Spirituality and Big Questions

Tags

exploration, perspective, questions, spirituality

One frequent bonus of working at a national aerospace agency is that one gets to meet their fair share of ‘space travelers’. On completion of their missions, they visit the center, share their wonderful stories, photos and anecdotes from their travels. One purpose of their visits to the center is to thank the workforce for contributions to the completion of their successful mission. A related purpose is to provide inspiration to scientists and engineers, young and old, to continue their work in the support of space exploration and related missions.

I have been fortunate to meet my fair share of astronauts over the years. I rarely let an opportunity go by to meet one, get an autographed photo, or even get a photo taken with them if possible. To merely be in the same rarefied air with them and listen to their enthusiasm for humanity, the earth, and for exploration, often fuels me up with enthusiasm for my work.

Needless to say, when the opportunity came to meet lunar explorer and moonwalking astronaut Harrison Schmitt, I didn’t hesitate to sign up. I thought it was going to be similar to my past experiences with meeting astronauts, but I was “oh so wrong”. There was a unique energy about Dr Schmitt of Apollo17, the last Apollo mission flown by NASA in 1972, almost fifty years ago. He literally had the energetic “new baby” like bounce and the “overflowing child-like joy” that both my wife and I clearly felt.

I marveled at the fact that he was so full of enthusiasm, four decades and more after the tremendous feat of Apollo’s final twelve day lunar mission. It made me ask several questions. When I get to his age of 84, what events will I remember from ten or twenty or thirty or forty or even fifty years ago which will fill me with child-like Joy? What am I working on today, which will make a difference for future generations (of life explorers) in future decades? What can I do today, individually and as part of a team and community, which will inspire the future in some big or even small way? How am I making good use of my creative energy on a daily basis to advance humanity’s future?

Yes. Some of these questions may seem “big-picture” like — even grandiose. And yet, they were inspired within me by being in the presence of one of four remaining humans who have walked another celestial body. I share the ‘big questions’ with you in the spirit that some of the inspiration of Dr Schmitt — a geologist turned jet-pilot turned astronaut who just “happened to walk on the moon” — also rubs off on you.  I am not sure of the answers, but my hope is that these questions will cause us to pause in the midst of our daily challenges, some small and some seemingly big.

In our  search of the answers to our own big questions, we can re-frame our vision of the world. With new perspective  and new vision, we can rise above the urgent and focus on the truly important . With new vision, we can then ask some big questions related to spirituality. How do we know that a ‘greater power’, It, exists? If It does exist, what is its nature? Do we have ‘personal experience’ of It, or is it a belief that was given us? How do we allow It to influence or effect our lives, or do we?

Kumud

P.S. What are some ‘big questions’ that you often ask your own self? Share them with us in our weekly gathering in #SpiritChat on twitter, Sunday Nov 17 at 9amET / 7:30pm India. I will bring some questions, along with tea and cookies. We may even ask the big question – tea or coffee? Namaste – @AjmaniK

Astronaut Harrison Schmitt speaks about his adventures, asks some big questions, shares his photos from Apollo 17

Spirituality and Veterans

Tags

freedom, healing, spiritual practice, spirituality, veterans

One benefit of sitting next to my daughter study American history this semester is that this immigrant is also learning some important bits by osmosis. Her course’s current focus is on the American Civil War of the 18th century and all the battles that were fought between ‘North’ and ‘South’. Many of the war’s stories are stark reminders of the cost of war in general — the cost of human disagreements gone greatly awry.

Some of the ‘greatest’ wars that humans have engaged in are perhaps the ones which incurred the greatest casualties and deaths. Some are deemed ‘great’ because they were fought to gain freedom, to preserve freedoms. Others are considered ‘great’, even termed ‘world wars’, because their conflagration spread across nations and continents.

And then there are the wars that us humans have fought, even fight today, because we deem that ‘our’ religion is superior to ‘theirs’. Or that ours is the only ‘true’ spiritual path to ‘liberation’ and all others paths are ‘false’. Millions have died in wars to assert religious superiority — to what effect, one has to wonder?

There are those who will assert that war is sometimes essential to maintain peace, to enable and ensure the practice of religious and other freedoms. Yes. History is full of examples of power gone berserk in the hands of those whose greed and ambition know no bounds. If we all were to evolve to the point where we could regulate our own selves well, examine and limit our wants and words, love and give more, then war would become an anachronism.

Until we get to that stage where all war becomes unnecessary, the greatest respect that we can perhaps pay to veterans is to acknowledge and respect their ability and willingness to go to battle, to suffer the pain and horror of war on our behalf.

In return, may we practice constant remembrance — to use the time, space and freedom gifted to us by them, to involve into spiritual veterans. Perhaps the result of our daily, hourly, minutely spiritual practice can be to honor and cherish the truths of joy, love, light and kindness in thought and action.

Maybe we can give new meaning to ‘remembrance’ on every future Veterans Day. By working toward a sustainable inner peace, by supporting those who work for peace, we can create new kinds of heroes. Through constant remembrance of peace, our spiritual work and practice can help create an alternative to war for future generations.

Kumud

P.S. Join our weekly gathering on Twitter – Sunday, Nov 10 at 9amET/ 730pm India in #SpiritChat ~ Namaste – @AjmaniK

Spiritual Reverence by @IntuitiveHeal

Tags

reverence, spiritual practice, spirituality

Spiritual Reverence – by Dr. Christy Johnson

Dictionary.com defines reverence as “a feeling or attitude of deep respect tinged with awe; veneration.” When we revere ourselves, our loved ones, our experiences, and what we sense with our five senses, even just a little, the world rises to meet us in a new way. Reverence is like gratitude magnified by divine grace. Gratitude allows us to notice, appreciate, and then more easily notice and appreciate, all the goodness we experience. Reverence lifts this to another level, by opening our hearts to the heavens, to the mystery of the universe, and to allowing ourselves to be stunned and awestruck. In reverence, we worship and transcend.

Nature can invoke reverence. My family visited Grand Canyon when I was a young girl and the magnitude and beauty stunned me, opening my heart forever to something unfathomable prior to the experience. Likewise I remember standing near Niagara Falls as a child, feeling amazed and awestruck. Luckily by remembering these transcendent moments we can access reverence whenever we want.

Imagine shifting from resistance to reverence. I often hear people, and even myself sometimes, say, “I’m so done with this. This has to go,” when referring to one
pattern or another in their lives. Intellectually we understand wanting to be rid of something makes it stick like Velcro but another part of us believes if we push it away hard enough, we’ll dislodge it for good. What might happen if we could revere our patterns? If we could deeply appreciate and be stunned by how perfect they are for us, how aligned they are for our growth and evolution, how we are fundamentally good and whole, perhaps we’d be reborn in our own beauty and soul level perfection.

Please join us this Sunday, October 27th, 2019 at 9 A.M. EDT/6:30 P.M. India, as we open our hearts to discuss and invite feeling reverent. During this hour, let’s uplift our community Twitter feed by revering one another, our lives, our connections, and our own tender and resilient hearts. As Rumi says, “Only from your heart can you touch the sky.” Let’s touch the sky together.

Dr. Christy Johnson quit a decades-long engineering career in 2010 to open her integrative energy healing practice. She helps clients relieve and soothe the pain of life’s challenges while embracing their authenticity and joy via soul level insights and energy healing. You can connect with her via her website www.intuitiveheal.com or on Twitter @IntuitiveHeal .

P. S. Join our special guest host Dr Christy Johnson as she steps up to host our weekly twitter chat (Sunday Oct 27 at 9amET in #spiritchat) on this wonderful topic. Thank you – Kumud

Dr. Christy Johnson (@IntuitiveHeal on Twitter)

Streaming the Heart’s Light

Tags

heart, heart matters, light, lightness, streaming

 

We have come a long way from the time when our televisions and radios had rabbit ears and antennas that reached out to receive their signals. In this always-connected age of WiFi and cellular service, where cell phones, tablets and laptops can ‘stream’ almost any type of audio and video at the touch of a button or the click of a mouse, our works is inundated with the concept of “streaming.” Corporations like NetFlix, YouTube, Disney and Apple are all in competition for our audio and visual awareness and our dollars.

What does all this “streaming” mean for our spiritual practices and awareness? How are we to develop, maintain and sustain the health of our mind and our heart when we are seemingly immersed in this Alphabet soup of marketing, advertising and ‘news cycles’? What are we to learn and teach from this upheaval that is causing many of us to question our values and beliefs in things like trust, honesty, integrity, service and the like?

One possible solution to the unknown of massive change created by digital “streaming” is to apply it to what we already know. We know our heart is the repository of love and light. We know our heart is the seedbed of softness and kindness. We know our heart is the source of silence and stillness. What if we were to condition and train our heart to constantly stream love, light, softness, kindness, silence and stillness?

In all of my forest walks this autumn, I am yet to undertake a journey that has not infused me with hope and elevation. The subtle changes of color, the falling of a leaf as it spins towards the earth, the rustling of the forest floor as I step gently, the sun emerging from behind clouds and streaming light from behind tall trees — I could go on and on. Observing and being in Nature is frequently my external antidote to the digital stream.

And yet, we need an internal antidote to the digital soup that we often find ourselves boiling in. A four-part practice has served me well in creating my own portable stream. It consists of cleaning the vessel of the day’s digital stream, universal prayer, physical relaxation, and sitting with a gentle focus on the source of light within the heart. It may seem like a lot of work, but I find these four actions harmonize the four quadrants of the heart. The heart’s light flows with clarity again, and the stream of joy and silence is available to immerse in wherever and whenever I need reconnecting to source.

No internet connection required.

 

Kumud

P.S. Join us in our weekly stream on Twitter in #SpiritChat — a gathering of folks “streaming their heart’s light” with enthusiasm — Sunday, Oct 20 at 9amET / 630pm India. Namaste – @AjmaniK

Creating Our Mental Sanctuary

Tags

healing, mental body, mental health, sanctuary, wellness

He would often be standing by the wrought iron gate that led to the small stone patio in front of my grandparent’s home. A tall, handsome figure, his silent presence would convey some unknown greeting from behind his large, sunken eyes. On every weekly visit, we kids would wonder – what kind of mood is he going to be in today? We kids  were told that he was a brilliant young man, and that he had an ‘almost drowning’ while serving in the Navy, which affected his brain. I hoped that my aunt (his older sister, who raised me) or my grandfather (his father) would be spared his rage which would sometimes pour forth in an unmitigated verbal barrage of obscenities.The two people that he rarely tangled with were the two ladies of the home – his mother and his sister-in-law. I remember watching him drink his evening cup of tea with such peace, standing outside the kitchen or at that wrought iron gate. His moments of silence seemed to be as deep and impactful as his lapses of rage. 

On Tuesday of this week, I stumbled upon the fact that many organizations across the world were observing “World Mental Health” week. I am not sure why, but after all these decades, the memories of my dear Uncle came flowing through my mind. Buried deep within my own brain’s cognition, the memory of his pain returned to my awareness. It made me ask the question – what actions and practices can we, as travelers on our spiritual journeys, take, to create mental sanctuaries – for ourselves, and those who cannot create them for themselves? Some answers were revealed in a live webinar titled “Love and Compassion for Mental Well-Being”, which I attended on Wednesday morning. The three practices, not in any particular order, that emerged from this conversation were:

1. Work to remove Isolation. Those, like my Uncle, who suffer from chronic inner pain due to improper mental health, often choose inner and outer isolation. Isolation becomes their sanctuary, because it is perhaps their only safe space. When we observe such a tendency towards isolation, within us and in others, we can work towards reaching out and taking action towards its mitigation. Even though my Uncle lived in the same house with his family, I am sure that he felt isolated in many ways, because nobody really knew how to  engage with him in a way that would be meaningful to him.  

2.  Choose Self-Compassion. We, in the #SpiritChat community often talk about the practice of compassion, and how we ought not to forget to apply compassion to our own selves. We are often more aware of being compassionate towards others, than towards ourselves. Why is self-compassion essential to creating a mental sanctuary? One reason is that “self-compassion is necessary because it is an antidote to shame”. We may have been raised in a family, a relationship, a work environment that inflicted shame upon us. Self-compassion helps us break the circle of shame, and allows for healing to enter the mind. With compassion, we can create an environment for a new, healthy mental sanctuary to emerge. 

3. Create a New Self-Image. How do we see our own self? Our image of our self is often created on the lens of our mind by the impressions of our past experiences, our current life situation, and what we expect our future to be like. A mental lens that is overly clouded with impressions, weak and strong, can affect our mind and heart. Regular practice of (self) forgiveness can help us clean some of these impressions. As our heart forgives, we become lighter, we admit new light that can create a clear, new, radiant, brilliant self-image. A new self-image, when combined with self-compassion, erases self-hatred. 

Those who are suffering due to poor mental health, often do not have the resources to break the triangle of isolation, lack of love, and lack of compassion that becomes their ’sanctuary’. It thus becomes our responsibility – all of us who have the resources of love, compassion and companionship to offer – to offer the sanctuary of these three, to them and to ourselves, with kindness and grace. Will we choose to share, to create a new sanctuary? Or will we let the suffering continue?

Kumud 

P.S. Join us in our weekly twitter chat, Sunday October 13 at 9amET / 630pm India. We shall share some love, compassion and companionship – and share our practices which can help each other create healthy mental sanctuaries. I also invite you to reach out to someone you may not have heard from in a while, who may be feeling ’isolated’, and ‘check-in’ on them. Maybe even invite them to some ‘tea and cookies’. Namaste – @AjmaniK

The bridge that leads to one of my ‘sanctuaries’

Transformative Energy of Words

Tags

empowerment, energy, language, transformation, words

What feelings and emotions come to your heart and mind when you read or hear the single word, Mother? The reactions among different people may range from positive to negative, to perhaps neutral. The reaction to that single word depends on the life experiences that we may have had in relationship to the person(s) which that word represents. 

Now, let me modify the word to “Mother Mary”. What feelings and emotions come to your heart and mind now? Are they different from the single word, “Mother”? The shift in the power and energy that the two words “Mother Mary” evoke probably depends on whether you have a Christian background and/or have friends of that denomination. If I were to ask the same question of a tribal who lives in the Amazon rainforest, what would their response, if any, be? And what about words like Durga and Kali, which evoke the divine feminine who is currently being celebrated in ‘a nine days and nights festival‘ in India?

The spiritual power of certain words, phrases, combination of words as prayers, mantras, and such, is well established. There is a scientific basis for the power and ability of words to convey certain energy. The basis of word power and energy is the mechanism of vibration. At the particle level, we are all atomic, vibratory beings. So, it would be natural that the vibrational energy of words would affect us in certain ways. In addition, certain words and prayers, repeated millions of times by cultures over time, attain special significance and energy. One such word which has spread universally from Indian (or Vedic) culture is AUM (or OM). Are there words or prayers that have achieved ‘special energy’ status in your language or culture?

Words, particularly when spoken in the language of the listener, confer thought, ideas, meaning and transformative power – Swami Sarvadevananda

The ability of certain words to affect us negatively, when spoken in a language which we can understand, is also powerful. The power of their words to send us almost instantly into a state of anger, dismay, rage, even hatred, has been felt by many of us. This is where our spiritual practices can help us. If we learn to keep track of our ‘trigger’ words and the situations in which we are particularly vulnerable to those triggers, we can take action. We can align and harmonize our practices to set up ‘early warning systems’ for such words, people and situations. ‘Trigger-word’ awareness is a bit like being the ‘squawker goose’ in the flock of geese sitting in the middle of the river who alerts the flock that a human has been sighted on the shore!

So, words have power, energy and the capability to set off positive, negative or neutral vibrations within us. By choosing words which empower and energize us, we are likely to empower and energize those in our energy field. By repeatedly choosing words and word combinations which enhance our own spiritual well-being, we can transmit universal positive and healing energy. Let us be empowered to speak healing words, or simply keep our silence. Such awareness and practice would be a sign of spiritual growth, yes?

Kumud

P.S. Today’s blog post was inspired by a talk titled ‘The Science of Mantra” given by Swami Sarvadevananda of the Vedanta Society of Hollywood in Cleveland on September 22 2019. It inspired a lot of questions about ‘word power and energy’, and I look forward to sharing some of those questions with you in our weekly twitter chat. Join us, Sunday Oct 6 at 9amET in #SpiritChat – bring your ‘power words’ and ‘trigger words’ to share. Namaste – @AjmaniK

what words does this photo evoke? what energy do they transmit to you?

On Life’s Transitions

Tags

autumn, awareness, celebration, healing, spirituality, transformation

In this last week of September, as it is often its wont, my corner of the world begins a beautiful journey from summer into autumn. The fact that I have been part of this journey every year for over three decades, does not diminish the beauty of the transition. In fact, with every passing year, I seem to look forward to this transition more and more.

The falling of a single leaf, when witnessed with a cup of tea in hand while sitting on the deck, or in the midst of a nature walk in the reservation, is often an event of great silence. It takes me back to my first autumn in Southwest Virginia, and the surprise and immense joy that I felt when I saw, for the first time, all those trees change color. The oranges, yellows and reds and many more colors in between, seemed to create an aura of special warmth in my first season away from home. Autumn seemed to say to me – I feel and see your great transition, and I am transitioning with you. I will be your companion on your journey.

That was then and this is now. My journey, my transitions continue – and so do hers. Awareness informs me that every moment, every breath, every heartbeat is a transition. The loss of a beloved one, the birth of a new flower, sickness and storms, celebrations and new beginnings. The impermanent nature of life as we know it means that transitions are our constant companions. And yet, there is a certain fabric of permanence on which the needle of life’s transitions creates its embroidered artwork. The colors and the thicknesses of the threads may be vastly different, but so what? Is not Autumn present in all her brilliance for all of us who choose to see?

Just this week, I walked two long walks in two separate parts of the reservation – the river valley and the lagoon – three days apart. The river was shallow enough that I could walk into its middle and look back on each of the banks, and upstream and downstream. When the sun rose high enough above the trees on the cliff side of the valley, it shone its light on all that came in its path – every tree, every changing and falling and fallen leaf, every boulder and rock and piece of broken off shale, every flock of geese that let itself be carried downstream by the gentle streaming of the river, and more.

I observed that all they needed to do to be illumined was to be present to the sun’s light with patience – for the play of light and shadow changes day by day, hour by hour, instant by instant – such is the nature of transition. And what about those who seemed to be in ‘permanent’ darkness? I am sure that, in a different season, when the sun’s angle changes, or they choose to bend ever so slightly towards the sun, they would find luminosity too.

So, if you are like me, and you love and cherish autumn as much as I do, you are already well equipped to be in harmony with life’s transitions. If you are like some, who are in love with the idea of an eternal summer, you may want to consider taking a walk into the beauty of autumn.

Go. Stand in place or walk into the middle of a shallow, softly flowing river. Open your heart and take in a 360 degree view. Did you see any transitions?

Kumud

P.S. Join us Sunday, September 30 at 9amET in our weekly gathering on Twitter. I will bring some fabric – you bring some colored threads – we will create some transitions. Namaste – @AjmaniK

In the middle of transitions

On Life’s Inequalities

Tags

equality, equinox, nature, privilege, seasons

In order to understand the idea of inequality, we may be well served by first defining ‘equality’. Simply stated, equality is the state of being equal in status, rights and opportunity. It is often associated with fairness, equity, impartiality and justice. It is apparent that equality and its associated traits and virtues are wonderful, if not essential, for humans, communities and societies to practice and embed in their lifestyle.

And yet, equality is a fleeting thing at best. If we look at nature, inequality seems to be everywhere. The robin lays a lot of eggs, but not each one of them hatches. Among the ones that do hatch, not every fledgeling is equally healthy. Some flowers bloom more beautifully than others, even though they may grow on the same branch, and tree. In fact, flowers on the same branch often compete with each other for sunlight. Nature is full of examples of inequality, both in flora and fauna.

Two instances when nature may come close to exhibiting equity is at the moment of the equinoxes. Every spring and autumn, at a given hour of a given day, the sun crossess the celestial equator. We observe, even celebrate these days as those of equal sunlight and darkness. It is only on n these two days of equinox that nature’s law seems to benedict equality upon her two hemispheres. On every other given day of the year, inequality of light and darkness is the natural law. And we humans, along with the flora and fauna that we live amongst, have learnt to thrive in this inequality of nature!

Similar to the two days of the equinoxes, there are perhaps two other instances in which equality is the natural law. Is it in the two instances of our birth and our death that we are equal in nature’s eyes? Is it not that the beggar and the king are ‘equal’ in birth and, particularly, death? Every living moment between those two moments has the potential to subject our lives too inequality. We might as well adapt, change, learn to live our lives well, swim and thrive in this sea of inequality, yes? Make no mistake. This isn’t a call to surrender and accept unfairness, inequity and injustice. We may have bigger battles at hand.

Our battle is for the abolition of the use and abuse of privilege. Our battle is against those who would use privilege to keep us from the opportunity to strive for natural justice. Equity, ethics, empathy and equality are all part of our core spiritual existence and.heritage. Our battle against privilege will return us to our core values and existence, to equality through Oneness.

What can inequality create? Thirty three years ago this month, a young boy left behind everyone that he had known, spent the better part of twenty four hours migrating across the oceans to the unknown. With suns, moons and stars guiding his eyes, he traveled to a land which held out the promise of equal opportunity. A lot of equinoxes have since been celebrated by him in his adopted land. The boy has grown, but the dream has not yet gone.

The dream has in fact been transformed into a practice that his heritage has long known: “to arise, awake, keep aloft the banner of love, and to stop not until the goal is reached!”

Kumud

P.S. What’s your story of adapting to inequality, of celebrating equinoxes, of battling privilege? I invite you to share with the #SpiritChat community, Sunday September 22 at 9amET on twitter. Namaste – @AjmaniK

Of Storms and Landings

Tags

chandrayaan, exploration, hurricanes, remembrance, storms

It would be an understatement to say that the East coast of the US and the entire eastern Caribbean has been feeling the effects of hurricane Dorian over the past week — some, like the Bahamas, suffering a lot more than others. Even with all the latest technologies and forecasting models, the exact paths and timings of storms of such rapidly changing intensity, momentum and energy are extremely difficult to predict accurately.

While hurricane Dorian had the Eastern seaboard in its sights, hundreds of millions halfway across the world in India stayed up into the wee hours on Saturday morning. They had their eyes, hopes and prayers focused on an audacious lunar landing of India’s first ever rover on the South Pole of the Moon. The landing sequence was all going according to plan, until about 2km above the lunar surface, contact was lost with the lander. Slowing down a lander from 3000mph to zero from 250,000 miles away is perhaps as difficult a task as trying to predict the path, let alone slow down a hurricane a few hundred miles offshore.

Such is the nature of life’s storms and landings. Those who are in the path evoke the concern, the prayers and positive energy of those watching from a distance. The outcomes, while uncertain, remind all involved of the messiness of life, and a reminder that Life itself is meant to be lived in the eye of the storm. It is in dare greatly in our explorations to other worlds and the worlds within, that we risk landing in unfamiliar territory, bruised and bartered, suffering loss of contact and communications with our “home”.

And yet, it is through the journey into the unknown, the struggle to ride it out or to leave, the decision to attempt a landing or to simply fly by, the facing of the fear of loss of all that we hold dear, that we can find our Truth.

It is in that inner discovery of our core, assisted by our all-seeing inner eye, that we remember our innocence, our simplicity, our purity, our silence and our stillness — and our destiny.

Our destiny may be as simple as to remember to choose direct experience — to remember that we can be whole with joy, to dip our toes in the water once again; to remember that we can keep daring greatly, and attempt new landings once again.

Kumud

P.S. Join our weekly chat on twitter, Sunday Sep 8 at 9amET in #SpiritChat ~ we shall talk about storms and landings, toes in the water and daring greatly. Namaste – @AjmaniK

On Healing Friendships

Tags

friendship, healing, health, thankfulness

There is much that can change in the friendship landscape for an eighth-grader over the ten week summer break from school. The departure of a few old friends and the arrival of new students tests the resilience of the cliques and leads to a re-examination of the questions: who are my ‘real’ friends? what is the difference between being ‘friendly’ and being a ‘friend’? what makes some so ‘popular’ that everyone wants to be ‘friends’ with them? How did some of my ‘friends’ change so much over the summer?

Yes. School has been in session for less than a week and some of these questions have led to conversations in my home. Over the past few days, it has caused me to pause and ask some questions about the nature of friendship in general, and reflect on my own ‘good’ friends from the past few the decades.

The Indian sage Patanjali (author of the Yoga Sutras) penned an aphorism which offered advice on ‘friendship’. When asked, whom should we consider for friendship, he simply said — “be friendly towards those who are friendly towards you”. Sounds like a simple attitude to practice, right? However, it is often our prejudices, our past hurts and skepticism towards new connections that can stop us from adopting this attitude. My personal experience has been that “being friendly towards the friendly” has seeded many acorns of friendship for me, some of which have grown into big oaks.

The shade and shelter of these oaks has helped me weather many a storm and even healed me of my many of my hurts and sorrows. It is not to say that a vast majority of those ‘friendly acorns’ never grew to become strong, healing oaks. Some fell on hard rocks, some took root but only grew for a season or two, and some did become healthy trees that eventually became disease with neglect, mis-communication and mis-aligned expectations.

Such is the nature of the acorns of friendships, or for that matter, most relationships. If we don’t grow them, or at least maintain them with adequate warmth of the sunshine of caring, the balanced nutrition of sharing our joys and sorrows, they tend to shrivel away. If we aren’t vested enough in the friendship or its growth, we will be unwilling to do the tough work of pruning the deadwood from our minds and pulling the weeds from our hearts.

For me to develop healing friendships that sustain me and my friends, I often have to choose to be a willing vessel that can effect healing. If one of my best friends that is Mother Nature is to heal me, I have to be willing to walk her way with my friendship shoes on. It is when my healing friendship with her is strong, and I am in good health because of her grace, that I can be a good friend to others.

So, I asked myself over the past few days – who are some of my very good friends over the long term? What makes them so? One answer that came to me was that my good friends are those who send a warm current through my heart. Thinking of my healing friendships, even for a fraction of a moment, brings a smile to my face, a sense of playfulness, a flash of joy.

And among them all, there is That One healing friendship which is omnipresent, permanent, and the harbinger of light and lightness. I am grateful for its presence in my heart, and a willing traveler among its path full of oak trees and acorns.

May we heal each other and “walk each other home” in friendship,

Namaste,

Kumud

P.S. Join our friendly, healing community of #SpiritChat for our weekly twitter chat – Sunday, Sep 1 at 9amET. Namaste – @AjmaniK