Powerful intepretations

My friend Lynn and I found this wonderful box set by Debbie Ford called the "Best Year of your Life" at the Sacred Path Bookstore in San Mateo. It's a package that contains 52 cards for each week of the year, a workbook to log your progress and a meditation CD. I decided to gift my friend Marsha with it for her birthday since she's far away in Indiana and this is something we could do together each week. Pick a card and act on it. Last week it was "lighten your load" clearing out physical and emotional excess. Marsha went to town with this suggestion. I only cleared out the trunk of my car and Julia/Kelly's old room but it still felt good to get rid of stuff. The instructions say that if you're not up to a particular card in a week, throw it back and pick a new one. This is such a cool gift for a birthday if the person is really going to do it.

This week it's "Set powerful interpretations" which is to change the way you perceive a past event that was hurtful, painful or embarrassing. I decided on my father's death - I mean, how could you put a positive spin on losing your precious dad at such a young age? Here's what I came up with: Dad died at his birthday celebration, dancing with his friends and family, how wonderful is that? Doing something he loved, what could be better? Dad left us all with his sense of humor which has really come in handy when life gets tough. Even at my mom's funeral we all shared a laugh when Roy Orbison came on singing "Mamaaaaaa" in the limo. Gallows humor. Dad left his wonderful sister Rose and her family to share our lives with us. He maintained his relationships so they would continue with his family after his death. He was a "hands on" dad at a time when not all dads were - he took us all to the beach, including the neighbor kids on his day off. He cooked for us, took us on Sunday drives, to the circus, watched TV with us. One thing I've come to realize that was very special was his patience with my mother's illness. I cannot, for the life of me, ever remember him getting angry with her. He accepted her illness - an amazing feat. One I had great difficulty with myself. I wanted a normal mom. A great lesson for all of us when dealing with mental illness. It is an illness and not something that a person can turn off. He taught us how to love both family and friends. For the short 13 years of our time together, I do have many, many happy memories. Thank you so much Dad. I am grateful for our time together.

It's been said that how a person responds to tragedy will predict how they work their way through it. Look at the positive, the lesson, the things to be grateful for in any given situation.

Erin - shower the people you love with love

My neice Erin was hit by a truck early last Sunday morning. Unbelievably she is doing better than we all could have hoped, although she is still in the hospital a week later. Sunday to Monday, amazing as most hospitals seem to kick you out too quickly for recovery to happen. She seems to have sustained a broken fibula - a bone her cousin John and I are all too familiar with breaking. And a painful surgery to put pins in the bone to hold it together. And problems with her knee. It strikes me how important it is to take the time to tell those you love how much they mean to you all the time.

Just weeks ago, not even a month ago, Diane, her mom, Karen, her auntie, Natalia, her cousin, Julia and I traveled to spend the weekend at Erin's place, taking in the play "Wicked", singing Karoke, listening to singing waiters and laying by the pool in her apartment building. (the pool area reminded me of "Three's Company" along with Mrs. Roper) It was magical, wonderful, restful and fun. I was so impressed with the way that Erin treated the people around her, whether they were family or wait staff or Peter John, Cisery, the monkey in Wicked. She has a way of thanking people so sincerely and enjoying their company that I couldn't help but write her a note to tell her so. And I am so grateful to spirit for prompting me to write that note. Life can change in a second. We are so lucky to have this joyful sprite in our lives even though at the current moment she is in tremendous pain (at a 25 on a scale of 10). Like the James Taylor song, shower the people you love with love!

Rain, Pincher bugs and the present moment

Julia, Kyle and I headed to an evening of Yuppie camping at Costanoa this past Friday. I call it Yuppie camping because the tent cabins are already set up for you, the beds come with heated mattress pads, down comforters and pillows. Each tent cabin has electricity and they provide you with towels. The near-by comfort station (their name for bathrooms) come equipped with heated floors, showers, sauna and hair dryers. There is a roaring fire with adirondrack chairs around it if you want to roast marshmellows. Now this is what I call camping in my advanced age. Within walking distance is a very good restaurant with wine and beer and a fully stocked general store. It gets very dark at Costanoa very quickly once the sun goes down. I had to walk to the general lodge area to find Kyle and Julia when they arrived, with my handy flashlight - that's the one thing you do need to bring.
At some point during the evening, Kyle started to get sad and down, feeling he let everyone down and just couldn't seem to pull himself out of the sad feelings when all of a sudden, it started pouring rain. He and Julia exclaimed, we are so happy it's raining - we love the rain! The rain brought them right into the present moment and then just a few minutes later when pincher bugs started coming out from behind the wood beams they really were in the present moment. Julia was freaked out about the bugs but found that when she shone the flashlight on them, they hid behind the wood. Kyle spent the next 30-40 minutes helping the pincher bugs leave the tent. Everyone was in a much better mood after the rain and the pincher bugs and I thought, how funny that mother nature can easily bring you right to the present moment, something all the great spiritual teachers try to tell us. When we're listening to the rain and trying to persuade pincher bugs to leave, we forget what happened yesterday and what could happen tomorrow.
If you're interested in Yuppie camping, Costanoa is a great place to stay. But warning, it does have bugs and animals - we think there was a skunk or possum under our tent, trying to escape the downpour. I think the poor critter kept hitting its head on the floor, its ceiling under the tent. They have family style tents that face each other and a firepit between them so you don't have to go to the comfort station.