By Debra Basham, on July 19, 2016
Out for my bike ride this morning, I just had to stop to search for it. That feeling was so urgent, I stopped at the top of a hill, under a tree, and put in “Brugh Joy release the need to.”
A blog post with the reference to the three injunctions came up.
From the blog:
In the third chapter of the book, Brugh describes a cosmic experience of a woman who came to talk with him about her challenges in life. A few months earlier, she had been walking along a beach, saw an iridescent light, and heard a booming voice deliver three injunctions. She thought she was going mad. The voice said, slowly and repetitively, “‘There are three injunctions for you. Pay attention to them. Make no comparisons; make no comparisons. Make no judgments; make no judgments. Delete your need to understand; delete your need to understand.'” (p. 59)
Make no comparisons. Make no judgments. Delete your need to understand.
No wonder my soul wanted me to remember the three injunctions!
This is the heading on the home page of that blog:
OMG!
Diagnosed with gallbladder cancer?
OMG!
A rare and aggressive form of cancer with a poor prognosis?
OMG!
Information hard to find?
OMG!
Physical and emotional implications?
OMG!
Exploring the spiritual implications of receiving a life threatening diagnosis?
OMG!
Yesterday morning I underwent a CT scan of my gallbladder because of a notation about an 8mm nodule on my gallbladder in the records the CT scan I had done in 2012, prior to having a hysterectomy to remove an abdominal mass. I just found out about the CT notation in the records last week, related to an on-going application for a life insurance policy.
Today, I am feeling anxiety about the test results.
Now home from my ride, I open today’s Loving Reminder from Betty Lue:
The fear or anxiety we feel tells me that something is not quite “right” about what we believe.
The peace and calm we feel tells me that I am “on purpose” and expressing what I want to believe.
The guilt we have about being separate from the highest Good, is often the anxiety we feel.
Intentionally receiving all the abundance of love as I wait….
P.S. This evening I received the CT results – nothing to worry about!
May all beings come to the end of suffering….
By Debra Basham, on July 12, 2016 Two days after my Insight’s Article was published in the Herald Palladium (See “Unthinkable”), violence shattered our usually serene hometown, Saint Joseph, Michigan. This concert was held overlooking the bluff, less than a block away from the Berrien County Courthouse where two bailiffs died yesterday. Our community does not suffer alone. Dallas. St. Louis. Sandy Hook. How do we make sense of such violence?
This morning I listened to a TED talk by David Steindle-Rast, the Catholic Benedictine monk who founded Gratefulness.org. Today is his 90th birthday and the 19th anniversary of my ordination as a Minister of Reunion.
Brother David’s words words echo the thoughts in my own heart: “If you are grateful, you are not fearful, and if you are not fearful, you are not violent.”
By Debra Basham, on July 5, 2016
Listening to an audio of Abraham-Hicks, I was shaking my head at the guy’s question about where his inner being has gone when he is not in alignment with it.
Patiently, Abraham responded that was like asking when you have your radio tuned to 89.5 where does the signal for 101 go. It goes nowhere. It is there, constantly broadcasting, waiting for you to tune in.
As I continue to navigate the waters of well-being along this path sprinkled with insurance, pharmaceuticals, meditation, yoga, etc., I could ask the same thing.
I have successfully passed the hurdle of the medical records regarding the postsurgical aFib event by having a normal sinus rhythm on Friday’s EKG.
Where had my peace of mind, my trust in the Universe, my love of life gone when I slipped into fear so very near the cliff of sheer terror? This round is because when I had the CT scan in 2012, the results reported a nodule on my gall bladder.
I now am scheduled for another CT scan on Monday, July 18, 2016.
When I was in yoga class today, I could not catch a whiff of that fear pattern I am clearing karma around. I am so grateful for that. At least I know peace is possible.
I appreciate the Nurse Practitioner, Brandi Smith, listening to me, offering encouragement, making suggestions. I especially appreciate her patience with me when my inner guidance does not lead me to do everything she suggests.
In the midst of all of this emotion about my health, a friend sent a blog post by a woman adjusting to having her first born grandson move away. I now have a lump in my throat as big as the state of Texas reading It’s Summer, the Season for Grandparents.
Oh, my… my own first-born grandson is anticipating a move to North Carolina.
This day, a mother just a few blocks from here is cleaning out the home of her only daughter, who was shot and killed by her husband as their children slept in their home.
Another mother has just gone through the trial of the man who killed her son.
A lot is happening. I am noticing when my thinking is creating tension. I can be kinder to myself than that.
Thank goodness for yoga.
 This morning, I read, “The biggest disease of the mind is over-thinking, especially too much thinking about others. Thinking too much is like eating too much. The heaviness makes it impossible to remain light and flexible.”
Asking friends, guides, angels, readers to help us tune in.
May all beings come to the end of suffering….
By Debra Basham, on June 26, 2016
The idea of dreams coming true has been very much on my mind and in my heart the past few weeks as we enjoy the amazing blessing of our new office suites here in St Joseph, Michigan. See my previous post: Welcome Home.
Yesterday afternoon, I had a wonderful girls night out with my sister, Janis. We were guests of our friend and colleague, Jana Serbenski, at the Paw Paw Michigan Young American Summer Camp show.
I was moved to tears by many features of the event: a special time for my sister and me (we both shaved our legs for it), the talented and enthusiastic performance by the Young Americans, and the equally talented and doubly enthusiastic performance with the 200 campers ranging in ages from 8-18.
If you are not familiar with Young Americans, check out the information about them online. They are an amazing organization that promotes a better world through music and dance. Be sure to read about their educational mission.
That cast of forty young adults made every single child believe he or she can perform! Most remarkable is that they did this in just four days. These kids’ lives are transformed.
The performance was inspiring, delightful, and it has a positive financial impact as well: At the end of the show, Paw Paw High School Performing Arts was presented with a check for over $11,000. In the five years since Jana held the first camp, over $80,000 has come back to their school. So much costs, but this event pays. Amazing….
Jana was a Young American. She had the dream to make this happen in her community. It was a worthy dream. Her dream offered benefits to everyone involved. The fruition of that dream took teamwork, but it was fun, and this is only the beginning.
Those same elements are woven into our new space at 815 Main Street Suites. No wonder I was so emotional through so much of the evening.
As I was congratulating Jana, she said, “Every school district should have a Young American Summer Camp.” I agree wholeheartedly. Jana is dreaming again, and I can see that dream coming true.
This is a magical time of our lives. Take some time to open up to what you can dream into our world. Dreams really do come true.
By Debra Basham, on June 19, 2016 My last blog post (Walking Our Talk, June 5, 2016), ended with the quotation, “Whether we realize it or not, our paths are being guided.”
5 days after we received notification of our need to vacate the office space I had shared with my sister, Janis, and brother-in-law, Larry, we had agreed to lease a beautiful new office space at 815 Main Street. Thirteen days later, my move had been completed.
How did our finding the perfect space happen almost instantaneously?
As friends stopped in to bring their blessings of energy and support, we all recognized the deepest truth: Our hearts had felt this space for years.
More than one person teared up walking through the rooms, and feeling the sacred sense of home. (Kathy Zerler admires the energy quilt in the waiting room.)
We have already been blessed by our first Saturday morning yoga class in the lighted room. It has a very special energy—a result of each of us having realized the importance of nurturing our own inner beings. I remember Dr. Betty Lue Lieber saying it this way, “Our service must also serve us.”
We hope many are blessed by this wonderful new space. It is significant, just knowing it is here. And when you come for massage therapy, energy balancing, Healing Touch, to read or write or to just be, we know you will be filled with awe and gratitude for how our paths are being guided, even at those times when it feels like loss.
We certainly are…
By Debra Basham, on June 5, 2016 “Whether we realize it or not, our paths are being guided.”
This quotation was included in one of those email “thought for the day” messages.
We grew up hearing, “Do as I say, not as I do.” Instinctively, we understood the flaw in that philosophy, yet taking to heart the truth that we teach what we are is not always first in our minds. At times, however, we do recognize we are invited to walk our talk with greater integrity than ever before.
As my colleague and friend just said, as healers we are called to not add more pain or distress or fear to the world. If you have not seen my June 2016 Beyond Mastery article, I invite you to read The Truth About Healing so you will know the rest of the story.
I don’t usually attend Thursday’s Gentle Yoga class, but this week I had a very strong sense I needed to be there. In the meditation group following yoga, a class member shared a remarkable experience. In a hurry to meet someone—she purposely avoided engaging with a stranger who was coming in to the church just as she was leaving. Details will be shared later in a Sacred Story, but the point is she received an intuition she was to go tell that man God wanted him to become a priest.
In the way “Providence” perfectly provides, she almost instantaneously received confirmation the man had come to that church solely to pray, seeking discernment about that very question!
I also told the meditation group about a colleague who was recently desperately desiring to have acupuncture for her hospitalized husband—another Sacred Story to be published—and within hours of stating her desire out loud, what he needed was provided (with great results!).
Shortly after I arrived home, I got a call from my sister that our landlord had just told her we have to move out of our offices by the end of the month! Given the circumstances, it would be understandable to feel frustrated, irritated, and even downright angry.
However, perhaps it is time for us to walk our talk. We can move past the habitual emotional reactions and affirm the truth, “Whether we realize it or not, our paths are being guided.”
By Debra Basham, on May 23, 2016 
Mark Twain’s words certainly are fitting for the 2016 Stewart’s Creek High School commencement program, at least for my granddaughter. Courtney, my youngest grandchild (and only granddaughter) decided near the end of school last year she did not enjoy high school and was going to do whatever it took to be able to skip her junior year and graduate an entire year early.
She enrolled in an online class to see if she liked that method of learning. She did not. So she went to school five days a week—all summer long. She made it.
This past week was a whirlwind for her as she was busy taking exams, going to graduation rehearsal, attending “praise band” practice, running errands, and hanging out with friends. She was even late for her own party because her boss forgot to give her off. She was a little late, but she made it.
That is the most important thing, isn’t it… She made it.
Courtney was ready to enter the world about a month before her actual birth date, but the new house was not ready. Her mom said to her (in the womb), “Momma needs you to give me a few more weeks so I can get your room ready for you.” She made it.
Courtney was about nine years old when her mom was divorced. Every week she moved back and forth, essentially living out of a suitcase. It was not easy, but she waited until she could drive to live with her mom full-time. She made it.
On more than one occasion, at school Courtney experienced the most painful kind of challenge: immaturity, unkindness, disrespect, and outright cruelty. She made it.
On graduation day, she sang with the praise band and church including a solo. We were all packed like sardines into that pew. Most of us (including Courtney!) had more than one tear as she sang Laura Story’s song, Blessings:
We pray for blessings, we pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
And all the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love is way too much to give us lesser things
‘Cause what if your blessings come through rain drops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise
We pray for wisdom, Your voice to hear
We cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt your goodness, we doubt your love
As if every promise from Your word is not enough
And all the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we’d have faith to believe
‘Cause what if your blessings come through rain drops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise
When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win
We know that pain reminds this heart
That this is not,
This is not our home
It’s not our home
‘Cause what if your blessings come through rain drops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You’re near
What if my greatest disappointments or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy
What if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are your mercies in disguise
Courtney knows more than many seventeen-year-olds about blessings that come through rain drops, healing through tears, sleepless nights, and mercies in disguise…
It is a blessing that we can all look back and say to her, “YOU MADE IT.”
So very proud of you, Courtney. Gampie and I love you to the moon and back!
By Debra Basham, on May 10, 2016
“During times of crisis, like today, we can evolve within our generation.”
~ Alberto Villoldo, Ph.D.
As I write this I am listening to Medical anthropologist Alberto Villoldo, Ph.D., share Ancient Ways to Ultimate Wellness, part of the Hay House World Summit 2016. It is very significant to me right now given I have been in a significant healing crisis for about ten days now.
Villoldo is talking about his own healing journey, sharing how you can turn on the healing energy within your body and totally build a new body. We certainly are willing to do that, aren’t we….
My current healing journey was kick-started by my participating in Listen to Your Mother (See Healing Salve of Storytelling – Listen to Your Mother) as I told the story of my mother’s being diagnosed with syphilis at the same time she discovered she was pregnant for me. I will let you know when “Loved and Wanted” is available on YouTube.
This crisis is bringing me back to my roots: energy medicine and the healing of ritual….
Hearing Villoldo talks about the importance of healing our intestinal flora to balance the emotions before doing ritual to release them from the brain. Emotions are just programmed responses from the past.The old brain is the ritual brain.You may want to check out One Spirit Medicine. He suggests breathing painful emotions into toothpicks, then burning the toothpick, leaving us with feelings that move easily through our energy field.
Today I found this journal entry from March 19, 2015. It is from Gratefulness.org:
“If I had my life to live over again, I would ask that not a thing be changed, but that my eyes be opened wider.” ~ Jules Renard
I plan to share details about my own healing journey in the June Beyond Mastery newsletter. You can sign up now to receive the newsletter automatically, if you aren’t already.
Meanwhile, here is a closing quotation from today’s Angelic Messenger Card # 36 Fulfillment:
When the rational parts of your mind become too dominant, your entire focus stays trained on your own needs and accomplishments. You find every activity in your life becoming stressful, competitive, and unfulfilling. This is because you believe that you are responsible for, or being required to change everything that you come in contact with to fit your own needs and requirements. Try engaging in a conversation without judging what is said, only enjoying what takes place. See how long you can keep your attention on anything other than your own reactions and responses. Lasting fulfillment comes from accepting other living things and enjoying their offerings without the need to change or alter them. [Meredith L. Young-Sowers]
By Debra Basham, on April 29, 2016
The four universal healing salves.
In many shamanic societies, if you came to a shaman or medicine person complaining of being disheartened,
dispirited, or depressed, they would ask one of four questions.
When did you stop dancing?
When did you stop singing?
When did you stop being enchanted by stories?
When did you stop finding comfort in the sweet territory of silence?
Where we have stopped dancing, singing, being enchanted by stories, or finding comfort in silence is where we have experienced the loss of soul.
Dancing, singing, storytelling, and silence are the four universal healing salves.
~ The Four-Fold Way: Walking the Paths of the Warrior, Healer, Teacher and Visionary by Angeles Arrien
Today is a day that will go down in history. At 7:00 pm, the cast of 2016 Listen to Your Mother Southwest Michigan will take to the stage. LTYM is an amazing event, conjured up in the creative genius of Ann Imig, a Stay-At-Home Humorist.
(from the website) Listen to Your Mother is features live readings by local writers on the beauty, the beast, and the barely-rested of motherhood, in staged community shows celebrating Mother’s Day. All shows are recorded and shared on our LTYMShow YouTube channel, boasting a catalog of nearly 1500 diverse stories of motherhood (daughter/son/father/Grandparent, etc).
In 2016, LTYM is happening in 41 cities in North America! Please go to the website to find nearest show, and if one is not close enough, get a plan and bring it to your community next year! Why? Because LTYM changes lives…
These are the 12 absolutely amazing women and one man who make up the Southwest Michigan 2016 cast.
Our stories may well make you cry, cause you to belly laugh, and change your heart forever. Why? Because the sacred art of storytelling is healing…
I found this amazing line in a blog about ancient theater, and I could not have said it better: “To the ancient Greeks, the theatre was a divine place of transformation. It was a place of ritual, of entertainment, and of medicine, for it had the power to bring about an emotional catharsis of joy, sorrow, rage, and awe.”
You will be able to see all of the stories from each of the venues on YouTube later this year. You might enjoy a sneak preview of some of what happens inside cast members, as well as behind the scenes.
I had not known how affected I would be. You might not know you would cry when hearing of a child’s having had 20 (this is not a typo) foster mothers before coming of age. You might be surprised how hearing about the lives of perfect strangers touches you so deeply.
I wrestled with disappointment when many I love were unable to be here for the live show.
I faced the inner demon of the “Imposter” comparing my story to others and fearing mine fell short.
Just when I assumed I had no SHOW TIME nerves, my quivering legs gave me away.
A friend stopped to pick up tickets a bit ago. She asked what the goal of the show is. Obviously, giving a voice to writers is part of it. And bringing together a community. But something bigger takes place as we remember our shared humanity.
Something about LTYM speaks to a hungry space within each of us that is only open for meaning. Telling our stories is one of the four healing salves. Thankfully, Listen to Your Mother offers our world again the sacred art of storytelling so rich in our roots.
By Debra Basham, on April 18, 2016 I brought my 2015 Blessing Jar with me today, and poured its contents out on the floor at my feet. I sit in the grape-vine rocking chair looking out at the ancient oak tree as I read a few: grateful for a working furnace and a comfortable home; grateful for a good nights sleep; grateful for enjoying watching a favorite TV show.
I meditate for a while before slipping comfortably into napping, still sitting in my rocker. I sip a cup of tea upon waking and then decide to go out and enjoy the beautiful spring day.
Walking out to the labyrinth, I recall having been told in 1988 I had osteoarthritis and needed a hip replacement. Fortunately, they did not do that surgery because I was deemed too young….
I feel so fortunate I am able to walk.
Aware that I’ve been coming to Still Waters for over 20 years, I feel profound gratitude to and for Delcy and Tom Kuhlman for creating and maintaining this space.
Walking the labyrinth, I appreciate just being where I am, putting my feet on the earth in front of me.
I momentarily ponder the person I was those many years ago when I first came here before settling back in to being present on the path.
Loving the beyond-their-peak-but-still-fragrant daffodils, I think of a woman I introduced to Still Waters who had come and helped plant some of these many bulbs. I wish her blessings on her path.
For just an instant, I feel nostalgia about not keeping a paper-and-pen journal at this time in my life.
I hear hawk in the woods nearby. Crow caws. Butterfly and bee are my companions among the blooms in their phases of letting go. Below the hill, by the lake, Mr. and Mrs. Canadian Goose seem to be planning a family.
I bend to pick up a small branch in the middle of my path. It is perfectly the shape of a dowsing rod.
I enjoy that there are no choices I must make of which way to go here in the labyrinth. Day-to-day life is filled with many crossroads, and we must choose.
A favorite poem, The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost, comes to mind:
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
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