Debra Basham

Living and Loving

Tag: Louise Hay

  • MDS Leukemia and Seeing God Clearly

    It had only been one day earlier she had been on the phone with a friend/colleague for 90 minutes. The friend had received a diagnosis of MDS Leukemia.

    Her friend was a Nurse Practitioner, so no novice to medical information. The prognosis for myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) — sometimes called pre-leukemia — varies widely. Median survival ranges from about 9 months for very high-risk disease to over 8 to 12 years for very low-risk disease. About one-third of patients progress to acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Outlook depends heavily on individual risk scores, blood counts, and genetic features.

    “There’s a reason for everything,” her friend had said, “this is bigger than me.”

    Her friend’s to-do list included:
    1. Remember to live in the moment.
    2. Pay attention to right effort.
    3. Follow inner guidance.

    They spoke of aspects of global healing practices they knew of and many things that might best support living, rather that just trying not to die. They read from Louise Hay; they talked about Dr. Alex Howard’s saying we are all healing from childhood emotional neglect; and they agreed about the need for boundaries and creating a sense of safety, while cultivating self-love and joy.

    The following day this showed up in her inbox:

    Today, Steve talks about his response to his cancer diagnosis.

    The Daily Tejaniya
    Jan. 17, 2026

    Recently, I’ve had a precious opportunity to use Sayadaw’s
    practice in my life, along with other meditation approaches
    I’ve learned over the years.

    In February 2018, I was diagnosed with glioblastoma, a highly
    aggressive brain cancer. The disease is terminal, not a good
    prognosis. But from the first day, I honestly have never had
    fear, nor hope.

    Instead, I have been very interested in everything that’s going
    on, including the pain and suffering that happens.

    ❤️🙏

    The remarkable thing is, she doesn’t remember having seen this 7 months earlier and she does not remember having forwarded it to a person named Doug. She cannot explain how it got into her hands today after talking to her friend the day before and learning of her diagnosis and witnessing how her friend intends to navigate all she is facing.

    And this quote also showed up on her Facebook page:
    “The moment you come to trust chaos, you see God clearly. Chaos is divine order, verses human order. Change is divine order, verses human order. When the chaos becomes safety to you, then you know you’re seeing God clearly.” ~ Caroline Myss

  • Pink Full Moon

    The spiritual meaning of the Pink Full Moon in April 2025, specifically when it occurs in Libra, is about renewal, healing, and balanced relationships. It encourages emotional clarity and inner peace, urging us to consider our connections and patterns. This moon also symbolizes fresh starts, growth, and the return of life after a period of dormancy, much like the blooming of flowers in spring.

    Here’s a more detailed look (all generated by AI):

      Renewal and Rebirth:
      The Pink Moon, named for the phlox flowers that bloom in spring, signifies a time of new beginnings and the resurgence of nature after winter. It’s a time to embrace fresh starts, both in personal and professional life.

      Emotional Healing and Clarity:
      This full moon encourages emotional illumination and allows us to release unresolved emotions, fostering a greater connection to our inner truth.

      Balance and Relationships:
      Occurring in Libra, the sign of balance, harmony, and relationships, the Pink Moon calls us to evaluate our interactions with others and ensure our connections are reciprocal and supportive. It’s a time to assess how we move in partnership with others and create more harmony in our relationships.

      Introspection and Release:
      The Pink Moon in Libra, opposite Aries, can bring up old wounds and insecurities, prompting us to release what no longer serves us and to re-evaluate our relationship patterns.

      Venus and Romance:
      With Venus, the planet of love and beauty, in its exalted position in Pisces and then going direct on the same day as the full moon, the Pink Moon in Libra is considered the most romantic of all full moons, bringing a sense of love and connection.

      Practical Applications:
      The Pink Moon is an ideal time to journal, meditate, create vision boards, or start new undertakings. It’s also a good time to purify your surroundings with incense or sage and connect with your soul’s mission.

    This morning my prayer/meditation time included listening to some gospel piano. A friend, Tom Kuhlman, sent me the name of two artists: a man named Julian Brock and a woman named Denise. As I listened I began to write in my journal:

    Jen and I had much lovely sharing about living with anxiety and a desire to control and freedom in Jesus. I boldly ask for a heart of love and trust and release of this history of fear. I hear, “THIS IS YOUR HEART. It is the mind/mammalian body that reacts with fear.”

    I open The Daily Tejaniya and read, “Usually when meditators practice meditation, they are not that interested in learning the truth of body and mind. They are trying to control the body and mind.”

    The primary scripture about renewing the mind is Romans 12:2: “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

    Also in my email inbox this morning, a message about spring by Reid Tracy from Hay House:

      Just like the earth begins to wake up and renew itself, we can do the same. Louise believed deeply in the power of affirmations to help us shift our thinking and reshape our lives.

      Two affirmations that feel perfect for this time of year are: “I welcome new beginnings into my life” and “My life is continuously blossoming with opportunities.”

    May all beings blossom with these pink full moon possibilities….

  • Karma and Forgiveness

    We crave that deep place within
    that cannot be touched by the ups and downs of life,
    but rather just IS – connected and whole.

    ~ Katie Rubinstein

    For well over twenty years I have been working with a Karmic stream from a lucid past life. I will tell it like a fictional story so you will be able to hear the truth and make good use of the wisdom and compassion without needing to believe or disbelieve any details. For ease in writing I shall write it the way I experience it, which is in first person.

    The best stories begin with long, long ago in a far-away place I was born as a female to parents who were the beloved and trusted leaders in a utopian walled village. I was one with all of nature; able to speak and understand the birds and animals and revered by all in our community. Although I was born a female, I was announced as a male to avoid instability in the face of no heir. It was a truly blissful existence… until I was approaching puberty.

    Overhearing my parents discussing the dilemma that soon my body would betray us and violence was sure to occur, I ran away thinking that my being there was the problem so running away would be the solution. All delusion is that misguided, and this was a slippery slope for sure.

    I was befriended by a man who cared greatly for me as the son of the leaders but as time passed it became obvious I was a female, and his love became corrupt. He forced himself on me, resulting in my becoming pregnant. I was so frightened and ignorant and unhappy, and he was so frightened that I would run away he incarcerated me. I could not see or hear the birds and animals. I was bereft.

    Peeling a large sliver from the wooden tray he left food for me on, I dug into my wrist, bleeding to death, ending my life and the life of the fetus within me. That unborn one has been my business partner for over twenty years in this life, and the man who had kept me was my business partner’s wife in this lifetime. She loved me so much, but she was not happy with his continuing to work as she was retired and wanted him to retire. Soon after he and I formed a legal partnership and it was obvious he was not only not going to retire but would also be doing a large amount of consulting work with me, she moved out of state saying, “I will see you when I see you.” They were eventually divorced.

    “A retreat is best served when you acknowledge your awakeness yet know it is not fully realized yet.”

    “There is both wholesome and unwholesome karma. The intention is to go beyond karma.”

    “See it as the perfect unfolding of karma…. see the innate perfection everywhere…. you have a portion of it and a responsibility to release that portion for all beings. None of this can happen without intention.”

    “For every human there is wholesome karma regardless of how deeply mired in negativity.”

    “Each being that looks at unwholesome karma with forgiveness and love is living the intention and brings forth high vibration and love and to heal the whole earth.”

    My nighttime dreams and my meditations were filled with painful memories related to this karmic stream. Lucid. Vibrant. Complete with body sensations, smells, sights and sounds.

    On Wednesday during the sitting following Darshan with The Mother, as channeled by Barbara Brodsky, I experienced clear seeing of how “saying no with love” could have made space for less pain and suffering for everyone. I heard my former self speak from total love, compassion, and wisdom.

    “I am a child. I am very broken hearted, enough so that I do not want to live. If I die, so will your child. You took my body which was not freely given. Please let me go free. Do not force yourself on me again. I cannot promise that I will come to love you in that way, but I will live so your beloved child may also live. Will you at least try?”

    Thursday evening’s Dharma talk by John Orr was on faith. John quoted Thomas Merton as having said that faith begins when prayer becomes impossible and the heart has changed to stone. I know that feeling related to this karmic stream….

    I see Nuthatch as I open my eyes and I look up the spiritual meaning.

    When Nuthatch flutters into your awareness, it brings a message of keeping the faith and trusting what you know within, even if you can’t see it wiht your natural eyes.

    As I close my eyes during the final sitting of the day I hear, “You can’t go back, Dear One. Your heart is seeking to find freedom here now.”

    I sit through floods of torturous memories during meditation but this time I am able to see it all as more being purified. My intent is to lay it all down….

    Parallel to all of this inner journey, I have had a yeast flare. Such intense vaginal itching I could not sleep. The probable mental cause of candida according to Louise Hay is feeling very scattered. (As the retreat opened I was so scattered Sivia had to take over the hosting duties.) Lots of frustration and anger and untrusting in relationships. (Oh, yes, very familiar….) The affirmation to clear this pattern is beautifully simple: “I give myself permission to be all that I can be, and I deserve the very best in life. I love and appreciate myself and others.”

    “We have to be respectful of the pain the forgiveness is to release.”

    “Forcing forgiveness is another way of not forgiving ourselves.”

    “When we stop separating ourselves from others, it becomes THE PAIN, and compassion comes. With compassion there is no need for forgiveness.”

    Never put anyone out of your heart. ~ Maharshi

    I feel such gratitude for the yeast!

    “We don’t have to attain nirvana, because we ourselves are always dwelling in nirvana. The wave does not have to look for the water. It already is water. We are one with the ground of our being. Once the wave realizes that she is water all her fear vanishes.” ~ Thich Nhat Hahn

  • All is Well

    Sacred Stories

    She had been nursing a bruised left foot for over a week when her friend suggested they look up the metaphysical meaning of bruise in Heal Your Body by Louise Hay.


    Louise says, “In order to permanently eliminate a condition, we must first dissolve the mental cause.” Her friend put down the phone, grabbed her copy of the book, picked up the phone, and read to her:

    Bruises (Ecchymoses)

    Probable Cause:
    The little bumps in life. Self-punishment.

    The affirmation:
    I love and cherish myself.
    I am kind and gentle with me.
    All is well.

    Mere moments before she had called her friend that morning she placed one of her “beach-stone-beauties” on the counter in the kitchen where her cat, Bella, eats.

    The words she had painted on the stone spoke directly to Louise Hay’s suggested affirmation for her bruised foot!

    All is well. And it will be well.

  • Photoshop Fun

    Sometimes I notice myself deciding I am where I want to be. Sometimes where I am to be is very clear. My poetry group meets in Florida. When I am in Michigan, we FaceTime me in for the gathering. This week, afterwards they all went out for dinner. I wasn’t there, or was I…

    When I saw the photo, I asked my brother-in-love, Larry Britton, to Photoshop me into the group. Larry is an amazingly talented artist. See his masterful result below.

    I sent the new photo back to my poetry group saying, “I love being with you all!” Nobody caught it.

    A couple of days later I wrote back asking if anyone had noticed I had been Photoshopped in. Then we got some laughs.

    This is a big week in my world. My grandson and his wife are setting out on the first leg of an amazing Airbnb adventure. Another friend left with a team from our local hospice to share and support a sister hospice in Kenya. A wonderful woman friend met with an oncologist. She is scheduled for surgery in a couple of weeks, and the rest will be relealed. I watched, The Zookeeper’s Wife, a powerful film based in Warsaw, Poland, during the Nazi occupation. Perhaps I was especially affected by this film because I love animals, or maybe more so because I know a couple who escaped Poland during that time with their infant daughter and now live here in Michigan (See Electric Heater).

    On Monday, April 30, I will be having an excision on my low back to remove a melanoma. I had noticed a mole changing shape and the spot was biopsied while I was in the office with John on April 17.

    When I looked up “skin” and “cancer” in Louise Hay, Heal Your Body, these are the affirmations: I feel safe to be me. I lovingly forgive and release the past. I choose to fill my world with joy. I love and approve of myself.

    Very often when working with someone clearing blocked energy I share the metaphor of a bubble. Everyone would agree it is there, they can all see it. However, when the bubble bursts it is just gone.

    That is exactly what I am seeing with all of this….

    (Note: The excision went well. It was a mole that turned into melanoma. It was a primary, meaning it hadn’t come from anywhere else. It had not spread. The doctor said if we were talking stages, they could call this a stage zero. I can’t see it, but when the bandages are changed the report is it’s healing very well. Stitches come out on May 14. I will have a full-body scan that day and every three months for the next two years just to be sure this is the end of that.)