Living and Loving
The Soul Journey right now says that
you are here to be compassionate
with those who are scared of lies
and diseases
or any other political theme.
You can be there as comfort,
with compassion,
like a lighthouse on a rock.
This is the task!
It’s different from what you might think,
it’s not evangelistic.
It’s not about forcing people
to learn something they don’t want to learn.
Instead, you should sit there,
like the masters you have read,
in silence, with love and peace…
then you will be the healer.
This is how spirituality needs you now.
So you will be the diamond you can be.”
– Kryon
(Iceland Tour Channel #8, Iceland, March 2020)
Last Sunday at 7:00 am John and I left Pine Island. I have said my claim to fame may become, “I peed in the van from Florida to Michigan during the 2020 pandemic.”
Walking into our home at 8:30 am Monday, after 25 hours on the road, nothing felt like this was a good place to safe shelter. EVERY room was in post-remediation chaos.
Our entire laundry room had to be torn down to the studs, including the wall between the laundry room and our master bedroom. The furnace (new just two years ago) was uninstalled and reinstalled. The house was in chaos. Putting things back together is more complicated because of COVID-19. John had to put on gloves and a mask just to borrow a drill so we could reinstall the shelves in the laundry room and get stuff up off the floor. Returning home after four months under normal conditions is a lot, but current conditions are not normal. Our mail is still in quarantine out in the barn.
Understandably, emotions are easily triggered. A couple of days into it, I had to grab ear buds and sing (badly) along with two-hours of worship music and various chants recorded at last October’s Vipassana retreat. John worked in the yard.
Medium Paul Selig, a resident of New York City, was away from home leading a workshop when COVID-19 locked his city down. He is fortunate to be safe-sheltering on beautiful Maui, but his dog is in NY, his belongings have been moved into another apartment, and people are dying….
Nothing is not the Divine.
Everything must be re-known as “of the Source.”
You cannot lift the world by low resonance.
You lift yourself; then you lift everything you meet by co-resonance.
A friend expressed concern about her beloved part-time job. I sent a link to the video, asking her to watch it then address her concerns.
This is a great initiation for humanity. Initiations are not fun, much of this is very unpleasant. We cannot control things, we cannot stop this situation, and like a woman in labor or a man on a cross, “The only way out is through.”
Selig’s Guides tell him this is a time when we must be in conversation with the God within. As I was scrubbing water spots from our glass shower doors (which had been left spotless) I felt like Goldilocks, “SOMEONE has been showering in our shower, and they left it a mess.” The stream of triggering thoughts and emotions; inappropriate, disrespectful, unfair, I always get stuck cleaning up other people’s messes, etc.
I hear from my “Guides” that this is not my first rodeo. I am reminded I cleaned 6,000 square feet of space in the former Holistic Alliance as we disbanded the 501-C3. Overwhelming. My guides remind me this is not a time for blame. This is a time to bring beauty everywhere we can. So, I wiped and scrubbed and shined. (FYI – If you have not yet discovered Mr. Clean’s Durafoam Magic Eraser you will want to check them out.)
It is not going to be the way we want it.
We are being given the opportunity to experience a very simple life.
Say, “Yes!” and celebrate.
Be grateful for what you do have.
Care for one another.
Recognize the Divine in this experience.
Our entire house is clean now. Most of it is in order, other than the leaking hot-water heater, and the missing trim in the laundry room. Eventually we will have workers in to rebuild the linen cupboard that had to be torn out because of the mold, but for now, all of the essentials are visibly organized in the clear totes I took our Florida stuff out of.
Selig says, of course, he is devastated and brokenhearted, but he has to hope, “Good is coming from this.”
He says, “Look at every choice you make in fear. You are going to get more of the same. What you damn, damns you back.”
Easter Sunday always follows Good Friday, just as spring always follows winter.
“Behold, I make all things new.”
The new can be reborn.
Changed, not fixed.
Not pretending it is not happening.
Honoring, valuing the supermarket worker and garbage collector.
Paul’s guides suggest you say this mantra:
“I know who I am in truth. I know how I serve in truth. I am free… I am free… I am free.”
He calls this being in the Upper Room.
We can say the same mantra on behalf of those we love or judge or fear: “I know who you are in truth. I know how you serve in truth. You are free… you are free… you are free.”
On the bright side, during our intense putting-things-back-in-order, John found a package of N-95 masks in our barn! Precious, life-saving masks were picked up by our beloved friend, Diana Collins. They are going to Caring Circle (our local hospice). No matter how inconvenient all of this is for us, we are not on the front line, and we have what we truly need.
I know how I serve in truth…
We are prepared….
Mary Jo Bulbrook sent a message about meditating at the precise moment of the Jupiter/Pluto conjunction which is 10:45 pm on Saturday, April 4, 2020 (Eastern Standard Time.)
The last time Jupiter and Pluto met up in Capricorn was in 1771, during the Russian Plague (gulp).
If you are inclined, please join.
Some may not see this post before the meditation, so just borrow a shamanic understanding and bend time. It is never too late, and what you offer now makes a big difference.
This morning’s journal entry: “Your planet is simply raising its vibration to the next world like a child who moves from kindergarten to first grade or graduating from high school and going to college…. Your outer world will still exist, but your experience of it is being transformed…. Some will for a time linger in suffering, but the organism that is your planet is being resurrected…. Not really any different from your daughter’s surviving the virus helping ALL humans and the virus learn…. Everything arises out of conditions. Love is arising out of the current conditions. Put on the crown. You are ready.”
ASCENSION TIMELINE MEDITATION INSTRUCTIONS
from Dr. Mary Jo Bullbrook
1. Use your own technique to bring you to a relaxed state of consciousness.
2. State your intent to use this meditation as a tool to shift the planet into the most optimal timeline and as a tool to completely remove the coronavirus.
3. Visualize a pillar of brilliant white Light emanating from the Cosmic Central Sun, then being distributed to Central Suns of all galaxies in this universe. Then visualize this light entering through the Galactic Central Sun, then going through our Galaxy, then entering our Solar System and going through all beings of Light inside our Solar System and then through all beings on planet Earth and also through your body to the center of the Earth.\
4. Visualize this Light transmuting all remaining coronavirus on Earth, disinfecting all infected areas on the planet, healing all patients, removing all fear associated with this epidemic and restoring stability.
5. Visualize the course of events on planet Earth shifting into the most positive timeline possible, shifting away from all epidemics, away from all wars, away from all global domination. Visualize white, pink, blue and golden Light healing all inequalities, erasing all poverty and bringing abundance to all humanity. Visualize a new grand cosmic cycle of the Age of Aquarius beginning, bringing pure Light, Love and Happiness to all beings on Earth.
Approach everything as it fits you. If these words work—use them, for sure this is a wish for our would you can get behind.
Come up with your own way of making sense of everything. Today is the 2oth day I have not been within less that six feet of anyone other than John. He is still on steroid treatment for the diagnosis of polymyalgia, likely related to the mold at our house. Mold and virus are both powerful totems.
Pure Light, Love and Happiness to all beings on Earth sounds like wonderful next right step.
We are homeward bound!
~ Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés
Preparations for our safe travels back to Michigan from our Pine Island Paradise are underway here—packing, deep cleaning, blessing…. this season is like none other. For the first time EVER, we will not visit with our PEEPS in Tennessee. That is emotionally hard.
Below are excerpts of and hot links to some past blog entries. These come from my heart to your heart to be blended seamlessly with your current needs, spiritual or religious beliefs, and familiar support practices.
Like panning for gold, make your own everything that is of value to you and simply release the rest. We don’t have time or energy to waste on what does not work.
When we release some of the self-identity and separation, we come to feel our interconnection with everything. The tree dances with the wind not because the wind forces the tree but because the wind and tree literally inter-are. They share the same core of being. The wind is the tree; the tree is the wind. And so they dance together. You can dance with life in the same way. ~ Aaron
Barbara Brodsky’s summation was simply, “When our practice comes from that place of interconnection, we are attending with skillful support.”
At the relative level we appear to be separate, but at the ultimate level, there is no separate self. You can understand that no wave is separate from the ocean. The wind and the tree and you and I dance with life. We inter-are….
People are navigating every one of the eight worldly conditions: loss and gain, good-repute and ill-repute, praise and censure, sorrow and happiness. To practice Upekka is to be unwavering or to stay neutral in the face of each of these.
From my journal 12-14-19:
Releasing Negative ChargeToday takes on a charge. Each day does this.
The idea of lovingkindness being an active “taking in” of the day and allowing the charge to be released is relevant to all now.
You were dreaming about the environment when you woke up this morning. You saw your friend’s email about the beach in Michigan being eroded. Some would just point fingers and blame. This only amplifies the negative charge.
As you bring loving awareness to the situation — not denial, not ignorance, not sticking your head in the sand — you are allowing the transmutation, which is natural, to work for the benefit of all.
You can mine support in everything. Here is an entry from Barbara Brodsky’s Daily Recollection, which can be used with or without a 108-bead mala.
I remember the ten perfections and will practice them well:
43rd bead: Generosity
44th bead: Morality
45th bead: Energy
46th bead: Wisdom
47th bead: Renunciation
48th bead: Lovingkindness
49th bead: Truthfulness
50th bead: Resolution (clarity)
51st bead: Equanimity
52nd bead: Patience
Here is the link to the Chant Book:FREE CHANT BOOK
The next time we are face-to-face will be the deepest of joys never again to be taken for granted….
Sunday, March 29, 2020 was the second (and last) day of the Deep Spring Meditation Center virtual retreat with Barbara Brodsky, Aaron, and John Orr. In the afternoon, I went to Galt Nature Preserve for my walking meditation.
This is the latest/driest I have been here in Southwest Florida. The flora I am familiar with and love, including Sweet Acacia, has almost died back entirely. New (unfamiliar) flora is coming forth.
I took a short video of the wind singing through the dry palms sounding just like a far-away water fall.
As I arrived back at my car, hawk flew directly overhead swooping low!
Juvenile eagle soared with its wide, young wings, just above the horizon, about 300 yards away. This eaglet was born here in the preserve earlier this season, in the nest a short distance from the drive. December seems so very long ago now.
Yellow police tape surrounds the pavilion as though the deserted picnic tables had recently been the scene of a crime.
The sun was hot on my skin.
The thermometer on the instrument panel indicated 87 degrees. All season I had stayed in the house during the heat of the day, protecting myself from the discomfort.
The past two afternoons while ‘on retreat’ I had walked in the heat.
Tenderly, I witnessed a pattern in my past of wanting to avoid being uncomfortable. My throat tightened around the thought that perhaps we miss too much….
I turned the air conditioning off before starting the engine in the stifling hot car which has black interior and was parked in the hot tropical sun.
I pushed the button to lower the windows and was amazed how refreshing the air felt.
In his closing comments, John Orr spoke of aging and of the current conditions in our world. He said so much is falling away, but even though there is suffering, we can reflect with gratitude on what has been wonderful and beautiful. We can ask, “What endures?”
May this humble human remember….
Life is totally interrupted by this COVID-19 mandated safe sheltering/social distancing/self-quarantine. I chose to “attend” a two-day meditation retreat with about 80 others virtually. This virtual Deep Spring Meditation Center retreat with Barbara Brodsky, Aaron, and John Orr is a first…. but, just about everything in the current conditions is UNPRECEDENTED.
During the Q&A portion, another retreatant shared six daily quarantine questions, suggested by James Baraz, founding teacher of Spirit Rock Meditation Center, co-author with Shoshana Alexander of “Awakening Joy: Ten Steps to Happiness.” Baraz teaches a five-month, internationally-recognized “Awakening Joy” course. Here are roughly those six daily question:
1. What am I grateful for?
2. With whom am I checking in/and connecting today?
3. What expectations of “normal” am I letting go of today?
4. How am I getting outside today?
5. How am I using my body today?
6. What beauty am I creating/inviting/cultivating today?
Yesterday afternoon we had a period of optional walking meditation or rest. I drove to a nearby nature trail.
Eventually the ibis dropped down to a small creek and I stepped softly onto the bridge. Moving slowly, stopping at the very place the ibis had been sitting on the rail, I stood silently watching below. The bird began to feed.
I tiptoed onto the trail. We had recently been given an exercise: choose an area in your house and walk backwards. Notice the tension. Catch the sensations and thoughts when things are not “normal” and feel out of control.
I decided to walk backwards on the trail. I had to be VERY mindful because the clearing of the trail left lots of cross-cut roots.
Back at the bridge, I saw this bright yellow painted rock with the words “Do more with less.” The lone juvenile ibis was still contentedly feeding down below.
He continued, “Do you want to create a world in which all beings live in peace? YOU are the expression of the divine. YOU have immense power to create…. Join together hand-to-hand and create that which you wish to create. Watch the arising of fear, anger, greed. Remember how to relate to these. Relate with an open heart. May all beings come to the end of suffering….”
Columbus, Ohio, August 1982, “Little Surrenders,”, Step By Step
My former Yellow Brick Road post ended on a high note, but the circumstances around COVID-19 are stimulating a roller coaster of emotions for most of us.
The evening after I baked and delivered cookies, John and I saw Louie, one of the guys from shuffleboard. Louie said, “You think about it like ‘I have the virus’ and you’ll do the right thing.”
Having seen the stability chart of this virus, I was awake in the middle of the night, writing in my journal, “If I knew I had the virus would I have baked the cookies and delivered them to people I love?”
Later that morning, I shared my concern and remorse with Nancy, a recipient of oatmeal raisin cookies, who brought me to tears with her response, “If I were to die from an infected cookie, I would die with gratitude for the savoring of it.”
If I were ever to get a tatoo, mine would be: UNPRECIDENTED.
Every action has myriad thought, word, and deed.
The better consciousness in me lifts me into a world where there is no longer personality and causality or subject or object.
~ Arthur Schopenhauer (1788—1860), known as the first German philosopher to incorporate Eastern thought into his writings
I notice how many individual lives seem to have been lined up with our collective (global) experience. My belief is that has been/is true for EVERY individual life, but some examples are totally obvious.
One friend moved to another state for family support as they hoped to have a baby. They gave birth to Athena in February, and are now safe sheltering alone. Amazingly, this couple mindfully allowed their daughter to choose her own name. Athena means: One who is wise. Athena is the goddess of war and wisdom. The name is associated with the “lucky number” of four. 2020 equals four in simple numerology….
Late last fall, one couple got their finances in order by closing out high-interest credit cards and consolidating to a family run bank with reasonable interest, and no risk of foreclosure.
The husband of a dear friend passed in late January. He had been receiving hospice care at home, and it would have been so much more stressful for her to still be trying to care for him. Thankfully, she had some time to adjust to living alone before the order to stay in place came down.
Our daughter, Stacey, and her husband, Doug, would have had a very drastic life-style change if they had not been living on their sailboat since October. We saw them on Facetime briefly yesterday and they are content, and appreciating the sun shade Doug just put up over their deck.
It takes a lot to navigate these situations, but we do know they are impermanent.
From this morning’s journal: You have so little to do now. I would want you to be easy with yourselves, and truly be easily delighted, Soften up…. Be sure you are calling on the light in your heart. That is truly your HOME.
And these words from Aaron, “Each of you, as you find compassion for your own fear and negativity, will intuitively understand how to bring that compassion out in the world so as to say no to those who hoard, those who manipulate, those who turn their backs on others’ suffering. You say no with love. Acting from fear has nothing to do with how much wealth or power you have, it has to do with the level of consciousness.”
P.S. Here is the face of Barbara Brodsky, my beloved teacher and friend, from last night’s ZOOM class. She is such a role model!
Sacred Stories
Posted by a Florida snowbird:
We only rent here in Florida, but we vowed eight years ago to treat it as if it is our own.
But—when it comes to the plants—I never felt like it was my job to prune someone else’s flowers. (Our owners living right next door might have something to do with it.)
This year, our owners came in late. I couldn’t stand the haphazard, scraggly growth I saw, so I really pruned before the owners arrived.
Three months later, the flowers are larger, more beautiful, than I have seen before.
I feel like this season that we are in (and I am convinced that it is just a season) is pruning away the unproductive, useless, less-than-beautiful areas of our lives, that we might blossom into caring, giving, loving people like never before…
I want to be that people!!!