healing

"Sometimes, when you heal, your body gets all better.

Infections leave. Wounds disappear.
You feel happier. Brighter. More positive.
Sometimes, healing looks very, very different.
An infection stays. An old pain resurfaces.
You don't feel 'healed' at all. You feel worse than ever!
Powerful and uncomfortable feelings emerge!
Rage. Deep sorrow. Terrors you never knew were in you!
(Ah, but they were, friend, they were...)
This is healing, too. This falling apart.
The image of 'healing' has been shattered.
The image was false.
Trust. Trust the energies that are moving through you now.
You may feel 'worse', yes, but you are getting better at living.
You are experiencing a deeper kind of healing,
one which doesn't match the mind's fantasies.
This is a reintegration. A death... and a rebirth.
Darkness emerging into light.
All the bits you ran away from,
coming to you now
for love and acceptance.
Throw away your childhood fantasies of healing.
Fall apart. Lose the future.
Die into the Now.
Break apart for love.
You are whole, even though
your dreams have been shattered.
This is true healing, then:
Recontacting the Wholeness that you are." 

~ Jeff Foster

🙏🏼

belonging. be.

THE HOUSE OF BELONGING

I awoke

this morning 

in the gold light 

turning this way

and that

thinking for 

a moment 

it was one 

day

like any other.

But 

the veil had gone 

from my 

darkened heart 

and 

I thought

it must have been the quiet 

candlelight 

that filled my room,

it must have been 

the first 

easy rhythm 

with which I breathed 

myself to sleep,

it must have been 

the prayer I said 

speaking to the otherness 

of the night.

And 

I thought 

this is the good day 

you could 

meet your love,

this is the gray day 

someone close 

to you could die.

This is the day 

you realize 

how easily the thread 

is broken 

between this world 

and the next

and I found myself 

sitting up 

in the quiet pathway 

of light,

the tawny close 

grained cedar 

burning round 

me like fire 

and all the angels 

of this housely 

heaven ascending 

through the first 

roof of light 

the sun had made.

This is the bright home 

in which I live, 

this is where 

I ask

my friends 

to come, 

this is where I want 

to love all the things 

it has taken me so long 

to learn to love.

This is the temple 

of my adult aloneness 

and I belong 

to that aloneness 

as I belong to my life.

There is no house 

like the house of belonging.

…

'The House of Belonging'

From The House of Belonging

Poems by David Whyte

© David Whyte and Many Rivers Press

to live with not knowing

HONESTY

is reached through the doorway of grief and loss. Where we cannot go in our mind, our memory, or our body is where we cannot be straight with another, with the world, or with our self. The fear of loss, in one form or another, is the motivator behind all conscious and unconscious dishonesties: all of us are afraid of loss, in all its forms, all of us, at times, are haunted or overwhelmed by the possibility of a disappearance, and all of us therefore, are one short step away from dishonesty. Every human being dwells intimately close to a door of revelation they are afraid to pass through. Honesty lies in understanding our close and necessary relationship with not wanting to hear the truth.

The ability to speak the truth is as much the ability to describe what it is like to stand in trepidation at this door, as it is to actually go through it and become that beautifully honest spiritual warrior, equal to all circumstances, we would like to become. Honesty is not the revealing of some foundational truth that gives us power over life or another or even the self, but a robust incarnation into the unknown unfolding vulnerability of existence, where we acknowledge how powerless we feel, how little we actually know, how afraid we are of not knowing and how astonished we are by the generous measure of loss that is conferred upon even the most average life.

Honesty is grounded in humility and indeed in humiliation, and in admitting exactly where we are powerless. Honesty is not found in revealing the truth, but in understanding how deeply afraid of it we are. To become honest is in effect to become fully and robustly incarnated into powerlessness. Honesty allows us to live with not knowing. We do not know the full story, we do not know where we are in the story; we do not know who is at fault or who will carry the blame in the end. Honesty is not a weapon to keep loss and heartbreak at bay, honesty is the outer diagnostic of our ability to come to ground in reality, the hardest attainable ground of all, the place where we actually dwell, the living, breathing frontier where there is no realistic choice between gain or loss.

…

HONESTY
In CONSOLATIONS:
The Solace, Nourishment and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words.
© David Whyte & Many Rivers Press 2015

"....denying her wounds came from the same source as her power"

~Marie Curie

perspective

there

mesmerized

two hours

passes like minutes

where am I

sitting

in India

or key west

during

peace week

dissolving

softening inside

creating space

gratitude

re-energized

ah,

impermanence

The mandala represents an imaginary palace that is contemplated during meditation. Each object in the palace has significance, representing an aspect of wisdom or reminding the meditator of a guiding principle. The mandala's purpose is to help transform ordinary minds into enlightened ones and to assist with healing.

According to Buddhist scripture, mandalas constructed from sand transmit positive energies to the environment and to the people who view them. They are believed to effect purification and healing. Mandala sand painting was introduced by the Buddha himself and there are many different designs of mandala, each with different lessons to teach.

The design of the mandala is marked with chalk on a wooden platform. This meticulous process takes an entire day.

Starting from the centre and concentrically working outwards, the monks use metal funnels called chak-pur to place millions of grains of dyed sand to make the elaborate patterns. The vibrations of the chak-pur being grated with a metal rod cause the sands to flow like liquid.

monks from Drepung Gomang Monastery in India at St Paul's

Key West, FL January 10, 2017

Once the mandala is complete the monks ask for the deities' healing blessings during a ceremony. As the monks chant, one monk begins the destruction of the mandala by scraping a knuckle through the sand, creating a cross of grey sand.

Another monk takes a paintbrush and slowly and carefully sweeps the sand from the perimeter to the centre of the mandala. The destruction of the mandala serves as a reminder of the impermanence of life.

The coloured sand is swept up into an urn and dispersed into flowing water - a way of extending the healing powers to the whole world. It is seen as a gift to the mother earth to re-energise the environment and universe. 

The above text is from a BBC Religions online article on the mandala.

_/|\_

Vitamin L

The Truelove

There is a faith in loving fiercely
the one who is rightfully yours
especially if you have
waited years and especially
if part of you never believed
you could deserve this
loved and beckoning hand
held out to you this way.

I am thinking of faith now
and the testaments of loneliness
and what we feel we are
worthy of in this world.

Years ago in the Hebrides
I remember an old man
who walked every morning
on the grey stones
to the shore of the baying seals
who would press his hat
to his chest in the blustering
salt wind and say his prayer
to the turbulent Jesus
hidden in the water,

and I think of the story
of the storm and everyone
waking and seeing
the distant
yet familiar figure
far across the water
calling to them

and how we are all
preparing for that
abrupt waking,
and that calling,
and that moment
we have to say yes,
except it will
not come so grandly
so Biblically
but more subtly
and intimately in the face
of the one you know
you have to love.

So that when
we finally step out of the boat
toward them, we find
everything holds
us, and everything confirms
our courage, and if you wanted
to drown you could,
but you don’t
because finally
after all this struggle
and all the years
you don’t want to any more
you’ve simply had enough
of drowning
and you want to live and you
want to love and you will
walk across any territory
and any darkness
however fluid and however
dangerous to take the
one hand you know
belongs in yours.

David Whyte (House of Belonging)

I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of

so they can see that it's not the answer.
- Jim Carrey

 

Needs

Of all the nutrients we need,

Vitamin L 

is by far the

most essential.

Suggested dosages:

Minimum of 4 hugs daily to prevent deficiency,

6 a day for maintenance,

10 or more for optimal growth.

Hugging makes us feel good,

which naturally releases Oxytocin hormone.

This often leads to a higher prevalence of

thoughts and acts of kindness

toward ourselves and others,

which increases serotonin levels

not only in the direct recipient of the kindness,

but also in the initiator

(this is the really a.maz.ing part)

AS WELL AS in anyone witnessing the kindness. 

Deficiency of Vitamin L is known to cause

many more problems than overdoses.

 A creative way Juan Mann found to supplement:

♥ to ♥
 

Never Eat Soggy Waffles

north
east
south
west

this cute little acronym speaks to me
in a directional and a food-related sense today...

I have heeded a tenacious call to study

holistic nutrition.

how not only the what, but

how.when.why.where, etc.

we nourish ourselves with
affects us overall
in body, spirit, mind, and
creativity.

the hitch in my giddyup has been simply coming to terms with the unknown nature of what to 'do' with such information once I invest in obtaining it; yet this is the next step in the natural progression of my journey toward healthifying my own relationship with how I

nourish my self on all levels.

i am and will allways be my first and a lifelong client.
food is a passion. and my connection to all things in nature, including my fellow human beings.
now I feel the time is showing itself to enter the marketplace, so to speak.
with open hands.
and a play-in-progress 'tude.

direct the mind, drive the hind...

drive the hind, and the mind will follow...

yee-haw!

(isn't she lovely? a dear friend sent this to me recently, it's an 8x10 that will soon be framed and displayed on the wall.)

Are you curious about exploring the role nutrition plays in your own life and health? Find the food industry a bit overwhelming and want some help sifting through the information to make well-informed, conscious choices? Do you deal with a particular condition or dis-ease that you would like to treat holistically, or in a way that works with a western medicine approach? Do you simply have the sense that you could be feeling better than you do, or that you could use some support in obtaining a greater state of vitality through individualized diet/lifestyle/cleansing suggestions?

I will be seeking people for case studies.
Would you like to be a volunteer client?

Through opening up about your health (your personal identity shared only as initials or a substitute name), I am excited to see what we can learn together, and hopefully you will walk away with a new lease on life.
Or at the very least the inspiration to whip up some hearty un-soggy waffles.

♥

Let medicine be thy food,

and food be thy medicine.

~Hippocrates

Music is a lady that I still love because she gives me the air that I breathe. We need all sorts of nourishment. And music satisfies and nourishes the hunger within ourselves for connection and harmony.
~Cat Stevens

Sometimes you struggle so hard to feed your family one way, you forget to feed them the other way, with spiritual nourishment. Everybody needs that.
~James Brown

the wall of...

I climbed a rock wall like this one

a first
something on my to try someday list
it was not a high or difficult wall
by any climbers standards
but gave me enough of a challenge
and heightened perspective
so that as I was up there I had to pause
and ask myself
how did I get here?
each self-defeating
and self-supporting
thought that arose in the
process of strategizing and stretching
trusting and letting go
reaching higher and resting
knowing when it was enough
for me
for now

the greatest insights
came after
when I was more connected to my true self
upon reflection
getting out of my own way so to speak
embracing this physical challenge
was a fitting reminder
another glimpse
into how healing
time out of mind
is.

...that's how the light gets in

One year ago today, my love and I got to see Leonard Cohen at the Confederation Center in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada. A great story in and of itself how he managed to get us tickets... I don't go to a lot of concerts anymore because I've gotten very selective, but this experience blew my mind.....

It's also been about one year of some intense participation in the 'healing game' for me. For many years now I have been on a path of becoming friends (or at least friendly) with my body, which has led me to some fascinating places. But it all started with a curiosity about whether my relationship with my body was creating some sort of disconnect in my approach to my life overall. I've placed much importance on understanding the connection and inter-connectedness of body, spirit, and creativity, and have understood on an intellectual level how they all have an effect on each other, but my awareness has been increased when I began considering all of this along with the idea that...

Energy Follows Thought

And it's not always conscious thought, in fact, I believe it's often unconscious thought, or what we learn as children (whether intentionally taught or unintentionally learned, this is not a parent-bashing session). Bringing one's thoughts to consciousness can be a difficult process, because let's face it, our thoughts, wherever they come from, are not all of sunshine and roses. But then I started recognizing that I am not those thoughts, unless I choose to identify with them. I am speaking of the types of thoughts based in self-doubt and self-judgment, anything blocking my creative expression of who I am. So why go through it?? I have asked myself that many times, and at one point I realized it was simply to be able to be present with joy. By following and identifying with thoughts of authenticity rather than the other stuff.

You are not responsible for your disease

but you are responsible to the disease

When a progressive chiropractor/nutritionist/intuitive healing-type person I consult with said this to me, it brought me out of the darkness I was in at the time, trying to figure out what I had done 'wrong' to create this dis-ease in my second chakra (dwelling place of the self). Then on the journey of handling it, I encountered this statement...

What is not life threatening... is life OFFERING

And,

Look back only long enough to see how far you've come

We all have power statements, touchstones, things that we connect to that help us make sense of what life brings and to find some inner peace. What are yours?


Indeed, there is a crack in everything...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgYlqKxV54Q&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIFDXHw0eaY&feature=related