I’m standing at my kitchen counter blogging with a baby chicken tucked into my camisole. It’s making sporadic peeps which tells me it’s swaddled and warm. I can feel the sun shining on me and BeBe (baby bird). Raising my gaze from the computer screen I see out to the deck and on out to sea. My eyes trace the perfectly flat horizon where white fluffy Caribbean clouds kiss the blue water. A Thrushy (local bird) is eating left-over dog food – a regular. Its the food chain in action. First the poodles, then the Thrushy (sometimes 2) and then the little Banana Quit shows up to pick at the last morsels. If I leave the dishes out, the ants are the final consumers (visible to the naked eye anyway).
I take great pleasure in this scenario. At moments like this, standing in a golden pool of sunlight, drinking my first cup of coffee, I am so aware of how the universe looks after me. I’m just paying it forward. I feel connected to all these creatures – even the roaches that I left out before because its harder to love them (left over from NYC apt. dwelling and cans of Raid). We are all a part of this magnifi
cent show and I’m just taking care of this teeny corner.
BeBe is peeping. This little ball of fluff and new feathers warms my heart as I warm its tiny body. Loving Bebe is loving everything. Caring for it (don’t know yet if hen or rooster) is helping everything to grow.
Everything we do, think, say and feel has an energetic impact. Our very presence effects the nature of everything else. We are all pebbles thrown in the collective pool radiating circles out from the center and changing the surface and the depths below.
Standing here I feel warm, grateful and full of light. I invite you to honor something small and routine that you do, think or say. Close your eyes and see the energy radiating out into the world. Know that, at this moment, you are a magnificent creator. This moment is your contribution to the world and it is good.
I love knowing that instead of feeling powerless in front of the news of violence at home and abroad, I get to make choices every single day that promote peace and spread the energy of love.
We kid ourselves if we think our lives have nothing to do with what is going on in the world. We are like pebbles in the bigger collective pool. Our ripples extend way beyond where we can see. The energy of our thoughts, feelings and actions merges with the universal soup in which we all swim and, the more we choose peace, connection and love, the more we create the kind of world we want to live in.
This story takes place in a super-market: full carts, long lines- a potentially high stress situation. It is a success story told to me by a client. I could see how far she has come in her ability to deliberately create her own reality, feel better and have a positive effect of those around her.
She was waiting patiently on a long line. She was relaxed and had brought a good book. The cart in front of her was full but the shopper in absentia and not back by the time my friend was “next up”. She pushed the cart to the side and started to put her stuff on the belt. Just then, the shopper, an older woman, returned – hands on hips, poised for resistance and a fight. My friend explained the cashier was ready, she hadn’t known what to do – then she said, “OK, get back in line.” The woman behind pointed out that the line in the next aisle was shorter and the woman reclaimed her cart and moved. More waiting and just as my friend was loaded on the belt, the woman returned and said she wanted her place back. “You’ve got to be kidding,” my friend said. The woman said the other line turned out to be really slow and she wanted her spot. Hesitating, my friend said, “Oh, OK, go ahead,” and resumed reading. The woman looked surprised and grateful. She took her hands off her hips and accepted, thanking my friend.
The woman behind my friend worked at the store and was shopping on her lunch hour. She was being called to bag groceries and didn’t know what to do with her stuff. My friend said, “Go ahead and bag. I’ll pull your cart along, put your stuff on the belt and then you can pay for it.” Thank you so very much. My friend continued reading. Good book. Good vibes. And it’s not over yet. Just after my friend had checked her stuff out and was about to put the employee’s stuff on the belt, she noticed a woman with on 2 items chomping at the bit, looking at the full cart in front of her. My friend said, “Go ahead.” Yet another grateful, happy person.
As she was telling me this story, my friend was smiling. Her intention is to spread peace and love where ever she goes and she did and it felt good. All four women – the absent prodigal shopper, the store employee, the chomping at the bit 2-item shopper and my friend connected in meaningful ways that created a small community, demonstrated that people can be surprising generous and helpful and that a situation that could have gone the angry, confrontational ,blame way could morph into its opposite.
When we choose to think new thoughts and new ways of being and doing, our lives change and the world changes. We are extremely powerful energetic beings. We are faced with many choices each and every day. We kid ourselves if we think they don’t count. They do. The way we treat our husbands and wives, our children, co-workers, people on lines and the friends and strangers who cross our paths – indicates the direction that we’re traveling AND the direction in which the world is heading. We get to point our directional arrows.
Which way will you point yours? How will you decide to further peace in the world right now, today?
I went to a memorial gathering for a long-time employee at the wonderful, only bookstore in St. Thomas. A diverse group of people showed up and told stories of their relationship with him and how he had figured in their lives, their growth as readers and human beings and how much they will miss him. Poems were read and people told stories that warmed hearts and filled the room with tears and laughter. Someone pointed out that even though we live in a small community and pass each other, nodding and smiling over the years – too often we don’t really know one another or reach out and touch each other. We’re missing out on treasure troves and living connections that could enrich and support us. I kept wishing I had spent more time getting to know this guy as I heard about what a unique, funny, smart, great guy he was.
Sadly, I was reminded of this again all too soon at yet another memorial service. It was unspeakably tragic and sudden, a violent end to the peaceful life of a loving family man and preservationist. I couldn’t stop thinking of all the hours I’d spent standing next to him and his wife at soccer games as we watched his son and my daughter do super human things on the soccer field. We cheered loudly and were the kind of parents who showed up and took great pleasure in our kid’s lives. I am sorry that I never really got to know him and, as is often the case, I know far more about him now that he is gone.
Life is precious. As my Abraham-Hicks quote said this morning, it is measured in joy, not length. As with gemstones, it’s not only the surface that matters. Its important to know that, to an untrained eye, the shimmer or shine or dullness of an unpolished stone is only scanning the surface. The depth of each and every one of us is measured in fathoms. Endless and magical, we are full of untold treasures and an abundance of love. We are so often preoccupied, self-absorbed and distracted. We have learned to say good morning and good afternoon but how many of us know whom we are talking to, what matters to them, what successes and failures and joys and sorrows live in their hearts. How often have we not shared our treasures with those standing next to us at a soccer game or working away upstairs at the bookstore – or those people who we pass over and over again at K-mart, PTA meeting, in a line or at some public or private event.
Our community may be small, but like a life being measured in joy rather than length – it is measured in depth and connection. I am sobered and saddened at the loss of these two fine men so much earlier than anyone would have expected or wanted. I am inspired to seize the day, cultivate joy, be loving and, above all, take the time to get to know the people who cross my path over and over and to tell those around me how much I love and appreciate them as I share my treasures and ooh and aah over theirs.
I just put my old friend Martin on a plane back to frigid Montreal after a great weeklong visit. We’ve been friends for 40 years and have seen each other through many ups and downs and life changes. What a gift to still be in each other’s lives in that continuous way that only friends and family enjoy. You get to check in – outer signs noted in greyer hair, more wrinkles, a few new aches and pains perhaps and inner signs of personal growth, spiritual evolution and progress in our respective endeavors.
I’d been feeling low energy – my cold had gone to my lungs and was (still is) taking forever to be gone. I’d also been feeling like I was spinning my wheels – not moving as fast as I’d like in my business, cleaning my house and moving toward short and long term goals. I was feeling discouraged and down on myself – focused on what I wasn’t doing and what wasn’t working.
Well… Martin’s visit changed that! I got to see myself through his eyes and, like when you are painting a painting or viewing one in a museum, it always helps to step back and get the bigger view – I got to see the bigger picture of my life through his eyes and, I have to admit, I like what I saw and am still seeing.
We all have blind spots. When we’re driving on the freeway and pull out to change lanes and barely avoid a major crash because the approaching car was in our blind spot, we learn to turn our heads to see what’s happening in that place that we can’t see in our mirrors. We always think that what’s happening in our blind spot is bad and out to get us.
I have a different take on this. I am wondering what’s happening in my blind spot that is GOOD. After Martin’s visit, I realize that I have lots going on. It’s as though there’s been this party going on all along and I just never opened that door or turned my head at that particular angle. Through his eyes I see I’m making steady and even impressive progress in creating my Attracting Paradise coaching business. I have a radio spot, this blog, write a column in The St Thomas Source, speak at events and have created Every Day a Rainbow (TM) an exciting new product to help people raise their vibrations in a delightfully easy way. I’m on the verge of launching my group-coaching program, Attracting Paradise. Fireworks please!
As Martin said, “You have such a full life.” I have truly created a life that I love which continues to grow and evolve and I enjoy it on a daily basis.
It’s like when you look at a photo of yourself and, instead of the usual default reaction – yuck ‘ I look so (fill in the blank: fat tired, frumpy, old, bad hair day…)” you think WOW “lookin’ good!”
Martin’s visit had that effect on my life. He helped me to see it from a new angle and to like what I am seeing. Thank you Martin. You had a week to thaw out in the tropical sun, enjoy pumpkin soup on my deck overlooking the sea, be welcomed by the big hearts of Virgin Islanders, enjoy great music, long hikes and…. you gave the gift of shining a light in the blind spots where the good stuff has been hanging out all along. Bon Voyage and come again!
What good stuff is hanging out in your blind spots? Step back to see the big picture and ask a friend or family member to tell you what they see about you that’s working and what is beautiful about you inside and out. Lap it up and go forth and enjoy the party that might just be your life today and always.