Forgiving

There's this expectation that we forgive out of compassion. Seeing the situation from the other's point of view, that they are doing the best they can and when they can do better they will, walking a mile in their shoes before we judge.

I'm finding this to be backwards. Those lovely perspectives aren't available to those of us who have yet to attain sainthood. What we can do is forgive for our own benefit. For us. Because we cannot heal from the wound until we do. Not because forgiveness is deserved.

When forgiving happens and we free ourselves from being trapped in an endless loop of anger and resentment, we can be at peace. When we are once again at peace, some of those lovely perspectives might be available. And that is good.

Ratings

I'm going to say that our endless fascination with how we, or anything we have an interest in, rates in comparison to any other person or thing we have an interest in, springs directly from one of the two defining characteristics of humanity here on earth; We are aggressive. When our aggression gets out of hand, we can become violent.

I also say that we, as humans, may be very attached to this appetite for competition and the rating of each other. It may not seem as destructive as outright aggression. Yet it creates separation, and it is separation that causes humans here on earth's greatest sorrow: loneliness.

The counterpoint and saving grace for us is that other defining characteristic; We are to our very core curious. It is this that is the source of our greatness.

What would our world be like, I wonder, if we fostered our curiosity and let up on the competition.

One A Day

Maybe a better title for this blog would be A Color A Day. I'll let you decide.

The idea here is that we need little respites, especially when the day seems long. To be taken out for just a few seconds. A breath or two.

In the morning, before things revv up, choose a color for the day. Even say to yourself, "Today the color is ____." You will be amazed to find that your color will show up for you, and when it does, you can take your breath or two. And then go on.

Try choosing a shape. A number. A sound.

One a day. For a respite.

Baloney for Big Folk

Baloney is still around. You know, mild thinly-sliced sausage that just fits on sandwich bread. It has to be a century since the butcher sliced it off to order, since it's come pre-sliced and sealed in a plastic wrapper probably since around the time Superman made it to the comics. Reliably the same shape and taste in every grocery store here in the U.S., and likely elsewhere as well. Bologna, if you do your grocery shopping on-line. It's my belief that the secret for its longevity lies in a hearty dislike for undependability when one's wish is to just be fed.

Kids are known for that. They don't appreciate their food playing tricks on them. When, inevitably, we become big folk that need for something as reliable as a baloney sandwich, an anchor of sorts, does not leave us.

I could go off on a coffee tangent here, as I see coffee having some striking similarities to bologna. I will, instead, get back to something more bedrock, healthier, and more available. We as earthlings always have what is right under our feet. We have our Earth. It's vibrancy flows up into us through the energy centers in the bottoms of our feet. Those so-called first chakra openings can be widened with a thought. Try it. Say this, "I expand my connection to Earth so that I may be fed."  See if it doesn't feel better than baloney.

My Invisible Wrist Band

I know it's in modern times that this rubber wrist band printed with words expressing what the wearer supports, or maybe wishes for, phenomenon came about. So long ago that I don't recall when I first noticed them. 

I have one that I like to wear. It's invisible for a couple of reasons. For one, I like the colors I'm wearing to, as you might say, go together, and you can't count on that without having stacks of them.

Mostly I don't want to be misunderstood. My band is printed with, "I'm with you." Not to mean that I agree. Just a kind of heart to heart thing. I'm with you when you're hurting, when you're afraid, when you're angry, confused. I'm with you because it is so very easy to feel separate in our hurt and fear and anger and confusion. 

If that is what I wear, invisible or not, it is what I send out. I'm standing for being with you, hoping to move us one step closer, and farther away from separation.

A Shout Out To Winter

Getting through another winter season in the Hudson Valley, I learned something that I won't soon forget; how to make peace with what is, and find the life in it.

I'm feeling grateful for the snow storms, uncompromising cold, days with more darkness than light, that gave me an in-my-face choice to find the good in the moment or get sucked into some pretty dark stuff.  And almost to my surprise, good really was there waiting to be found. 

I'm not saying it's news that the earth is one tough gig.  What I am meaning to say is, good really is there waiting to be found.  Find your good.

Raising The Consciousness Of Cancer Cells

About four months ago, I encountered one of those life-changing experiences that can show up for us, unexpectedly.  A melanoma was discovered in my arm.  I had a treacherous, mindless, uncontrollable thing in me.  In situ, as my dermatologist described it.  Sitting there, growing and overtaking more and more of my healthy skin cells.  It could move on from there, metastasize, as she told me.  Into my lymph nodes, and then into other places in my body.  So I agreed to have it removed and signed up for the protocol for melanoma--skin examinations every four months for the next five years.
 Living with the increased risk of it showing up again.  Hoping that it could be eliminated before it did damage.  All in all, a death threat.

I wasn't about to just roll over and let this thing have at me.  I would find a way to work with cancer, just as I have worked with other forms of interference that humans experience.  I called my friend, Christine Deignan, MD,  and we came up with a plan.

I had used a hypnosis tool to help clients in preparing for surgery that I thought might work with cancer cells and Christine shared her knowledge of cancer with me.  We had both been developing our skills in the Awakening Your Light Body meditation taught by Duane Packer and Sanaya Roman for twenty plus years.  Working at higher levels of consciousness and integrating that into our lives gave us a shared base to work from.  My experience with offering Michael Newton's Life Between Lives Spiritual Regression sessions had also given me a fuller understanding of how wonderfully connected we are with guidance and support.  The plan: A hypnosis session that we participated in together to raise the consciousness of my cancer cells.

 Christine and I shifted to that deeper level of awareness that would allow us to access my cancer cells, and we invited them to have a conversation with us. They responded by sharing their thoughts and feelings with both Christine and me; they were interested. I won't describe the entire interaction.  The gist of it is that Christine told my cancer cells that they had been working very hard for me (although misguidedly), and their job was complete.  Since their job was complete, they could stop.  And they were looked over by a very high, loving being that would look after their welfare.  When the session was over, I felt lighter, safe, and filled with peace.

We used the gifts of hypnotherapy, working in parallel with my doctors, to allow for healing on all levels.

As of this date, I have offered this protocol of Raising The Consciousness Of Cancer Cells to five fellow cancer patients and look forward to helping many more.