inner listen and go stand by the section of the painting that spoke to us. This is the section that was speaking to me:
You can listen to trees. Trees are sentient beings.
When I had my well-skin check-up in December, the doctor noticed a bit of light scaly tissue on my nose (solar keratosis or sun damage). She prescribed a topical treatment, for four days.
I asked if it was OK for me to wait a bit. I was scheduled to do a workshop at Open Door Retreat Center in Fort Myers the first Saturday in January. I did not want the participants of my Meditation as Healing program to be distracted by healing scabs. The doctor assured me it was OK to wait.
The presentation was this past Saturday. Monday morning when I got out the supplies, I realized I had some unanswered questions about the protocol. How to protect my eyes? (John used this same product last year with some HORRIFIC reactions…) Do I cleanse and moisturize the way I normally do? Can I apply makeup? What about sun exposure?
When I told John I had called the office with my concerns, he said, “Wait until you hear back from the doctor before you start. They are good about getting back to you.”
I did not get a call back from the doctor’s office.
On Wednesday afternoon I called again, suggesting it might be better if I send an email with my questions through the portal. I was informed they have a new portal, and they would need to send me an invitation.
Thursday evening, I still had not received the ‘invitation’ to join the new portal, nor had I received a call back.
Friday morning as I sat writing in my journal (Beyond Mastery Newsletter “Writing Down Your Soul”), I had an ah ha moment: I have been asked to be the FACE introducing all of the video presentations of my meditation teachers, Barbara Brodsky and Aaron. Final edits to the copy are being made now, and the video production is scheduled for the very near future.
Suddenly I had such great appreciation for the unfolding. If my questions had been answered when I asked them, I would have started the protocol.
It is such a Divine gift that I had opportunity to be a patient patient….
Voices from the past, “There are children starving in Africa.” Food is cheap, but labor is costly, so portion size is generated to justify price. World hunger barely matters. Our dinner plates are now the size of platters. Guilt generates so much waist. It is far better to let something go to waste.
