Letting Go and Becoming

"Healing may not be so much about getting better, as about letting go of everything that isn't you - all of the expectations, all of the beliefs - and becoming who you are." -- Rachel Naomi Remen

Brought to us by Rick at a new life emerging:

I want to live boldly and to my fullest, this is exactly why I must let go of everything that isn’t me and tap into the life that percolates in my inner core. When I can do this I can discover the hope that awaits me which is really what an expectation should be--- the hope that awaits.

What are you carrying right at this moment that you know deep in your soul isn’t you? Why are you carrying it? What are the expectations that prevent you from letting go and becoming (or being) who you are?

May you free yourself from the binds of being anyone other than the precious soul that you really are. . .

Their Name is Today

Here's a link for some quality Education Quotes.

Many things can wait. Children cannot. Today their bones are being formed, their blood is being made, their senses are being developed. To them we cannot say "tomorrow." Their name is today. -- Gabriela Mistral (Chilean teacher 1899 - 1957)

How much do we put off in our lives? How much do we save for tomorrow? What can't wait? What needs your attention today? What do you want to give your attention to today? What's stopping you?

The Coast is Clear

I've just returned from a soul-full trip to the Pacific coast, LaPush, Washington ... It was so gorgeous and revitalizing to feel the rhythm of the ocean where it meets the land... playing amongst whales, sea lions, eagles and chipmunks!

Hiking back from the last beach that we visited, Thomas asked me what I've learned during this trip to the ocean.... what I'm taking back with me.

I feel a growing relationship with a place of connection where change and emergence give way to freshness. The coast is a pure and raw example of an edge, a point where one way meets another. I was entranced by places where this merging or stark transition occurs...

• where streams make their entry into the ocean
  
• where the land comes crashing down in huge chunks
  
• trees that were once a part of a rich forest grip for life in solitude upon a cliff's edge
  
• enormous trees and a plethora of driftwood washed ashore where new homes are created
• watching as the tide recedes and the life (anemonies, starfish, etc.) and surfaces once blanketed by the ocean's waves now laid bare to the sun's rays.

In each of these instances, there is deep change, something new emerges and I am awed by the bold freshness that echoes forth.

The ocean's rhythm sings a song which centers new insight into my being. And now, back in the city, I invite that centered calmness to continue permeating through!

Do you have any stories or learnings from the ocean to share?

'go away bad dream'

Every night my son would come running to my bed shaking beacause he had a bad dream. I asked him about the dream and he said that a tickle monster would chase after him and try to hurt him. So I asked if he would draw this tickle monster. He immediately jumped up and started to draw a picture of him. This monster was very scary with big sharp teeth, black eyes and knives and chain saws coming off of its body. It scared me too, so I asked him if he could think of a way to get rid of this monster from his dreams. He sat and thought for a moment and proceeded to go to the draw and he pulled out an envelope. He then folded the drawing in three making sure that the picture could not be seen, he put it in the envelope, sealed it and then went to his bedroom and put it in his top drawer and closed it. He looked at me and said "Mom, he's trapped now". That night he did not have the dream. The next morning he took the envelope out of the draw and took it to school. I asked him what he did with it and he told me that he gave it to another boy in his class. It's been nearly a year 'tickle monster' free. I realized no matter what I said to him to try and make him realize that it was just a dream, to him it was real and HE was the only one who could fix it!

Unwinding into Depth

The more you unwind, the deeper you experience.

In place of wasting energy figuring out your plans, accept whatever comes;

because in the end, each circumstance is a mirror of what is already in your heart.

Nipun and Guri's words from The Inner-net have me thinking... How deep do I experience? How deep can I allow an experience to move through me, to travel through my many different channels of perception? How attentive to each flavor of my experience am I? How may I unwind so that I may experience deeper?

i unwind, deepening my experience. . .
accepting whatever comes. . .
recognizing each circumstances reflection of my heart.

I highly recommend reading more about Nipun and Guri's pilgrimage to India with the intention to use their hands to do crazy acts of kindness, use their heads to write good-news stories, and use their hearts to find Truth.

'not afraid to tell'

driving home one afternoon after picking up my daughter zoe, she said to me "mama, promise not to tell anyone or say anything as i have something to tell you, and promise not to smile or say, oh thats cute zoe or say anything or laugh if i tell you" i assured her that i would not say or do anything. she said "why does cole (her friend at school) want me to be his girlfreind" (it was hard for me not to smile as it just sounded sooo cute) i didnt say anything, and after a moment she told me i could comment on her question. "well zoe, its because you have a very caring and kind heart with a wonderful smile and big brown eyes, and that you are a beautiful little girl inside and out" there was a moment of silence and she said "i know why mama" i said "why zoe" and she said" because i wear nice t-shirts, and because Jesus made me me" i said "oh zoe thats wonderful that you know that Jesus made you and i am very very proud of you that you know that" i couldnt help thinking about what she said, it just melted my heart, and i realised that at the tender age of five, zoe knew more than most adults ,and was proud to tell!

they say. . .

Einstein once said:

I have no special talents, I am only passionately curious.

and Thomas Carlyle said:

Worship is transcendent wonder.

seems like these two should go together... for the moment, I'm just enjoying both quotes and thought I'd share them with you... want to work your magic and string them together for us? Thanks!

Breast Cancer Hospitalization Bill

Lifetime Television is sponsoring a petition urging Congress to ban "drive-through" mastectomies — the practice in which women are forced out of the hospital sometimes only hours after breast cancer surgery.

The legislation would require insurance companies to cover a 48-hour minimum stay for mastectomy patients and a 24-hour stay for a woman undergoing a lymph node dissection. The legislation ensures that a doctor and a patient will make a decision together about staying at a hospital after a mastectomy.

While both the American College of Surgeons and the American Medical Association believe that most patients require a longer hospital stay, "drive-through" mastectomies have become an unwelcome reality for women who are battling breast cancer. Against the advice of their doctors, women must leave the hospital while still in pain, groggy with anesthesia and with drainage tubes still in place.

Please take a moment to click and sign this petition, helping to pass legislation which will end this practice.

Dreaming. . . forward

Perusing the Integral Naked Forum, Arthur introduced me to an organization called Responsible Wealth. Arthur explains the organization as

a bunch of rich Americans who believe that the Bush tax cuts are outrageous and obscene, and are advocating a fair system of taxation which can support the kind of society that allowed the rich to become so wealthy in the first place.

And then I find Shawn's inviting words:

I would love to explore the fringes of existence and the knowledge that is always there just beyond the boundaries of the moment.

I find myself in a place I frequently visit... a space of dreaming potentials and possibilities that exist just beyond the boundaries of the present moment, and strategizing effective and feasible means of dreaming them forward into reality. I aim to balance dreaming space with action space. . .to make contact with the fringes of existence and ground that essence in this blooming moment.

It's motivating to read stories about people taking action to address a need greater than themselves. It's inspiring when the fuel for taking action is an individual's or group of individual's passion.

Will you dream with me for a moment? Will you take a breath and feel, burning in the core of your body, a fire that is your passion? What does it want to do right now? How does it want to be in the world? If that fire could talk, what would it say? There are no right answers to these questions... the challenge is to listen and trust what we hear. . .

of course your comments are most enjoyed!

Life is Magical

photo source

I so adore and appreciate the circle of 'friends' and 'family' that has formed around this easily amazed playground. It warms my heart unendingly to feel each of us touched by one another in the many ways that we have of reaching out and sharing our innner selves. Here's a message from Becky:

we returned from spain and morocco sunday night, and part of my getting caught up within my life was checking out your blog. i was warmed and touched, as usual, by the stories and thoughts you and others shared on the blog. i was particularly drawn to the candle story and site. i went there to light a candle. as i'm sure you've already done it, you know it asks you to reflect on your reason for lighting one. well, although i have plenty of people in my prayers, i just wanted to write one saying thank you God, i am grateful for my life, as i truly am and feel so blessed for so many reasons. regardless, i wrote my little note and pressed continue. it gave me a little chill to see that the site was gratefulness.org! i had no idea that was the name of the site, and to think that being grateful just came to my mind as my reason made me feel, again, like i was right where i was supposed to be at that moment. you may think my story silly, but for me it showed the serendipity of life in all its little coincidences (is there such a thing?) and moments of awareness.

...life is indeed magical, if we only pay attention. don't you think?

I definitely think.