Friday, July 26, 2013

True Healer




"The true healer lets go of the senses and moves from the center of intuition; blameless, she gives herself permission to be exactly who she is."
~ Haven Trevino in The Tao of Healing





Are you a 'true healer'? Are you interested in being a healer? Have others told you that you have a healing way about you? Love makes healers of us all. The traditional tale of 'Mommy kissing the boo-boo/owie and making it all better' comes from that source. A mother's love for her child guides her to do what's necessary to ease the pain. On the other side is the child's trust of the mother. Healing is a two-way street ~ and sometimes, it's only the psyche that receives ease.

Intuition rests at the beginning of being a healer. Following my intuition to the core of what is blocking wholeness has been the primary calling and method of my healing work. Over 35 years ago, I began my healing work ~ energetically with my hands ~ to heal a car.

As a teacher  and a newlywed with an unemployed partner, my car was my lifeline to groceries, meetings with and for my students, court for my students, staff meetings, meetings with friends ~ all the usual events one does in a mundane life. Living on the outskirts of a mid-sized Midwest town, I needed my car to be functional. One Saturday, Rory Sam ~ my little orange Pontiac Astra ~ stopped working. From the simple click-click when turning the key in the ignition, it seemed to be a starter problem. There was no money to get it repaired ~ or to purchase a starter kit and find a friend to do the work. I worried about it all day. At a spiritual gathering that evening (friends picked us up as well as verified that we had a bum starter), there was talk of 'true healing'. I thought, 'If it works on people, why not on cars? Has anyone attempted it?' Since it was pitch black out when I got home, I waited until the next morning to try my theory. After attempting to start the car & hearing the click-click of doom, I opened the hood, extended my hands over the engine block, moved them around until I 'felt' a connection with the starter, and focused on healing. After a few minutes, with another to give thanks, I got into the car and turned the key in the ignition. Rory Sam roared to life. The starter never gave us another problem.


Wednesday, July 24, 2013

A Hole in the Crown of the Sun

From the NASA website: Coronal holes are dark, low density regions of the sun's outermost atmosphere containing little solar material and having lower temperatures. A typical feature on the sun, they are important to our understanding of space weather.
Looking at this image, taken on July 18th, I 'see' one of the 12-pound bowling balls from our local bowling alley ~ except this image has a halo around it! Even though it's labeled a 'hole', that dark spot on the north pole of the sun only emphasizes the intensity and beauty of our star. There are bright spots visible ~ solar flares, maybe? ~ and an overall sheen giving it another dimension of wonder. Surrounding the sun is the inky blackness of space ~ certainly different from the view of the sun from my perspective on earth!

The coronal hole ~ a hole in the crown or the aura surrounding the sun ~ what a concept! The north pole of the sun equates to where the crown of our heads would be. This hole makes me wonder: What kind of 'thought' goes through the 'mind' of the sun? How heavy is the thinking and imagining of our star? I perceive this hole as the sun opening itself to us, seeking to communicate beyond the glow. I hope we can hear what it says!

Look at this image for 30-90 seconds without distraction What do you see? What do you feel or experience as you look at it? What do your other senses tell you? Are there any words that come into your mind?

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

The Day the Earth Smiled ~~ View from Saturn

On July 19, 2013, the wide-angle camera on NASA's Cassini spacecraft captured Saturn's rings with Earth and its moon in the same frame. Earth, which is 898 million miles (1.44 billion kilometers) away in this image, appears as a blue dot at the center right; the moon is a fainter protrusion off its right side. The other bright dots nearby are stars. Of 323 images, this is the only one that has the Earth-moon system in it.


Imagine that! This is the stuff science fiction stories are made of! Look at that image ~ and the arrow pointing to the itty bitty dot that is us. We look around our world and perceive ourselves as big and important. We create wars to prove who can be more impressive. In the vastness of the Universe, just how much do we matter?

Yet on this little dot of a planet, all our strutting and showmanship matters because this little dot is where we live and have our being. What emotions are stirred up by this image? Moving forward from today, what will you do differently because of them?

Monday, July 22, 2013

Momentous Day

In conversation with a friend, I remarked that my mother used to say, "A hundred years from now, what will it matter?" The truth is that very little that I do, or we do, today will survive into that level of posterity.


However, today, two things happened which will: the first because it is a constant; the second because its occurrence is less prevalent. 
Royal Birth Announcement
Full Moon in Aquarius













The full moon in Aquarius is another 'super moon' ~ it brings with it an abundance of power and blessings for all who allow it and relax into the flow of energy from it. Full moons happen every month. Although it doesn't sound like such a big deal, the constancy of the full moon has been a guide for humankind for millenia. It will continue to be one for the next hundred years as well.

The birth of a royal son who is third in succession to the throne of Britain has been also been going on for centuries. However, Britain is now a constitutional monarchy and so the import of an heir is more symbolic than real. Its potency will continue to diminish as time goes on.

How do you feel about these events? Are they momentous to you? or to those you know? Which holds more sway, more weight for you? Is there something currently in your life that holds the weightiness of these events yet is more personal to you?

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Higgs Boson, part 3

The physicist John Wheeler once proposed a challenge: How can you best explain quantum mechanics in five words or fewer? ... When I posed the question about quantum mechanics, the best answer was given by Aatish Bhatia: "Don't look: waves. Look: particles." That's quantum mechanics in a nutshell.
 ~ Sean Carroll, The Particle at the End of the Universe, p. 33
I love the juxtaposition of the above image: a child reading Introduction to Quantum Mechanics as though it's a bedtime story. Children are often so much more capable of comprehending the Universe than the adults around them! To a child, Quantum Mechanics may well sound and read like the myths and stories they've heard before bed. What they hear is the same: a way to explain the universe.

Then there's Wheeler's question and Bhatia's response. If it's so simple, why wouldn't a child understand it? Why must we see them as difficult?

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

One Who Moves Forward

Two weeks ago, I drove to British Columbia, Canada, for a retreat. The timing ~ as happens with these opportunities ~ was impeccable as well as overflowing with craziness. While driving there, actually when over two-thirds of the distance and one day into the trip, I thought, "What am I doing? I need to turn around and go home! There's so much I need to do!" [Has this ever happened to you when you were taking time for yourself, for your soul?] I kept driving North. Fairly quickly, within the next 10 miles, my desperation slipped away into surrender. A reality check determined that it would be a day's drive back and nothing more would be accomplished that day.     *sigh* .... *SIGH* .... *deep breath and deep release*

I chose to spend the remainder of the trip, three days, focused on me, on what Spirit had to share with, offer to, and teach me.

Ten days prior to this retreat, under the guidance of the same leader, I'd created this pictured Soul Collage card which titled itself the One Who Moves Forward. The feeling and sense was of one determined to live and to accomplish whatever needed to be faced. Look at those eyes! Serious, determined, challenging, fierce. All great qualities which I found myself claiming on that retreat. I returned home three days later, ready to face the craziness with a renewed sense of purpose and far less internal turbulence.

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Playing Small, part 1

Last week, I was participating in a renewal/review of a visioning event from the year before. The leader handed us part of a famous quote from Marianne Williamson of which these words popped out:
Your playing small does not serve the world.
There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other
people won't feel insecure around you.
Today, the Rumi quote showed up on my Facebook feed. I believe in the power of coincidence ~ when we choose to notice it. The Ineffable One is saying something here.... something I have resisted much of my life. I recognize there is humility in my hanging back; yet it has grown beyond just being humble to that level of false humility that says I have more than someone else so I need to temper it. What I have is not more of something, it is uniquely my expression of Spirit rather than what others see or expect or express themselves. It is time to unfold.... more to come.

How do you 'play small'? Why do you do it? What is the gift you have that you are holding back from the world? Why?

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Latest Lesson in Motherhood

Time of Departure from US: 10:25 a.m. Tuesday
Arrival Airport: London Heathrow Airport
Time of Arrival: 11:40 a.m. Wednesday
Transportation to International Hall, University of London, from Airport: Staying with a family friend and taking the Tube on Thursday
Departure Back to US: 7:50 a.m. Tuesday (5 weeks later)
Time of Arrival Back in US: 6:01 p.m. Tuesday
Travel to Other Countries AFTER Program: Yes, Latvia and Poland
One of the most difficult lessons of motherhood is letting go. From the first step to the first day of school to the first overnight away to the first solo drive in the car to going away to college, motherhood is a series of deeper and more significant moments of letting go.

My 'little one', a 20-year-old college senior, is off to study abroad for a month and spend a week with a friend in Latvia and Poland. Traveling solo. Another first. There have been previous out-of-country trips, but always planned and guided by others. *sigh* I am so incredibly proud AND still learning to let go.

Do you remember your first long distance trip solo? What happened? How was the adventure for you? Parents: How do, did or will you handle your child's first trip a long distance away?