Years ago I worked in a department store that had a pretty large jewelry section. Every time there was a chain with knots (and there were always chains with knots) I was the one who was given the job of de-tangling. I became really good at it.
I am doing that right now as I am looking at the threads of events that have brought me here now.
Many more threads were raveling before the one on which I was riding my bike and noticed a garage sale with a double sink. I rode right on by. I did not need a double sink.
The following day the sink was by the side of the road with a sign on it: FREE.
The sign said it was a great sink, that they had just remodeled.
I rode my bike home and then drove my van back to get the sink. I thought it might be able to be cut in half. If not, I would just take it to our local Habit for Humanity ReStore where they sell donated home goods and use the funds to finance home builds.
The good news is the sink was able to be cut in half, and my neighbor said he wanted the other half. Woohoo!
So during the installation process, the removal of the old countertop and sink resulted in a snapped hose fitting, and a cracked water pipe under our mobile home. Not only did the bathroom floor get flooded, but the underneath of our mobile home is wet now too.
Have you been following my summer of mold????
My center of peace was shut as quickly and as tight as our water main….
I grabbed the only deck of cards handy on the counter in my office. Osho Transformational Tarot. The card I drew was #53-Play.
Play??? You’ve got to be kidding. How could that fit?
When I got to this line, my pulse began to slow. “The result of your activity is in the hands of the Divine, you simply do.”
Mind you, this is all unfolding right at this moment as my fingers are on the keyboard generating this post.
I thought the mold remediation mayhem had all been taken in stride, but the residual fear flared sky high with this plumbing predicament.
But the context of these words of advice in the Osho Tarot was unique: war.
War is the most serious affair. You cannot be playful about it, because lives are involved, millions of lives are involved—you cannot be playful.
And Krishna insists that even there you have to be playful.
You don’t think about what will happen in the end, you just be here and now. You just be a warrior, playing.
Don’t get worried about the result because the result is in the hands of the Divine.
And it is not even the point if the result is in the hands of the Divine or not—the point is that it should not be in your hands, you should not carry it. If you carry it then your life cannot become meditative.
I think I am going to make this my new mantra…. the result is in the hands of the Divine.
One morning I photographed an amazing web wet with the morning dew. Later that evening, I mentioned the web while at dinner with friends. My one friend grimaced, said she hated spiders, and since dinner was in the home of our mutual friend, who was also desirous for our dear friend’s fears to be gone, I launched into the process of doing a Fast Phobia Cure. The process ended with a significant statement by my friend, “I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to spend my evening feeling anxious. I want to enjoy our time together.”
“Nature’s Ways” is the name of my October Beyond Mastery Newsletter article, and it extols the skills of spiders as metaphor for life. I also have a previously post about spider’s and karma, so I won’t go into that now. But I have been reflecting this week on my desire to help my friend overcome the phobia of spiders.
Oops…. I made a mistake. I wanted something she did not want. It was not respectful to push. We often walk the tangled web of desiring for another something the other is not desirous of. The following morning, I wrote this poem:
Remembrance
Dew wet the grass
then the rains came
will the sun come again?
This dance of despair
familiar like an old pair of shoes
but far from pleasant!
One more time
I recall that you may not remember
the years of faithful tending.
Tending the garden
removing weeds of sorrow
so buds could grow again.
Pulling the deep roots
of delusion
exposing healthy bulbs below.
New sprouts of hopefulness
peeking out from the soil
rich, pungent, ready for life.
Once I was caught in the underbrush
too fearful to let go
yet not willing to open to the light.
Like a seed
fear must be buried
before reemerging transformed.
Perhaps I can remember
for you too
as new life comes into view.
09-03-2019
Tangled webs are woven of fear. My feelings of sadness hanging in the air were tangled webs. My feelings of remorse were more tangled webs. My mulling over and over thinking and wishing things could have or should have been different—tangled webs.
On June 17, 1999, I wrote An Ode to Letting Go.
An Ode to Letting Go
I will not look back at our time together and see it all as bad. I will have the courage to call it all good – our coming together and our coming apart. I will honor your memory by remembering the growth that our relationship inspired. I will not insult either of us by insisting that it could have, should have, or would have been different. It was as it was. I will use this experience to affirm the beliefs I wish to guide my life by; All things work together for good. You are free. I am free. Be with your life lightly as I am with my own. Take not from here a false belief that you or I are less than what you are: a child of the universe, whole, holy, and loveable. Be tender with yourself as you make this adjustment, just as you would be tender with a body part as it heals. Look into the mirror often and recall the truth – I once loved you deeply. Though the feelings have waned as the moon – your worthiness (as my own) has neither diminished nor dissipated. I will always honor your memory. I will always cherish your soul. Go in peace. Live, grow, heal, and continue on your journey. For this time of our being together has ended but the ties that bind our hearts in love continue – even as the love at the center of all of life continues to hold us and guide us and heal us. Amen.
I cannot even recall now what the 1999 trigger for this writing was, but today, I know that what I am letting go is the weaving of tangled webs….
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.
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