It has been a very full week. Early Tuesday morning I met my sister and brother-in-love at the hospital. She was having an angiogram, with the possibility of angioplasty or a stent, if necessary. After she was prepped for the procedure, we were able to sit with her as she waited. She mentioned that her acupuncturist, our close personal friend, had called the previous evening saying she was shocked to hear about the procedure. I looked at my sister and said, “There is your confirmation. Your heart is fine. If anything had been wrong, Leah would have known.”
It was barely an hour later when the doctor shared the good news with us, “There was no blockage, and her heart is fine.”
Later that day, I sat with a friend who’s adult son died in his sleep from an epileptic seizure last year. We used a process called Induced After Death Communication. I am not formally trained in his procedure, but IADC® Therapy was developed by Dr. Allan L. Botkin, Psy.D. It helps people find peace following the death of a loved one.
You are to imagine having a conversation, or, as we did on Monday, you can write a letter to your loved one and let your loved one write back.
This mother said she felt so much lighter afterwards.
One of the women in our ongoing Grief Journey Group mentioned Mike Dooley’s book, The Top Ten Things Dead People Want to Tell You.
The number one thing is this: I am not dead.
Most people who do the Induced After Death Communication process believe their experiential reconnection is real, but Botkin says they do not have to believe in the authenticity of the experience to benefit from its profound healing effects.
When I ask people to share with me anything that might be an evidence of communication from their loved one, most easily identify multiple experiences, even while continuing to hold a belief that what they know they experienced cannot be possible.
It is vital to notice when your experience transcends your beliefs. Our beliefs can be like clouds that block the sun. The clouds don’t affect the sun, but they certainly affect our experience of it.
It is safe to soften, or even release our beliefs so we can acknowledge and honor our experiences.
Matt Kahn expresses it this way, “Having spent the majority of my adult life being divinely guided by the presence of my angels, I wanted to share everything the angels have taught me, while aligning your energy field into greater communion and communication with the angels you may or may not know are always with you. I can tell you first hand, in looking back on my life’s journey, if it weren’t for my angels’ love, guidance, patience, and inspiration, I don’t know that I would still be here to serve you and all members of our Love Revolution.”
For several years I have been publishing a Sacred Story every Saturday morning, stories dealing with angels or the connection of persons with their loved ones who have passed. Because many of the readers of this blog also receive these sacred stories, I will not include the entire post here. I do encourage you to read Annabelle’s Own, if you have not already done so, but here is the happy ending:
I was so surprised and pleased to get that gift card, but was even more taken aback when I read it. Ann had donated the gift certificate because of my Mom and had written in the From space of the card: Annabelle & Carol Brannan (my Mom).
It truly was a gift from my Mom – aligning everything to get me there and draw that card. What a fun and memorable night! And it was the sign I’ve been needing, to know that my Mom is okay and watching over me every single day!
Here is another of my favorite Sacred Stories, posted May 9, 2015.
She had recently relocated to Florida, and her son and family had already moved there, too. Her adult daughter so wanted to come join the family, but she was having a challenge finding an appropriate rental home (within her budget and one that would take pets!).
After weeks of searching, on a particularly frustrating morning with no success, she threw her hands up, saying out loud, “I am going for a walk. If there is a real estate angel who can work on this while I am gone, I would be very grateful.”
Nearing the end of her walk, and very nearly back home, she struck up a conversation about Florida plantings with a man who was working out in the yard. One comment led to another and she confessed her frustrating morning and her need for a house for her daughter. The man said, “I am here working today getting ready to put this house up for rent.”
The house was charming, the rent was in their budget, and the owner welcomed pets. That house has been her daughter’s home for many years now.
She titled this wonderful story, “There’s An Angel for Everything!”
Just before I received the email message containing the story about “Annabelle’s Own”, I had the thought, “I need to stop scheduling the Sacred Stories for Saturday’s only and just publish the stories as they come to me.”
Perhaps I was being divinely guided by the presence of my angels….
It is interesting where sayings come from that sit in our memory banks and shape our experiences without our noticing.
One such saying comes from the late 19th and early 20th centuries when two-story apartment houses sprung up during the manufacturing boom. Cheaply built, with identical floor plans on the first and second floor, it was common to clearly hear the person living above kick off the first shoe, and be waiting for the other shoe to drop.
I was the ‘responsible adult’ with a dear friend having cataract surgery this week. I spent the night and the following morning she and I were enjoying the gorgeous view from her deck, each of us sipping on our morning brew. We were both writing in our journals when this Braham Kumaris thought for the day popped in:
Suddenly the following poem poured onto my journal page.
View from the Deck
We will die. What dies?
Wasting the gift of this moment
living ‘waiting for the other shoe to drop’
When heart is open, eyes looking up
Every moment is precious ‘living on borrowed time’
Butterfly flits across the sky
Sea gull sings in the distance
Big dog toe nails tap dance on the deck
Being present to your breathing
feeling my heart beat
Carried beyond the chasm of panic
through the valley of doubt
fearing no evil
remembering all is well
with my soul
Is my soul other than this?
Light pierces the darkness
because that is the nature of light
Darkness offers a way of seeing
that transcends the human eye
Seeing suffering calls forth compassion
Sadness itself reaches for joy
Loneliness, despair, sheer terror—
calling cards each one
saying, “Come. Rest. Renew. Receive.”
Spring always follows winter
Which phase of the moon IS the moon?
Laugh at the gyrations when you see them; theirs is a false god
Fog is rolling in—thunder in the distance—so be it
The sun has not been touched
Be with yourself as the weather shifts
it surely will
Debra Basham August 20, 2019
As I finished reading the poem aloud to her, she burst out, “Waiting for the other shoe to drop! That is how I have lived my entire life.”
I told her that had been the working title for the poem….
We went out for a decadent breakfast of banana bread French toast, then she had me read the poem to the surgeon when she went for her next-day check.
She has had some cloudy vision, neither of us expected that. It is probably due to a burst blood vessel and a small blood clot.
The surgeon will see her again at one week, and he assured her all is well.
It will be wonderful if rather than expectantly waiting bad news, now that she has gone through this process, she can continue to appreciate the evidence that she is making progress. All is well. She is for sure seeing more clearly every day.
Tonight is one of those times when tears are just so close to the surface. Perhaps it is because 57 years ago yesterday I had a near death experience. Things that happen to you change your world view….
Perhaps it is because this morning I got to work with a man, and a woman, and their precious dog. The woman had just stepped backwards into the motor pit on their boat. She began expressing her concern about not wanting to intrude on her husband’s session. We ended knowing you cannot take blessing from someone else by receiving blessing yourself. Even the dog came over to me and asked to receive healing attention! We were all so blessed by our time together as we were in that stream of the ever-perfect.
Perhaps my heart feels so tender because 11 years ago today Nonnie’s beloved Mike passed….
Perhaps tears are close to the surface because the evening sky is breathtakingly beautiful.
Or because I read this precious truth written by Danusha Laméris about how small kindnesses are the ‘true dwelling of the holy’:
I’ve been thinking about the way, when you walk down a crowded aisle, people pull in their legs to let you by. Or how strangers still say, “bless you” when someone sneezes, a leftover from the Bubonic plague. “Don’t die,” we are saying. And sometimes when you spill lemons from your grocery bag, someone else will help you pick them up. Mostly, we don’t want to harm each other. We want to be handed our cup of coffee hot, and to say thank you to the person handing it. To smile at them and for them to smile back. For the waitress to call us honey when she sets down the bowl of clam chowder, and for the driver in the red pick-up truck to let us pass. We have so little of each other, now. So far from tribe and fire. Only these brief moments of exchange. What if they are the true dwelling of the holy, these fleeting temples we make together when we say, “Here, have my seat,” Go ahead—you first,” “I like your hat.”
I like The Giving Hat that belongs to my dear friend, Jane Foster.
Perhaps my heart is so open because Jane was told she had less than a year to live by her surgeon who also said she needed to find a holistic healer. That was almost 20 years ago. Jane now coaches and encourages others to live life regardless of any medical diagnosis. So perhaps my heart is open because today Jane was on the mat beside me doing yoga for the first time!
As I drove back downtown to the office after yoga class, the vehicle at the red light in front of me had this license plate:
I sent the photo of the license plate to Jane and to Kathy, our wonderful yoga teacher. Kathy wrote back that 108 is a very special number. She said, “The number 108 is significant in yoga. It is the number of beads in a mala, and it is the number of sun salutations done daily in India. It is probably significant in other ways, too.”
I wrote back, “Also 108 movements in Tai Chi.”
“Did not know that!” Kathy shot back. “That would be a good blog entry…. I’d read it.”
Lord Buddha’s footprint is imprinted with 108 auspicious illustrations.
In Islam, the number 108 refers to God.
In the Christian Bible, the phrase ‘first born’ is used 108 times. Both ‘in truth’ and ‘to forgive’ are also used 108 times, in the New Revised Standard Version.
In numerology, the number 108 is reduced to 9, but adding all the digits together. Nine represents the earthly lesson of humans, which is ‘forgiveness’.
Nine is about selflessness and compassion.
People with nine energy are said to work without motive.
Nines know their purpose is for the greatest good of all.
Nines also have a protective energy, and they have great power, and great love in their soul.
Today was the birthday of the woman I met with after yoga. I gave her a copy of The Gift: Poems by Hafiz The Great Sufi Master. Her husband passed a few months ago so she is in the process of reinventing her life. She is only 73, not 108, but I am quite sure it would be OK with her if we put 108 candles on her cake and sang happy birthday to her. I had her read the last poem in the book.
AND LOVE SAYS
And loveSays,
“I will. I will take care of you.”
To everything that isNear.
I also gave her a lovely decorated heart-shaped empty box. My friend, Claudia, learned to set a special box on your nightstand or dressing table, as a reminder that each day is a present and being present is a gift you give to yourself.
108 times today I will say, it is such a privilege to be alive. It is such a joy to be awake.
I woke up yearning to get out on my bike but clicked on the video by Mary Reed (The Unwitting Mystic). I spent the next hour hearing, feeling, knowing I was right where I was to be.
I have spent time with Mary Reed in person, and I have followed her video offerings. Mary is the real deal. Her message of love is simple but not easy.
In the video, she describes the mechanism of creation as the FOCUS of awareness, the INTENTION of awareness, and OUR REACTION to what we’re aware of.
Mary shared this talk in reaction to the latest mass shootings, but it is in all of life that we are being asked to observe honestly, “What is my contribution?”
It is so easy to think we have nothing to do with horrific events, but as Mary says, everything that is happening is only happening within me…. there is no other way it can happen.
I am aware of that which I am in oneness with, and I am in oneness with that which I am aware of.
It is vital to remember, I am the only place from which there can be a different reaction.
I can focus clearly….
I can intend wisely….
I can react lovingly….
I can ask myself if I really am willing to be that presence of divine love. And I can answer, “Yes, I am.”
Regardless of how busy your life seems, you will be glad you took an hour to watch.
Faith.
It’s all about believing.
You don’t know how it will happen.
But you know it will.
~ Anonymous (AwakentheGreatnessWithin.com)
Sometimes I think it could be quite helpful to be an astrologer, or a psychic, or a saint. Especially when life presents challenges.
Below are three recent journal entries. The “D” stands for Debra, and the “V” stands for what I call The Voice (of the Holy Spirit). I have used XXXX where an individual’s name was recorded in my journal. I think you will agree the messages are for us all.
D: What would Spirit have XXXX XXXX know in consciousness about her son XXXX? (Autistic and threatened harm to them both.)
V: It may be time for her to seek a residential program for him. She (all of you) must recognize your limits. You are human. You cannot live every day in such distress. What would happen to him if she died?
D: We don’t like to think about that. We need to…
V: Karma helps us see truly. Her staying in a situation that is detrimental to her generates karma for him; generating karma for him generates more karma for her. As she chooses freedom for herself, she is helping him. People are so worried about doing something that is selfish. Sacrificing yourself in the name of love is the most selfish act you can do. Loving (doing the most wholesome thing for) yourself is the most generous. Everyone benefits or everyone suffers.
Tell all who know. They all know.
Love,
Holy Spirit
V: Yesterday you reminded your friend of ‘the rule of six.’ Can you come up with six options you see you for her husband?
D:
1. 24-hour care
2. 16-hour care
3. Facility
4. Bed pan
5. Catheter
6. Hospital bed / wheel chair
V: Notice these all go downhill. Are you able to imagine him having another rally? He has had many. Make sure you don’t turn a rough moment into a rough day or rough period into a rough life.
D: Thank you for that! I see what you mean.
V: Tell all who know. They all know.
Love,
Holy Spirit
D: XXXX is so distressed over her daughter-in-law and granddaughter, following the granddaughter’s recent attempt at suicide. What would you have her know?
V: In many ways, regardless of the conditions, the same message is called for: There is nothing to fix. There are only circumstances that require your loving attention. I wonder if XXXX has considered having them live with her? Not that this would be the final decision, but notice how XXXX’s town could be a good social environment for her granddaughter. Andrews University had many people of other countries and many with black skin. When we are willing to do whatever it takes, we are inspired, and what-ever-it-takes expands.
Tell all who know. YOU all know.
Love,
Holy Spirit
Years ago I wrote about the importance of using our WIT, whatever-it-takes. The phrase “resistance is futile” became prevalent in popular culture. The film Star Trek: First Contact used the phrase as the tagline for the 1996 film.
The next time life presents a challenge, just try using your wit. Rather than bringing into focus all the things you are not willing to do to improve the situation, let yourself expand all the things you are willing to do. I am so often inspired by recalling the story of the man who got his arm wedged in the rocks while climbing. Using a pocket knife, he cut his arm off and got himself to safety.
Most likely, none of the circumstances you are currently navigating—regardless of how challenging—require you to cut your arm off.
Black Elk said it this way, “It may be that some little root of the sacred tree still lives. Nourish it then, that it may leaf and bloom and fill with singing birds.”
Let’s all nourish our faith.
You don’t know how it will happen. Why waste time imagining the worst.
Even though it won’t happen exactly as you imagine it, imagine a scene that proves beyond a doubt, things have gone even better than you imagined….
P.S. XXXX’s husband is doing better, and so is XXXX’s son. Join in holding space for XXXX’s granddaughter, too….
“Addiction, it has been said, starts in pain and ends in pain.” This is the opening line in the Editor’s Note in the January, 2018, edition of GUIDEPOSTS. The title is ‘Overcoming Addiction.” The entire edition is dedicated to the hope of recovery that calls to every addict and the people who love them.
I am no stranger to addiction. My dad was an active alcoholic throughout my childhood. I am so grateful for his sobriety that came after my marriage and remained for the rest of his life. Grateful my daughter and grandchildren knew him in his sobriety.
Last evening we were with some friends. This past week has been about her facing her son’s alcoholism. Several times during the evening I would be aware of the smell of alcohol. No one else could smell it, but it was obvious to me. Eventually I said, “It must be my dad.”
Richard Rohr, an American Franciscan Friar ordained to the priesthood in the Roman Catholic Church, published a podcast titled “Contemplation and Action on the Road of Recovery.” Rohr’s message begins with the radical truth that we are all addicted. He says the universal addiction we share is our addiction to our way of thinking. He says, “Literal-ism is the lowest level of meaning, the least level of meaning. Literal-ism gets you nowhere.”
Whether taking something personally, literally, or insisting our way is the “right” way, addiction to our way of thinking is one of the most important things we can choose to give up. What would that be like? Recovery.
Recovery is simply this: union with reality.
Overcoming addictions is simply this: union with reality.
Addiction is anything we know is not good for us but we do it anyway. So how do we change this?
Here is a poem I wrote on September 25, 2017. It is titled ‘Addiction’s Daughter.’
His blood shot eyes told the story
Her words a sloppy slur
The arguments, lies, disappointed children staring
wistfully out into space
Alcohol’s real name is Satan
Fermented devil Scotch
And pray tell how one can in his right mind call it smooth
a true velvety swindler
Our broken dreams lie there shattered
Memories all scattered
Perfection in work and play disguising inward scars
all weeping done in silence
All weeping is done in silence in addiction. It is important we speak honestly. It is important we choose wholesome actions that invite recovery. It is important our awakened heart is capable of being present for our own suffering and the suffering of others.
I have found the practice of Tonglen helps to awaken the heart.
A Variation on Tonglen (receiving/giving) Meditation
(Instructions in parentheses are a variation for Christians.)
Sitting erect, note the breath moving in and out. Feel yourself in a circle of light (of God’s or Jesus’ presence, His Heart to your heart).
Breath in, feeling that Light and infinite love move into you.
Breath out. Let it fill your heart.
Breath in, note the immense suffering of the world, then direct focus to one place/person.
Breath out, sending that Love with the exhaled breath, to this suffering being. Here we are allowing ourselves to give freely, not to hold that Light which is so precious for ourselves but offering it freely in service to others.
Inhale. See the suffering as a black, thick, tarry mass. Allow yourself to draw it into your heart. Note any resistance, any fear of allowing in that suffering, any desire to stay separate; soften around it. This is not a matter of forcing oneself, but gently opening one’s heart to fear, to the fear that creates illusion of our separation from the suffering of the world. We MUST do it gently. If there is resistance, allow in as much as you can. No ‘shoulds,’ no judgment, just the heart that gently opens when its fear is met with mercy.
Exhale, allowing yourself to feel the heaviness of the suffering.
Inhale, (remembering God); we as human need not hold the suffering and bear it ourselves.
Exhale, release it out to whatever accepts it (to God or to Jesus).
Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu is a Sanskrit mantra which means:
“May all beings everywhere be happy and free, and may the thoughts, words, and actions of my own life contribute in some way to that happiness and to that freedom for all.”
By chanting this mantra, we move from our personal self and radiate a prayer of love for the world around us. It takes us from the egoic, little self, and its limited world view, and radiates from us global wellbeing. It is a reminder we are a part of the universe and can positively impact all of creation.
“I would ask you not to settle
for anything less than liberation,
and yet not to hurry toward it,
but to know that if you practice
with sincerity, love, and courage,
it will come.
May the way be very beautiful for you.
May you find freedom and peace.”
Aaron’s words slide over my being as smoothly as silk.
We discovered mold under our dishwasher Sunday evening. It has been crawling along the floors.
After mold remediation at the office, mold remediation on Lot 51, and now EXTENSIVE mold remediation happening here, I thought it wise to search for the meaning of mold as totem.
Adaptability in the face of widespread, often destructive changes….
Black Mold helps to keep me humble, and reminds me of the privileges I enjoy, however temporarily.
An incentive to find more eco-friendly options for food, water, shelter, and other resources.
Any species that manages to increase its population due to human influence, rather than becoming endangered or extinct, is at least noteworthy for its adaptability.
It is truly amazing to be aware of the full monty. The full monty (or the full Monty) is a British slang phrase of uncertain origin. It is generally used to mean everything which is necessary, appropriate or possible; the works.
Even while feeling overwhelm, I am aware how easy my life is compared to so many. Along with emotions of dread, trust holds my trembling breast. If this is liberation, it is worth the wait.
One of the Brahma Kumaris inspirations of the day I received this morning says simply:
Repeat after me: My current situation is not my permanent destination.
A few days ago, the mold saga continued as late in the evening our friend ripped up carpet preparing for solid flooring installation in the manufactured home she bought here in our park and found this:
She was having a very difficult time navigating all of the uncertainty. I totally get that. I said I would come the following day while she was at work and I would get the rest of the carpeting up so she would know the scope of the problem.
We are now lovingly calling my friend’s space ‘AREA 51’ as her home is located on Lot 51.
It never occurred to me that evening I would know to ask for help even as I was giving help.
There is a story of the Buddha when in a past life he offered himself as food to a hungry tiger and her cubs. The story says when you start off by sharing your dinner with the hungry tiger cub and then some years or lifetimes later, you are giving your dinner, it’s only a natural next step to simply give yourself. For one for whom there is a giver it would not be an appropriate action, it would create an unwholesome karma for both you and the tiger cub. What happens is at some point there is no giver and no one given to. You are not making a martyr of yourself, because there’s really no distinction between you and the hungry tiger. You see the being suffering and you give.
The following morning, as I prepared to head over to her home, I spontaneously wrote a note to the guy across the street, “I need someone with strength at Lot 51 for a few minutes.” He arrived home from the gym as I was writing the note, so I walked across the street and knocked on his door. I pointed to the note, told him what happened, and said simply, “I could use your help ripping up the rest of the carpet.”
He walked over as I drove. There he stood—with a large pair of pliers, a utility knife, and a snub-nosed spade. He was amazing…. He showed me how to use the spade, and by working together, in less than an hour, we had all carpet and pad removed.
And we found NO additional mold. I sent my friend these photos:
I came home to have some lunch and rest a bit. I wrote a ‘thank you’ note, slipped 3 twenty-dollar bills into it, and taped it on his door as I headed back to remove the tack strips, pull up the linoleum, and sweep up the mess.
When I got back home the 3 twenty-dollar bills were in this envelope taped on my door:
When I saw him later, he grinned and said, “I kept the card.”
Wild Geese
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting –
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
Once upon a time…
there was the simple understanding
that to sing at dawn and
to sing at dusk was
to heal the world through joy.
The birds still remember
what we have forgotten,
that the world is meant to be celebrated.
~Terry Tempest Williams
June has been a very full month…. On June 22, I enjoyed a Day of Silence with St. Joseph Sangha and Empty Circle Zen. On June 29, I enjoyed a Yoga Retreat with Kathy Zerler. We did Hatha Yoga, then we each selected a rock created just for us for our retreat by friends Bobbie Roloff and Debbie Charleston. We thoroughly enjoyed Amy’s reading Everybody Needs A Rock by Byrd Baylor with pictures by Peter Parnall. In silence and gratitude we feasted on an amazing lunch before doing a Yoga Nidra exercise and having our closing circle. Om….
All of this was timed perfectly in my life as the office suites were being remediated and my husband was undergoing medical tests following some ongoing symptoms and a mini-episode. This same week, his cousin’s son (at the tender age of 34) was receiving an LVAD. LVAD or left ventricular assist device, is a pump used for patients who have reached end-stage heart failure.
I don’t know when I first heard the Birthday Dirge, but the opening lines are Death and gloom and black despair, People dying everywhere, but one does not have to sing a dirge to know that the conditions of human life can be challenging. What is the most beautiful truth about life, though, is how even difficulties and obstacles produce strength and compassion.
We went with several friends to see the film Rocketman. Rocketman is a 2019 biographical musical based on the life of musician Elton John. At one point, as his mother was speaking so unskillfully, I whispered, “I hope someone in our row is breathing.” It is not an easy film to watch. His life was littered with such painful experiences. However, HE rose up out of the ashes and that is what really matters.
The first day of July is my brother-in-law’s birthday. He passed two years ago. His life, too, had been littered with pain, and he too rose up out of the ashes of cancer to overcome addiction and soften into his authentic being.
While it is true we are not all musical prodigy, this week—every day of every week—we all have the stuff that helps us grow. And the simple understanding as Terry Tempest Williams and the birds remember is that the world is meant to be celebrated.
Here is the rock that selected me at the yoga retreat:
In wonderful ways, life is always providing us opportunities of overcoming amidst chaos. I met a man, Captain Ed, who had a brain aneurysm in 2014, and describes himself as a walking miracle. After hearing some of what he has been overcoming, I asked him, “What were you saved FOR?”
He went on to share about his business! Imagine a pirate-themed candy store, connected to a furniture store, run by a guy who loves dressing in character, a mindful man who has great passion to help kids love and learn to read. Welcome to Captain Ed’s Furniture in Michigan City, Indiana. From the website:
Captain Ed’s began as a TV and Radio shop in 1960. It still carries TVs, but has added several products to its inventory including living room furniture, appliances, dining room, bedroom and kids room at affordable prices. We offer several financing options on all of these items including layaway and rent-to-own. Captain Ed’s also features a Candy Store with the world’s largest ship shaped candy counter, vintage record shop and entertainment exchange.
Captain Ed’s gives back to its community whenever it is possible. It sponsors community events such as the Michigan City Cardboard Boat Dash, The Michigan City Police Department’s Easter Egg Hunt and Boo at the Zoo. It also sponsors local charities such as The Worthy Women Recovery Home and The Sandcastle Homeless Shelter. Captain Ed’s also operates a children’s’ reading program through its candy store. The program awards “Golden Tickets” to elementary students good for 1/4lb of the world’s greatest gummies from Albanese Candy Factory.
During the school year, the local schools award these “Golden Tickets” to students based on how many points they earn when they take their Accelerated Reader tests. During the summer Captain Ed’s passes out “Captain Ed’s Ship’s Reading Logs” which are initialed by the child’s parent or guardian for reading 15 minutes a day, 7 days in a row. When a child brings in a “Golden Ticket” or reading log they also get to pick out a book from Captain Ed’s Library. In 2014 Captain Ed’s awarded 2 tons of candy through this program.
I do not know who Ed was before his near death experience, but it is well-recognized that we do change. 31 years ago, Lesley Lupo died for 14 minutes after being trampled by horses, but it’s what happened in those 14 minutes that many people have a hard time believing, because not everyone has had a near death experience.
If you would like to strengthen this truth, enjoy True Refuge, a podcast with Tara Brach, and learn a process of self-compassion she gives the acronym RAIN:
Recognize what you are feeling Allow (give your consent to) the experience of unease and discomfort Investigate your underlying beliefs and inquire into what you need Non-identification with the story of the “small self” that is failing at this or that, and a return to open, loving presence
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