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One Drop of Rain

One drop of rain holds the cosmos.

One drop of rain heralds change.

One drop of rain refracts light into darkness.

One simple action does make a difference. Something as seemingly trivial can be just enough to improve another’s day.

Try authentically acknowledging the cashier at the drive through, at the grocery store, at the convenience store.

Start small.

It doesn’t take any more than a genuine thank you to change the world.

Rain is soothing, blessing the land with nourishment. This video is ten hours long so you definitely don’t need to listen to the whole thing.

But if it’s hot and you’re not near a pool, this may help cool you down.

Start small – five minutes, ten minutes. Close your eyes, relax, and really listen with your entire being.

Gratitude and Thanks

I picked the image for this month’s mindfulness back in January, and randomly picked a word to go with the month.

The image says peace, yet the word is gratitude.

I thought that maybe I should change the words or the image to better suit November. After all, it’s Thanksgiving here in the US and it seems like everyone is doing a “30 days of Thankful” challenge.

There are posts on all social media channels about how thankful people are about the many things in their lives, and each is accompanied by a cute photo and multiple hashtags.

I’m not so much interested in what you are thankful for, but rather in how you share gratitude throughout your life.

What’s the difference?

I googled to see if anyone else had written about the difference between gratitude and thankfulness and found more than 600,000 responses. I love this explanation from spirit-minded:

“Thankfulness always has to have a receiver and a giver, something or someone who has caused this moment of thankfulness. Gratitude, however implies that we are just in that state of Being; the basic difference is that being thankful is always for something given, while being grateful only requires developing that state of BEING….being grateful for WHAT IS.”

Today, strive to be grateful for what is in your life.

This doesn’t mean sitting on a mountaintop and chanting Sanskrit.

It means thanking everything that comes your way.

I do this often and find it calming, as if offering a blessing.

“Thank you for the Egg McMuffin and for all of the beings involved in the process of getting that breakfast sandwich to me. Thank you for this car that gets me safely from place to place. Thank you for the people and vehicles involved in making sure the road is plowed on a snowy morning.”

Be thankful today.

Be grateful you have this life and whatever is in it today.

Forgiveness

There are challenges every day on the path of life.

You’re walking along, minding your own business, being the best person you can be. Then your concentration slips, or you take one misstep.

And berate yourself for getting it wrong.

Does any of the following sound familiar?

“I can’t do that because I would look stupid. I’m afraid to try something new, so I just do the same things, but I like the same things, so there’s nothing wrong with that, right? People might laugh if I wear this. I hope my makeup is on the right way. I am so glad my mother (or grandmother or mother-in-law or daughter or sister or whoever) can’t see what I’m wearing today; she would have a fit. I hope I don’t embarrass myself. Why did I say that? I hope I don’t run into anyone I know at the grocery store. I hope the boss doesn’t notice that I’m a couple of minutes late. I hope my coworker doesn’t get mad.”

Do you see mighty maple trees angry because leaves turn yellow instead of red? No.

Do other deciduous plants get upset because this year they’re loosing leaves at a slower rate? No.

Then why do you persist in such personal badgering?

And for many of us, this happens every day – all day long.

Thanks to monkey mind, you may even berate yourself for something that happened (or might have happened) years ago.

Right now, know that it is OK to make a mistake.

It is OK to jig when you should have jagged.

It is OK to be on a different wavelength.

It is OK to feel what you feel.

Take a deep breathe. Calm yourself on the inside. Drop the criticism, if only for a moment or two.

This guided meditation is about forgiveness. Listen and let go of the judgement of whatever it is in your life that’s holding you back, of whatever you regret. It’s time to forgive yourself, if only for the length of this video.

Escape To The Lake Near Grand Rapids, Michigan

I escaped to a small, private lake earlier this month.

It was the first weekend that we -finally- had warm weather.

I glamped in a 1970s camper surrounded by trees.

I had a couple of campfires. I forgot to bring marshmallows.

I admired the deep blue sky at night as the full moon rose.

I stared at the scenery. I took a couple of naps and finished a book.

I walked along the trails.

A statue of Buddha contemplates the tall grass. In another area, a collection of similar statues presides over a simple labyrinth.

A couple of boats were available, if I was so inclined. I am not.

But staring at that serene lake?

Or gently resting in the arms of a swing seat hung from a tall tree?

Definitely for me.

You can stay in this beautiful spot, too. It’s affordable – even for one person – and convenient to Grand Rapids if you’re interested in city lights.

But for me, a quiet escape to the lake was perfect.

The Sacred Waterfall

The peak spiritual experience of my trip to the Sacred Valley of Peru was a journey to a waterfall. A simple, everyday walk up a mountain unlocked memories and renewed my sense of self. How is that even possible?

I’ll attempt to explain, but please remember: putting words to experience pales in comparison to the actual experience. Though poets and writers have tried for lifetimes, anything written cannot capture the true essence of what it means to love. Same is true here; it’s nearly impossible to accurately explain everything that happened in any way that will make logical sense.

That’s because it’s not logical. It’s experience. It’s in the moment. And in that brief moment, lifetimes unfurled. For real.

First, the magnificent setting:

Walking along an aqueduct that brings water to the retreat center.

Look closely and you’ll see two young girls tending the animals.

Along the spiritual path, it’s not uncommon for people to participate in past life regressions. I did one back in the 1990s, and it helped me make sense of my general fear and distrust of team of horses hitched to a wagon. A memory of the aftermath of an earthquake, and of being trampled by a team of runaway horses definitely put a damper on me enjoying my family’s love of horses. Of course, that memory isn’t the only reason I didn’t like horses: I was stubborn, moody, and unhappy teenager who preferred books and clothes and music.

The story revealed in the regression made sense to me. It was more than a story, though, the memory fit like a favorite pair of jeans. I knew the story, remembered details of the entire life, and could snap pieces into a puzzle I didn’t know I needed to complete. So why is it that we left-brain, logical-centered humans don’t accept such memories as real?

That’s a big question that you’ll have to answer for yourself. Go meditate on it.

These memories are real to me, as real as an impressionistic painting, as real as a blue sky, as real as the cat sitting on my lap and purring as I type. The spiritual path is one you walk alone. Yes, there are traveling companions, but you re-create your own puzzle of memories.

In Peru I trudged along the narrow, rocky mountain path with friends. I silently sang Om Mani Padme Hum because the rhythm kept my feet moving when every muscle wanted to stop. The mantra also kept me focused and alert, making the journey both a physical and a spiritual walk. By the time we reached the side of the waterfall, I was keenly focused and prepared. I also had a hard time staying balanced. As in, hope-I-don’t-fall balanced.

I wear glasses. While they help me see better, they also inhibit peripheral vision. So unless I kept my eyes mostly on the ground, on the path ahead, I was likely to stumble. And did I say it was a narrow, rocky mountain path? Yep, and I’m not fond of heights either.

I stripped down to a bathing suit and carefully stepped onto a narrow ledge of slippery stones. I slithered across then sat on the low wall that gathered the cold water and channeled that water to the retreat center. The frigid waterfall mist covered me. Curandanda Wilma Penado placed chumpi stones in my hands and I held on as tight as I could. Wilma doused me repeatedly with the glacial water and quietly chanted words of blessing and cleansing.

Memories and admonitions flooded into my consciousness. In a few brief moments, I knew that I’d been to this area of the world before. I understood why I felt so comfortable in the Sacred Valley: it was home. Not that I’d been there this lifetime, not that I’ll relocate there, but rather the feeling of arriving home after a long trip. It was good to know that the Andes were home.

In seconds, I knew I’d bathed in this waterfall before, and knew that I had to visit more waterfalls. I knew waterfalls were important to me in ways that I still don’t understand. There are more than 200 waterfalls in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and I’m going to have to visit a whole bunch of them to unravel more of my life’s mysteries.

On that mountain side in Peru, pieces of my personal puzzle snapped into place. I felt whole and stepped into my power. And all that in only a short hour long walk on a mountain.

My Peru journey was organized and facilitated by Ashera Sefarty at Luminosity Healing Arts. The retreat was co-led by Daina Puodziunas Awakened Potentials for Woman.