Debra Basham

Living and Loving

Tag: The Daily Tejaniya

  • 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

  • Be an Interpreter of Every Moment

    I have since an adolescent been enamored with New Years. Stacey was likely conceived on New Years Eve in 1965. Not ever a party-goer, and almost always in bed asleep before midnight, the theme — the GOD-GIVEN gift of new beginnings — deeply resonates with my soul.

    When you see that every moment is fresh,
    every moment is new,
    every moment is changing,
    every moment is arising — that’s reality.
    ~ The Daily Tejaniya

    This year John and I went to the theater (less than 10 minutes away) to view the film Song Sung Blue. We had seen the trailer when we went to view Wicked For Good last week. I thought it was about Neil Diamond, but when Linda and Larry drove down from Blue House in Punta Gorda and picked us up at 6:15 pm she told me as we were parking the car that it was not. We were home by 10 but in between we were affected by the story of Wisconsin’s own Claire “Thunder” Sardinia and Mike “Lightning” Sardina, who performed together from 1989 until Mike’s death in 2006. One of their most memorable performances was at Summerfest in 1995, where they opened for Pearl Jam and sang “Forever in Blue Jeans” with Eddie Vedder. The film was excellent. Amazing performances by Kate Hudson and Hugh Jackman, with powerful acting by everyone.

    This morning I listened to an interview with Claire Sardina following the opening of the film. A few of the words from that interview have been woven into my New Year meditation for 2026.

    When asked if she thinks Mike would like the film, Claire responded, “He would love it. He does love it. He watches over me. He guides me….”

    She reflected on the skills she learned from being with Mike, saying, “He was the overall entertainer — a true entertainer — there for the people (not for yourself).”

    Claire heard Hugh Jackman say in one of his interviews, “We believe that if it wasn’t for Mike, this whole thing wouldn’t be happening. Because Mike was a dreamer.”

    Her infectious positivity is highly influenced by Mike’s, “Attitude is everything. He was always saying ‘This, too, shall pass’ and I think it came from AA. That along with ‘You can do this’ were Mike’s favorite sayings.”

    Claire said,”I pray a lot….” and she is still performing!

    In their publicity Mike made a point of clarifying he was not a Neil Diamond impersonator. Claire helped him find the words to say what he felt, “I am an interpreter of the music of Neil Diamond.”

    I imagine Mike telling you to be your best you in every moment. Every moment is an opportunity to be an interpreter of the highest expression of your holy self.

    May your New Year be filled with inner peace, compassion, and joy in the present moment. May you love and be loved and know that you ARE love…. May the words of the childhood song “Jesus loves me” fill your heart and soul to overflowing. May all beings come to the end of suffering. May 2026 be a healthy and Happy New Year!

  • Free

      “There is no greater justice than death. There is no greater justice than the dissolution of everything we have known…. this emptiness…. a moral field in which truth catches up with our self deceptions. It’s not punishment that we are waiting for but we are waiting for the wisdom of the cosmos.”

    ~The Five Phases of the Vedic Afterlife Journey | Part 1, a podcast with Tami Simon of Sounds True and Acharya Shunya

    I confess to being more preoccupied with death the older I get, but I have spent much of my life (if not most) with a sense that there is much more to come than simply the black or white punishment or bliss that is taught by Western theology. It is likely not news to those who know me that I have experiences of the continuity of consciousness. Incidentally, many (if not most) of my friends and acquaintances do as well.

    What really caught my heart in the podcast was Part 2. Not sure how I missed seeing Part 1 but Part 2 is where I started. As I listened to Acharya speak of the stages of consciousness and the experiences of those stages, it all felt so familiar. She described in detail a stage where one knows the truth of the “self” as pure consciousness. Of knowing that we can simply be and that is enough and we don’t need to become or to search for enoughness.

    She spoke about not grasping for success or fame or wealth and working to achieve something. As I listened to her describe actions as a response to an inner sacredness rather than a feeling that we must fulfill ourselves with material things and through relationships and acquisitions I thought, “We know this path.”

    As she also spoke of intricate formulas and details I did not resonate with that part of the sharing, but the states of consciousness she detailed are what what is “familiar” to me. As I write this I remember hearing Robert Tuttle, a professor of evangelism, refer to Jesus in ways quite different from what I was being taught in church. He said Jesus never went out of his way to minister to anyone, he simply ministered to those he met along the path as he went about life.

    Is it possible these might not be stages of consciousness so much as that they are states of consciousness? Perhaps it is not a linear process that must be performed in the way a foundation must first be laid before the walls and the roof can go up.

    What joy to experience the awareness that we truly are already free.

    Free to live a life without the view of death as punishment.

    Free to not fear death.

    Free from self deceptions.

    The Daily Tejaniya for September 14, 2025 says, “If you are not on top of craving, aversion, and delusion, they will be on top of you.”

    May all be free from craving, aversion, and delusion….


    Stacey — 68 mile bike ride
    September 14, 2025

  • Wholesome and Wonder-full

    In meditation, the aim is to
    know the whole experience: the
    thoughts, feelings, and sensations
    surrounding an emotion, and the
    behavior of the mind — especially
    whether its motivation is whole-
    some or unwholesome.

    ~ The Daily Tejaniya

    This recognition of wholesome or unwholesome motivation is a game changer. In the same way that the right amount of spice is delicious and too little or too much spice is not, that tender lane of wholesomeness brings a yummy peace. For one thing, it keeps you in the present moment.

    Yesterday, Stacey and Rachel and I spent the morning garage sale shopping. Adam and Rachel just bought a BIG house in Lebanon. The house is very empty right now and with so many possibilities everything can feel a bit overwhelming. We had a wonderful time getting to know Rachel’s vision and went home with some really good finds!

    The round mirror ($5) is currently hanging near the front door entry way. Will it stay there as they continue to furnish their home? Only time will tell. Below the mirror is a piece she got for half price at an estate sale. Sometimes we can be uncomfortable with what is happening. We might not notice if we are missing blessings that are also unfolding. I certainly experienced this supporting clients through the birthing process while I was a working as a doula.

    Every moment with our great grandson, Jackson, brings this home. He is still nonverbal and not potty trained yet. But he is doing things this visit he could not do when we were with him on our way back to Michigan from Florida the first week of April.

    Everybody is coming here today for pool time and burgers. Tomorrow John and I will go to Lebanon and spend some time helping Adam and Rachel. Tuesday we will head back home.

    I posted this wisdom from Gratefulness.org on my Facebook page a few days ago, along with a fun filtered photo of Stacey and me laughing:

      Let the laughter come, even if it has not been heard for a very long time, especially if times are hard and the future uncertain. Laughter is as important in adversity as wisdom and courage.

      ~ Steven Charleston

    Moments here include laughter and the wholesome motivations mean our days are wonder-full….

  • Daffodils and Daffiness

      From The Daily Tejaniya on Saturday, April 19, 2025:

      Trying to keep awareness continuous by trying to keep objects* continuous is a common mistake. Fixating on objects in this way is unskillful because we form craving for objects we like, and aversion towards objects we dislike. The skillful move is to keep awareness, not objects, continuous.
      * Objects are thoughts, emotions, sensations, perceptions, etc.

    Earlier this week I shared a tender conversation about the wisdom of not using social media for political discussions. I had just read a rather lengthy article about this subject. Very near the end of Stormy Weather: Enjoying the Ride, Joan Tollifson wrote words my heart agrees with deeply, “I do think there’s a place for genuine open dialog about the political issues of the day, but I believe that such dialog is best done in person, not in online comments or on social media. To be truly valuable and constructive, I think dialog about political issues should happen in a spirit of open listening and vulnerability, giving attention both to what others are saying and also to our own triggered reactions and emotions as they arise. Even after years of meditation, I’m still a beginner at that, often failing entirely.”

    Nowhere does this truth reveal itself with more voracity than in our every day interactions about virtually every subject. For example, last evening we went for dinner and cards with Linda and Larry (our first opportunity since John and I began our trek north on March 28 and they followed north the next week). Rain was forecast so I drove down while John walked over via a stop at the mailbox.

    As I walked in the house I was greeted by the delightful sight and fragrance of spring flowers. “Oh,” I called out, “daffodils!”

    “These are jonquils,” Linda responded. I said nothing but admit to a curiosity about whether they are the same or not and later when John asked about picking some for our house for Easter Larry even said daffodils and jonquils are the same.

    So, curiosity followed me home and this morning I put fingers to the keyboard with the question, “Are daffodils and jonquils the same?” I read a lot of information. Not all of information was of the same opinion (some generated by AI), but all of the information was presented as fact. The website I considered to offer some of the clearest understanding was a blog post on Wayside Gardens.

    Often used interchangeably, daffodils and jonquils do have unique characteristics. All daffodils fall under the botanical name Narcissus, but a jonquil indicates just one type of Narcissus, Narcissus jonquilla and its hybrids.

    I went on to read, “While regionally jonquils may be called daffodils, this is botanically inaccurate…. Daffodil flowers are typically lightly scented while golden yellow jonquils are highly perfumed…. Daffodils colors range from bi-colored to white, pink, yellow, and orange.”

    My favorite message on the website was that no matter how you refer to them or what variety of Narcissus you grow and enjoy, they are one of nature’s greatest plants. I have some challenge remembering the answer to this-or-that questions so I have decided daffodils don’t smell or have a dull scent – D for daffodils, dull, and don’t. Your nose knows the difference. (Difference is yet another “D” word.)

    All of this over spring flowers? Not really. It is more about how humans are having a challenge navigating the information age where we are often ushered into a lane of mistaking an opinion for fact without even being aware of the significance of that nuance.

    This led me to look up Gulliver’s Travels, the 1726 novel by Jonathan Swift in which Lilliput and Blefuscu are two fictional island nations. After his son cut himself breaking a boiled egg at the larger end, the Emperor decreed that all eggs be broken on the smaller end. This quarrel ended up giving rise to “six rebellions … wherein one Emperor lost his life, and another his crown”.

    Geesh!

    Perhaps we should add opinions-thought-to-be-facts to the list of objects that can be fixated on in unskillful ways.

    Note* Grandson Brad has a process he uses to ferret out facts. He is considering putting out a YouTube video that shows how easy it is to know what is true.

  • 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….

  • Milton’s Mayhem and Message

    Last evening we had dinner with two long-time friends. One friend lost her winter home on Pine Island two years ago to Hurricane Ian. As Hurricane Milton is crossing the Gulf of Mexico right now barrelling toward Florida we have friends who are year-round on the island. It felt good for us to gather here in our tiny house and enjoy hearty soup and savory salads. And fresh-baked bread.

    The other friend and I will be attending a residential retreat all of next week. She said the retreat comes at an ideal time for her as she is so wrapped up in the political stuff and global conditions.

    This morning I sent both of them the opening words of our Florida meditation group who meets online each Tuesday afternoon at 1:00 pm EST. The leader hosted this gathering in her home on Pine Island for several decades until she moved into a senior living center on the mainland. At the time of yesterday’s Zoom gathering, she was there in her apartment.

    Her opening words were salve…. “It is a different feeling when I feel that if I don’t like what’s going on right now, I can change it. But the reality is that all I can do about that is change my attitude about it. I can’t necessarily change what’s actually happening. So it’s sort of humbling to sit here in this same space, but it looks much differently because, you know, all the windows are covered up, the doors are covered up. You can’t see out. There isn’t anybody out there to see anyway. So it’s quite a different reality.”

    Three of us online with her sat in our homes here in Michigan.

    One other friend online with us told us she was staying on Pine Island in the home of friends. The same home and the same friends with whom this friend survived Hurricane Ian two years ago. This friend’s home had been destroyed in Matlacha.

    This morning I wake to a text message from another friend who had spent a day with us on Pine Island before Hurricane Ian. He was sending a photo and this message, “With all that is going on in Florida sending you one of my guardian orbs.”


    Perfectly round orbs appearing in photos are often interpreted as signs of harmony and purity, believed to represent balanced energy and the presence of a peaceful spirit. Some see them as guardians or guides. They are thought to be evidence of the presence of our departed loved ones who are watching over us.

    A while later this morning as I opened email the loving messages continued.

      The world is a creation of our mind. Everything we experience happens in the mind. So there is no need to look outside. Everything is happening right here in our own minds. ~ The Daily Tejaniya

      Gain and loss, pleasure and pain, joy and sorrow, light and dark—these are seeming opposites. But nothing is truly an opposite but always part of everything else. What would joy be without sorrow? How would you recognize joy? How would you recognize the light if there were no sense of darkness? How would you know spaciousness if there were never contraction? But we must recognize the distinction between ultimate reality and those mundane objects that arise from conditions and pass away. Reflect on the beauty of light and love as ultimate realities, and how darkness and contraction arise out of conditions and pass away. ~ Aaron

    The opening words for our meditation time continued: “And although I know that this particular building, as you know, I’m on the sixth floor, which is the top floor, it’s poured concrete. So all the floors are concrete that’s twelve inches thick, and the walls are not quite that thick, but the outside walls are. Maybe it’s eight inches on the walls. And so it would have to be a really tremendous storm to take any of it out. And I just know that that’s not forthcoming. I don’t think we’ll really even know that it happened. And it will happen between tomorrow, between bedtime and midnight. So they say. I was talking to a friend yesterday, and I said, you know, you and I have had a nice long association in this lifetime, and if you never hear from me again, just know that I love you. And it threw her a bit for me to say that. And I was very conscious of what I was saying, because that’s always true. It’s not just because there’s a storm. It’s true for all of us today, right now. However, our lives usually are focused in a different direction. Thank goodness.”

    And as we settled into the stillness, these assurances were spoken: “Yes, this is comforting, and all of you are comforting. And I know that there are many others that are also. And hopefully they have found a place where they can express their own comfort. So if everyone is ready, shall we go into our meditation? So taking a couple of deep breaths, and just feel the breath as it fills our lungs. And exhale. And then with the next breath, fill the lungs as much as they were, and then add a little bit more. And I ask Spirit to be with us, the higher selves of each of us, to guide and protect us, acknowledging that that’s what they are doing all the time. And then as we take that deep breath, and a little more, know that every time we do this, we are a little more of who we are. I don’t know that it’s possible, well, let me put it some other way. I accept the possibility that when we take all we can that we are, and then we add a little more, that there will always be a little more. In the evolution of humanity, of life on this planet, I can imagine there’s always a little more. And it’s not necessarily definable, not something that we can describe. And yet there’s a sense within each of us that knows there’s a little more. So as we go into the silence today, into the uncertainty of how nature will conclude this day, we set an intention to be a little more.”

    May all beings find an end to stress and suffering. May all beings know peace.

  • Sunset

    The work of wisdom is to differentiate between what is skillful, and what is unskillful. ~ The Daily Tejaniya

    My days continue to include bike rides and sharing with Fred. It has been two months and two days since Linda died.

    We ride and talk. Most days we have a water break sitting somewhere or another.

    We talk about Linda, about the loss we feel, about our lives that loom much smaller than they did decades ago.

    Following this morning’s ride — taken in cloudy, breezy, chilly conditions — I read again from Ram Dass Here and Now #176 – Loving and Dying:

      So, a lot of the work that you are doing in a lifetime is the preparation for the moment of death, and keeping death present enriches the moment of life. That the optimum way to be healed is the optimum way to die, which is your full consciousness. But your full consciousness listens, does what it can to preserve the precious human body, but also allows what is to be, and a lot of people lose it because they are so attached to which way it all goes all the time.

      Like, I work with people that are having a slow illness, terminal illness, and they are losing their motor abilities and their control (sphincter controls and things) and each stage they lose, I watch some people who are able to open to the new stage and say, “Ah, so….” and those people don’t suffer. And then I watch somebody who looks at the shoes in the closet that they’ll never wear again and sits around feeling sorry because they can’t wear the shoes anymore. They’re holding onto the model of who they were a moment ago. A moment ago, they were somebody wearing those shoes, and now they are not wearing those shoes.

      The minute you let go into what is, “Ah….”

      The minute you hold onto the model of what might be, or what ought to be, or what should be, or what was: suffering. It’s that disparity that creates the suffering. So that any time there is suffering, it’s a clue to where your mind is holding, and that is why you keep using suffering.

    We also talked about the story of the Two Wolves. From Wikipedia: It is a legend of unknown origin, commonly attributed to Cherokee or other indigenous American peoples in popular retelling. The legend is usually framed as a grandfather or elder passing wisdom to a young listener; the elder describes a battle between two wolves within one’s self, using the battle as a metaphor for inner conflict. When the listener asks which wolf wins, the grandfather answers, “Whichever one you feed”.

    Fred spoke of the loss of Linda like a backpack that is weighing him down making it difficult for him to move forward. I suggested he might choose to set the backpack down.

    Another quote from the Loving and Dying podcast by Ram Dass:

    Maharishi, the saint, was dying of cancer and those around him were saying, “Don’t leave us. Don’t leave us.”

    He looked confused and said, “Don’t be silly. Where could I go? I am just dropping the body. I am not going anywhere.”

    And, so you realize that the grieving is part of the dramatic story line of your separateness, because you can’t grieve for something that didn’t go anywhere.

    Perhaps the skillful action is for us to not try to get rid of the emotions and not try to carry the weight of the loss.

    Last evening John and I were downtown St. Joe at sunset. The clouds were ablaze. Today on Facebook I saw a video of the same sky taken by our niece with her comment: “The sky last night was one of the most incredible ones I’ve ever seen. Some things just stir up the desire to worship the one who makes all of the beautiful things.”

    I added: “And makes all things beautiful.”

    Here are just two of the unedited photos of an extraordinary sunset.

    Evidence.

    Let those who have eyes see. Seeing beauty in what is IS skillful.