Waiting in my Labyrinth

My dear friend, Marianne, reminded me that I hadn't written in this blog for a long time (last post was July 18) and wondered why. Really good friends are the ones that ask the difficult/piercing questions, aren't they. Thank Heaven for 'em.

Have you ever started out on a trip that turned out to be totally different than the one you planned? That happened to me last Spring when Kel and I drove our truck and travel trailer out to Montana for our niece, Audra's, wedding (May 1). We thought there'd be lots of hiking and kayaking...but there wasn't: weather--lots of cold and rain and SNOW! What did happen was lots of (indoor) time with people, both family and friends. Our expectation was to be filled up, once again, with the natural beauty of the West. What happened was deeper connections with family and friends.

This "life" trip that I've been on for 6-plus decades has included heart events (I had bypass surgery in 2000) that I've finally realized aren't interruptions of my life but are part of my life--and, at that, a very important part of my life. Things have not always turned out as I had planned and, even though I can't see very far ahead of me, I'm learning to be at peace with the wisdom that's drawing me deeper.

I'm now waiting for a heart procedure to happen next week (Sept. 8) that may be an answer for me...or not. In this ten years of slowly learning that all I have is this moment and the people who are there with me (and I'm not there yet), I know the supreme importance of inner healing which renders physical healing a distant second. I have also discovered that in the worst of physical distress there can be peace but only through surrender.

We all walk the "life labyrinth" metaphorically every day. On Tuesday, September 7, I'll be walking the labyrinth on Nazareth Road in Kalamazoo (directions below) at 9am for a few hours. Please join me if you can...arrive in silence and leave in silence, respecting the pace of others. The labyrinth is always open so come anytime.

I invite you to share the unplanned learning experiences in your "life labyrinth."

DIRECTIONS: Coming from downtown Kazoo, take Gull Road east past Borgess Hospital. Turn left (north) at the light on Nazareth Road (stone fence on the left) and take the second break in the stone fence. There's a small parking lot about 200' in--if it's full, just park along the road inside the fence. The labyrinth starts at the two green flags.

SWIMMING TOWARD LIGHT

I awoke this morning envisioning myself swimming straight up from darkness toward a shimmering light on the surface of the water above me. I felt weightless and a strong, joyous sense of awareness that I would reach the light, even though I could not make out anything above the light.

I am reminded of the passage in I Corinthians 13, "For now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face: now I know in part; but then I shall know even as also I am known."

Today, I am still recovering from having my heart shocked into normal rhythm last Tuesday. In considering this event symbolically, I have been desiring for quite some time to interact with others with a softer heart--dropping judgement and expectations that have been keeping me out of rhythm with my inner guidance. Through the chaos of a wildly beating, inefficient heartbeat has come a quiet, regular rhythm offering me a new start with a softer heart.

A poet whose poems have only deepened in meaning over the decades--Rainer Maria Rilke--once again offers new wisdom:

THE SOLITARY PERSON

Among so many people cozy in their homes,
I am like a man who explores far-off oceans.
Days with full stomachs stand on their tables;
I see a distant land full of images.

I sense another world close to me,
Perhaps no more lived in than the moon;
They, however, never let a feeling alone,
And all the words they use are so worn.

The living things I brought back with me
Hardly peep out, compared with all they own.
In their native land they were wild;
Here they hold their breath from shame.

Please write and tell me what you are discovering in your "far-off ocean."

WHY MEMORIZE?

Isn't it strange that when we are not distracted by ordinary thoughts how quickly we seem to drift into some negative harbor in our minds or hearts, such as financial stress, relationship problems, unresolved emotional crises, health problems, or job issues? Our egos don't like empty spaces and, since our egos thrive in the past, the empty spaces between ordinary thoughts goes into taking up the worries of past traumas.

Our society is weighted in favor of what's wrong, what's in pain, and what's missing in our lives as opposed to what's right and what's enough. Have you ever heard a commercial tell you, "You probably already have more than enough. What else could you possibly need?" Choosing to fill our minds with thoughts of gratitude, compassion, peace, etc. are choices. I liken our choice-making ability to building up a muscle--if I continue to choose to dwell in truth, it will become second nature to come from truth.

So what does this have to do with memorization? I can just see you cringing at that word. I have never met one person who's said, "Gosh, I'm good at memorizing." It's always, "I just can't seem to memorize anything." Or, "Memorizing is very difficult for me." My question is, why would anyone think they were good at it if they never did it? It's like saying, "Tennis is very difficult for me." when you've picked up a racket twice in your life!

I am constantly amazed at what happens when I memorize something. I enjoy reading poetry and have my favorite poets. When I read a poem thoughtfully and then read it again, and yet again, I fall in love with it. But...when I memorize it, I take it one word at a time, link it phrase by phrase, observe the deeper connections, let it transport me beyond my mind. My practice is to write it on a recipe card and carry it with me until I can say it by heart. If I have chosen a really good one, there is no way to completely apprehend it with my mind but there is something in it that resonates on a deeper level where there are no words and where I know I'm supposed to go...and also where it feels like home.

Again, why memorize? When I start getting entangled in the negative fears and worries, I bring my mind to something I have memorized. Not once in the decades since I have started this practice has it failed to bring me to grace--where I realize my connection to peace. I must admit that sometimes it's difficult to turn off that negative stuff because there is something that entices us about rummaging around in it, like a piece of good gossip. Maybe we think that at least in worrying about it we have some control over it, I don't know. If you've ever been down or depressed, it seems a monumental effort to just get up and go outside and let some fresh air into your head. The more often you let yourself make a new choice to leave fear and enter truth, the quicker it will pop into your head to do so. Your ego exists on fear and when you stop feeding your ego, it will diminish.

Everyone has writings that speak to them. If you choose biblical writings, I would suggest you make it more than just one verse. Egos can be relentless and need to be dealt with firmly, so build up your cache of memorized treasures so that by the time you are finished with reciting, you are transported into joy.

I have always enjoyed poems by Rumi and just recently I discovered that his ecstatic poems were channeled--no surprise there. Here's is one that I just recently added to my treasury:

THE TORRENT LEAVES

Rise up nimbly and go on your strange journey
to the ocean of meanings, where you become one of those.
From one terrace to another and through clay banks
washing your wings with watery silt,
follow your friends. The pitcher breaks.
You're in the moving river. Living Water,
how long will you make clay pitchers
that must be broken to enter you?
The Torrent knows it can't stay on the mountain.
Leave and don't take your eyes from the sun as you go.
Through him, we are sometimes crescent, sometimes full.
(Open Secret, p. 68; Furuzanfar #2873--translated by Coleman Barks)

Enough already on memorizing? So...what do you think?

HUMILITY/HUMILIATION

One of our deepest fears is to be humiliated--to be treated as if we have no value. We all have vivid memories of being:

--unheard
--unloved
--unwelcome
--discounted
--uncared for
--shamed
--denied
--judged
--unworthy
--disrespected

As along as our self worth is dependent on how others treat us, we will always be open to humiliation

When we examine each instance of past humiliation, really let ourselves feel it, and then forgive the humiliator and ourselves, we will take a huge step toward wholeness and true humility. Why? Because the act of forgiveness allows us to see the humiliator (and ourselves) with compassion, to recognize our mutual pain of being humiliated. As we forgive, we heal, clearing our path further to our Source, the Divine.

There will come a time when we cannot be humiliated ever again because our self worth comes from within--our Source. I heard a person quietly say once in response to a particularly insensitive comment, "You can't offend me." I saw humility in action. This comment was made in compassion--the healed person who said it recognized the broken, unhealed heart of the speaker.

When we are whole, we can heal others just by being completely present. Carolyn Myss, in ENTERING THE CASTLE, says, "Humility is wearing our souls on the outside."

Please share your experiences on your path to true humility--we all need each others' support.

EVERYDAY COURAGE

I am preparing for a family birthday celebration for my husband, Kel--he's going to be 62. I know my proclivity for getting buried in the details of preparation--cleaning the house, grocery shopping, wrapping presents, cooking, etc.--and ending up frazzled and exhausted at the end of the day. Sound familiar? I also have the added joy of doing all this with three of my grandsons staying the weekend.

I love my husband, I love my grandsons, I love to have my family over, and I love to cook. My challenge is to reach the end of the day with my heart full, a smile on my face, and just pleasantly tired. As long as I stay aware of my source and rein in my ego, this will happen. Why is this courage?

Because it takes courage to choose to be happy. I've watched my mother choose to be happy after she moved to a retirement home. I heard her say, "Gee, I don't have to do my laundry, I don't have to cook my meals, I don't have to clean up after myself, and everyone here is wonderful to me. What a life!" I have seen people in this same retirement home make different choices about their response to their life situation, causing sadness and pain to their families and their care takers.

It takes courage to accept what is, to be here now. It takes courage to see each person as a vital and blessed part of my life, to be able at any moment to sacrifice what I am to what I can become.

Heroes rarely see themselves as having acted in any courageous way. Many times, we've heard them say, "I just did what anyone would do." Sounds kind of humble, doesn't it? For just a split second there, they were called upon to be exactly in the moment--their egos did not have time to kick into gear and they did just the perfect thing.

It can be like that all the time when we understand how our egos have kept us from living consciously in this present moment. Courage, then, has a chance to rise and respond, seeing the current situation without the filters of fear and self-protection, and to do what's needed at just the right time. Eckhart Tolle wrote THE NEW EARTH, which helped me to finally understand that the ego cannot exist in the "now," it is always about my history--the traumas of my past. Tolle went so far as to suggest that we don't even need our egos anymore. That's a courageous statement and one that bears investigating.

So living in the light of this perfect moment allows the qualities of my spirit to flow--compassion, grace, healing, love, peace, etc.

Please share your stories of everyday courage so we can all support each other in our journeys.

I TALK TOO MUCH!

I ran across this poem this morning written by Lao Tzu in the TAO TE CHING which seemed to have my name written all over it. It starts, Dear Julie:

No. 23

Sparing indeed is nature of its talk:
The whirlwind will not last the morning out;
The cloudburst ends before the day is done.
What is it that behaves itself like this?
The earth and the sky! And if it be that these
Cut short their speech, how much more yet should man!

If you work by the Way,
You will be of the Way;
If you work through its virtue
You will be given virtue;
Abandon either one
And both will abandon you.

Gladly then the Way receives
Those who choose to walk in it;
Gladly too its power upholds
Those who choose to use it well;
Gladly will abandon greet
Those who to abandon drift.

Little faith is put in them
Whose faith is small.


I have found myself still talking long after people's eyes have glazed over. Even when I'm sensing that I'm losing connection with someone, I talk even more rather than allow a silence to exist. I know that when I voice lots of opinions, it keeps me from taking in new information but I still persist in having my say. When I comment idly on the lives of others, I have realized that I'm subconsciously making the assumption that they don't know what they're doing and that I do. I'm not honoring (judging) the path/journey that they're on.

Even though I know that words are ultimately inadequate to express truth and beauty, I still have so much confidence in talking and not as much in silence. Then I found another poem by Lao Tzu:

No. 56

Those who know do not talk
And talkers do not know.

Stop your senses,
Close the doors;
Let sharp things be blunted,
Tangles resolved,
The light tempered
And turmoil subdued;
For this is mystic unity
In which the Wise Man is moved
Neither by affection
Nor yet by estrangement
Or profit or loss
Or honor or shame.
Accordingly, by all the world,
He is held highest.

In James 3:17 of the Bible, it says, "...the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure and full of quiet gentleness." There's that "quiet" word again. Makes me think of that old saying: Better to be silent and thought stupid than to open your mouth and remove all doubt." I remember hearing that alot from my parents. Hmmmmmmmmmm. I overheard my mother say to my aunt one day that I could make pleasant conversation with a post!

According to Lao Tzu's poem No. 56 above, this silence comes from "mystic unity". So, the stronger our connection to our Source, the more silent (or wise) we become? It's difficult to grasp with the mind, isn't it? Maybe that's why the poem encourages us to "stop your senses, close the doors".

What are your thoughts and experiences with talking too much?

RAIN

There is a place whose still heart
beats for me
calling to be exactly where I am,
here and there.
They are the same and always will be,
I have finally found.
The heart that holds me
was there from the very beginning
and followed me closer than my breath
all this long journey,
the one that teachs me,
so lost in that great heart--
a drop of rain in a rain river.

Turn around. There it is
and always will be, changing all
my stories into one.
Why did I ever think to leave
my soul's great home?
How does this life on earth
teach my very soul,
connected to all things as it is?
Do I leave home to learn
how to come home?

REAL CHANGE

We all know that diets don’t work if there’s no real attitude change. Beating ourselves up and hating ourselves as methods of change have very few long-term benefits. Eckhart Tolle and others have said, “Whatever we resist persists,” because what we're focusing on is a negative thing, a problem. Whatever we declare war on doesn’t seem to solve any problems. For example, our war on poverty--have we managed to eradicate poverty yet? Dr. Paul Farmer (founder of Partners in Health which has been active in Haiti for decades) quotes a Haitian proverb: “God gives but does share,” which he translates as: “God gives humans everything we need to flourish, but he’s not the one who’s supposed to divvy up the loot. That charge was laid upon us.”

Something needs to refocus in each of us to stop doing battle against what is as a means to bring about change. We choose to do battle because we fear being out of control of both others and ourselves. We feel unsafe and worry about the safely of those we love. We fear being in pain, uncomfortable, hungry, lost, fore-closed upon, homeless, and the list goes on.

What would happen if we accepted who we are and how the world is as a place to begin? Acceptance of what is is a way that begins with love instead of with fear, with an open heart not one clamped closed in protection. We all know that if we want to see long-lasting changes in a child's behavior, we must start by meeting that child exactly where she is first. Then, through rewarding good behavior and refraining from punishing (affirming) bad behavior when possible, a positive foundation is laid that is based on love and acceptance (a more secure place for a child).

But how do we not respond negatively to bad behavior, difficult situations, what we can’t accept about ourselves, others, and the world? First of all, becoming conscious of how fear does not work as a path to peace and change is a giant first step. The rest of the journey is one of self-reflection and contemplation that connects us with our source of peace. There will be waaaaaaaaay more questions than answers but there will also be so much support as we allow the doors of our hearts to slowly but steadily creak open. Open hearts cannot but help to catalyze change.

When we choose to be open to see the good in all things around us, our attitudes will change. When we make the choice to step back from judging a person or situation (in other words, being part of the problem), answers arise, along with the courage and wisdom to implement them.

Have you ever tried to tell someone something who thinks they already know all the answers? It’s the stalemate we see unfolding every day between the Democrats and the Republicans. I know of a tiny, grassroots program called FOOD FOR FRIENDS that feeds two meals per week to 160 people. There’s no overhead—all donations of money go to buy food. The concept is very simple—get a bunch of food and feed hungry people. No one has an agenda beyond being a facilitator to change lack into abundance. Being part of this program blesses everyone involved.

When the focus of healthcare isn’t on the people who need healthcare, but which focuses on individual gain, who’s going to be re-elected, and “what about me?”, we get a good picture of exactly what’s happening in our country. When we begin to see how every action, every attitude we live, every opinion we hold either adds to the love in the world or adds to the fear, then true change can happen.

After all, there is only one thing we can have complete control over and that is ourselves. When we choose to change ourselves—dissolve our past traumas that act as foggy filters on how we see the world—peaceful possibilities will emerge. The power of love to generate more love is overwhelming.

· Start by simply seeing the beauty in another’s face—that alone changes the expression on our own faces and, therefore, generates the connection needed to create change.
· Thich Nhat Hanh says, “Smile, even when there’s no one around”. I don’t know why that works but it does.
· Take advantage of any excuse to laugh out loud.
· Detach from the outcome of a project or situation and just get lost in the beauty and excitement of creating and who you get to create with.
· Be around kids as much as possible. Run with them, kick a ball back and forth, lick popsicles together, look right into their faces when they talk to you, let go of what’s proper and just be a kid again. Repeat.
· Do anonymous good—lots of it. You know what’s fun? Find a name in the phonebook and write them an anonymous love note: “I’m so glad you’re alive in this world, your life touches so many people.” Just imagine them reading it. How would you react to such a note? Wouldn’t it stick in your mind? Maybe you’d use it as a bookmark for a while or tape it up on your bathroom mirror. You’d smile every time you read it.

We are all such pushovers for love, aren’t we? So here we are again—love or fear. What do I want residing in me and what do I want to give the world?

Please write and tell me about how you create love in the world.

CAN THERE BE ANOTHER WAY?

What if you were given another chance at your ife? What choices would you change? Is this the life you were meant to live? Do you feel as if you are off on the wrong track, that you might be living the choices of some other people who thought they were providing guidance and instead handed you their decisions early on?

Are you accomplishing what you came here to do? Do you have any idea what that even is? How can you find out? What does it matter?

I've discovered that if I want an answer to something, I can hold that question or thought in my mind and, somehow, someway, a deeper understanding is possible. Where does the answer come from? Several years ago, as my husband was silently saying his end-of-the-day "thank yous," I asked him, "Who are you thanking?" He answered, "What does it matter?"

A better question might be: Where do my questions come from? My ego, my mind, my heart, my soul? When my intention is to have more peace and love in my life, the answer will come from that source. Henri Nouwen, in THE GENESEE DIARY, says, "People expect too much from speaking, too little from silence." It only follows that when I ask a question internally, in order to hear the answer, I must become silent--a patient, committed, enduring quietness.

There are times when the answers just do not seem to come, at least not the answers we want or expect. I am reminded, again, of what Rainer Maria Rilke admonished in LETTERS TO A YOUNG POET:

"Have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don't search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the question now. Perhaps, then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even knowing it, live your way into the answer."

As we hold the questions in our minds, waiting to see if there can be another way to live, one that embodies more peace, we find ourselves having more compassion for the lack of peace in others. Our search for another way and the gradual opening of our hearts along the way leads us to a humbler, simpler way of living. The search itself becomes the path, the process itself evolves into the answer and, suddenly one day, we realize that our lives have changed, have become bigger, wider, able to embrace what we once found impossible.

LOVE OR FEAR--It's a Choice

What does fear look like:

• over-protecting


• over-consuming


• over-amassing


• over-drinking/eating


• over-organizing


• over-scheduling


• over-distracting


• over-reacting


• over-medicating


• over-stimulating


• complaining


• manipulating


• selfishness


• irritation

What does love look like:

• openness


• healthiness


• willingness


• forgiveness


• peacefulness


• happiness


• service


• generosity

It's a choice about whether we add to the love or add to the fear that is already in the world.

Why would we choose to add to the fear? There is only one reason: we are still reacting to past, unresolved traumas in our history. We still see the world through the filters we have created to protect ourselves from being hurt or humiliated. Our ego is in the business of keeping our fears alive and convincing us that "that's just who I am": a collection of habitual reactions to people and situations.

Every so often, we find ourselves with people or in situations where our fear response is not triggered and we get a glimmer of what it must be like to experience life fully and joyfully. It's not long, though, before the ego kicks in and starts complaining or judging or being offended about something and our moment of peace is gone.

How can we get past seeing the world through the filters of our historical fears? When you truly ask yourself that question, the work has already begun. Eckhart Tolle, in his book titled, A NEW EARTH, writes that just the act of picking up the book sets you on the path to wholeness. I've always loved the image that all we're expected to do is lift our foot and the rest of the step is taken for us--that's how much help there is waiting for us.

In my previous post, I wrote about how books seem to find their ways into our hands. That happens with people and situations, as well. When we hold the desire/question in our minds that we would like healing from past wounds, we can trust that things, people, and situations will appear in our lives: "When the student is ready, the teacher appears." Actually, even the people and situations that are already in our lives will begin to have new meaning and will challenge us to learn from them in new and healing ways.

I spent most of my life feeling disconnected and angry with my Mother for not being the mother I thought she should be. One year for Christmas, when I was in my mid-40s, I gave my Mother an empty notebook and asked her to write about her life before she was married. At first, she balked, saying "Oh, I can't do that." Then, a few months later, she handed me back the notebook with about 100 pages filled in.

When I read it, I was stunned. She innocently and without self-pity described her young life during the Depression, where she lost her father at age seven. She was the youngest of five girls and her Mother, after losing their farm, did everything from taking in washing and ironing to taking in boarders just to keep her family together. Even then, the girls had to be farmed out to relatives and friends periodically until her Mother could get back on her feet. Her only commentary was, "Everybody had it hard."

I found myself in tears at how she described her Mother coming home from the hospital and having to tell five little girls that their Daddy was dead. I smiled when she wrote about learning to roller skate on her Grandma's big front porch.

All of a sudden, she became a real person to me--she became Margaret. I felt the anger slip away and I am convinced it was because I wanted it to--I was so tired of carrying around this soreness, tired of maintaining the wall against her.

Our relationship, unbeknownst to her, changed radically for me. When all this happened, she was already going down the memory-loss lane so there was going to be no outward reconciliation, no big heart-to-heart discussion--just the inward act of forgiving both myself and my Mother.

Now, I actually look forward to visiting her and think about ways to make her final years happy ones. I don't have to slog around in that swamp of hurt feelings anymore--something had finally opened up in me, releasing me from fear and into love.

Would you be willing to share your experiences about how you resolved past traumas and how that changed the way you live your life?

BOOK TRAILS

Have you ever noticed that your choices in the books you read follow some kind of path?

Decades ago, when I was raising little ones at home in Blissfield, Michigan, I decided to keep a list of the books I read for one year. What a revealing experience! At first, it appeared to be all over the joint, then I started thinking of the events of the past year and it a pattern emerged.

I tend to have more than one book going at a time and, when it happened that one book I was reading quoted the other, I started to become more and more aware of the threads that wove my book-reading choices one to the other. I also started realizing that there was a distinct relationship to my choice of a book and what was happening externally, wondering which one came first--sometimes one, sometimes the other.

Have you ever wondered how you can browse through a library or a bookstore and come out with ONE book? How does that happen? I've heard people tell stories of how a book actually fell off the shelf and the reading of it changed their lives. Some people have told me that titles actually light up or their fingers begin tingling as they run them across the spines of books.

I started documenting these "book trails" as I wrote my second book, EARTH TRAILS-HEART TRAILS, a journal of our three-month trip around the Southwest in 2002. I found that when I made a distinct daily effort to find the connections between what I was reading and what I was living, a whole new level of seeing opened up. I found myself carrying a notebook down every trail we hiked, stopping to make notes to include later in my daily journal entries.

When I read others' journals, it's like being handed yet another map that I can overlay on my own, seeing where others explored this canyon or that deep green valley or paddled down a river I didn't even know was there. Reading journals, or first person accounts, is like being handed another life I get to live--just because someone took the time to write down their "maps". And then there's the wonderful surprise when you reach the end of a book and there's a "Suggested Reading" list--Oh, joy! It's like following a link on a website--you just never know where you're going to end up.

My Canadian friend, Marianne, publishes e-books about their travels in the west and southwest of the U.S (www.frugal-rv-travel.com). Whenever I'm missing her, all I have to do is start reading one of her books and there she is--her joyous personality, her wit, her gentle humor, her creativity, and her intelligence shines brightly from every page. I feel as if we'd just had a cup of tea together. Don't you feel that way when you hear that a favorite author has a new book out? You rush out to the nearest bookstore because you can't wait for the paperback.

Are you , like me, one of those people who check out the book titles at people's houses? More often than not, I have been pleasantly surprised and it has led to some giant leaps over the sometimes laborious territory of getting to know someone.

How do you select a book for someone else? Sometimes when I'm reading a book, I'll think, "Wow, I bet Josh would love this book." And, thus, a book finds itself going down yet another "trail".

Would you be willing to share some of your "book trails" experiences?

POWER PLAYS AND DRAMAS

Do you ever find that, contrary to your best intentions, you have once again gottten drawn into someone else's drama or power play?

Do you realize it when it's happening or not until later? Do the types of power plays that draw you in have a pattern?

How do you feel while it's happening? How do you feel later?

How does the interchange affect your relationship with that person and how does it affect your relationship with people you are with afterwards?

Do you divide your relationships into "easy" ones and "difficult" ones?

How often do you instigate the drama or power play? How do you feel when someone jumps right in with you as opposed to those who don't engage?

What do you think is the relationship between your pattern of engagement in power dramas and your stress level? How often you are ill? How often do you have a headache, stomachache , backache or just low energy?

Do you hang on to power dramas after they are over (I shoulda said...")?

How often do you catch yourself enacting a fictional drama in your head? How do those fictional dramas affect your relationship with that person(s)?

Do you find yourself wishing that you could see situations and people more clearly--not have everything filter through your history (prejudices, biases, past traumas, immoveable opinions)?

Please share your thoughts and dreams and goals--someone out there could benefit from your wisdom.

This is a blog for people who know their souls are calling to them for a deeper experience of Life. You have become more conscious of not only the chronic disorders (mental and physical) of those around you but also of the deteriorating condition of our earth. You want to find the source of the pain and not just put a band-aid on it. You are willing to do what it takes, even if it means transforming yourself first, to bring love and healing and compassion into our broken world. I invite you to make this blog a place to share your soul experiences and to find soul companions who are doing the same.