Debra Basham

Living and Loving

Tag: spirituality

  • Support

    This week has been rife with lessons. We experienced another school shooting, irrevocably changing lives while politics goes on as usual. The day before this shooting I was with people I consider to be of “like-mind” but even within this group, people are anything but like-minded about how we best bring forth peace.

    Dr. Leo Galland learned the answers to life’s questions from his son, Christopher, who lived to be 22 years old. Christopher was “a brain-damaged special needs child who challenged everyone he knew with his unpredictable behavior and uncanny insights.” The book of Christopher’s life is titled Already Here: A Doctor Discovers the Truth about Heaven. The following excerpt is what John Cubeta, an educational psychologist who had worked closely with Christopher, wrote about having lunch with Chris:

    One day, I was attempting to have a conversation with Chris after we had just bought a pair of cheeseburgers. I kept trying to get a dialogue going, but it would abruptly end whenever it was Chris’s turn to respond. I finally asked Chris why he didn’t answer me when I spoke to him. He continued to eat in silence. Nothing I said seemed to register. Eventually, he swallowed the last bite. Then he said, very plainly, “I didn’t want to speak while I was eating,” obviously annoyed that something so simple and obvious should require an explanation.

    It seems my life lessons also most often come in the mundane. Friday morning I started getting an error message when I tried to send email from my iPhone using my propitiatory address. The message would get stuck in the Outbox where it sat whirring for hours. Until the message was marked with a red exclamation mark that it did not get sent, the message could not be deleted. During this time I could also not use my gmail account on the phone. One message took 8 hours to clear.

    Verizon said it was an issue with the email host, Bluehost. Bluehost said Apple made some changes that had severely affected their servers but Bluehost was working on it. When things were not resolved the next day, I called Bluehost again but was this time I was told they could not help, I needed to call Apple Support. This evening I spent about an hour on hold, then about another hour with Apple Support, who finally told me I needed to call Bluehost. Apple Support stayed on the line with me while I called Bluehost one more time. I am exceedingly glad to report the email is working now.

    After the tragic news of this week’s school shooting, I wrote the following poem:

    Guns, Guts, and Grace or A Day for Lovers

    Seventeen gone home on Valentine’s Day
    Right and left make their points today
    All I do is kneel and pray

    It takes guts to be still
    To say it is ideas not guns that kill
    As hatred grows inside human will

    The blood is real it is bright red
    Alive is not the same as dead
    Lovers can lie together in bed

    We watch the news on TV
    Guns and guts is what we see
    Yet, grace is there inside of me

    Helen writes “I’m done with war!”
    Ain’t gonna study it no more
    Sick to death of it at my core

    But what if what we fear
    Is what is brought so very near
    Threatening all we hold so dear

    A day for lovers that’s for sure
    Calling forth hearts with love so pure
    Rather than minds all cocksure

    Debra Basham 2-15-2018 (WC 140)

    I’ve worn a Fitbit Charge 2 for over a year now. Although it is not REAL TIME, it gives my heart rate, and my resting rate. I have appreciated the feedback, and I have learned a lot about being present or not. My resting heart rate went down during the two days after John was taken to ER. (See In A Single Thought.) I have even noticed that chewing gum while walking helps keep my heart rate down. I am being more present as I chew.

    One thing I see clearly is how every moment along the frustrating process of getting support to fix the email problem, I knew I was dealing with the mundane. Years back I would have been pulling my hair out. The situation was frustrating, and having to make the calls and wait was inconvenient. But while how I dealt with it changed my life, it was not life changing….

  • Road Test

    Sacred Stories

    Unemployed for almost a month now, he drove a friend to a nearby town for a dentist appointment to make a bit of cash.

    His intention was to stop by a company in that town where he had previously applied for a job but not yet been hired.

    As he was dropping the friend off at the dentist office, his phone rang. It was the man from that company saying he kept popping into his mind, and asking, “Can I get you over here to take a road test?”

    “I am here in town right now. I will be right over.”

    He took the road test, so grateful to be one step closer to being hired.

    P.S. Two days later, he started work!

    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.

  • Tip of a Wish

    The idea of a perfect parent, perfect partner, or perfect day makes some people nervous. They think of all the ways things don’t measure up. A headache, a heartache, or an unfulfilled longing seems to stand in the way of perfection.

    Imagine for a moment an eternity without sunshine, or rain for that matter. Perfection is organic, not static. This moment is perfect.

    Listening to a talk about what karma is and isn’t has me thinking about all of this. Karma is not punishment; it is cause and effect. Whatever we are experiencing at any given moment had its roots in the “past” and it is planting the “future.” This moment is perfect.

    Robina Courtin, quoting a Buddhist teacher says it this way, “Everything exists on the tip of a wish.”

    To fit with Valentine’s Day, I wrote a wellness tip about hugs:

    Hug for Health!
    by Debra Basham

    Debra’s Wellness Tips

    Well, it seems that love and companionship is good for your health. People in love and those with good relationships have lower blood pressure, less depression, and report feeling better over all.

    We like to hold hands, get hugs, and make whoopie. In most cases, love and wellness go hand-in-hand.

    This week, snuggle up. And it is not just people we love to touch. Petting our pets has health benefits, too.

    A dear friend commented, “I am single and have no pets. Does that mean I am destined for depression?” I wrote back telling her to take an I NEED A HUG sign to a busy place and give a blessing (what is called drishti in Hindi) to everyone who stops. I reminded her of Amma, the hugging saint.

    The wind is blowing today. I have an opinion it might be a more perfect day if it weren’t quite so windy.

    My abdomen is not quite as flat as I might think perfect.

    What I do with these thoughts, feelings, and beliefs really does make a difference now and long into the future.

    Rollo May said it this way, “If you do not express your own ideas, if you do not listen to your own being, you will have betrayed yourself.”

    What is on the tip of your wish today?

    I wish you a perfect day!

  • You’re Gonna Do Great Too

    Sacred Stories

    Her husband had recently passed. She was in bed, not quite asleep yet, when the downstairs door opened.

    She heard the scuffing off of shoes then the pitter-patter of stocking-clad feet coming up the carpeted stairway.

    She felt him sit at the side of the bed, just like he always did.

    He patted her leg and said, “I miss you, but I’m doing great. You’re gonna do great too. I love you.”

    And then he was gone.

    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.

  • In a Single Thought

    It was mid morning on Thursday. I was on a FaceTime call with a client. The goal of the session revolved around not getting thrown out of balance during crisis times. The desire was to stay grounded even in trying circumstances.

    I like to do divination for guidance when I am working with someone to help me stay unattached. Thursday I used Angelic Messenger Cards: A Divination System for Spiritual Discovery, by Meredith L. Young Sowers. Two cards fell out. I made some notes from those two cards and from the Daily Word:

    Need for greater calmness and inner peace.
    Ask yourself, “Whom will this choice benefit?”
    Relinquish struggle and accept the truth of your angelically-inspired perspective.
    Move into the perspective of your divine nature.
    Claim your highest self and release the needy aspects of your life that mentally hold you prisoner.
    Believe more in yourself and your divine guidance
    In a single thought I can redirect my attention toward the peace of knowing I am protected.

    My phone rang. It was my brother-in-law. I could not figure out how to put the FaceTime call on hold to answer, so the call went to voice mail. “Call me immediately.”

    Moments later I was on my way to the hospital where my husband was being taken by ambulance. He had reported having a horrible stomach ache and then he lost consciousness.

    The day spent in the hallway of the emergency room (there was no room in the inn) was stressful. About dinner time he was admitted for observation. A few hours later I was driving home without him.

    The following day he was to be discharged as soon as he had an echo cardiogram, but ER was so busy again they could not get to him. Mid afternoon we were still waiting. When asked how we were holding up, I gave an honest report. “We are listening to elevator music on the TV, we both have our nose in a book, and we have decided to consider it a voluntary library day.”

    About 5:00 they decided to send him home and schedule the echo as a out-patient followup.

    Simply put, we could not control the circumstances. We could choose the thoughts and feelings and experience we were having.

    We had not wasted our day. We took the late discharge as an opportunity to stop for Thai food on the way home.

    I was taught to pay attention in client sessions and consider the message is for me first. That was obviously true last Thursday….

  • A Message Directly from God

    Sacred Stories

    She wanted to hear her dear friend’s guest sermon at an out of town church, but she and her husband had promised to usher at her own church that Sunday. As she was preparing for church, she was moved to gift a woman from her church with a small book. The took the book with her.

    Arriving at her church she learned that this woman’s son had taken his own life. After ushering she drove to this woman’s home and was able to be with her friend in her immediate loss and pain.

    Without “knowing” of the tragic circumstances, she knew she had received a message directly from God.

    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.

  • Super Blue Blood Moon

    I am blessed to be part of two writers’ groups, and one of the precious gifts of winter for me is that I take more time to write. Do you notice how seemingly unconnected things are not? For example, this morning people all over the U.S. got up early enough to see if they could get a glimpse of the Super Blue Blood Moon. One online comment said the skies have not been like this since Andrew Johnson was President, the second dome on the U.S. Capitol was completed, and Jesse James completed his first robbery.

    Time seems linear, but is not. My writing seems melancholy, but I am not.

    Poem Widow Wake-up by Debra Basham 01/23/2018

    Morning had still not yet come when she rolled over in the bed and instinctively reached her hand to the other side. This day, like so many she had tried to hold back with her sheer will, her hand found nothing to grasp on to. Nevertheless, she left it there as though memories of his warm body could will her body to greet this day.

    But it was not death that had stolen her joy. No, she herself had day-after-day driven the very sense of peace and well-being she longed for from her own heart. Living never in the now, her fears had wound themselves so tightly into her reality no distinction remained.

    “Please God,” her daily prayer as rote as the morning rosary at St. Michael’s Elementary Catholic School, “don’t let today be the day I become a widow.”

    But, not even God could keep that from happening today because in her mind it already had….

    As we take in to account that more is always happening in our lives than we are currently aware of, I suggested a client check out the energy of the Super Blue Blood Moon and how his current experience might well be connected to a childhood trauma. He sent this quote from an article he read online, “The last time there was a celestial alignment of these three things was in 1982.” 1982 was the year of that childhood event…

    Driving to a meditation group, I called the hostess to let her know I might be about 5 minutes late. “I am under the weather so we are not meeting today. I sent an email message.” I did not receive the message, but making that call saved me about an hour-long round trip.

    Maybe we don’t all always pay attention but inner guidance and meaningful coincidences are always there for each of us. Noticing them help us stop torturing ourselves with our minds. We can instead offer kindness. This quote of the day comes from my meditation teacher:

    Deep Spring Center
    Thought for Today

    No matter how many times the world comes to the verge of war or enters into it, each time is new, a new moment that has never happened before, with its own sorrows and also its joys. You ask what joy there can be. Joy in the fact that so many of you do not hate a supposed enemy but in your hearts take the enemy to be fear and hatred itself. The joy that so many of you can offer wishes for well-being, even to those who hate, and at the same time, be willing to say no to those beings who would do harm. A no based on kindness.

    May the energy of this Super Blue Blood Moon remind us of all we can do. Today and everyday…

  • 27 People

    Sacred Stories

    Her friend asked her to host a gathering of folks to come together to pray the rosary. She was very busy, tried to say no, and reluctantly agreed. Asking how many people to expect, she was told 5 to 7 people.

    The day of the event, her husband suggested he make some copies of the rosary instructions in case some were not familiar. The instructions were five pages, and she was shocked that he made 27 sets.

    “Why did you make so many? You’re wasting all of my ink and all of my paper. Only 5 to 7 people usually come.”

    “God told me to make that many,” he replied.

    Exactly 27 people were there that day!

    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.

  • Corpse Prayer

    Each year I enjoy some ritual on my birthday. Yesterday afternoon I still did not know what that was to be. Riding to the birthday celebration of our 85 year old friend, I learned of a marvelous exercise called “Corpse Prayer.” It comes from Jarem Sawatsky’s book, Dancing with the Elephants: Mindfulness Training For Those Living With Dementia, Chronic Illness or an Aging Brain (How to Die Smiling Series, #1).

    The “Corpse Prayer” exercise resonates deeply with me because it is essentially my own Imagine Healing process where you anchor positive images along your future timeline to allow the worry brain to turn off. In my process, you build in the caveat although things won’t happen exactly as you imagine it, as you make an image that lets know things have gone so well, even better than you imagined it….

    As Sawatsky suggests, I imagine the last three minutes of my life.

    I am propped up in a big fluffy bed. The bedclothes are pristine white. Stacey is there with me. I have no pain or illness, just old-age. It is time to let go. I see Stacey as old too. That comes as a surprise. White hair. Wrinkled hands. I feel sadness for a moment that her life will not be much longer, then I let that go as I celebrate sacred life and sacred death. I love her so much. I am so blessed she has been with me since I was only a child. I breathe the familiar Corpse Prayer:

    Corpse Prayer

    Be not afraid.
    I give thanks to god who created all things good.
    In christ, all things hold together.
    I am not entitled to life without death.
    I embrace sacred life.
    I embrace sacred death.
    I embrace the growing and crumbling in between.
    Smile at yourself in the silence…
    Jarem Sawatsky

    Sawatsky says to next imagine the moment you will be buried. Since I plan to be cremated, I saw that happening and breathed the Corpse Prayer again. I am not entitled to life without death.

    Two years after death, you are to see your body decayed. I see the place my ashes had been spread. Barely any shards are left. A cat walks on the ground and I think, “I love kitties.” I breathe the Corpse Prayer again. I embrace the growing and crumbling in between.

    Now I am to imagine myself 80 years after my death. My granddaughter (Courtney’s) child is old. I breathe the Corpse Prayer to her. Be not afraid…

    I smile at myself in the silence. Happy birthday to me!

  • Reiki Class

    Sacred Stories

    She was at the local credit union when the customer service agent mentioned to her that his girlfriend was taking a Reiki class at a local yoga studio the coming weekend.

    Opening Facebook when she arrived home the following message was on her feed:

    Hi, St. Joe, Mi friends! I’m coming to town this weekend to teach a Reiki Level I course at the Yoga Studio. If you want to heal, transform, intentionally connect with energy and increase your intuitive senses… Reiki can help make that dream a reality.

    Reiki is a wonderful energy frequency that helps cleanse your body and further your spiritual understanding of yourself and the world around you. It’s simple. It’s safe for everyone. It’s life-changing.

    More info on the website! Feel free to ask me any questions! Share with friends! Register today!

    XO

    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.