Make One Person Smile Today

today's ridiculous flowers

      I had a (hopefully) wonderful post mostly prepared, but somehow it just didn't feel right.  Thought I'd give you a picture of my ridiculous flowers and a few quotes.  What you can't tell from the picture is the colors are wildly unnatural.  There is even glitter on some of the flowers.  They make me so happy.  I never said I had class (my husband would tell you I am a cheap date).
      This is my vision of gratitude.  Start simple.  It is easier to be grateful for the sunrise or hot water on demand (or brightly colored flowers) than to come up with the big stuff.  There will always be a friend with cancer, the young child dying from a horrible car wreck, a fight with your spouse.  This feeling was captured completely in a book I just finished, In the Company of Others by Jan Karon.
        In a conversation about mothering challenging children, Father Tim, the main character, says "Healing (comes) as little drops of water, and never the mighty ocean when you need it..."  My crazy flowers were one of the drops of water that lift my heart every time that I see them.
         Over the past few months, I've been thinking and praying and meditating a lot.  This fall my youngest will go to college and like many soon to be empty nesters it is a good time examine where I am and what I am doing.  Over and over I get the feeling to be myself.  Be playful, be open, be creative. Don't worry, don't overplan, just relax.  Father Tim captures it again when he says "Wherever I am, He supplies a parish."  If I make one person smile today, my work is done.  God bless whoever sprinkled the glitter on my crazy flowers. :)

Ask a Higher Power

      A few days ago, I was walking in our little patch of woods after a lovely snowfall (if you ever can't find me, go look in South Fork Park by the creek. I'm probably in my favorite place).  Over the years that we have lived in our house, the wild areas have slowly been carved away, becoming condos, nail salons and ice cream parlors, but one last stretch by the creek remains.  It is a great place to go to just be (and sometimes meet your neighbors and their dogs).
     As I walked along enjoying the crunch of the snow and the occasional branch dumping snow on my head,  I noticed the tracks in the snow in front of me. The human tracks strode ahead straight and strong, but the dog's went go straight along for a while, but then wandered from side to side. Did a dog just lack the moral fiber to push forward?  I didn't think so.  There seemed to be a rhythm.
     It became clearer the longer I looked. The dog's tracks would waver as he looked up at his master's face just to check in.  They had walked this path many times before, but he would do whatever it takes to please, so he had to keep looking at his master's face to check in.
      We have so much to learn from dogs.  When we are unsure, or even just walking along, why not ask a higher power for advice and guidance?

     In the middle of this revelation, I stood on the bridge feeling alone. I've been putting together a blog for my friend who sits down with pen and paper (and sometimes a question) and writes what the Lord speaks.  Lets just say I've been a bit envious.  My prayer was like a toddler stamping her foot and saying "Me, too!"  (or "Hey, where's my divine revelation, Buddy?")  My answer was immediate.  In the middle of the snowstorm, when nothing else was moving in the forest, a cardinal flew onto the branch, right beside the creek.
       I have always seen the Divine revealed in nature and in those around me.  I seek answers in my time at the creek and in being alone in the physical world.  When I sit down, my brain never stops. (It's why I am such a good meditation teacher, I've made (or am making) every mistake in the book.  You learn a lot of work-arounds.)
       Here I had it. Two answers.  What to do with them?  Here are a few things I came up with:

1. Define your Higher Power- define it if just for today, it can change tomorrow or even in the next moment. Pick your favorite name- God, Jesus Christ, Ascended Masters, Great Celestial Beings of Light-  there is help waiting to be called on, don't go it alone.
2. Release Expectations- You can't be the question and the answer at the same time (drat!).  So define your question and let it go.
3. Listen-  For me, this is the hardest part.  The good thing is that if we manage even a few moments, God manages to slip in.
4. Get some help- Find a meditation or yoga class, find some prayers that you like, take a walk in the woods.  There are so many ways, just try something new each day.

     On the way back home, I noticed this rose bush.  It was cold and snowy outside and the wind was blowing hard, but there it was, full of possibility.  There are buds along the stem for next spring and at the very tip, the first leaves had unfurled.  Now, these leaves may not make it to the spring, we have harsh weather here in Kentucky, one day it is 65 degrees, the next only 7.  Those first leaves and the buds behind them reminded me of all the attempts I have made over the years to listen.  One is working for me now, but when it stops, there are many more behind it to nourish me in the future.
     An interesting thing happens when I ask for help.  Life doesn't alter, but my feelings about it change.  Usually I feel clearer thinking and less attached to the outcome of my decisions.  It's like suddenly I get the "long view" and realize that it's all just 'stuff.'  I embrace my inner Buddha nature easily. As an added side benefit, my posture improves and I breathe better- who could ask for more?

Help in Tragic Times

       This Sunday, as I looked out over the congregation at church, almost three quarters of the congregation was dressed in either grey or black.  It was shocking to see how deeply the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary penetrated, even if subconsciously. We pray, we send money, but it feels so futile.
        This devastating feeling, like so many other things, changed when I learned reiki.  In reiki level II, we learn to send reiki over a distance to a person, a place, or even a time.  Sending healing energy to a disaster can be quite empowering.  In last Wednesdays post, I talked about how sending reiki can even change your physiology.

       I've done this many times since I first was attuned, but sometimes it gets interesting.  The Fukushima nuclear disaster really hit me personally.  I have strong ties to Japan and Japanese culture through travel and friends.  Many of my Japanese friends had returned home before the tsunami and I couldn't stop worrying about them.  It was time to do something proactive.
       Each morning when I went out on my walk, I would send energy to a general, vague "those poor people suffering and working to fix Japan."  My worry obscured clarity.  So I would send reiki for the hour or so that I was out and about and return home feeling able to set about my day.
        What was interesting over time is how the recipient became more and more clear.  At first it felt like rain, sprinkling over the tsunami victims.  Not necessarily effective, but just the act of giving reiki made me feel better.  As the days and walks progressed, I began to get a feeling of who I was to.  At first it was just a general sense of where, to the north and east in Japan.  Later that it was near Fukushima, but not in the reactor.  By the end it had narrowed down to a specific male aid worker.  I felt, not only at peace, but also like I had made a difference.
         I urge you to experience the peace of praying and sending reiki to the victims at Sandy Hook Elementary, their families, and the entire community.

Sending energy to a disaster area, my experience with the Fukashima earthquake and now to Sandy Hook Elementary

Prayer for those Affected by Hurricane Sandy

        The best part of prayer in tough times is it moves you from inactive worry into active care.  I share with you two prayers from vastly different sources.  The first I love for it's picture and the sure knowledge of the depths of God's love, the second for how it mentions each aspect of the recovery from a massive natural event.

from the Godspace blog

This invocation is from another blog, Indian in the Machine.


Repeat for at least 15 minutes as many times per day as is possible for you to do. Visualize as you do this, the Violet Flame permeating the Hurricane Sandy and areas affected. Please continue this each and every day as guided through your heart flame.

Beloved I AM Presence of all humankind,Infinite Mighty I AM Presence from the Great Central Sun,All Great Cosmic Beings and Legions of Light, All Ascended Masters, and All Angelic Host, Lady Althea and your Legions of Angels, the Universal Energy Medical Teams, the Acturian Healers, and all the Galactic Healers.

We invoke your Divine Intervention NOW and call upon the Violet Flame to transmute all pain, suffering, fear, and other negatives into HOPE, LOVE, MIRACLES and BLESSINGS for all the people and animals affected by Hurricane Sandy.

Manifest now! Manifest now! Manifest now!

WE ask that Violet Flame to purify ALL who crossed-over so that they may receive their Ascension.

Great Ascended Host, we thank and bless you for your immediate assistance and divine intervention on behalf of the people of Hurricane Sandy in their great need.

We give thanks! We give thanks! We give thanks!

So be it and so it is done!