Forgiveness

               Often times when we speak of forgiveness our minds drift to those who have done us unrepeatable harm.  But to forgive is not only for those who have caused us the most wrong.  Forgiveness should also be practiced when it comes to the small things as well.  

            Yesterday a man intentionally pulled out in front of my path on the roadway.  To add further insult, the man who pulled out in front of me was in the passing lane and moving slower than the vehicles in the right lane.  I was angry.

            I pulled into the right lane to pass him.  As I did I noticed that his truck belonged to the city and had a vehicle registration number that I made my wife record as we passed.  “I’m going to call the city on him first thing Monday morning and report his ass!” I said. 

            The next morning I noticed the small piece of paper with the trucks I.D. sitting upon the kitchen table.  I found myself questioning the process of making a complaint.  “Do I really want to take the time to call the city and file a complaint?”

            “Yes, someone needs to teach that man a lesson!  Maybe next time he’ll think twice before he pulls out in front of traffic like that again.”

            But it’s the morning; a new day, and I begin everyday in prayer.  It’s that twenty minute meditation where I rediscover the art of forgiveness.

 

            Forgiveness is a release of resentment.  No matter how great or little the resentment, it still corrupts the spirit and that will eventually lead to physical ailments. 

 

            It’s not a question of right or wrong, it is only what it is.  “Oh, a man pulled out in front of me, and I slowed down.”  End of story.  Only when I allow my ego to become involved does anger become a part of the narrative.  Ego is choice; therefore I chose anger.  

            I don’t want to be anger.  I want to be love, so I choose again, and this time I choose to forgive.  That little piece of paper that was sitting on the kitchen table can be found in the trash can now.

For The Love of Water

            I love the water.  I don’t know of anyone or any other creature on this earth that does not love the water.  My cat has even jumped into my swimming pool before, so don’t give me any lip.  I love the water so much, that my love brought me here to Pensacola, Florida.

            I never imagined living along the Red Neck Rivera would provide such an education as I have obtained in the past seventeen years, but it has been a magical journey indeed.  

            In 2010, the Deepwater Horizon blew up and splashed my white crystal beach with black oil and tar.  I became so depressed and angry.  It still brings tears to my eyes when I think back upon that moment in time.

            But I was blessed beyond imagination, for I had met this lady who was so wise that she had the face of an eagle.  She shared with me the writings of Masaru Emoto, who basically proved that water has memory.   It just hasn’t found a human vase to hold it yet. 

            Different parts of the human body hold more water than other parts, but essentially the human body is roughly 90% water.  What Emoto’s experiments showed was that when good words such as love, forgiveness, and peace were introduced to the water, it would crystallize into these lovely clear shapes.  But when negative words such as hate, anger and even the name Hitler were introduced, the water became cloudy and distorted when it crystallized.  And if water in a container was affected in such a manner, imagine the cause and effect on a human being.

            And this ladies and gentlemen is how I learned to save my world.  In this photo you will see a container of water; they are the same; same container, same water.  On the left is, unfortunately, the water I collected on Good Friday; it doesn’t look well at all.  The surf was really kicking that day.  The picture on the right is what it looks like three months later, after I shook it up in an attempt to duplicate the water as the day I found it.   Except, I have been meditating and praying over the water for the past three months.  Notice the difference?

                      

           I can see quite a difference in the two photos.  And I didn’t spend any great amount of time on it.  I usually focus on the water for a minute after my morning prayers (for three months in this instance).   I taped positive words to the jar, as if the water is reading them.  Then I dress her up with some amethyst beads and a really pretty shell I came across on the west coast, and even a feather I found on the beach the day I collected the water.  And the day I return the water to the Gulf of Mexico, I will meditate upon it again.  I was taught to return the water on a full moon, which is usually when I collect my water as well.  The idea is that the water spreads the love you have given it.

            Just like people.  You can spread love (Jesus Seeds) or spread your anger (Demon Seeds).  But whichever you choose to sow your garden with know that that will be your return.   I spread the love to the Gulf of Mexico on that angry Good Friday when I collected the water I have today.

            I even go as far now as to speak to the water when I’m in the shower.  I greet it every morning with love.  It’s so easy to feel good when the water hits your body, yes?  I feel its healing impact my body as soon as it I step into it.  The water will take the stiffness right out of my shoulders and neck.  So I always thank the water before I step out.  I give it kisses and say, “Spread the love my friend.” 

            But really, I believe water is God.  And in that instance you could say we have really fucked God up bad.   Still, when you begin speaking to the water on the daily, you begin to notice just how special that morning shower is.  It’s like standing naked before the Creator every morning and allowing his/her light to shine down upon you!  It truly lifts the spirit.

When Jesus turned water into wine, he was glorifying God.   Glory to be to Water!

 

Video of the Water I was just telling you about

The Power of the Mind

A week ago Friday I thought my head was going to explode.  It was an excruciating pain at the left rear base of my head and neck.  My first thought was great, what did I do to cause this?   I could only assume it was the stress of knowing my brother was in the hospital fighting for his life again.

Saturday came and I found myself sitting in the shade on the beach.  The wind was coming in from the South and I visualized the stress from the past week blowing away in the wind.  My headache ceased for the moment, but came back strong on the drive home.

Sunday came and the headache was just as irritating.  IB prophen would only dull the pain, but it wouldn’t rid me of the headache completely.  I began to consider the possibility that the pain was that of my brother.  After all, his brain tumor is located on the left (frontal) part of his head.  I could certainly see where maybe the swelling in his brain could be causing pain at his brain stem too.  Especially since his left brain herniated into the right side of his brain.  

And I have been known to pick up on other people’s pain and habits before.  When I first moved to Florida, I began grinding my teeth and felt this tightness in my jaw at night.   It turned out that my friend Connie, who I have known since 1987, and who lived in Pensacola before I arrived, grinds her teeth at night.   As soon as she told me that, the jaw grinding stopped.  

Monday and my  headache is still there and I’m getting tired of taking IB prophen.  And this headache is really getting on my last nerve now.  I’ve tried everything to cut the psychic connection between my brother and me, but nothing worked.  So I phoned the chiropractor and made an appointment for Tuesday.

By Tuesday evening, David is squeezing hands and opens his eyes now and then.  The doctors say its reflex.  But what if the doctors are wrong?  It wouldn’t be the first time.

 So I take that giant leap and I tell his mom that I think maybe David is experiencing pain at the left neck and at the base of his skull.  David’s mom tells me that David has been having spasms at his left arm and hand and that they quit giving David fenytenal two days ago, to help him gain consciences, since he hasn’t woken up.

Still, after Tuesday’s chiropractor appointment, the pain came back just as loud as before.  So this time I broke out my Louise Hay book on mental causes for physical illness and the metaphysical way to overcome them.  

For instance, Louise says neck pain is the side effect of refusing to see other sides of a question; stubbornness and inflexibility.  Or as I like to say, “Closed minded.”  

When Tuesday night arrived and bedtime came around, I changed my prayer for David from, “Please take away his suffering and help him pass away with grace,” to “Help my brother heal and recover from this ordeal.”

And when Wednesday morning arrived, I prayed again.  This time I asked in the name of our Lord Jesus, “Help my brother recover from this awful nightmare.”

By noon David’s mom text me that David woke up, and he’s responding to commands.  He has a long way to go.  He isn’t talking or moving his arms, and I know he can’t walk.  He hasn’t walked on his own for about a year now I guess.    But talk about a miracle!  This dude’s blowing my mind!   

Louise be blowing my mind too.  I changed my thinking and the way I prayed, and when Thursday came the headache was gone.  After supper, when I began to relax for the evening, my shoulder and neck became a little stiff, but no headache.  

I decided to keep my Friday morning chiropractor appointment.  After all, there apparently was still some physical healing needed.  I shared my little story with my doctor, but she didn’t share in my perspective.  And you might not either.  But you’ll never know if you never try.   Believing is seeing for yourself.

If you’re interested, Louise Hay’s book is called, “Heal Your Body.”  I paid $12.99 for a copy on amazon.com.  Louise will show you how to heal the mind; you’ll still need to see your doctor to heal the physical.   

Science has proven that the mind has power over the body.  If you keep healing and falling to bad health again, you most certainly want to consider changing the way you the think.  

A Kiss From A Thousand Ancestors

I come from a small town in Central Ohio.  I don’t visit much.  It can be somewhat depressing, since it’s decline in the 80’s.  But my roots begin there.

The speed limit throughout the entire town is 35 miles per hour; sometimes 25.  Considering the small size of the city, it’s a wonder why anyone would drive a car.  It seems more fitting to ride a bicycle or maybe a scooter.  

The roads are full of holes from the winter freeze and lost dreams of decay stand abandoned to remind all of what was to be.   And my friends are just as lost and rejected as the town itself.  There is no growth, just a slow death of intoxication and coffin nails hidden behind the smoke.  Drugs, dogs and death, said my mom.  

I love my family.  I use to dream that one day I would return home and save the town.  But when I visit, I never cry when I leave.  I make tracks.  Life is much more attractive from a facebook perspective of pretty holiday photos of brightly lit colors; a lot of Sloopy red.  And that’s how I hang that hat.

But when a love one tugs at those roots that connect my heart to my feet, I follow the trail I made and I make my way back.   And that’s just what happened, when my brother David went into a coma, and the doctors declared there was nothing more that they could do for him.  

David is my half brother; my dad’s son.  He’s eleven years younger than I, and he has had a cyst on his brain for sixteen years now.  Statistically, he should have died six years ago.  

This past year has been very difficult for David.  He has had at least three brain surgeries, due to new cyst/tumors; he’s been treated for prostate cancer and liver cancer; he’s had kidney problems; he broke his hip due to falling at home, and while he was in Intensive Care at O.S.U. Medical, he fell out of his bed and broke his other hip, within days of the first break; and he has stroked out two or three times now - all within a year.

But, David blew the doctors away.  David cheated death, and I blazed my way back to Ohio grateful to see a living being and not a corpse in a box.  

A little family history – David doesn’t share my last name, even though by all rights, he should, but our father, for personal reasons, would have nothing to do with David, other than paying child support.   

When David was a child, he skipped school and walked to our dad’s shop just to see him.  I don’t think it went over well from what David had told me.  To this day, I can’t even begin to imagine my dad denying me, in front of the same employees where he prided me as the one most like him; the thought alone shatters my heart.

Although I had very limited contact with David, when he was a child, we became close after dad passed away.  I was just as much of an outcast as David, especially after my father’s passing.  

For example, my other two siblings have met David, but they have never pursued a relationship with him.  His name most likely wouldn’t be spoken and contact would have never been made, if it wasn’t for me.  I make a point of keeping them abreast of David’s condition, because David is family too, and I’m not going to allow them to erase his existence, as if he had never happened.  

My brother is not an ugly mistake that should be hidden.

Dad on the Left - David on the Right

Dad actually tried to contact David a month before he passed away.  He left David a message, referring to his self as “dad.”  But as you can imagine, David was in no hurry to return the phone call, and time ran out sooner than he thought.  That was in 1996.

Within the six years after David and I reconnected, I had introduced him to cousins and aunts that we shared through our father.  But then I moved to Florida, and shortly afterwards, David was diagnosed with a brain tumor.  Because of his condition, David no longer traveled.  Between radiation, chemo, and all the other stuff that goes along with being a cancer patient, he stayed in Ohio to be close to his doctors.

So I’m excited.  I haven’t seen David in quite awhile.  It’s a twelve hour drive from Pensacola to Columbus, and I’ll do it in a day.  It is always breathtaking awe when I twist and roll down the hills of Kentucky on I-71 Northbound and get first sight of Cincinnati.  Ah, heavy sigh of relief; Buckeye Nation at last!

As soon as my tires hit the bridge that crosses the Ohio River, my radio rocks AC/DC’s, “Back in Black.”  A tear came to my eye, and I thank the ancestors for their company on this journey.  Then a flock of birds flew over the car as they came towards me, from right to left; too many to count.   It was a really cool moment to say the least.   “A thousand ancestors,” I said to myself.  Then the song, Jamie’s Cryin’ (by Van Halen) confirmed and sealed the moment to be shared later.

And when I was finally at my bothers side, and I reached down to kiss him on the forehead, I felt those same ancestors surge through my feet upward, and from my lips they kissed David with me.  

The second day I seen David, he looked much better and we actually laughed as we visited.

It has been six weeks since my trip to Ohio, and David has been in the hospital twice since then.  On May 7^th, we were told that the left side of David’s brain herniated into the right side.  The David I knew is gone.  It has been three days, and he is unresponsive.    

Today, as I sit on my back porch, a small feather falls from the sky, from right to left, and I am reminded, “A thousand ancestors.”   Two cardinals dance and play along the fence line as I imagine the joy of such a homecoming.   I can think of no one more deserving.  What was lost on Earth, will found in the next life. 

It has been such a blessing and an honor to call David my brother.   Much love brother.

FORGIVNESS AFFIRMATIONS by Louise Hay

 “You have a choice.  You can choose to stay stuck and bitter, or do yourself a favor by willingly forgiving the past and let it go.  And then move on to create a joyous fulfilling life.  You have the freedom to make your life anything you want it to be, because you have freedom of choice.” – Louise Hay

Daily affirmations are short positive declarations intended to change or affirm a belief.    Repeat an affirmation often and eventually the subconscious mind will accept that affirmation as truth.  Write affirmation(s) out on little post it notes and stick them to the mirror.  Look yourself in the eye and repeat them.

The door to my heart opens inwards.

I move through forgiveness to love.

As I change my thoughts, the world around me changes.

The past is over, so it has no power now.

The thoughts of this moment create my future.

It is no fun being a victim; I refuse to be helpless anymore.

I claim my own power.

I give myself the gift of freedom from the past and move with joy into the now.

There is no problem too big or too small that it cannot be solved with love.

I am ready to be healed, I am willing to forgive, and all is well.

I know that old negative patterns no longer limit me; I let them go with ease.

As I forgive myself, it becomes easier to forgive others.

I forgive myself for not being perfect; I am living the very best way I know how.

It is now safe for me to release all my childhood traumas and move into love.

I forgiver everyone in my past for all perceived wrongs; I release them with love.

All of the changes in life that lie before me are positive ones, and I am safe.

A White Seashell Healing Circle

From the book, “Dancing With The Wheel – The Medicine Wheel Workbook,” by Sun Bear, Wabun Wind, and Crysalis Mlilligan (1991)


What you need:  Smudge materials, enough white shells to make a circle, (notebook, pen or tape recorder optional).


Estimated time:  One hour.

1.      After smudging an area, make a circle of white seashells large enough to lie in.  Lie down in the circle, inviting in the healing, cleansing powers of the ocean, water elements, and the powers of white that are purity, enlightenment, perfection, balance, peace, tranquility, and evolution.

2.      Allow yourself to doze off.  Be aware of your dreams. They can bring a message to you.

3.      After twenty minutes, or when it feels appropriate to you, slowly get up and dismantle the circle with a prayer of thanks to the different elements that were there for you.  You can do this exercise at the ocean with the additional healing elements of wind and the sound of the rolling waves.

4.      Write or record your impressions.

Raven Steals The Light - The Jesus & Mary Story

            Cherokee DNA when tested has historically tested as Middle Eastern and/or North African.  It is said that the Cherokee are considered one of the “Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.” In other words, the Cherokee are more Jewish than your typical American Jew.[1]  So would it be so unbelievable to find similarities between Native American tales and the stories we find in the Bible?

            For example, the story of “Raven Steals The Light.”  There are a few different versions of this story throughout Native America.  But this particular story I am sharing with you originates in Alaska, where darkness reigns from November through late January, depending on where you live within the state.

Raven Steals The Light

There once lived a very powerful and rich chief who had a beautiful young daughter. Somehow, the chief got the sun and the moon and he hung them up in his house. Because he had the sun and the moon, it became dark everywhere.

Because of the darkness, the people could not hunt or fish. When they went out to find wood to burn in their fires, they had to crawl around in the forest feeling with their hands until they found something which might be wood. Then they would bite it to make certain that it was indeed firewood.

Raven learned that the great chief had taken the sun and moon, so he went to his house to take it back. He asked the chief if he would return the sun and moon, but he would not. So the smart black bird devised a plan.

He saw how the chief's daughter went to a small stream to get water every morning, so he hid near there and waited for her to return. When he saw her coming down the trail, he turned himself into a fingerling, a tiny fish, and jumped into the water. After the girl arrived, she filled a bucket with water. Then she dipped her drinking cup into the stream and Raven, disguised as a fingerling, quickly swam into it. She did not see Raven and drank the water.

Inside her body, Raven turned into a baby and so the girl became pregnant. After a short time the daughter gave birth to a baby boy which was really Raven. The baby grew fast and was soon a young boy. The grandfather was very fond of his grandson and would do anything for him. One day the boy began crying for something.

The chief asked him, "What do you want, grandson?"

The boy pointed to the sun and moon hanging from the ceiling. The chief decided to let him play with them if it would make him stop crying. So the boy took them outside and played with them for a while, but then he threw them high into the air. When the old chief ran out to see what had happened, Raven became himself again and flew away. Since that time there has been light.

Do you see the similarities between this story and the Jesus and Mary narrative?

The four Gospels begin with birth/baptism/water. Jesus was born in the Age of Pisces (the two fish) to the Virgin Mary. The Chief’s daughter had a virgin birth. She didn’t get in the family way by having sex with a man.

In addition, the raven is referred to as a trickster; another word for trickster is magician. Jesus was a magician. He performed miracles.

Furthermore, to stop the suffering of man, God (the Chief) gave his only son (grandson) the light (knowledge) so the humans could see what was hidden in the dark.

Jesus was a teacher. He taught us all we need to survive and rise above this earthly existence; from the cradle to the grave. Jesus even goes as far as to tell us that we can do the same magic he has done. Because Jesus is not only the Sun of God, he’s the Son of Man.

John 14:12-14: “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father. And whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. I will do it.”

Jesus was not the only teacher among us. There are many – Buddha, Muhammad, White Buffalo Woman just to name a few. They all had the hearts of poets and like most poets they taught and inspire love.

You can call them just stories, but regardless of origin or religion they are very similar; just a different perspective of the same scenario.

One God, one people, and one Mother Earth. Peace out!

---

[1] https://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/cherokee-dna.htm