Debra Basham

Living and Loving

Tag: synchronicity

  • Beautiful White Butterfly

    Sacred Stories

    She had traveled to India by herself. As she arrived at the airport, she felt a bit nervous, wondering just how in the world she was going to manage to find her way around.

    A beautiful white butterfly suddenly caught her attention.

    She became mesmerized watching it.

    A few moments later, it few off.

    As she exited the airport, she was surprised and delighted to see a car and driver, waiting, holding a poster with her name on it!

    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.

  • Being Cared For

    Sacred Stories

    Her husband was coming home from the hospital, scheduled to have home care for about a month until the wound on his leg was healed.

    She was on the phone with the home care company who had failed to identify the leg infection previously when she suddenly had a very strong energetic visit from a friend who was in spirit.

    She backed off the phone call.

    It was as though her friend was right there in the room saying, “NO, NO, NO!”

    She worked with the hospital to get another home care company set up. This company specialized in the exact type of wound vac dressing her husband was coming home with.

    Sharing all of this with another friend, who also knows the woman in spirit, she simply wrote, “We are being cared for by everyone here!!!”

    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.

  • The Substance of All Things

    Art is remembrance.
    It is love.
    It is like a sword
    that distinguishes
    between appearance and reality.
    ~ Rupert Spira

    I have been wondering just what it is that allows some people to find joy or see beauty or create art where it might have been missed by another.

    Musing is jogged by such mundane objects as coconuts and trees and chickens! My sweet friend, Carol L. Myers, with her recent display:

    Not only did someone take time to create these coconut faces (below), someone also displayed them where others could share in the joy.

    And someone paid great attention to detail.

    Artists are like that. Artists pay attention. An artist can see something that has been there all along, but not noticed, and an artist shares what is there with the world.

    Butch Farubetti looked at a Norfolk Pine that had been cut down and saw a ‘hidden treasure’ inside.

    In The Art of Peace and Happiness (Presence, Volume 1), Rupert Spira says this about art:

    An apparent object is never itself beautiful. True art is neither representation nor abstraction. It is revelation—the revelation that love, rather than inert matter, is the substance of all things.

  • Heart in a Tree

    Sacred Stories

    Her day was done, and her thoughts peacefully tucked, beyond the soiled ground, which soaked up the rain drops. While yet, the sun glowed with radiant delight. A sweet glow of tangerine mist filled the sky, as her heart settled near the base of the tree.

    She sat reflecting, the moment, of stillness, and felt two hearts close to hers. Her mom, and now her dad.

    Her eyes drifted to the middle of the tree.

    A heart with much fullness embraced her, drawing her in.

    She felt a breeze, and wiping the tears from her eyes, she heard a whisper. She listened again. She heard it with her ears. She listened yet again, and this time it came from her heart:

    “I will never leave you. My heart surrounds yours. I will be with you. Trust your heart, I will guide you. We love you, Mom & Dad.”

    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.

  • Customer Service

    You have to love it when lessons come so closely you are able to see both sides of a coin clearly…. That has been my recent experience around customer service.

    Stopping by a Little Free Library, I was so surprised by the thoughtfulness of leaving a pair of reading glasses on the shelf!

    The ‘readers’ came in very handy for my daughter, Stacey, so she could pick out a book for rainy-day reading as she enjoys retirement training with us for the week.

    Although I had the receipt, returning a light switch that did not match my switch plate cover was met with, “You will have to come back tomorrow when the manager is in. She is off on Monday.”

    Mentioning that I was 9 miles away, and that I had arrived by bicycle (I was wearing my helment), produced no mercy. I felt the annoyance, but once out in the parking lot, I thought to return as ask about any other times of business the manager was not normally there.

    The following morning, I drove back, and asked to see the manager. A different cashier said the manager was in, but she was in the office on the phone placing an order. As I waited, she and I chatted between customers. She had been born in Mexico, her mom lives now in Illinois. When the time became L_O_N_G, she said, “I am going to just take care of this for you. You have waited too long, and you should not have had to come back in the first place.” She completed the transaction just as the manager came around the counter, still on the phone, making eye contact with me and nodding her head, yes.

    When I got home from the hardware store, I realized I must have only received change for a $10 rather than my $20 when I had met friends for coffee earlier at the Getaway Cafe.

    Driving back to the cafe, I excused myself, and said, “When I was in earlier, I think you may have given me change for a $10, rather than my $20.” Handing him my business card, I went on, “If you are over $10 when you settle your drawer, just send a text or give me a call.”

    Taking my card, he opened the drawer, and handed me a $10 bill, saying, “You take this. I get busy and it is more likely you are right. If I am short, I will call you. You should not have to drive back because of my mistake.”

    Later that day at meditation, I shared all of this as a way to notice how, looking at all of our interactions as customer service, what is the impression I am making in the world….

  • Acorn

    Sacred Stories

    At the conclusion of the retreat, everyone pitched in to clean the common areas. As she was stacking chairs in the meeting room, she found a small acorn.

    She picked it up, and took it home.

    A couple of days later, she picked up the acorn and held it in her hand as a “touchstone” while she meditated. When she finished meditation, she opened the Daily Word to read the message for that day, she read these words: As I hold a small acorn…

    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.

  • Acceptance

    I am still doing morning ‘writing down your soul’ pages. This morning’s entry dealt with my sleeping with a bed hog. From my journal:

    This morning as I got up, I again showed John how he pushes me over to a 12-inch slot of bed. I find that very unrestful.

    I asked what Holy Spirit would have me know. Would I prefer my bed empty? I answered that I would prefer not to sleep pushed over.

    I was then reminded how all of life is connected, and how much I enjoy hearing John’s music, and how much I appreciate the life we have generated. When asked if this sleeping is major or minor, I admitted that it is overall minor, but it feels major when I am trying to sleep.

    (Note* In my journal, I use a marginal notation of ‘D:’ for what I am saying and ‘V:’ for what Holy Spirit is saying. Here is the rest of my entry.)

    V: OK. What allows you to bring kindness to both of you and have you say, “Honey, please scoot over. I am on the edge.”

    D: The desire (choice) to have both of us matter.

    V: You see how your sleeping in resentment is not kind to either of you. Saying exactly what you need will allow a new pattern to emerge. Be willing to say it gently over and over until the new pattern is stable.

    As I closed my journal, I opened email to read this ‘Thought for Today’ from the Brahma Kumaris:

    Your expectation will hold others back.
    Your acceptance will let others fly.

    P.S.
    As I posted this, and went back to email, my next message was this:

  • Robbery Thwarted and More

    Sacred Stories

    She was at home when two men entered their home with the intention to rob them.

    She was just overcome by courage. She began to speak to the two men like they were children, saying, “You should be ashamed of yourself, you have no right to be here, and you need to leave before you get in trouble.”

    And they did!

    Sharing her experience with her spiritual teacher later, she was assured she had overcome the karma of fear of being accosted and she would never have to face that again in this life.

    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.

  • Lightening!

    Sacred Stories

    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.

  • Carpe Diem!

    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)

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    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.

    Whatever we do today we’ll re-live tomorrow.

    Gather ye rosebuds while ye may… Cease the day!