Debra Basham

Living and Loving

Tag: Robert Waldon

  • Love In The World

    This post is in its entirety a re-post of September 27, 2026 “Loving Reminders” which is now available on the wonderful new website launched by Betty Lue Lieber and Robert Waldon: LoveInTheWorld.org where everything there is absolutely free!

    Please follow the link so you are able to see the sweet format and receive for yourself their generous gifting of Love In The World. If you are new to Betty Lue’s Loving Reminders, while you are there you can sign up to receive them daily.

    May all be blessed!

    Sunday, September 27, 2026

    Harmony

    Give what you want to experience.

    Live at peace within and experience harmony in your life.

    PEACE BEGINS WITHIN.

    GIVE YOUR BEST.

    Affirmations:

    ♡ I give always and only my best.
    ♡ I share the peace I have within me.
    ♡ I trust that all things work together for Good.
    ♡ May my thoughts, words and deeds bring harmony to my world.

    READY FOR HARMONY?

    Yes, it is possible to live together in peace.
    Yes, you can have harmony in your home.
    Yes, partners can have no fighting.
    Yes, you can stay in Love.

    When you believe in fighting, there will be fighting.
    When you expect arguments, there will be arguments.
    When you know families don’t get along, you will be correct.
    Because what you believe, you will receive and achieve.

    What you expect, you will accept.
    What you doubt, will come about.
    What you endure, you will make sure.
    Everything we think will be, we seek to see.

    People want to be “right”, and will fight to prove themselves “right”.
    Even when people want something else, they create what they expect.
    So perhaps it is time for you to undo what you no longer want to be true!
    List what you want to experience in an ideal relationship, home and family.

    Begin with your ideal vision written down and remembered daily.
    I choose to have and give my ideal self to create my ideal relationships.
    Next, let go of every thought, feeling, behavior and memory that interferes.
    I gently and respectfully undo and release all that brings negativity into my life.

    It is your Peace of mind that brings harmony.
    Letting go of stubbornness and needing to be right that creates openness.
    Trust letting go of opinions, advice and listening that brings understanding.
    Respecting others’ thoughts, feelings, behavior and differences gives Peace.

    Give yourself to Love and Love will come to you.
    Honor the call for peace and harmony by being peaceful too!
    Trust in the Love and appreciation that guides your way.
    Remember always to forgive first and listen for how to respond with Love.

    Do what is right and true and Loving.
    Don’t wait for them to do the right thing.
    You are the One to be conscious and willing.
    You know the way. JUST DO IT!

    FREE Relationships Reminders book!
    Everything I do is for you to find peace and harmony in your life.
    Everything I have taught and written is there free for you to use.
    Relationship harmony is essential for your health, happiness and wellbeing.

    We are the same, you and I.
    We are all in this together.
    Now is our time to step up.
    Let us be willing to respond with Goodness and Love.

    Be responsible for your own life and how you live in harmony.

    With love,
    Betty Lue

  • Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu

    Today is my birthday.

    As my birthday ritual I did an audio Mudita meditation with John Orr from an online retreat day April 11, 2021. Mudita is a Sanskrit and Pali word that means “sympathetic joy” or “appreciative pleasure”. It’s a Buddhist concept that involves feeling joy for the good fortune of others.

    The first person you choose is someone you can feel a genuine sense of happiness for their good fortune and happiness. Today I chose my older grandson, Bradley. Currently I am sharing substantial time with him as he his helping me get DebraBasham.com set up. It will be the new home to Yellow Brick Road and Sacred Stories and many of the resources that have been located on SCS-Matters.com.

    The second person is often called The Benefactor — someone who has been loving and supportive for you at some time or times in your life. I chose Reverend Betty Lue Lieber, who founded Reunion with her husband, Robert Waldon. This is the the program I was ordained through in 1997.

    The third person is a neutral person. It may not even be someone you know personally, but it is someone who is feeling happiness and good fortune with a recent accomplishment, something that likely brings that person joy. I chose Donald Trump. You are instructed in the meditation to notice any old mind states like jealousy or envy. Right there with those feelings say, “May joy infuse your life. May it continue all of your days. May you truly be happy. May you truly be free. May all of this grow. May it infuse your heart.”

    The fourth person is sometimes called The Enemy but it is just a challenging person (a person you are having a challenge with). You are encouraged to notice all of the happiness in that person’s life — loving family and friends and relationships, meaningful work. “May you be truly happy and well.” You are invited to be genuinely grateful for all that you have learned from this person.

    After the guided meditation ended I played a recording of the chant “Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu” from a residential retreat day October 10, 2019. Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu is a Sanskrit phrase that translates to “May all beings everywhere be happy and free”. It is a prayer for global well-being and peace, and a perfect chant to support the Mudita Meditation.

    When I finished I looked at a list of others I know share a January 22 birthday:
    1. Wayne Kaiser
    2. Emily Warner
    3. Phillip Largay
    4. Joyce Zerbe
    5. Aaron (Linda Gunter’s son)
    6. Allen Mumper
    7. Emily’s husband’s cousin
    8. PT at Borgess
    9. George Ross
    10. Izzie (granddaughter Courtney’s friend)
    11. Carrie Startcher (daughter Stacey’s friend in Clarksville)
    12. Sivia’s mother

    I like to also contemplate the day’s messages that come on this day from sources I value and follow.

    Daily Reflection from Deep Spring

    In a moment of darkness, you are wont to ask, “Why this darkness?” You have a sense that if you could but understand the darkness, you could protect yourself from it. Such thinking only further strengthens the illusion of the self. Can you sit there in that darkness and simply know, “Here I sit in darkness and I will wait. I need not fight with the darkness. I need not try to push it away. I need not grasp, even at faith.”

    Just faith: faith expressed as the willingness to sit in darkness, if darkness is what is there, without a need to grasp at the light but with the willingness to open the doors and allow in the light. ~ Aaron

    On this day of your life Debra, I believe God wants you to know that not everything has to turn out exactly the way you planned in order for you to call it a success. Sometimes all God wants you to do is to “get the ball rolling.” Then, She’ll take it from there.

    So when things turn out other than the way you wanted them to, don’t be so quick to say, “Bummer!”

    Many a Bummer is a Blessing in disguise. Consider the possibility that life is magic…and that there’s a rabbit in that hat.

    Love, your Friend, Neale Donald Walsch

    From Gratefulness.org

    You must live life with the full knowledge that your actions will remain. We are creatures of consequence. ~ Zadie Smith

    From The Daily Tejaniya

    When you are truly aware you aren’t focusing, yet you are
    aware of objects. You are aware of thoughts of the mind, sensations
    of the body, and perceptions (sights,sounds, etc.) of the world.

    By practicing in this way, the mind stays fresh.

    It may not be usual to be happier for someone else’s birth than your own on your birthday, but today I truly feel greater joy that Stacey was born than that I was born. I get that she could not have been born unless I had been, but emotions don’t always make sense. In fact, they are often very distorted. That is just how it is. So at three quarters of a century I am grateful for the wonderful woman who came in as a teenage pregnancy and those that came in from her.

    RIP Wayne Kaiser and Allen Mumper.

    May all beings everywhere be happy and free. Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu….

  • Sensibilities and Sunglasses

    Buddhist philosophy offers a list of eight worldly concerns (Eight Worldly Dhammas) that lead to suffering. We pursue pleasure, fame, gain, and praise while avoiding pain, insignificance, loss, and blame. They are laid out in pairs so, like two ends of a stick, you cannot pick up one without also picking up the other.

    In Essence of the Dhammapada, The Buddha’s Call to Nirvana, by Eknath Easwaran, we learn that ‘The best thing is not to say either “I’m all good” or “I’m worthless; I’m no good.” The best thing is not to think about oneself, not talk about oneself, not dwell upon oneself at all — to be neither overconfident nor self-deprecating.’

    We have a friend who is always complimenting his wife by putting himself down. He does it by making self-deprecating jokes. A few days ago I asked him if he would want one of their grandchildren to do that. He got that. It is so subtle, this being critical of oneself, especially humorously so.

    I remember well Betty Lue Lieber and Robert Waldon telling us how our every action is teaching the world. Sri Ramakrishna says, “If you go on saying you are a sinner, you become a sinner.”

    I sure had that insight last evening.

    People who are dominant on the visual side are very picky and can always find ways to improve things — ways that something could have been better. This reminds me of our time in Florida. Larry loved being out in the screen room. Linda could not go out there with him because the wicker love seat was too short for them to sit on together for her to put her legs up. I was compelled to find a way for them to enjoy being out there together. Dominant visuals are usually sensitive people who do our jobs very well because we are great at adapting and creating something new, but we can be in danger of not getting over things and often get stuck over-analysing the past.

    When we play cards I like the cards to be placed right side up, in order, and well-spaced. I totally know this is not a big thing, except that it is for me. In our group, I am clearly the only one who cares and as a defense mechanism, I had developed a self-deprecating manner of saying, “Its my sensibilities….”

    According to the Oxford Dictionary the official meaning of “sensibility” is a person’s delicate sensitivity that makes them readily offended or shocked; the ability to appreciate and respond to complex emotional or aesthetic influences; sensitivity. True confession: If I walk into a room and a picture is hanging on the wall crooked, I will notice it. In fact, it is difficult to get my mind to notice much of anything else. Many times I have straightened a frame in a public place, but it is not about the frame. It is about making space within myself to be at peace.

    I am seeing this all with deeper insight and compassion after last night’s hissy fit when I shoved the cards to the center of the table and let the shuffling be done by smearing the cards around and around. That was not at all something which fit well with my “sensibilities” but it is certainly ground for the beautiful practice of metta.

    This morning’s Daily Aaron Quote:

    When you do metta, you’re not trying to generate some kind of altered space. You’re not trying to force the heart open or create special kinds of moods or ways of being that you can’t sustain out of the metta practices. Metta is a way of taking off a blindfold, so to speak. It’s as if you’ve been walking around with very heavily shaded sunglasses and the whole world looks dark. There’s a certain appearance to it, and you begin to believe that’s how the world really is. It only takes a moment to lift off the sunglasses and see the true colors. When you put the sunglasses on again, you know you’ve got sunglasses on. You know that’s not the color the world really is. ~ Aaron

    Sadness sits high in my chest and tears lie very near the surface as I put my sunglasses back on and release a lifetime of tension. I pray the great prayer: May all beings come to the end of suffering. May all beings love and be loved. May all beings know perfect peace.

    What are other words for sensibilities?

    Feeling, sensitivity, sensitivities, feelings,
    emotions, sensibility, sensitiveness, responsiveness.

  • Out-flowing – Getting Free (By Setting Others Free)

    Thought for Today

    Imagine a whole world of beings deeply committed to expressing themselves with some kind of beauty, not necessarily physical beauty but beauty of generosity of spirit, of kindness. Imagine a world where this can flourish. Here we have the imaginal cells at work.

    So, if we talk about what conditions
    are needed for a world that can be at peace,
    all beings living in a wholesome way,
    not destroying themselves and each other,
    what’s needed here?

    Can you begin to imagine it?

    Because if you can’t imagine it,
    you can’t plant the seeds that can co-create it.
    ~ Aaron, Deep Spring Center For Meditation and Spiritual Inquiry

    Oh, my…. yesterday I came out of my center and went off like the olden days. I have distant memory of allowing fear to totally dictate my days.

    One very memorable moment from long, long, ago in a far-way land, took place when John and I were in St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands. I had been there previously without John so I knew that they drove American-made vehicles on the English side of the road. Navigating through the downtown was nothing short of terrifying, so I had UBER planned our trip to pick up our rental car at the remote end of the island near where we were staying. But when the guy came to bring me the car, he had come from the Airport!!!

    I made such a scene! He told me the remote location had closed. I told him I did not care about any of that, my contract was with the Red Hook location and that was where I was going to take him. He could hitchhike back to the airport, walk, or call for someone to come and get him. That was his problem.

    Oddly, I am not sure how it resolved itself, but I admit I have often imagined him telling the story of a berserk customer having a meltdown in the lobby of Frenchman’s Reef.

    Yesterday’s trigger was around politics.

    When I told Stacey I had gotten triggered by something political, she said, “How did you even get close enough to something political to get triggered?” I am grateful she knows my true nature is apolitical (not interested or involved in politics).

    This morning I woke up feeling shaky inside. It was the sort of feeling that would encourage me to take 1/2 of the Zanax, but I was going to my primary, Dr. Mancini, for the post-hospitalization visit and I did not want to mask my state. I was honest about how I was feeling, and she was beautifully present with me. I agreed to start on a low-dose prescription to lower blood pressure, and to continue the statin until we have results of the cardiac plaque test. As we navigated, I could feel myself regulating. Then I went with John to the pain clinic…. oy vey!

    After he was home and resting, I decided to ride my bike to pick up the new medication. This was the first time I had been back on my bike since the TGA event one week ago today. Riding really does balance me, but the transformation came not while I was riding, but while I was in line at Walgreens.

    The person in front of me (it was a long wait) was arranging to pick up her prescriptions next week. She said something about needing to wait until then (for financial reasons). She completed her consult, and left.

    When I stepped up to the window, I said I wanted to pay for her medications. It was such a spontaneous action, and it took approval of a manager, but we figured out how it could be done with my not having any information other than the total cost.

    I floated out of that store.

    Yesterday I shared a handout on Essentials of Self Care: Breath and Emotions with a colleague who is teaching a mindfulness course in the fall. The handout includes a quotation by Norman Vincent Peale, from The Amazing Results of Positive Thinking: Dramatic Proof of How Positive Thinking Has Changed the Lives of Millons… and How it Can Change Your Life!. His words of wisdom were written in 1959, but they have never been more timely.

    When people get rid of fear, anxiety and self-centeredness they develop a kind of ecstatic joy and delight in living. The world seems so different and newly wonderful that they tend to love everybody and everything. And they become so warm-hearted and delightful that people take a real liking to them. They change from withdrawn, worrying persons to ones with vitality and charm. They become “out-flowing” personalities; that is, personalities which now flow outward towards others in kindness and helpfulness. (p.60)

    Sunday I will be guest pastor at St. John UCC again. The theme is “Freedom From and For.” We will share a beautiful exercise on getting free from Reunion Living Ministry. Thank you, Betty Lue and Robert.

      Getting Free
      (By Setting Others Free)

      By freeing actively and willingly desiring that the key people in our lives be totally free and powerful, we get to be free and powerful ourselves. So here is an affirmation-prayer that may help us begin by freeing others, so that we can begin to free ourselves.

      I, (your name), want you, (his or her name), to be the highest, clearest, most powerful expression of God that you can be. I would not limit you in any way, knowing that only as I encourage you to expand, and grow, can I myself be free. So I fully support you in being and expressing all that you are.

      I want you to go where you feel called to go, to speak and act as you feel guided, and to express yourself in whatever ways seem right. There is nothing I do not want you to do, for I know that all movement is contained within the mind of God and always leads us to Him.

      I am at peace with whatever decisions and choices you make, no matter how they may seem to affect me. Since I know that God loves and supports me perfectly, then I know that however you choose to be with me must be a manifestation of that divine love and support. Because I trust God, I trust you. And because I trust you, I trust myself.

      So be free, be powerful, be unlimited. And know that I, (your name), want you, (his or her name), to be the highest, clearest, most powerful expression of God that you can be. I fully support you in being all that you are.

    In the blank I wrote: I, Debra, want all human beings to be the highest, clearest, most powerful expressions of God.

    We must be the change we wish to see in the world. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

    Amen.

  • One Piece at a Time

      one breath at a time
      letting it all go again
      heart breaking open

      how many times now?
      an eternity of time
      one more breath dear one

      one more breath again
      what more can one do than this?
      eternity now…

      ~ A Haiku by Debra Basham February 4, 2021

    Just prior to this haiku coming through, I had written in my journal: Find the space within that grasps at resolution. You can see it so clearly in others. Release judgement around that. Breathe space into your body.

    Listening to Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche speak about Healing with Form, Energy, and Light: The Five Elements in Tibetan Shamanism, Tantra, and Dzogchen , I was again fascinated by the connection of breath, mind and body. In part one of the recorded talks, he gave a short guided breathing exercise that begins on the exhale. (See all of the talk at Healing with Form, Energy and Light.)

    …. Just breathe out. Exhale any tensions or discomfort that you are feeling in your body, that you are feeling in your breath, or that you are feeling in your mind. (He directs you from the outer (body), to the inner (breath), and then to the sacred (mind).)

    Be aware of your body; the stillness of your body, as you continue to breathe deeply. Be aware of your silence; not speaking, feel the silence; much better to feel the silence than just being quiet. Connect with that silence. Awareness is much better than just being silent. Be aware of the spaciousness of your mind; rest in the space of your open mind.

    Every day I learn of someone who is experiencing depression or anxiety. Many equate those emotions to the many months of the pandemic and the loss of familiar activities. When I feel my mind spinning, putting together jigsaw puzzles helps me to be present with my body, breath and thought.

    I put together this 1,000 piece puzzle in one day!

    You might appreciate part or all of Robert Waldon’s take on using affirmations to clear the mind and release tension in the body.

    Affirmation Basics

    The mind is the driving force in determining our experience in this world.

    Affirmations are meant to “show up” any limiting beliefs so they can be erased or deleted, leaving us with a “clean slate”, in a state of health and wholeness—physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. They clear unconscious programming that tends to guide our thoughts, feelings and behavior.

    The purpose of affirmations is to erase from the mind all negative thought forms or beliefs which we have falsely learned. Thoughts of limitation, lack and littleness are released and replaced with thoughts of freedom, abundance and magnificence.

    SEEING THE BEST IS SEEING THE TRUTH.

    Do not focus on what is not working. Just recognize where you are “off purpose” by lack of joy experienced, then focus on more joy.

    Every thought creates a result. Negative or fearful thinking creates a negative life experience. Positive or happy thinking creates a good life and happy outlook. Some of both may create a neutral or conflicted effect on our life experiences. Negative experiences can be changed as a result of consistent positive thinking.

    My favorite way to do affirmations is to divide the lined page down the middle.

    The affirmation is written on the left side and your mind chatter or contradictory thought is written on the right side. Then cross off the negative.

    Continue writing the affirmation 20 times and listen for the resistant thought after each one. 20 times daily for 14 days or until there is no resistance.

    They will always feel like a lie in the beginning and you may find great resistance to doing them! Things may change dramatically, so be prepared to notice big difference.

    Writing, speaking and hearing us say the affirmation aloud clears the false beliefs through our sense of sight, sound and touch.

    It is essential that we keep writing and saying the affirmations until there is no longer resistance to the empowering beliefs.

    Remember: Affirmations are not to be used to develop a new belief, but only useful to clear false limiting programs.

    Once there is quiet, clarity and no resistance, we are complete.

    LIFE WORKS WHEN WE ARE WILLING TO DO THE WORK.

    Visit Robert Waldon at Reunion Center for Counseling, Healing and Growth.

    How do you live life? One breath at a time.

    How do you put together a 1,000 piece puzzle? One piece at a time….