Paths and Directions

Tags

career, choices, direction, path

Hi Kumud – 

  When I was in ninth grade, I filled out a form for the school counseling center with the title that approximated to “What I want to do when I grow up.” It was a one page document and I filled in What I enjoyed doing, What I felt were my gifts, What I wanted to do for recreation, and What I wanted to do for a potential career.

  I recall very little about my replies except that somewhere on the page I wrote the words “Writer”. Now being a writer is a challenging career path and I’m not sure if I would recommend that path for my children. My parents certainly didn’t recommend that path for me. I ended up in Engineering and when it didn’t work out, I transferred to a major called Communications.

  For the past 3 months, I have been looking for a new career job. My recent titles have been Project Assistant, Project Manager, and Business Analyst and I consider myself a very seasoned technical communicator. This past Monday I received a phone call and I was offered a permanent position with the same enterprise that paid me as a contractor a few months ago. The problem was that this was the second job offer within a week and I was already entertaining the other position. I was in the humbling position of having two positions “on the table”.

   The world is full of choices and paths. Late yesterday I wrote the hiring manager at the enterprise where I worked as a contractor last year and turned down her job offer. The hiring manager wished me well on my journey. I enjoyed seeing that word, “journey”. We are all on a journey. I selected a career role with a very visible government agency that I consider perfect. Maybe that journey will be 15 or more years or maybe the journey will have twists and turns before then.

   Each year I am surprised and grateful that my wife and I have enough (income) for food, shelter, and a modest bit of entertainment. While I am not fond of job transitions, it always works out. I am grateful the path led me to an incredible opportunity where I will enjoy growing and contributing in areas very closely aligned with my technical communications ability. I am grateful that I had two offers at one time and in a small way, the universe allowed me to evaluate and confirm “Yes, position A is the perfect fit”. When presented with multiple choices, we are able to confirm that a selection is not arbitrary or just good enough. And that’s what makes me thrive – trusting there is a perfect fit – and it certainly happened this time.

Best,

David Tumbarello

Today listening to Forest Birdsong 2.

David Tumbarello is a technical communicator with over 50 years in the growth industry, with 49 of those years communicative and on two feet. When he is not technically communicating, he enjoys hiking, biking, and writing. Feel free to connect with David on LinkedIn.

Harmony and Color

Tags

color, discovery, diversity, harmony

Dear Kumud,

   I was in a school band concert yesterday attending my step-son’s Spring band conert. The auditorium was filled with the music of clarinets, flutes, trumpets, saxophones, drums, xylophones, and probably a few more instruments that I missed. Today I am reminded that beautiful symphonic music cannot happen by chance. I recall the quote by Carl Sagan, “If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, first you must invent the universe.” Applied to the concert last night: “If you want to invent a symphony, first you must invent the universe, and then human beings to communicate and create culture and art, and then instruments, a composer and so on …”

   The music depends on the composer, who is depends on instruments. Music that sounds “just so” here in the States would sound different if it were imagined in Tibet or Madagascar or Southeast Asia. I spent some time in Indonesia and there is nothing in the world like the sound of gamalan, with anywhere between five and fifty circular gongs of various sizes played by five to fifty performers. Put together, gamelan is symphony with essentially one instrument and a wide array of tones.

   The symphonic band I heard last night, here in the States, consisted of brass, wind instruments, percussion, and strings. The conductor stood at the front, animated and dressed in black, and we were even fortunate to have a student teacher conductor lead one of the songs.

   Every composer is ideologically, culturally, unquestionably trapped by the instruments that swirl around in their heads and sometimes around their studio. They can be exposed to instruments and music from other cultures (and even compose in that style, as did Paul Simon in Graceland), but they are predominately influenced by their home base. Their schema.

   Schema refers to the structures in our brain that classify how we perceive concepts, especially new concepts.

   And yet the metaphor of the day isn’t simply to say that a symphony is a collection of various instruments that make beautiful music. Or that beautiful music is the result of the structures fixed in the composer’s brain. This isn’t what I was thinking yesterday when I sat in the school band concert. Rather than thinking about specific instruments, I was thinking about the kids playing instruments. Their make-up. Their color. Their background, identity, orientation, gender, and the tone of their skin.

   This was not a diverse band. I am remarried and at this event, I observed 3 bands and at least 180 performers who, in terms of the tone of their skin, look predominantly like me. I can observe but I can’t judge. This is just where we live.

   My son goes to school 30 miles to the south and I’ll be attending his band concert next week. I’ll sit next to a diverse collection of parents – at least in terms of the tone of their skin – and the band members will look like they are painted with a different brush. Hues of white and brown and shades in between. Along with diverse colors comes diverse family background, diverse heritage, diverse religion. Again, I can’t judge. This is just where he lives.

   Symphony and color. Instruments and skin. My son goes to a relatively diverse school and I appreciate that he sits next to kids who look different and who come to class with different heritage, different religious backgrounds, and ultimately different perspectives.

   We live in a diverse world. The spiritchat community spreads across the states and across the globe. Call me crazy, but I believe we should seek out and embrace differences – skin, culture, background, and every difference that makes someone unique. A mosaic. A symphony.

   I am going to challenge myself during the next week to have one meaningful conversation with someone culturally different than myself. During the next 7 days, I want to encounter someone who is culturally different than myself and with a healthy dose of empathy, risk being changed. Feel free to share with me in this small challenge. Bring new color to your life. Create a mosaic. Create a symphony.

   One thing we know: the spirit is happy with color. Or rather, the spirit is happy with colors.

   It is in differences that we grow our perspective, our schema. And this is not just a good thing, it is a necessary thing.

David

Today, listening to Tambazako and Tsy Ferana.

David Tumbarello is a technical communicator with over 50 years in the growth industry, with 49 of those years communicative and on two feet. When he is not technically communicating, he enjoys hiking, biking, and writing. Feel free to connect with David on LinkedIn.

Align and Shine

Tags

alignment, compassion, spiritual practice

Align and Shine – by Dr. Christy Johnson

During #SpiritChat on the topic of Loyalty earlier this year, I tweeted “Still not a fan of the word #loyalty, I vote for alignment – aligning to self, others, and the highest good of all“ as my answer to one of the questions. After that tweet, Kumud challenged me to host a chat about alignment, which led me here.

I believe a driving force behind each of our earthly incarnations is to embrace our authentic selves. The idea is to accept our messy, imperfect humanness despite the contrast with our soul-level perfection. Via self-alignment, we can shine more brilliantly and vibrantly as whatever may block our light gets removed. Self-alignment also illuminates the evolutionary path for those who can see and hear us, those who are aligned to us.

As part of my own explorations, I took three different extensive Mindful Self-Compassion courses starting in late 2017. I tried and tried Mindful Self-Compassion practices, believing if I just stuck with them, something would shift but finally after a year and a half I realized it isn’t something I align to deeply. Aha! So Mindful Self-Compassion joins other powerful but not aligned to me approaches like acupuncture, Ayurveda, and Transcendental Meditation.

Giving myself permission to release Mindful Self-Compassion from my daily practices relieves me from unconsciously pushing to make it “work” and frees time and energy for what does align. Now I feel lighter and freer and have found ways to apply my healing modalities to the issues at hand. Through this evolution, I’ve become more self-aligned, which is precisely the point of Mindful Self-Compassion!

As your evolution deepens and strengthens, you also align to the highest good of all. Self-aligning more fully frees energy that gets reabsorbed in the world and also models the power of alignment.

How do we find what aligns? What are the clues? How do we know what either doesn’t align or has passed its expiration date? Ever notice how effortless life becomes when you’re aligned to what you want to be doing? Alignment leads to flow and flow, in turn, supports alignment. What resonates also energizes us. When we align, we shine.

Please come to share and shine on Sunday, March 24th at 9 A.M. EDT on Twitter with hashtag #SpiritChat.

Host Bio: Dr. Christy Johnson quit her decades-long engineering career in 2010 to open her own integrative energy healing practice. She helps clients overcome life challenges and also align with themselves, others, and their highest good via soul level information, energy healing, and empowering self-help tools. You can connect with her via her website www.intuitiveheal.com , on Twitter @IntuitiveHeal and on her YouTube channel.

Editor’s Note: Thank you, Christy, for taking up the ‘alignment’ challenge and stepping up to host the weekly chat on Sunday. I am sure that it is going to be a wonderful opportunity for many to ‘Align and Shine’! Namaste. – Kumud

Spirituality at the Movies

Tags

growth, leveling up, spiritual goals, writing

Welcome to the first post in our ‘mid-week’ series of guest posts by #spiritchat members, tentatively categorized, “spiriflections”. I hope that you enjoy the author’s efforts, and maybe even contribute a comment (to encourage them) and/or contribute to this series in the future. Thank you. – Kumud

Spirituality at the Movies – by David Tumbarello

I sat in the dark theater and watched a beautiful movie about growth and strength. About battling demons, learning about sacrifice, and learning about love. The main character began the story literally and figuratively without a body. She was also soul-less. By the end of the first act, she was given a body. After battling a demon, this replacement body was destroyed and she was given a second, upgraded body. This one was more mature and she integrated with this one far better than the first. In a moment, she “leveled up”. Due to her desire to fight for justice, she acquired accessories that integrated with her body. She brought these accessories to battle and “leveled up” once more.

I sat down the other day to watch another movie, this one twelve years in the making. During those 12 years, the protagonist grows from a boy to a man. As a six year old, he rides a bike, and then as a 16 year old drives a car, and when he graduates from high school, he drives off to the university. His parents divorce, they remarry, and divorce again. He struggles with his classes and learns he is an artist. This doesn’t happen overnight. It takes 12 years for him to be okay with his art. It also takes 12 years for him to grow from boyhood into something close to being an adult.

I think about maturation versus leveling up. For me, spirituality does not fit with the model of a person leveling up. A spiritual deposit today will not increase the size of my spiritual bank account tomorrow. My deposit today, however, may contribute to my growth.

It has been said, “When you open your heart and mind up to allowing yourself to experience the doubts, tension, and discomforts associated with facing fears and making changes, you allow the possibility for real growth to occur.” Should we shy away from pain, discomfort, loss, and fear? If our mindset is growth, we should find ways to embrace these difficulties because in their purest form, they are not barrier but rather gates to growth.

I recall sitting in therapy one afternoon and the therapist and I talked about trying out new behaviors. She turned to me and said, “It’s a stretch.” She wasn’t asking that I change overnight or level up. She was asking that I consider doing something just a bit outside my comfort zone. Something that would stretch my self-care muscles. Something that would help me grow.

As I write today, I embrace my flaws, blemishes, bruises, and aches. Even with these spiritual difficulties, I aspire. Without them, how would I stretch? How would I grow? I write today to address spiritual weakness. For me, writing today is a stretch. I address weakness and with this stretch, I grow. Will I have aches? Yes. Will I stretch and grow? Absolutely.

And when you mature, when you truly grow, others around you will notice and in the right circumstances they are changed as well. You change, they change. Would you want it any other way?

– David Tumbarello (@davetumbarello)

David Tumbarello is a technical communicator with over 50 years in the growth industry, with 49 of those years communicative and on two feet. When he is not technically communicating, he enjoys hiking, biking, and writing. Feel free to connect with David on LinkedIn.

Spiritual Reflections (photo by @AjmaniK)

Spiritual Hospitality by @llake

Tags

awareness, hospitality, spiritual practice, spirituality

 It’s 9:00 am. The toddlers are fed and playing quietly. The entire house is spotless. I look around and feel very accomplished. Time for a shower! Dinner guests are coming tonight. I want the evening to be extra special. My plan is perfect, and I’m on schedule. 

I skoosh down to talk to my kids to let them know I’m going in the shower and I’ll be out in 5 mins. (moms and dads have this down to a science) I ask them to please play quietly, and we’ll have snack time when I get out. 

I head into the shower feeling excited and confident that tonight will be epic! I get out of the shower. Dry off. Dress. And then the surprise hits. 

I look into the dining room, and indeed all three wee ones are playing quietly and happily. My son had gotten out his matchbox cars, bull dozers, and backhoes, and all three (under the age of 5) were playing in the dirt from around my large elephant tree. They had spread the dirt from one side of the hardwood floored room to the other. Inside I was extremely upset. I quietly (this is how my kids always knew I was really mad) told the elder two to go to their rooms. I didn’t want to see them. We would talk “later.” The littlest one I picked up and put in her highchair. I told her I didn’t want to hear one word. Not one. 

I wanted to cry. How in the world would I get this room clean again? I still had dinner to make. And how would I ever have time to get those kids cleaned up? 

Most of us have been in a relatable situation. We extend aninvitation. It feels right. Then when the day gets closer, we wonder “what was I thinking?” My house is dirty! What will I make for dinner? We begin to feel unaccomplished and “not enough.” Where is the joy?

Isn’t there supposed to be joy in offering hospitality? Isn’t hospitality supposed to be about serving others? Sharing what we have that others may also feel joy? 

In the moment of seeing dirt spread across the room, I was not feeling joyful. But wait. 

“Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.” 1 Peter 4:9 (NIV)

I remembered the looks on my babies’ faces as they looked up at me gleefully and showed me what they had done. After all, I had asked them to play quietly. The road configuration they had created was a masterpiece! 

My heart softened.

Hospitality is mentioned numerous times in the Bible. Every religion or spiritual guidance mentions hospitality and ways of ceremoniously expressing our joy by sharing with others. Why? What do we miss about being hospitable when we become obsessed with the “Pinterest” version of sharing what we have instead of the spirituality behind being hospitable? 

The truth is we don’t have to be in a specific location or have specific food – although, both add to the moment and it’s a nice gesture. The menu does not have to be spectacular. Our homes do not have to be the “Better Homes and Gardens” version of shiny and spectacular.

The spirituality of hospitality – the true meaning of hospitality – is when we put our guest first and be present with them. We focus on them. We love on them. We cause them to feel joyful in knowing they are appreciated and are special. They relax. Their pressures melt away. Love in action.  

– Lillian

Lillian is a Maine-based writer and compassion consultantwhose topics explore everything related to food, human trafficking, and caregiving. She is patiently honing three writing projects – a “love of home” cookbook, a collection of interviews with caregivers of all ages, and inspirational cards for children. In the summer of 2018, she swam a total of 2 miles to rescue a 70 yr old kayaker and push him and his kayak back to shore.

Editors Note: I am excited and honored to invite you to join Lillian Lake (@llake) as she hosts our weekly #SpiritChat on Twitter, Sunday March 3rd at 9amET / 730pm India. Please do join, and enjoy her wonderful heart-filled hospitality. Come. Sit. Stay. Namaste – Kumud

The Spirit of Curiosity

Tags

curiosity, discovery, science, spirituality

The Spirit of Curiosity – by Christy Johnson

Recently I had yet another conversation about how radical it was for me to quit engineering to start an energy healing practice, which made me curious about the differences and similarities between my two professions. After all, if my soul embraced both for me as part of who I was and who I was becoming, are they that incompatible?

Science and Spirituality

My musings led me to realize that spirituality and the forefront of science both spring from unconventional thought and result in new awareness. We may perceive science and engineering as solid, knowledge-based, and quantifiable. Yet while science pertains to what is already known it also explores what is unknown and uncharted, inviting us to be curious about possibilities and to let go of old certainties and beliefs. Both science and spirituality help us expandour understanding via curiosity.

Curiosity and Serendipity

I realized they also both have an element of serendipity.  An extraordinary shift happens when we surrender to divine timing and divine intelligence, curious to see what might occur beyond our own limited imagination. The discovery of penicillin is a prime example of this considering what revealed itself was not part of the original experimental design. Surrendering with curiosity leads us to truth.

 

Children arrive on the planet naturally curious. They come from a place of awe and wonder which happens also to be where spirituality arises. When we tap into curiosity, we can connect more deeply with nature, our selves, and others because we’ve released judgment and have embraced being present.

Engaging Curiosity

Returning to my own life, asking what, why, and how questions in the Akashic Records soul database or seeking a supportive Jin Shin Jyutsu flow for clients leverages my curiosity — just as it did when I used to use transmission electron microscopes to investigate why computer chips failed. Why do I see this and not that? What does this finding mean? How do we explain and resolve our thorniest problems?

 

Now my curious mind is engaged and more questions arise. What happens when we approach spirituality, and even life, with curiosity? What happens when we move beyond expectations and beliefs? What happens when we start asking questions instead of making statements? What’s the connection between curiosity and creativity? What relationship does curiosity have to healthy relationships, intelligence, and even longevity? How do we restore our curiosity? What hampers it? What is possible?

 

Please join us this Sunday, January 6th, 2019 at 9 A.M. EDT/7:30 P.M. India in #SpiritChat on Twitter, as we explore The Spirit of Curiosity. Please come to connect, learn, and share how you welcome curiosity into your outlook and your life. What magic might happen when spend an hour being curious together?

– Christy Johnson (@IntuitiveHeal on Twitter)

Host Bio: Dr. Christy Johnson quit her decades-long engineering career in 2010 to open her own integrative energy healing practice. She helps clients create love and compassion inthe relationships with themselves and others via soul level information, energy healing, and empowering self-help tools. You can connect with her via her website www.intuitiveheal.com , on Twitter @IntuitiveHeal and on her new YouTube channel.

Holistic Awareness by Janet Nestor

Tags

awareness, health, holistic, spirituality

Holistic Awareness is a choice and a way of life. It is present moment living that allows connection and awareness of our body, mind, emotions, our energy field and flow, our spirit, and our environment. Holistic Awareness is a way to feel vital and alive – to feel free and limitless – to find contentment.

Holistic awareness is not a mental activity, yet we have a better perception. There is a greater awareness and ability to use the information provided through our sense of touch, smell, sight, sound, and taste. Holistic awareness allows us to “talk” with our body and sense into our environment. It enriches our self-knowledge, self-understanding and allows interaction with our inner nature and the nature of creation.

Awareness and Childhood

As children, most of us need not be taught how to stay in touch with our own inner nature.
We are born connected to ourselves and the divine. We have present moment holistic awareness and instinctively know when we are hungry, sleepy, when our diaper needs changing, and when we are uncomfortable in our environment. We sense who loves us and we develop a connection with them that includes trust. But our culture expects us to learn certain things and most of them lead us away from our most precious gifts.

As we grow older, we are urged to wait a minute or deny our needs. We are asked to repress our hunger until a certain time, to sit still when we need to move, or eat when we are not hungry or sleep when we are not tired. Some of us have been urged to accept someone (caregiver or family member) who frightens us. Because our instincts are not honored on a regular basis, we learn not to trust them. Gradually we learn to live in our heads and from our thoughts.

Our Return to Awareness

A growing holistic awareness is essential to our well-being, and it is the key to our personal growth and our physical and emotional healing. It is how we learn to connect to our own divinity and the universal wisdom that makes everything possible. As adults, we have to overcome our lifelong conditioning and learn to trust the messages that constantly come from our body and environment. We even have to learn to trust our own divine nature.

The moment our holistic journey begins, we change the way we perceive ourselves and the way we perceive life and the world. As our awareness blossoms we slowly (or suddenly in an ah-ha moment) notice the hidden parts of our inner being and the realities of mother nature and our communities. The journey provides opportunities for us to know and understand our beliefs, our emotions, our memories (good and bad), and ask the most fundamental question: Why am I here now, with this family, with this job, with these life issues, with this body I’m not totally satisfied with, and with the health issues that plague my life or the life of someone I love.

Practical Ways of Choosing Awareness

Many of us choose holistic awareness and want to begin a spiritual journey, but we don’t know how. But we can seek answers and join groups like #SpiritChat. Here are four suggestions that might enrich your journey.

1. Become aware that you are becoming aware; learn to be a witness of your own actions and thoughts. Self evaluate without judgment or criticism. Allow your perception to expand.
2. Accept your life as it is now. Acceptance is the beginning of all change.
3. Realize that you are limitless and free and that you have choices and the ability to positively change your life.
4. Allow your mind to become peaceful, quiet, still, and unencumbered through meditation, spending time in nature, or sitting in silent contemplation. The result will be a reality-based communication and an increased sense of being part of the world around you.

-Janet

Author’s Note: This post is adapted from Revolutionize Your Health, a new book I co-authored with Cornelia Merk. The book is a seven-year collaboration that is filled with lots of researched information, deep soul searching, and personal stories from ourselves and others. It is interesting to know that Connie and I have never met in person. Social Media and fate brought us together in 2012. On that first phone call we were so synergistic that we agreed to merge our previous writing into what we thought would be an eBook. That eBook turned into chapters, we hired an editor, and a new book was born. Our book launches on January 22, 2019.

Editor’s Note: Please join me as I host our long-time friend, supporter, participant and advisor to the #SpiritChat community, Janet Nestor (@JanetNestor). We will gather on Sunday, December 16 at 9amET / 730pm India on twitter. Thank you – Kumud @AjmaniK

Janet Nestor of Revolutionize Your Health

The Freedom of Forgiveness

Tags

choosing love, forgiveness, freedom, healing

– by Sharon Kathryn D’Agostino

I believe in the healing power of love, in the transformation created in our lives when we allow ourselves to give and receive love with our hearts wide, wide open.

Life events this year have led me to examine more closely the various aspects of love, and to feel love even more intensely. In the process, I have been exploring forgiveness, an aspect of unconditional love that is sometimes overlooked. We may lose sight of the fear, anger, resentment and sadness associated with our decisions not to forgive others, or ourselves, for the conscious or unconscious hurts we have experienced. Some of us carry the burden of past hurts around with us for years with little awareness of their weight in our day-to-day existence. Fleeting or persistent thoughts about hurtful things that were done or said to us, thoughts pushed aside but not truly addressed, can sap our strength and energy, and they can interfere with our ability to experience joy in our lives.

Forgiveness has the potential to free us from these burdens, though the act of forgiving may be more difficult than we think. For the most hurtful experiences in our lives, the advice to “forgive and forget” misses an essential step even when our intention to forgive is genuine. Once we decide to forgive someone, we must take steps to heal the hurt, to truly let it go, before we can move to the step of forgetting it. We need to release the pain, the anger, the resentment that resulted from the actions or words that injured us. This release may come through meditation, through prayer, in conversations with a friend, in therapy, or by any of the ways we move through our important life lessons. Releasing the hurt must be intentional, as it is highly unlikely that the pain will magically disappear simply because we made the choice to forgive.

In our personal exploration of forgiveness, we can also benefit greatly from understanding the things for which we blame ourselves. That list may be short or long… the experience of not meeting the expectations of ourselves or others… the feeling of letting others down… the could haves, should haves… all of the hurtful words or actions for which we hold ourselves responsible. Self-directed blame, disappointment, and anger can be the most significant burdens in our lives and often we carry them without asking ourselves why we have not chosen to let them go.

Our choice to forgive frees us. Our requests to be forgiven free us further. Forgiveness gives us the space to love others and ourselves more fully. In every moment, we can choose the freedom of forgiveness and thereby open our hearts completely to the healing power of love.

Sharon

Sharon Kathryn D’Agostino believes that love and compassion can and will save the world. She is the founder of SayItForward.org, a web platform where women and girls are invited to share their stories of empowerment. Sharon can be found on Twitter at @SharonDAgostino, @SayItForwardNow and @AwakeningTrue

Editor’s Note: Please join Sharon as she steps up to host our weekly twitter chat on Sunday, Dec 9th at 9amET. Sharon is a long-time regular in our Sunday morning gatherings, a great proponent for women and for choosing love, and a wonderful friend of the community. Thank you. – Kumud @AjmaniK

A miracle, a death, and the holidays

Tags

death, holidays, miracles, prayer

Lucille Rusconi Fisher for Spiritchat

Thirty-seven years ago, on December 2, 1981; I watched my father, Frank Rusconi, take his final breath. He had fought a rare intestinal cancer for two and a half years. He amazed his doctors who didn’t think he would survive the initial crisis. It was after my sister’s birthday celebration in June that he woke up with severe pain in his abdomen and went to the hospital. We were initially told by his longtime doctor that he had a hernia, and he was scheduled for an operation. He was 63 years old and me and my two sisters were still living at home. I was attending college.

His doctor called to say the operation went well but neglected to tell us about the cancer. The next thing we heard was he had a heart attack. In truth, he became septic because his bowel and appendix burst. We didn’t find this out until he was transferred, near death, to a Boston hospital. The doctor at Boston University Hospital was horrified by what he saw and quickly brought him into surgery where they released some of the poison in his system and repaired the damage as best they could. We learned after, that the Boston doctor had only seen one case of this rare cancer and that person died shortly after. Thus, the doctor didn’t think my dad would survive long either but shortly after surgery he came out of his toxic delirium and said, “I have to get home to my girls.” And so, he did, three months later.

I think prayer had a big part in his recovery. We had a lot of people praying for him, He was known and respected in the community and at church as a dedicated volunteer. My aunt even called a radio prayer line and asked strangers to pray for him. My father loved his faith and he was a good, kind man. With his illness, he couldn’t get to church but we often watched the Reverend Robert Schuller every Sunday on TV and found comfort. One of Reverend Schuller’s standard lines was “God loves you and so do I.”

My father was dubbed a miracle man by the doctors and hospital staff. The attending doctor said “If you wanted to pray, the place to do it is under Frank’s hospital bed.” My dad continued to beat the odds for another two years, never complaining. What we came to realize and appreciate was the strong will to live this good man had. Thus, he gave us the miracle of time.

At the onset of his illness, I was 21, my sister Christine 17, and my older sister Annmarie was 26. My mom was 56. At the end of his two- and one-half year illness, he had showed us how to be strong and prepared us for life without him. Even though the doctor recommended he be put in the hospital near the end, my mother refused. “He will die at home,” she told him. My mother was amazing. Not trained as a nurse, she quickly filled the role. Irrigating the open wound in his abdomen, emptying his colostomy bag, attended to him with inspiring love. At our final thanksgiving together, he was unable to leave his hospital bed located off the kitchen (my mother’s former sewing room). We attempted to get through Thanksgiving dinner by trying to engage him in our conversation, but often we reverted to reminiscing. It was excruciating. He quickly declined thereafter, and it was clear his death was looming.

I was so frightened because I didn’t know what death looked like. However, I stayed close by. In those final days there were many moments of grace. At one point I was leaning over his bed and he reached out his hand to caress my face. Not a demonstrative man before his illness, he didn’t hesitate to express his love now. He would say to my mother, “I have had a good life. It is better me than one of the kids.” He looked at me at one point and said, “I don’t want to go.” And I replied, “You are not going anywhere daddy. You are staying home.” Thinking that he thought he was going to the hospital.

His eyebrows furrowed and later when I thought about it, I realized what he really meant. I would say to him, “God loves you daddy and so do I.” It would make him smile. The final night he got a burst of energy and asked to speak to my two older siblings who were married, so I called them to come quickly. He said he wanted scrambled eggs which we made but he didn’t eat. He asked my mother to sleep with him that night in the hospital bed which she did.

The next day, December 2nd, he fell into a coma. We did not leave his side. At the moment of his death, near 8 p.m. that night, my mother and I were the only two in the room. He took a breath and held it then let it out. Silence. His soul had left. I was stunned by the beauty and sacredness of the moment. So peaceful it was.

Christmas eve was three weeks away and my family talked about whether we should have the big Christmas Eve celebration that was our tradition. My mother told the story of when my dad’s eldest brother died near Christmas and he insisted that we get a tree and celebrate as usual. I was small at the time and he did not want any of us to be denied the joy of the holiday. So, we had our Christmas Eve celebration in 1981. We invited all his nurses and doctors as well as family and friends. It was a joyful celebration of this miracle man who left us with so many gifts of grace.

Lucille

Bio: Lucille Rusconi Fisher is the owner of Sage and Savvy Marketing. She helps business owners over fifty grow their companies through digital marketing. She has been a seeker of truth her whole life and began to study the ancient teachings in earnest and meditate regularly fifteen years ago. She took classes with Donna Mitchell Moniak, founder of Spiritfire Retreat Center in Leydan, MA and creator of the Practice of Living Awareness meditation. In 2011, she was fortunate to attend the Dalai Lama’s Kalachakra in Washington, DC with the Spiritfire sangha. Her life mantra is taken from a Dalai Lama quote, “My Religion is Kindness.”

Editor’s Note: Please join me and guest-host Lucille (@sageandsavvy) for a twitter chat on Sunday, Dec 2nd at 9amET. Lucille is a wonderful friend of the community, and a long-time regular in our Sunday gatherings. We will discuss death, miracle(s) and the holidays! Thank you. – Kumud @AjmaniK

Lucille (on right) with her Father…

The Heart’s Intelligence

Tags

heart, intelligence, spirituality

Heart’s Intelligence (by Denna J. Shelton)

“If the 20 th Century has been the Century of the Brain …
then the 21 st century should be the Century of the Heart.”
~Gary. E.R. Schwartz, Ph.D., Author of The Living Energy Universe

One of the most astounding, exciting pieces of information I’ve ever received came while attending a lecture given by spiritualist/scientist Gregg Braden.  Every hair on my body stood on its end and I connected with it as deep truth. It validated from a scientific perspective what I already knew to be true. Gregg shared the findings from the Institute of Heart Math stating that “the heart, not the brain, is the most powerful neural-network within the human body.” I learned its electricity is 40-60% stronger than the brain’s and contains around 40,000 “brain-like cells” that literally communicate with the brain in every nanosecond of the day.

Coherence between our hearts and our brains is the ultimate state of being in experiencing overall emotional, physical, and mental health. “Unfortunately ego choices are overriding our heart’s intelligence,” states the Institute of Heart Math. Most of us already know this to be true and have no need for the science of it. Yet, do we really know how powerful our hearts are? Do we really know how powerful we are when heart-centered? Do we really know our impact on the planet by what lies within our individual heart?

The ultimate question may be… What old stories and beliefs are you holding in your heart that are governing your life and affecting the whole?

Science has proven what ancient wisdom has known all along. The heart is powerful and holds an intelligence all of its own – often referred to as the “master organ” and was revered and celebrated by the ancients. “It’s only in more recent history that the pendulum swung the other way in science and medicine in thinking of the heart as an isolated pump,” states Gregg Braden in his latest book, Resilience from the Heart.

Is now the time for the pendulum to swing back to the center balancing our hearts with our brains? Is now the time for us to access the wisdom our hearts hold? Surely now is the time to have a state of being which radiates love, joy, peace and harmony in a powerful way for our personal well-being and that of the worlds.

You’re cordially invited to join us for a global conversation to discuss the topic “Heart’s Intelligence.” This is a #SpiritChat community event taking place on the Twitter platform this Sunday, November 11 at 9am ET.

We look forward to having you join us!

Denna J. Shelton, CH, RMP

Heart’s Intelligence
A Global #SpiritChat Community Event on Twitter with Denna Shelton (@twentygems)
Sunday, November 11 @ 9a ET

Denna J. Shelton, CH, RMP has 30 years’ experience in whole wellness: mind, body, & spirit as a fitness instructor, consulting hypnotist, and Reiki Master Practitioner. Her strengths include her experience, knowledge, calming and soothing charisma, and passion for what she does. All of these characteristics, along with her pleasant voice, laid back and comfortable presence and ease of speaking contributes to her success in service to others.

Her unique approach to hypnosis and Reiki is in combing the two modalities. She thinks each stand effectively on their own, but the two together have proven to be a powerful combination for mind, body, and spirit. Denna believes the touchstone and balancer of all energies is love. Her role as the hypnotist/healer is to open your heart to love where transmutation and regeneration take place.

Denna’s belief: “Now is the time, more than ever, for us to embrace the Truth of who we truly are. It is time to align the quality of our thinking with the needs of our bodies and the desires of our hearts. To claim the power that is our birthright that leads to a life of joy, peace, love, and abundance in all ways.”

www.dennashelton.com