The Infirmary
The nuns “requested” it, and since they rule the roost (don’t tell them), the monastery built an infirmary. Not only that but we brought in the top care-givers we could find. You know the type: They don’t give you metaphysics, they give you understanding, comfort and hugs. They don’t give you advice, they bring you chicken soup or a blanket. How lucky are we to have found caregivers such as these!
May this room be a place of comfort, solace and joining. I liked what Laura-the-Toddler student said, when this page was being requested: “I wonder if challenges such as these (acute or chronic illness, hospice etc.) provide a wonderful opportunity for many to come together?” That sounds like the perfect purpose for every room in the monastery, including the infirmary.
Since it doesn’t have its own post, I would like to mention here that the monastery has a Vigil. It’s a room where you can go to light a candle, dedicate it to someone or something, whether in prayer or gratitude etc. It will stay lit for 48 hours and you can visit it during that time.
Please walk up these steps to light a candle in The Vigil.
October 12th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
WOW monk!! You have been as busy as a beaver this afternoon! The ‘Rooms of the Monastery’ part of the sidebar is spectacular!
Thank you, thank you, thank you for this wonderful place.
October 12th, 2009 at 9:17 pm
Thanks Lisa. :)
For anyone wanting to visit the Monastery Vigil without lighting a candle:
Simply click on the candle in the Rooms of the Monastery then click “begin”, then “continue”, then “enter”.
October 12th, 2009 at 9:36 pm
Thanks. This is nice!
October 12th, 2009 at 9:40 pm
Monk, what a beautiful gift. Thank you.
October 12th, 2009 at 9:41 pm
I like that there is a MARY in infirmary. Comforting.
October 12th, 2009 at 9:49 pm
The light in the monastery has become even more radiant and heart warming. Thank you Monk.
The picture reminds me of a quote from the Bible…… “He shall cover thee with his feather and under his wings shalt thou trust.” Psalms 91:4
October 12th, 2009 at 9:52 pm
and we should have laughter in the infirmary……..change that to his feathers…….
October 12th, 2009 at 10:38 pm
I just want to know what took you so long? Thank you for the chance for us all to heal even further.
October 13th, 2009 at 4:28 am
I like the name…The Infirmary.
Good choice Monk.
October 13th, 2009 at 8:23 am
I am still amazed. Like Nina’s post in “Rooms of the Monastery” I have tears of gratitude running down my face. I think some ugly stuff is being washed away also. Thank you Jamie thank you.
October 13th, 2009 at 3:13 pm
Thanks, Jamie … and I see another play on words in “Infirmary” …
Infirm = not firm = not form
October 13th, 2009 at 4:13 pm
{{BIG HUGS}} and smooches for everyone, and here’s some Kleenex…. me too. Tears are SO cleansing, aren’t they?
Love,
Deb
October 13th, 2009 at 4:14 pm
Pam…there are now three candles being lit for you in the Vigil…
October 13th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
Thank you Nina. Hugs and smooches.
October 13th, 2009 at 6:43 pm
Lighting my candle just now with thoughts of gratitude and Love was the perfect ending to the last few days~
Dear Monk, what can I say…except….
With Gratitude and Love for all of us in Oneness,
melody
October 13th, 2009 at 11:23 pm
Thanks, Monk, this is fabulous. This brings even more healing and depth to this already wonderful place.
October 13th, 2009 at 11:32 pm
Heh – heh – heh — this looks like 1 estimate, plus the miracle!!
Anything that gets done this quick seems to come of the miracle of one need, one intention, one answer.
love, katrina
October 14th, 2009 at 7:58 am
Thank you, Dear Jamie, for the Vigil
What a moving and loving experience to light a candle.
October 14th, 2009 at 9:57 am
I*m thinking that in the infirmary we might have a side-room for fun film and videos: since sickness is also just a mad idea, we can remember to laugh
October 14th, 2009 at 10:13 am
…. just discovered this poem and its healing tenderness…so I thought of bringing it to this healing place as an offering for all those monklings who visit and to our Monk and Birthday Bonnie…my love and gratitude.
Love After Love by Derek Walcott
The time will come
when, with elation
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror
and each will smile at the other’s welcome,
and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you
all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,
the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.
October 14th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
Thank you Jamie, God bless you.
October 14th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
Ninjanun, that is just beautiful. Very touching, thank you. Debbi
October 14th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
Ninjanun: thank you very much. Really beautiful.
October 14th, 2009 at 4:07 pm
I have spent the last five years feeling guilty that I was sick, and particularly guilty that I took medicine. I mean, after all, if I was forgiving properly, I wouldn’t need magic (a bad word), would I? I must be failing at practicing the Course. Learning to see this differently has been a major benefit for me of Monk’s teaching here at the Monastery.
Particularly Gentleness. I have begun to say to myself when I take my medicine, “I don’t need this, my mind could heal me now, but I am going to be gentle with myself and take this medicine as long as I believe I need it. I choose to be kind to myself.” I find out that breathing itself is magic. Eating is magic, sleeping, etc. Time to start being gentle with all of my magic needs. I’m going to have them as long as I think I’m a body, and if I don’t start forgiving this at some time, I will be a body for a lot longer than necessary.
My whole experience of taking the medicine has now changed. I no longer feel that horrible pang of guilt “YOU ARE BAD” when I take it. I am gentle with myself. It is the ego that tells me I don’t practice forgiveness properly by taking medicine. Shoot, condemning myself for needing medicine was the perfect ego setup!! I’m not even being “a body” properly!!
I have experienced needing less meds now, and am a little stronger. So much so that my body aches with the additional movement I am doing. It feels so great to be able to do my dishes and have enough breath!! I believe these changes come from being more gentle with myself, allowing my fear, being as good to myself as I would another… in essence, taking my medicine while holding Jesus’ hand, instead of the ego’s. (Previously, I didn’t allow the subject to come up with Him, because of my huge guilt. I was also afraid he would say “Don’t take it.” Frightening!!)
I was also beating myself up over the concept “I chose this.” Major trap also. Jesus would never treat me in any way but loving, even though I am still choosing some pain. I won’t always, … and He understands…
This morning I found this in the Course, it just melted my little broken heart… “Forgiveness that is learned of me does not use fear to undo fear.” (T-9.IV.5.1)
Beautiful.
October 14th, 2009 at 8:01 pm
Hi Hiroko! : )
October 15th, 2009 at 2:29 am
Hi Lisa!!
October 15th, 2009 at 3:14 am
D of the G
When you said “it melted my little broken heart…”
That melted MY little broken heart…
*hugs* and happy to you….
October 15th, 2009 at 10:24 am
Debbie, I’m right there with ya re: post #24. Thank you for sharing dearest DOG. Will write more…some other time soon. Love and peace and LOF to all.
October 15th, 2009 at 11:34 am
Anne in TX and Kendall, – Thank you my dearest sisters… and I am right there with YOU… right there in your heart. That is not just a pretty sentiment, the Course tells us it is literal, and I am so happy to know I am not alone. You are so lovely to walk with.
{Hugs and smooches},
D O G
October 15th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
D o’ the G, whenever I have an asthma fit, I try to sit on the couch and calm myself just before running for the ventoline. I try, just for a minute, to remind myself that this constriction is happening just because I’m still thinking loving-kindness is too scary. And for a split second, I sometimes feel a lightening of the constriction, an easiness in the breathing. As if there was an instant in which I found that feeling this kindness was actually more important than the focus on my breathing. I become so consumed with the need to breathe (funny, that) that I forget all else, especially Love. Then it seems that love is tapping me on the shoulder and saying, if you opened the door a little, you’ll see that the breathing will come a little easier. Then I scamper for the Ventoline.
Hugs to all.
Adage from a Jewish Buddhist Mother: Breathe in… breathe out, breathe in… breathe out. Forget this, and enlightenment will be the least of your problems!
October 15th, 2009 at 1:56 pm
Bernard, I love to read how you are doing. I hope you are enjoying the bed with pillows and comforters with down from North-norwegian birds ( non-allergic, dear.)And the cook is just great – she seems to instictly KNOW what you want and need and serve it at the exact right moment.
I am more and more noticing that when i really allow myself (=dare) to just BE with the symptom, they melt away in minutes. It is the resistance to this being with that hurts me. Always the resistance.
I was long time ago diagnosed with something called “False Tubercolosis.” Really strange name, ain’t it. But these days, when i am being with it, no resistance, it feel like a blessing, and the old cough -patterns is abating.
Many years of working with allowing fear and not beleiving in its reality are paying off.This night, I could see the deep wound in the chest as an old image of myself as a little child, and really hold her – not merging with the pain, as I used to: merging, thats’s when there is no presence, only identification.
Now Presence is more frequent.
I have brought several bags of red Gravensten-apples from my old apple tree – they came with helicopter this morning. Please anjoy.
Oh dearest family. I am so happy with you.
Anybody wants to be tucked in? just ring the little bell by your bed.They all have different notes and timbre.
October 15th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
Bernard, when you say “if you opened the door a little.. you’ll see that breathing will come a little easier” I am reminded of the blacksmith’s agony… similar to being unable to breathe, I suppose… and how if he could step back from his pain by ever so little, he could be helped… That nasty blacksmith… so eternally loved…. he just needs to learn to allow it… just like me.
Loved the JBM adage…
D O G
October 15th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
Nina, could you possibly be more loving and supportive? Nahhh.
October 15th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
Bernard, I wanted to add how grateful I am for your story of the blacksmith.. His needs are mine, his sorrows, mine. I see myself totally as that blacksmith. So, I am still relating to his experience in the book and it continues to be healing for me. Sometimes in the depth of despair, I remember Paulo going back to him before his final (we think) trip Home… to let a man know he is so cherished, even though he felt so unloved and did many unloving things in his life. There is still hope. There is another choice. That is me, my brother, to a tee.
The blacksmith has helped me “open the door a little” and I learn of my choice to see things differently, including my self. Still learning….
Thanks,
D O G
October 15th, 2009 at 3:16 pm
GOD, I mean DOG, it is the mother-gene you see. I love to see people eat my food and look happy, to tuck in and such. And this Infirmary is all I ever wanted as to a place where it is SAFE to be ill.
Hugs from NOI
October 16th, 2009 at 7:49 am
Nina o’ the Infirmary, many thanks for down quilt, soup and excellent apples. Also for the idea of sitting with the symptom. I’ll definitely try to do that the next time. I can easily relate to the idea of the wound in the chest and the image of self as a little child. I’ll use that in a meditation.
Debbi, it didn’t occur to me, but you’re right. I can really see the blacksmith at work, struggling so hard with his pain, to make his life work, thinking he is hurting those around him, not doing a good job… That is really why he came to us, to help us see that even in the midst of our ‘blackest’ nightmares, we are cherished, as you say. Each one of us. To the depths of our souls, we are loved.
October 16th, 2009 at 9:02 pm
Just lit my first candle. Thanks, Jamie, for providing us the opportunity for partake of this rich experience. Much love to ALL!
October 16th, 2009 at 10:19 pm
Anne in NV – Hello! I love the candles too.. such a quiet and profound little ceremony I treat myself to. Then I put a mini-candle on my desktop and I can re-visit the ‘issue’ anytime I want, with a beautiful little candle (spark of HS to me) to guide me to my heart.
Thanks for the love,
Debbi
October 17th, 2009 at 6:30 am
Anne (NV), have you been around before?if not, welcome! The more Anne’s, the merrier. (Nina is derivated from Anne, so I am in fact on of you.) the letters behind the Anne’s are mixing in my mind. Where is NV? you might perhaps give us a gravatar – that little image beside your post?
October 17th, 2009 at 11:13 am
Hi Nina,
NV is Nevada where I hail from as well (from 2003).
October 17th, 2009 at 11:47 am
{{Whispers}} Nina, Anne (NV) is an old-timer… don’t tell her I said that…. but she has appeared in some of the very ancient posts… and newer ones too… Her comments are always compassionate, and you can tell she loves our Monk and what he does here.
If you were to go back and read Monk’s posts from the beginning, you will meet many friends that are here with us, and have been all along. Though they may be quiet, their kind hearts are part of us and have always been here to make this Monastery what it is…
Love,
Deb The Whisperer
October 17th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
I am resting today because I have a fever and other flu symptoms as of today. My daughter had this same flu stuff (started 8 days ago) and then my husband went through it too. I am feeling grateful that I could take care of them when they were sick and now they are not sick so can take care of me.
Last night, I felt so bad and full of anxiety all I could do was use whatever magic I could find (last night it was watching my favorite TV show on Netflix watch instantly, etc.) When I was feeling really bad…at least I did think to myself what’s new this is just my good ol’ miserable ego, my fear of love, hang on…wait for the fear to go away…
Today is better, more gentle and enjoying reading and roaming around our monastery. Love to all and healing to all…
October 17th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
Hope you recover soon. Nice your daughter and husband can take care of you now. Receive hugs and much love from the Monastery. We all are taking care of you too. Love, Lisi
October 17th, 2009 at 1:04 pm
Kendall, may the love in these kind eyes help you to heal quickly. Love, DonnaD.
October 17th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
Thank you DonnaD and Lisi. So sweet. I have never felt such close {{joining}} with a group like this. With loving love and fairy wings fluttering around us all…I feel better already.
October 17th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
Kendall, I have lit a candle for your healing, hope and comfort… I’m so glad you are feeling better already, while angels hover ever near…
Love,
Debbi
October 17th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
Dearest Debbie, thank you very much. I needed the love I feel from everyone here. Life here seems so difficult sometimes. Bringing darkness to light, Ken
October 17th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
Kendall…would you like some giggles? if not, just cottonwool your ears, dear. – I am going to read for you and anyone else in the Infirmary from a lovely book called A Course in Marigolds by Michael Stillwater. It is a text, workbook for student gardeners and a manual for growers. It is published by “Foundation for inner peas.” jamie mentioned it in a post, and I ordered it.
I am gonna choose “The Function of the Marigold gardener.”(I think the first sentence here will pacify Jamie. Maybe.)
“Before marigold gardeners are ready to undertake their function in the garden, it is essential that they fully understand the fear of spiders, snails, and earthworms. Otherwise they might unwittingly foster the belief that there is nothing to worry about while gardening, a belief that is already very prevalent.
This interpretation arises in turn from the belief that these little guys can only get yopu if you have shorts on, which is because you believe they aren’t smart enough to figure other ways of reaching you while you’re not looking, even with long pants on.
A strong insect repellant is a far better protective device than any form of mental denial, such as repeating to yourself ” there are no bugs, nothing’s gonna get me”, etc. To amplify an earlier statement ” the opposite of roots are fruits, but what is all over the plant are bugs.”Thus the bugs are a part of the garden, whether you like it or not.
Marigolds are an expression of marigold-mindedness, and marigold-mindedness means marigold-readiness. The garden-minded are simple-minded, and the simple-minded are kind of slow. This is why gardeners work slowly, and gardens grow slowly.
The sole responsibility of the marigold-gardener is to answer the phone for himself.
This means you recognize the ringing-sound is not in your head, but coming out of the house. Furthermore,it means you must not expect your husband or wife, son or daughter, or itinerant room-mate to answer the blasted phone for you. It’s none of their business, and they probably wouldn’t take the message down correctly anyway. Just because you happen to be a hundred yards away, hufing and puffing, with your hands completely covered in grime, why should you deserve special treatment? If the phone rings, answer it, or get yourself a machine.”
* A litle later, a wonderful chapter:
Hose Once again
On the back of the book, it says: “Glorias gardening will never be the same!” Ken Wapnick, Ph.D.
…
I see I have to stop here. I would love to post the whole booklet, but am going to bed instead. In my cosy bed in the Snuggery, where i dream so sweet, and maybe Dreamy may be visiting.
natti natti all
tucking you snuggly in now
hugs, and maybe an apple
I love you
October 17th, 2009 at 5:10 pm
Nina, Just finished eating a crisp apple while reading your Marigold Gardener post and smiling, giggling. While I do eat at least one apple every day it was sweet that I was eating one when you mentioned and apple.
I lived in Sweden for one year when I was 17 as an exchange student. I went to Oslo Norway on a visit that year. I think the languages were similar so hear goes…Jag alska dej (I don’t know if that is spelled correct?) Love, Kendall
October 18th, 2009 at 7:31 am
Got it, Kendall:-) :-) :-)
October 22nd, 2009 at 6:52 pm
I love you all very much. Sharing my heart and light, caring for each of you deeply. Taking comfort from all your whispers. Nestling down with my tea and warm blanket and kitty to take it all in.
October 22nd, 2009 at 7:02 pm
I’ve got hugs and some pillows for you if you want, Donna McG… and a footstool… here – put your feet up for a while… we love you too.
Love,
D♡G
October 23rd, 2009 at 8:09 am
Donna, do you need something special? you can have it all, we’re here for you. Maybe a little EFT?
October 23rd, 2009 at 5:07 pm
O.K. now that I got that scream out of the way in the scream-o-torium…. the good news is that about two weeks ago my PET scan results were that the lymph nodes on my left side are clear now and the spots on my bones have gotten smaller and the tumor is smaller also. The not so good news is that I also have periodontal disease. That means that the bone that holds my teeth in place is slowly disintegrating. The more bad news is Medicaid won’t pay for me to go to a Periodontist. There is a $1,000 dollar a year limit on any dental work `period’ and unlike medical doctors, dentists don’t have to accept medicaid patients. The better news is that the cancer center pulled some strings and talked a dentist into taking me on as a patient. The not so good news is all he can do is clean my teeth alot in an effort to slow down the boneloss. He would prefer to clean my gumline every 2 months. Fine with me except medicaid will only pay for 1 cleaning per year. Sooo..The very nice dentist guy says he is going to put in a special request to Medicaid and ask for permission to clean my teeth 4 times per year. Yes, earlier it is stated that he prefers 6 times a year but he knows that they won’t go for that so he is asking for 4 hoping that medicaid will settle on 3 because he has only known then to give in to 2 times a year. The reason that this is such a big deal is that if a tooth falls out the socket won’t heal because one of the cancer meds I am on will inhibit the the rebuilding of the jawbone to fill in the hole. Ironically the med(zoldronic acid) is the stuff that helps rebuild the bones as the cancer dies off but as the dentist explained to me it can only do this in a closed system, if the bone is exposed to the air then it does the opposite. Plus the other med I’m on that kills off this cancer can cause, Drum Roll Please, uterine cancer. Ta Da.
If anyone was having any doubts as to whether this is an insane world this ought to clear that up ehh.[:-{
TOF
October 23rd, 2009 at 6:04 pm
Oh lovely Nina and Debbi, you soothe with your presence so much thank you. Hugs and EFT and forehead stroking too would be wonderful. And Pam, we’re all here for you too so join in the hugs. Yes, it is insane here but the love is soooooo soothing and makes it all a wee bit clearer.
October 23rd, 2009 at 8:15 pm
Yes, Pam….Bedlam here, but hugs can go a long way.
So here’s some more hugs, dear Pam…(Snuggary Huggary)
October 23rd, 2009 at 8:38 pm
Pam, a little somethin’ for you… many hugs.
October 23rd, 2009 at 8:55 pm
When I posted this in the Snuggery thus morning I felt it also belonged here. So, for you Pam, and all of us. From the heart, to the heart…
October 23rd, 2009 at 9:06 pm
Thank you for the support both Donnas and Anne/Texas. Calvin is cute and Hobbes is cuddly. And everyone here are lovely angels. This has been building for awhile and I am so glad I have a safe place to let it out so maybe I can look at it from “above the battle ground” a little more easliy with J/HS.
Blessings to all.
October 23rd, 2009 at 9:08 pm
Oh hi, Mr. Jamie Head Monk Sir, you snuck in while I was still typing the above . Thank you.
October 23rd, 2009 at 9:31 pm
Third time today for watching Amma. So glad Debbi ‘O’ the G brought out more tissues earlier. I sooo want to be hugged like that. I sooo want to be able to give hugs like that. I think I shall go find the healing links Nina posted earlier.
October 23rd, 2009 at 10:19 pm
Pam, what a script, phew!!! I had that periodontal disease too, but it somehow fixed itself. If you write “periodontal disease” in the search-field on the EFT-site, you might get some articles on how to love yourself WITH the damn disease.
I love you, and i am going to light a candle right now for the deepest sweetest peace for you. So there.
October 23rd, 2009 at 10:27 pm
pam…quite a few candles for you there…
October 23rd, 2009 at 10:33 pm
A story of meaninglessness.
14 don’t mean a thing
Hey diddelee! Dreaming softly in white Magnolia-flowers, present only in the inner image of Magnolias. No disturbances here… no nothing …SCENT only…you will become this scent and flow into nostrils in Africa and Jemen and Gorillas and suicide bombers and Nobel peace price winners, and it will be you, scent of Magnolia…
God blesses you, you are His sweet breath now…
Coming back to the words all around you, pushing on to be read – but you can’t ( and you won’t, dammit)
You are tired of searching meaning in meaninglessness…
But you WILL remember that you will not judge the meaninglessness, just pat its back, yes yes, you’re allowed to be just as you are…rest in peace, meaninglessness… OH! How tired you are of having to mean something –
I have been so mean to you, I don’t mean it any more, I’ll just let you be meaning less
October 23rd, 2009 at 10:35 pm
Thanks Nina for reminding me it is just some silly ol’ script.:) Just got back from the candle room. Thanks to everyone who lit one for me.
Nina did you know that you scripted your self to live in the country that the U.N. just voted as the #1 best country to live in?
Hugs for everyone
October 23rd, 2009 at 10:39 pm
Lovely,Nina, simply lovely.
October 24th, 2009 at 6:11 am
Hi. I’m up early couldn’t sleep. I wandered into the candle room and clicked on the home button and on the left hand sidebar I found a labyrinth button. Oh so wonderful to walk the labyrinth. It has options before starting for pictures or text or both. I clicked both. The first words I came across was a quote from someone that I wasn’t familier with so didn’t get his name(east indian I think) and I’m not sure this is the exact quote but it is very close “How long will you stand there pounding on the open door begging to be let in?
I hope it isn’t much longer.
October 24th, 2009 at 6:15 am
Morning Pam.
October 24th, 2009 at 6:39 am
Morning Jamie.
October 24th, 2009 at 9:44 am
Thanks so much for the Amma video, lots of love and yes tissues for me watching that. As my 8 year old daughter says, “tears of joy.” My daughter and I watched the Amma video together all cuddled up and hugging each other. Pam, I’m thinking of you with love. I tried EFT this week for the first time while in the bathtub after having a difficult morning…fear and feeling like illness was returning. Decided for healing this time. Thanks Nina for letting us know about EFT. Funny, someone else had given me these handouts about EFT about a month ago and I knew where to find these pieces of paper…Loves and comfort to all of us.
October 24th, 2009 at 10:44 am
Pam:Sending much love and light your way. Asking Cory to give you an extra hug on our
behalf.
LOF,
Annie
October 26th, 2009 at 1:44 pm
Nina and I are going to hang out in the Infirmary.
Maybe she’s better, but I am still here.
The last thing I said was “Oh, Nurses don’t usually get sick” then a few hours later I was crying like a girl. Shivering, aching.
The family I was with were watching “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest.”
And one of the opening scenes was a patient talking about “form vs content.”
That’s one of the last things I remember of the whole evening.
Now I’m covered up to *here* and very miserable, I might add.
(sniff)
Bargaining with the universe (small u) about form vs content, boxes and bears.
October 26th, 2009 at 3:48 pm
Here you go Anne/TX some hot honey and lemon tea. I brought some peppermint tea for Nina’s tummy.
October 26th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
thanks, ya’ll
October 28th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
For Ruth-Anne: I just read your email to Nina on 10/28/09. Thank you for sharing with us what you are going through. I just want you to know I have been going through similar experiences. You are not alone. Love to you, Kendall
October 28th, 2009 at 3:23 pm
Nina, if you email Ruth-Anne, could you send her a big hug from me. Thank her for the b-day wishes, and tell her I look forward to the scrumptious yummies when she returns. And that she should take good care of herself, we are waiting patiently for her back here when all her systems are up and running.
October 28th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
My pleasure and done!
And for the ones with sick bodies in the Infirmary,for anyone who believes in the healing power of laughter, here’s a little paragraph from Michael Stillwater’s A Course in Marigolds.It is from the Introduction.
“This is a manual for gardeners of Marigolds. They are not perfect, or they would not be taking this course. Yet it is their mission to become perfect here, and so they teach gardening over and over, in many many ways, until they have learned it. And then they are seen no more, althouth their outstanding debts remain a source of consternation to all their relatives. Who are they? How are they chosen? What on earth do they do? How can they work out their special gardening-style and teach others at the same time? This manual attempts to answer these questions, again and again, without any success.
October 28th, 2009 at 5:21 pm
Very gentle Nina, and your healing laughter…
much appreciated.
October 29th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
If you have the flu, can you get a cuppa “cough-ey?”
October 29th, 2009 at 8:12 pm
No, Anne, I don’t believe you can catch acuppa cough-ey while you’ve got the flu… you’ve automatically got the antibodies for it.. I do know, however that someone who has not been given an acuppa cough-ey vaccination is at high-risk for contracting it if they share someone else’s cup. Same for small children and the elderly, and anyone with a compromised immune system (such as those who have a cough-ey addiction). Have you had your Timmy’s vaccine today?
Be verrry careful when going to a public place like ‘Starbooks’. K? I do so worry about you…
D♡G
(You’ve snagged another brilliant one, by the way…)
October 29th, 2009 at 10:49 pm
Thanks D
No about the vaccine, but I was once bitten by a Timmy.
Now, am I twice shy?
Knowing me, probably not.
November 3rd, 2009 at 10:36 am
Hi dear Ninjanun in the cleanroom (maybe here in the Infirmary) – your post in day 47 set off some thoughts.
I have for at least 40 years worked with the mind to heal whatever showed up as sickness in the body, and been successful with a lot. i have found that when the symptoms or the sickness have not moved, there was always a hidden benefit for me that was subconscious. When i changed my mind – and really wanted to see what this benefit was, in order to have truth instead, I found a couple of websites that has changed my relationship to sickness big time. The one i will mention here is called TAT. Free downloadable method in energy-therapy.
Some of the benefits I found, was holding on to the victim-identity. Amazingly attractive to the ego. And since I can not forgive what i do not know of, this is very useful: in the TAT-method there are 7 simple steps in releasing the parts of the victim-identity – and doing the TAT-process brings lots of stages in bettering health in that process. And the feeling that I am working WITH Jesus in this is very good. He works with me where I believe myself to be – there and then.
What i love about that method is that even though it might not help the sickness to heal, the process in itself helps unravel the hidden and denied stuff I have put away, and when i take back these exiled “parts”, a lot of healing is going on: it is a wonderful feeling to be able to take out of the prison of judgment these exiled parts, and see their cry for love.
The process itself is built with a crucial forgiveness-process, and it is possible to adapt it to ACIM.
The thought that I hate the part in me that is dreaming this nightmare is so bad, that for me, it is much KINDER to myself to relate to the illnesses and predicaments with methods like TAT – it gives me a feeling of peace that i sorely need. And the “excavation-process” that starts in the subconscious is organic – and now i feel I am not “only passively hating all of this”, but I am working on accepting the beliefs and memories and everything that comes up, and it certainly makes me feel safer and more loving – which is what I need. very much.
And it certainly moves whatever illness I have – little or big changes. It might take time – but who cares? better that just hating my fate and my decisionmaker, REALLY making me a victim.
November 9th, 2009 at 9:42 pm
Just now catching up to you all today. My little guy (8 1/2, not that little!) is sick with what I think is a flu variation. Right now a cough and high fever. Just finished another fever round with ice cubes on his belly, cold wash cloth on his head, and ice chips to sooth his throat. I wish it was me instead of him. Ah, such is the dream. It’s always something!
November 12th, 2009 at 8:51 pm
One child better, now the other one is sick. I may never leave the house again!
November 12th, 2009 at 8:54 pm
So sorry, Lisa… {{Hugs and a longgg bath}}
November 12th, 2009 at 9:20 pm
Oodles of love and hugs Lisa!
November 12th, 2009 at 10:15 pm
Hon, take care of yourself if you can…
November 12th, 2009 at 10:41 pm
Add my hugs, too!
November 12th, 2009 at 11:09 pm
Oh wow, thanks you guys! It really helps. What great support!
And when I say one child better, I mean he’s afebrile. Now it’s like a bad cold- coughing and stuffy. So, we’re not entirely out of the woods yet. But the older one is now having the fevers….
November 13th, 2009 at 10:55 am
Thinking of you warmly!
November 13th, 2009 at 11:08 am
Hi Lisa, I’m thinking of you too! Hope you find little windows of comfort (or lots o’ comfort, even better). Are they at least sleeping a lot so you can sleep too I hope???
November 13th, 2009 at 11:17 am
Nina and Kendall- Thank you! They both slept well last night, so I’m feeling pretty OK today. Still, being house bound all week is getting the teensiest bit old. : )
November 13th, 2009 at 11:49 pm
Oh dear, now my DH has it too! I’m the last one standing! But for how long, I ask you, how long?
November 14th, 2009 at 12:02 am
I am so sorry, Lisa.. sending lots of hugs and loves your way, and strength. Lots of strength. For your whole family, too.
Love,
D♡G
November 14th, 2009 at 5:45 am
Big hugs, Lisa. Maybe put on a comedy on the TV in the background, maybe Mamma Mia (if you like that kind of kitsch thing, like me)? Music usually helps me feel a little better, especially when house-bound.
November 14th, 2009 at 8:11 am
Lisa dear: something to laugh to -- maybe even so much that all the virus can’t stand it and die off.(Everybody knows that viruses are allergic to laughing The whole WORLD is a virus!!!
please enjoy -- all of you:
November 14th, 2009 at 10:09 am
Lisa, As long as one adult doesn’t have it that’s good…About a month ago, my 8 year old daughter had the flu and then my DH. I did get it, but much more mild and my DH and daughter were able to take care of me when I got it so it worked out. This too shall pass, and soon I hope!!!
November 14th, 2009 at 11:18 am
Lisa,Hugs and blessings to all of you.
Nina with you on the laughing dispells viruses.
November 14th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
Oh, Nina, that was definitely a :::whizgiggle:::. I haven’t laughed so hard in a long time. Now I have to go change…. Many thanks for a great start to the day. Love, DD
November 15th, 2009 at 12:13 am
Thank you everyone, we are hanging in there. This flu stuff is no fun.
And as if that weren’t enough, our one laptop died yesterday and my husband tried to re-install everything from the hard drive and the whole thing crashed and he ended up at the Apple store for three hours today (even though he’s sick) trying to salvage stuff and couldn’t and we were offline all day and I have no idea what I’m talking about as I am technologically challenged (but you know that).
Apparently, the hard drive is dead, but he re-installed stuff from our main computer. His worry is that we lost some pictures and some of our music. He’s in the middle of checking all of that now. On the bright side, our laptop got a new hard drive and as a consolation prize, my husband bought himself a new laptop. (It was just an excuse, he’s been itching to buy one for a while now) So now I inherit the old laptop. Ladies and gentlemen, I have my own computer now! i-Pod, laptop- I’m starting to get with the program!
November 15th, 2009 at 12:33 am
Way to go Lisa! And a sister-Apple-user to boot!! I hope your family is doing better..
November 17th, 2009 at 4:37 pm
My ego is gonna need a couple of rooms in the Infirmary…
Poor thing is vexed again – it needs love to either let it heal or let it die…
Diva that it is….and Texas sized…
Was that the call-light? or a death-rattle?
All this reading just did the poor thing in!
November 17th, 2009 at 4:40 pm
Just wash it right out of your hair…
November 17th, 2009 at 4:52 pm
DonnaD, thank you, yes – I am finally ready to happy, instead of insisting that I am right.
From “Do you prefer that you be right, or happy?”
November 17th, 2009 at 8:35 pm
Tex: I agree with the reading doing a number on all our egos.. if I may be serious for a moment, :::spits out coffee with a loud guffaw:::, there is a very good reason we are resistant to the Text.. it BITES. The big one.
D♡G
November 17th, 2009 at 8:45 pm
There once was a young monastry
pearched about rung number three
Monklings cavorted
the ego contorted
whilst laughing
they set themselves free
November 17th, 2009 at 8:51 pm
I like it Al, I like it a LOT.
D♡G
November 17th, 2009 at 9:16 pm
“Tis true I could talk all the time
ín limerickle verse and rhyme
But the question:”What for”?
No less and no more
tis the purpos of all shxt sublime.
November 17th, 2009 at 9:20 pm
ooops! that should be ‘gives purpose’.
November 18th, 2009 at 4:06 am
You know when you are a child, and you first learn to not over react to night-time dreams, because they are “not real”?
Well, I am learning now that same thing here.
If life IS a dream (and what else could it be?) and if it is “good” for me, I love it and want it to be real.
If it is “bad” for me, I start looking for a way to change it metaphysically!
How is that different from “Forgiveness to Destroy”? Am I asking for “Metaphysics to Make Real”?
The Course as a “love potion” for physical love – to pray for closeness means the desire for them IS THE PRAYER!
Now, instead, I want to just focus on God’s Love / Atonement without worrying about
what gain it will bring, do I really “get” the Course, etc.
You go where you would be; GAINING, NOT losing, a sense of self.
November 19th, 2009 at 5:49 am
Debbi of the Grotto
About going to the infirmary and taking the ego –
Maybe that’s why they call it an ILLusion!
It’s very ill…. *rimshot*
Thank you very much – I’ll be here all week!
November 19th, 2009 at 10:05 am
HaHa! Texas, you ROCK. (111) {Move over, Mike Myers}
Post 110 is still scrambling my brains… but I get it elsewhere in my mind.. Love you, D♡G
November 19th, 2009 at 10:40 am
In case you couldn’t figure it out from my ramblings, my kids are home today AGAIN!! They went to school yesterday, but are feeling crappy again today. This thing is really something!
November 19th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
Thanks, DoG
Those words are not mine ~~ I heard it *somewhere*
Kinda like every word I have ever heard, was learned before from someone, somewhere…
I didn’t make any of them up!
November 19th, 2009 at 7:04 pm
TX: Same for me. I think I have been doing this plagiarizing since I was an infant or toddler… from that moment on, nothing I ever said was original…
D♡G
November 19th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
Like my Dad always said, “The secret to originality is hiding your sources.”
November 19th, 2009 at 7:28 pm
Sorry, Lisa… warm hugs and love to you. D♡G
November 19th, 2009 at 9:40 pm
Lisa blessings for you and yours. Hope your DH is better and can help with the kids.
November 19th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
Lawernce, You posted some where that you had a skin cancer that had went below the skin. Hope all turns out well with that.
November 20th, 2009 at 4:44 pm
Ruth-Anne…I thought that was hiding your SAUCES!
as in bbq
November 20th, 2009 at 10:30 pm
Love your Limerick Al!
TexAnne…I like what you said in 110…don’t understand the sentence… The Course as a “love potion” for physical love – to pray for closeness means the desire for them IS THE PRAYER! what do you mean?
I lit a candle for someone very dear to many and amongst the many is a group of Course students of which he is a member as well. He’s talented and colorful…he founded a well know music group around here, SF Bay Area, called The Unauthorized Rolling Stones. He’s Mick.
He’s in the hospital recovering from Brain Surgery. All prayers and loving thoughts most welcome.
November 22nd, 2009 at 12:17 am
Pam, thank you for your kind thoughts. I am doing what I need to do on the level of form but there are some gray areas as there always seem to be. The cancer is close to where I had it before, so there are some concerns here on my end. But hey, I hope all is well with you too. We are in good hands Pam, we just need to awaken to that thought and all will be well. Kay Sa Ra Sa Ra
God bless
November 22nd, 2009 at 4:06 am
Michele – I meant that instead of praying that I awaken to God’s Love in my my Mind, (general and abstract, Content)
I sometimes hope and pray for physical manifestations of form, egoioc things, specific and concrete.
I know what is best for me, and I have to remind God every now and then to step-and-fetch it for me.
God must be vexed – or none of this horrible stuff would have happened to me!
Not only do I want it thus, I want it right now!
That’s the trick – I fall for it every time!
November 22nd, 2009 at 6:02 pm
Thanks for your explanation Anne I am learning a lot from folks here in the Monastery. and I know nothing
I’m here at Best Buy ordering a part I need for my laptop, using their Mac to write this and may be computer less for a few days. When I’m back online I’m looking forward to expressing what I learned about my process in just a few days here at the monastery, reading monklings exchanges and listening to Monk’s latest Nov lesson on vengeance.
S❤nina and D❤G….thank you so much for your kind candles you lit!!
November 22nd, 2009 at 7:26 pm
You’re welcome Michele… and I see you’ve found the “special character” menu bar item that I use to make.. well, characters! (I have a Mac.) Good luck getting your laptop back soon… we can’t wait to hear your musings on your process.
Love,
D♡G
November 24th, 2009 at 5:34 am
I could use an infirmary right now. I so long to BE WITH — what does that look like? To me, it is sharing from one Godhead to the other! All these boards seems so impersonal….why am I longing so for intimacy? I want spiritual intimacy…..where we really hear and share without preaching or teaching or beseeching! Could we have a room like this? And what would it be called? The altar? That might be too holy……how about the sanctuary? I love this idea….this website. But I want to have one myself……is there any room for sister monasteries? I am on the East Coast…..
I want to be heard as Monk is heard or other ‘leaders’ are heard…..I feel I have this creative force within that so wants to be expressed……I search, I try, but other ‘egos’ always seem to let me know ‘I am not there’ – yet I believe I am but there is no place to be able to express it……it’s like walking around with this beautiful secret…..and no one wants to hear it. So when I come to these places, I feel happy that ‘it’ is getting expressed, but still frustrated that I was not able to be part of it despite a lifetime of sincere inquiry and $$$$ spent…….. I know this is ego……..but I utterly feel ’stuck’ where I don’t want to go or do anything from my home for I am so tired of being no one…….no connections…..and when I try to connect it seems others need to put me in a box of their making…….and I know that is not who I am. Sometimes I feel I will die never being able to express this beauty….this fun and levity…….so…..I want to sleep here in the infirmary waiting to be released from time, space and this body!
Love,
Revvie blueJean
November 24th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
Revvie blueJean: I’m not sure what “BE WITH” looks like either, so maybe I can’t offer it to you. But I did read your post, I listened, and I do hope you find the nitch you are seeking.
Love,
Deb
November 24th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
Revvie blue Jean – BE WITH is very simple – it’s letting things and feelings be as they are, and you are keeping it company because you don’t merge with it or identify with it. It’s being silent and doing nothing, but being present, which is not doing:-)
Because Focusing is letting me experience this wondrous state of BEING WITH, maybe you too would like to visit its very peaceful website.
There are many free offers there to experience it – downloadable examples from sessions, if i remember correctly. It is a beautiful way to share a common space and letting anything at all come into it – and then just being with it. And being witnessed and looked at like this, it just looses its form, and behind it is Love – so it is a method which is perfect for forgiveness.
And maybe it could be the nitch.
November 24th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
To me, ACIM repeatedly speaks of us ‘not making special.’ And I understand very clearly why that is so important. And yet, then we set about doing just that! So that means we aren’t even doing ACIM….We aren’t living it at all….for we are still creating our ‘illusions’
So…..thank you for your well wishes….
November 24th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
PS….to me, ‘be with’ means to truly appreciate the person you are speaking to as though that person is Christ….in EVERY communication we make! It isn’t about ‘us’ showing how close we are to awakening…..but rather seeing how close our brothers are to awakening. AND, when people say ‘no one is out there’ —- that is RIDICULOUS…..for everyone and every thing out there is One with us. There is, in fact, NO OUT THERE!!!! And this is the peace of God.
November 24th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
I think that that is entirely up to you. What IS spiritual intimacy, anyway?
I come here to be with like-minded people who share their process and who I share mine with. Sometimes it’s Hugs that are needed not metaphysics. Sometimes they are given together. I learn SO much and our Head Monk guides us gently but firmly.
I believe I am here and this world is real and coming AT me 99.9999999999% of the time. I have experienced Forgiveness changing form in “my” world. I forget to do it though. ALL THE TIME.
There is much kindness and laughter in these hallowed halls. I care about the people here and see Christ in them. But not in every communication we make, to be honest. I am just not there yet. I’m very very slow, and really I just don’t want to wake up I guess. Otherwise I would,right?
And to me “be with” means just that. I am with you, my heart is full, and grateful for the chance to see Christ in you.
What is that quote that Head monk is always quoting, “If he speaks not of Christ to you, you spoke not of Christ to him.”.
I hope you find what you are searching for.
November 24th, 2009 at 3:29 pm
Revvie blueJean, Thank you for this post, it really moved me. I felt its honesty and the appeal behind it. At the risk of my falling into one of the traps you speak of, I would invite you to try joining with others through this site, using your creative talents to enter into real communion with other travellers along the path here. And I can assure you, this is not the place where people will remind you that ‘you are not there yet’. I think the monks here know pretty well they are ‘not there’ either. That’s the fun of doing this together, we can laugh and smile about not doing it right yet, about not having it all down.
You are not alone, no matter how intense the feeling of lack of intimacy might seem. I sit here in my lost little corner of the countryside, I have never attended an ACIM study group meeting, this little band of monk-like ACIM followers is my only link to others sharing the same thoughts, and I am reminded that the intimacy I seek is above all in some place within my thoughts (despite my desperately seeking it in many places). The kindness and love are there, a hand is being held out to all of us; I’m just not so sure that real intimacy between people as such exists. It’s all in the mind, it’s all in our thoughts. I am told, as you say, that there is ‘no out there’, and in a sense there is ‘no in here’ either.
I would like to think we can learn to appreciate the people around us as Christ, but I think it takes a long, long time because of our fear. When it comes, I think the result is not what we expected. Perhaps when we really learn to accept the other, we see there is ‘no other there’, and there is ‘no one here’ either. It all just seems to go soft and warm, and the distinctions don’t matter much anymore.
And I would like to believe that we can learn to ‘not make special’, but I’m not so sure. I think we just do our best to look at ourselves ‘making special’, trying to be more and more patient with ourselves all the time. Patient, and accepting, and not judging. Looking at ourselves with the delightful, warm intimacy with which Jesus looks upon us. His real caring, his real kindness, they are not imaginary. They are part of us.
November 24th, 2009 at 4:22 pm
A candle for you dear Revvie blueJean.
November 24th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
Yes, Revvie – a candle for you, and gentle thoughts toward you.
November 24th, 2009 at 6:37 pm
and a hug from me Revvie and a bag of jelly beans :) xoxoxooxoxoxox
November 24th, 2009 at 11:56 pm
Bernard….you got my tears of gratitude flowing! So to me, that is spiritual intimacy and I thank you! I DO believe we can ‘not make special’ but it is like anything else…….like riding a bicycle….at first it seems really impossible….but with practice it actually becomes second-nature! I do believe this is what we are doing here, now, in our studies……but only when we really are sincere…….and I noticed that the posts after yours, from Pam, Anne and Winnie were very kind…..and I think it is also because of your gentle kindness and them choosing to follow that line……thank you all!! I do believe in mySelf…..and the Oneness with all of you. But not in a trendy, new-agey way….but rather in an awesome…..transcendental….like our forefather mason transcendentalists and mystics of the centuries of time….kind of way! I so want us to really SEE each other and appreciate each ’snowflake’ and it’s own original pattern…..while knowing we are all made of icy water……do you follow me???? I do hope to open a book store/lecture center one day soon……..and I hope I can have some of the ‘authentic monks’ come and talk here! Thank you all…..this has been a most painful day for me…..I haven’t even expressed some other things (rejections) that have appeared in my illusion. But I do believe that like Paul Simion says in his song……’The nearer my destination…..the more I keep slip-slidin’ away…..’ the more we want to be really authentic……the more egos will attack our peace and try to get us to feel ‘unpeaceful!’
Love and Gratitude on this approaching ‘Thanksgiving!’
Revvie blueJ
November 25th, 2009 at 1:07 am
3.5 minutes of sheer joy in this, I hope it appears, YouTube Video. Thought the infirmary could be a good place for it. My daughter is abreast cancer survivor.
Emily (MacInnes) Somers, created, directed and choreographed this in Portland last week for her Medline glove division as a fundraiser for breast cancer awareness. This was all her idea to help promote their new pink gloves. I don’t know how she got so many employees, doctors and patients to participate, but it started to really catch on and they all had a lot of fun doing it.
When the video gets 1 million hits, Medline will be making a huge contribution to the hospital, as well as offering free mammograms for the community.
November 25th, 2009 at 6:27 am
I just watched it…..it is a cute and a ‘happy idea!’ :o)
Jean
November 25th, 2009 at 8:15 am
I just shared something with someone who wrote me privately (and she really GOT what I was saying instead of hearing it with her human ears with all their own projections…..like so many others!!!!!) And I had a revelation of sorts……because I have been learning to understand ACIM quite differently in the past year……(not really differently in CONTENT…but in a better way for more healing) And what I just now proposed to her….and want to share here is an idea for a room somewhere….maybe here in the Monastery? Where we would teach ACIM in this way:
I have been thinking that we ought to have a group where it isn’t what anyone ’says’ that needs to be corrected, but rather our choice in how to take this ‘thought’ and transform it into something helpful! That is what H.S. does….and I understand ACIM to be teaching us to align with H.S. so that we become that……so we ought not tell people they are upset or ‘do they want to be right or happy’ etc……but get to the ‘CONTENT’ of why their feeling (which is what these words are all about) is being expressed to us here now….and how we can DEAL with that in a transformative way so it is no longer a ‘fearful’ thing we need to get rid of or correct….but rather a ‘gift’ that we need to try to understand how to use!
I so want to be part of this kind of relating together. I am (and she shared this with me too) so tired of rehashing the ACIM ideas over and over and over….with no going further from there………anyways…….I’m putting it out there……and hope for some commentary/responses………..
November 25th, 2009 at 10:55 am
Michele: What a darling video.. it is sure to help in the awareness of breast cancer, while giving joy… I will attempt to post it here for you…
November 25th, 2009 at 2:21 pm
Revvie blueJean, I’m really glad you feel you can express yourself here. I hope that means we are creating a safe enough space for you, and everyone, to do so. It’s not so easy, really, since we are all still learning how to listen and how to just ‘be’ with eachother, which does take time. I was chatting with someone recently from this forum and we both agreed there were posts of our we wish we could take back in hindsight. But it’s one of the wonderful things about this site, all the sharing, the trying, since that is also our path of learning forgiveness, acceptance, understanding. We will all make mistakes, that is sure. There is also a wonderful head Monk who is a great resource, if and when needed.
Something very special I have also learned in this virtual Monastery is the surprising amount of learning and relationship that goes on in the guise of ‘chatter’ (not to mention outright partying!). The path to freedom from the ego is quite stressful, and while it seems perhaps peripheral to our learning, general conversation between the monks is a really wonderful way of learning to trust eachother. It has helped me learn more about intimacy, and it has helped me a lot to take myself less seriously. There are a surprising number of very astute and talented monks here, sometimes wearing disguises. I think this is a safe place, and we make it safer every time we reveal ourselves, as you have done, and as others do every day. It helps us all see the face of Christ in eachother, and in ourselves.
November 25th, 2009 at 8:09 pm
Revvie blue jean. I wish I could take back my post. I have felt bad about it since I posted it. I had a very trying day yesterday too. Forgive me.
November 26th, 2009 at 8:32 pm
Ok goodnight, everyone.
Where’s my Kitten?
Here Kitten…
*snuggles*
November 26th, 2009 at 9:37 pm
a great big HUGE hug to Ruth-Anne ! please dont feel bad darling or i`ll have to come over there and beat you up ! {tee hee}
I think we need to remember that communication in the monastery is unlike regular fleshy communication and not just because we do not have the benefit of body language or smileys.
Communication here is daunting because as students of the Course we know the only true words to speak and we sure as hell dont speak `em and then cease to speak `em. Consequently we are aware and often painfully so, that our need/desire to express ourselves probably comes from dubious sources….. Mmmmm chocolate sauce ……
AND because we have no privacy we may constantly be wondering whether others are judging us and if we believe they are, it`s much more intense than regular body to body contact….. Italically all eyes are on us !!!!! { have to improve computer skills}……and behind those eyes are the big G`s and he`s got his lightning rod aimed right us !
To sum up … i could really do with some Pecan pie right about now
goodnight TexAnne…..i`ll let Kitty out if he needs to “go”, in the night.
November 26th, 2009 at 11:20 pm
Two of us riding nowhere
Spending someone’s
Hard earned pay
You and me Sunday driving
Not arriving
On our way back home
We’re on our way home
We’re on our way home
We’re going home
Two of us sending postcards
Writing letters
On my wall
You and me burning matches
Lifting latches
On our way back home
We’re on our way home
We’re on our way home
We’re going home
You and I have memories
Longer than the road that stretches out ahead
Two of us wearing raincoats
Standing so low
In the sun
You and me chasing paper
Getting nowhere
On our way back home
We’re on our way home
We’re on our way home
We’re going home
You and I have memories
Longer than the road that stretches out ahead
Two of us wearing raincoats
Standing solo
In the sun
You and me chasing paper
Getting nowhere
On our way back home
We’re on our way home
We’re on our way home
We’re going home
We’re going home
Better believe it
November 26th, 2009 at 11:21 pm
- The Beatles (of course)
November 26th, 2009 at 11:28 pm
November 26th, 2009 at 11:54 pm
Nicely said, Winnie.. You have such a great big soft heart, with warmth for us all…
Ruthie: You still da best… and I love you with all my ♡ (Loved the song, too)
Texas: Love for you and Kitten.
Bernard: You said some very nice things about the monklings here and I do so appreciate it. {{Hugs}}
{{Hugs for everyone!!}}
D♡G
November 27th, 2009 at 12:08 am
Thanks both of you. Actually, All of Y’all. I am SO grateful.
November 27th, 2009 at 6:07 am
Loved the Beatles video – loved the ending…you better believe it!
November 27th, 2009 at 6:32 am
Way to go, Ruth-Anne. We loves ya.
November 27th, 2009 at 8:38 am
Ruth-Anne, what a great start to the day. Thank you. Hugs, DD.
November 27th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
So I’m not going to worry about adding something additional to the exchanges that I admire other’s have done and just want to say I much appreciated the exchanges between Revie Jean and Bernard, Winnie’s comment to it, Ruth-Anne comments about wanting to be even kinder and the wish we could take it back posts dread some of us have experienced…
Thank you Debbi of the Grotto for posting my YouTube
Ruth-Anne you’re the best!Great Lyrics…nice to see them typed out for us Ruth-Anne and the video!
Tex-Anne Better Believing with you
Hugs all round…My grandaughter Kailea and I are off to explore
and the song you gave us today.
November 30th, 2009 at 6:42 am
Hi All,
I am feeling a bit better. Went away to our vacation home and I finally decided to ‘take charge’ of a few things I was waiting for my hubby to do or at least get enthused about. I realized I HAD the enthusiasm…..so I would just take over…..I’m redoing the downstairs bath to include a shower so we can rent the downstairs when we aren’t there. Also, I really planned out a small ‘Spiritual Shop’ I want to open there…..and this really got my creative juices going!
I would just like to share with you all that my journey has really been tough the last few years. Just lost my father….he lived with me the last 4 months of his life and died with me in the room. My sibs were all weirded out and gave no support……so I had to do this journey with him, more or less alone (though H.S. was with me each minute!!) His wife was in a home with a severe stroke and he was heartbroken……and she just died Nov. 2. But all the family dysfunction and step-family issues of distrust made this all the more ‘painful’ within the illusion. Added to this, I had received my ‘Oridination’ from an ACIM ‘academy’ and was connected rather closely to some ACIM people in a chat room for a couple years……….and have realized I do not share the same views of ACIM with either of these groups……..so after lots of $$$$$ spent and feeling I was finding my home/people, I find myself utterly alone again…..and what a time….when I have to try to help my Dad with his fears of death, etc.
So this is why I find it hard to trust in these rooms…..but I keep trying. Why? Because that is all there is. Without that there is nothing, in my humble opinion! But I see how often people want to ‘judge’ me by what they read in one sharing….rather than understanding that is only one ‘birds eye view’ of who I am…..or like the tiniest tip of the iceberg that they ‘judge’ rather than understanding how incomplete words are and the vast wholeness of myself below the water level….if you get my drift.
So, I am thankful for all the comments. I am so desiring some deeper dialogue. Nothing wrong with the Grotto….or the raising of a glass of likker — or whatever……it is just something I was feeling a need for……..nothing against anyone else. I feel I will find it. And I will come back here and share as well. One reason I chose the ‘infirmary’ to speak is because I KNEW I was ‘Off Course’ (pun intended) and was in need of some help from ‘outside’ for the moment. Thanks again for all the posts and no need to feel ‘guilty.’ Especially now, that I am back on my spiritual feet a bit…..I know nothing can ‘hurt’ me…..
Peace,
Jean W.
November 30th, 2009 at 7:09 am
Jean, thank you so much for sharing your feelings. You are obviously a lovely spirit who is seeking those of like mind to dialogue with in a way that is meaningful to you. That is so understandable. I wish you well on your journey and I do hope you come back when you can to let us know how you are doing. Warmest hugs and much love, DD.
November 30th, 2009 at 10:05 am
Hi revvie blue – i’m so glad you came back! I wanted to respond to your previous post yet everything I thought of sounded judgy or patronizing so I just gave up … lotsa ego in the way at that moment!
I was very moved by your call for intimacy and connection. Connection (or lack thereof in the form of deafness) has been an often painful theme in my life and I really feel it when I see another struggle with the same theme – in whatever form.
Does sound like an annus horrilibis kinda script you’ve been through! My thoughts were often with you in the past few days – just holding the thought of you in lovingness … I’m glad you’re feeling steadier.
When I got my cochlear implant switched on, after years of total deafness, I was so excited … NOW I’ll be able to join the human race again! I was in total shock and horrofied to find out that most people seemed to spend most of the time talking about absolute crap … it was all so meaningless! I was devastated! They’d talk about TV programs for hours and hours! Or shopping for God’s sakes! Or what clothes to wear. Or what sports team was doing what … I just couldn’t compute it … doesn’t ANYONE talk about what’s REALLY going on for them I wondered? That was 10 years ago and I’m just starting to get the hang of ’small talk’ now and the fun that can be had therein – but it was a real struggle for a while.
So I did understand your need for meaningfulness – but weirdly enough it still didn’t help me meet it in the moment. I jusy got scared i guess – but I WAS thinking of you with much love and empathy! You are so not alone. Love and hugs for a love filled day of forgiveness.
November 30th, 2009 at 10:31 am
Thank you, Al! You got me laughing about your True Illusion (how is that for an oxymoron?) of your cochleal implants and what a disappointment it was to hear what people found to talk about!! That is a perfect example…..of what I’m not sure…..I suppose of how we don’t really appreciate what we are given until we don’t have it. Like, we have 80 or 90 years here in the illusion to really help make it into the real world for ourselves and others that are part of the One Mind……but we spend so little of it really working on this. For me, I don’t think ‘working’ means not having fun! In fact, if we are ‘in spirit’ we will be ‘in joy’ and ‘inspired’ and enthusiastic. So work would no longer be work but a whole lot of fun. At least, that’s how I have been seeing it.
At my local church, I have made them a newsletter, taught Sunday School (with all the planning, buying of materials, classroom setup, etc), created a small database and inputted all the names and addresses…..as well as other stuff I’m not even thinking of……and I haven’t thought of any of it as ‘work.’ But that is because I have been ‘in the zone’ so to speak. I think a few of them think I must be up to something…..like I want to overthrow the church or something! I just wanted to do stuff while feeling One with spirit….it feels so good. (unfortunately, I couldn’t do this with ACIM pals because no one really takes the time to engage and really try to work on stuff….at least around here and it seems if the choice is to be wary or be One…people often choose being wary!!)
Well…..I’m saying a lot here. But I am hoping for a time when we can all just laugh and be functioning with our highest potential because we have removed so many blocks that we can just BE in JOY!!! I am so grateful you waited to write (I understand what you are saying and ‘hear’ it as not wanting to sound ‘preachy’ while you were really caring….and that is awesome to me!!) And that now you have written and told me what you were feeling. I can relate to what you were going through regarding me, too…..and don’t know what I would have done in that situation either! But I do appreciate you joining with me in your heart/mind…….guess that is where the work really needs to be done, anyway. THANK YOU!!
Love,
Revvie blue….
December 1st, 2009 at 1:05 am
Al,and Jean nice sharing. AI, I kind of felt like you did when I read Rev’s first posts. I felt like answering and then didn’t. Rev the things you say you want are obtainable, the joy you seek. But, I am learning that you can’t count on others for your happiness or joy. That is something we carry inside, and life as it is, teaches you this, not what you want it to be but rather what it is. We project our thoughts and in one form or another we judge them or we don’t. If we don’t judge what we are perceiving in our brothers, we are closer to joy, if we do, well it can turn in to a horror show.
Al, I liked what you had to say about hearing again. I am at a point in my life that I have to make myself feel interested in the day to day. I find both joy and peace in it and of course fear as well. But I know I am the one with the brush painting the pictures. I never could paint or draw, the best I can manage is a stickman. I guess that why I am running into so many obstacles to peace. I wish you both that peace I seek, and a painting full of blue sky’s, rainbows, and some mythical creatures for your added enjoyment.
God bless us every one
December 1st, 2009 at 7:42 am
Hi Lawrence,
I feel you are not hearing what I was trying to express. I am VERY happy. I feel that I ‘get it.’ But it isn’t something we get for all time. So, I am more productive at the little church I go to than many others….and in a very happy way…..because I am not investing in the ‘drama’ and the political changes that are occuring, while others are ‘laden down’ with them. At home, I am in BLISS with my doggies and kitties!! And I do my text readings each morning….. I cook and clean and fool around with my family and also, yes, argue with them…..but none of it has the ’sting’ it use to because I am no longer invested in the ‘drama.’
BUT…..what I find I am longing for while I still feel myself in this ‘illusion’ is a bit deeper connection. I am working on it. But ‘no man is an island’ — so I have been trying to express it to my brothers…….and it is a tough undertaking because many brothers will tell me I am seeing myself as incomplete (as you have, here). And I do feel that we will be a bit incomplete as long as we have any investment in the illusion, which we will continue to have……….until God takes the last step.
SOOOOO……..I was just expressing what I’d like to do or how I’d like to spend this ‘time’ that doesn’t exist. And I do feel others respond to me in very, very positive ways……but then others will have to ‘quiet’ me (particularly on other boards, rooms, etc. — because of their ‘fear.’) So…….this is all it is. But as I type ‘all it is’ — I still feel it is a very important thing to start doing. And I so want to be part of it. And the ‘longing’ in me, can be viewed as me thinking I am incomplete, or H.S. calling for a special function………..EVERYTHING depends on how we decide we want to see it.
That’s why I wanted to be ‘heard’ rather than ‘coddled.’ Anyway, it will come…..but I have reached a point in my journey where I realized I hit a cross-road. Either I could stay on one road and agree with everyone and go off into what felt to me like ‘blissninnyland’ — or I could take ‘the road less traveled’ and continue to try to find some ‘deeper seekers’ if you get what I mean by that. I did get a woman from another board saying she understood and wanted to ‘DO’ something. Was utterly tired of just rehashing all the same stuff. So this sounds similar to my condition…………
Does this make is clearer??? Thanks for helping me articulate it better.
Jean
December 1st, 2009 at 2:45 pm
Yes your post makes it clearer, and no problem jean, helping you articulate it better was my ploy. I think it was Jung who said in his biography something like: I have never been so consistently misunderstood by so many people. Please feel free to borrow that. I have used it before. I know for me, expressing myself in person works so much better. I have done some writing, wrote a book entitled “A Survivors Story” (working title) it was almost 300 pages long.
It was about my 2 year battle with a rare form of cancer. The struggle of trying to raise 4 children during that time etc. I wrote it 20 years ago when I was 38 and full of piss & vinegar, and then I sat on it. I would read it about once a year, and every time I did it was depressing, a lot of bad stuff happened back then, but it would not have been life affirming to rub it in peoples face’s. On the flip side if I were to tell folks how I have grown spirituality and beat that drum, well that doesn’t ring true either.
I hear you about reaching a cross-road and wanting to find deeper thinkers, and about the woman who wanted to do something and was tired of rehashing the same stuff. But truth be told, and this is just my way of looking at this, but at a certain point the deeper thinking isn’t needed. It is letting this go and making room for love that will bring results, and as far as the course is concerned repetition is an important tool.
If you choose to stay here it is love you find more than anything else. It is addicting, and I am growing quite fond of it. The study I do of the course is enhanced a hundred fold by sharing with knowledgeable people, the trials and tribulation of everyday life. You learn to see how the course plays out on what we call reality, and how sharing brings you closer to your goal. I hope you don’t take this as an attack of any kind, if it come across that way, I would attribute that to poor writing skills.
I have been studying, make that reading, spiritual books for almost 40 years now. I have found my home in the course. There are many paths that lead home and this is one of them. It appears you have made it yours, I hope it is, or will become all you have searched for. If I could offer you any advice whatsoever, it would be, not to be in a hurry or try so hard in your searching, and gentleness is always key!
God bless us every one
December 1st, 2009 at 3:35 pm
Lawrence, lovely post. “If you choose to stay here it is love you find more than anything else. It is addicting, and I am growing quite fond of it.”
December 1st, 2009 at 3:36 pm
Glad to see you back, Revvie. You’re among friends.
December 3rd, 2009 at 7:25 pm
Thanks, Bernard and Lawrence. I hope my posts didn’t come across that I was complaining about this site. I just found I lot of difficulties in trying to relate/connect with other ACIMers for the past couple years…..and it saddened me because I really liked them…..but it always came down to someone drawing a line and if you crossed it you weren’t a true student! I called it ‘kissing their agendas!’ Of course, the world does this too….but I had, somehow, expected ACIM students to ‘get’ the stuff ACIM says…..so that they wouldn’t do the same worldly kind of comparing and judging! Anyway, thank you for your posts. I feel the ‘turbulence’ is dying down a bit, and I do plan to visit here quite a bit. And believe I will slowly remove myself from the ‘infirmary!’
Revvie Jean
December 3rd, 2009 at 7:43 pm
Revvie…that reminds me of something Ken says quite a lot. See a Course student coming. Run the other way!
That guy cracks me up! Oh, wait, did he say that about me????
December 4th, 2009 at 8:02 am
giggle..Laura that reminds me of the saying “Progress not perfection.” None of us are perfect or else we wouldn’t seem to be here. Have to remember that applies to me as well as ‘you’. Just keep doing the process to make progress that will lead to perfection and then we’re outa here. Right? :)
December 4th, 2009 at 7:58 pm
That’s a good thought, Pam. Thanks for pointing that out. And I can attest to that. Left work today with a major meltdown in progress. Came home, did meditation…dialed J/HS. I was laughing my head off within 30 minutes. That is progress compared to what I used to experience with a meltdown. It used to ruin a whole week-end. Not this chicky…not any more. Maybe progress now is that next meltdown gets put in its place in the car on the way home…maybe the one after that gets taken care of before I leave the office…maybe the one after that gets nipped right there at the scene? It would be fun to see that kind of progress. Thanks for that word, Pam. I like it!
I like it!
December 4th, 2009 at 8:07 pm
Thanks Pam and Laura, and everybody. Such wonderful kind thoughts directed to wonderful kind people. True Extention. Thank-you.
December 5th, 2009 at 2:20 am
Gud eveding luverly wuds! (saturday night here). I beed od a school camp wid by boy – dow catching ub wid you. (blows frenziedly into enormous hanky)… Sub really dice music being played id here … luverly posts = Michelle, lawredce, you still adriad od my computer katrida … Thad -you DoG for doticing my abseds … i’ll just hang oud here reading dill I feel bedder … ad catch up wid da bus. Missed you guys ad also had logsa oppordudidies for forgivdess while havig fud ad camp. oxoxox
December 5th, 2009 at 5:04 am
Al – Sorry you were down under, under the weather!
Hanky Panky indeed!
*snhzz*
(that is the sound of one nose blowing)
December 5th, 2009 at 5:05 am
Here, have some tea – all we have are Canadian things here in the infirmary – better health care anyways, right?
December 5th, 2009 at 6:00 am
Oh dear.. I’ll have the small monks bring over lots of Canadian tea, mint leaves, camphors and kleenex.. lots of kleenex for you, Al… Sorry you’re feeling so bad.
(Guys! Hurry!! She’s been at school camp… you know, CAMP!! Where everyone goes skinny-dipping all night and catches cold — hurry now!! And bring lots of extra blankets! These kids never learn….)
D♡G
December 5th, 2009 at 8:28 am
Yes Laura, That is a good example of Progress not Perfection. It’s one of those don’t get the cart before the horse kinda things.
Yer welcome Ruth-anne.
Al, Here have some hot lemon and honey tea. Hope your better soon.
Anne/Texas, better than American for sure but I heard from a friend of a friend that lives in Al’s neck of the island that they have a good health care system there also. Is that right Al? Or is it just some baseless rumor? :)
December 5th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
(burrowing out from under a pile of the softest kleenex she’s ever used – thank-you DoG). Feeling muuuuch better – thank-you monklings! Tex I’m pretty sure we both have better health care than America – free for all for a start… and you were on the money DoG with the swimming bit! Now I just need to put in a bit of huff’n'puff and catch this blimming bus up.
December 5th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
Tex, I’d lay money on you being an ace at criptic crosswords
December 5th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
Laura TS – I really liked your attitude “not this chicky.. not any more…” – Hugs, D♡G
December 5th, 2009 at 2:16 pm
Glad you’re out from down-under all that kleenex, Al.. it’s a pleasure to see that your nose has cleared up a little :)) =-= D♡G
December 5th, 2009 at 4:10 pm
Cross-words, yes…
cross-word puzzles, eh, so-so!
;D
December 5th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
Al I’m so happy that you’re back checking in at the monastery. I’ve had access to the internet for 12 years but the monastery is my first time in a “chat” room. It’s so interesting connecting with others without their bodies involved. Personalities do come through though and when someone is gone for a while their presence is missed.
So I missed your comments and I’m glad you’re back.
December 5th, 2009 at 5:05 pm
Uh, oh…sorry about the visits from the sniffles. Did you all know you’re beautiful even when you’re blowing your noses? Got any Rudolf The Red-Nosed Reindeer…you folks who know how to post videos…Oh, no…Gene Autry…he was the other cowboy growing up…the sub when Roy Rogers wasn’t around…
Hugs!
December 5th, 2009 at 10:12 pm
I love you guys !
December 6th, 2009 at 2:03 am
Hi, all. Bringing hot French chamomile infusion. Great for feeling better (and for going pee-pee). Some lovely comments here, Laura, Ruth-Anne, Bev, Pam. Glad to see you back, Al. Your camp, wasn’t the weather warm this time of year for you? Or were you in the mountains? Revvie, I just wish we Course students were better ‘n everyone else. I’m afraid it’s probably precisely the opposite! Well, gotta love us, nevertheless…
(Really messed up my previous attempt at this message. Hope an Angel of the Mists will help me out… If so, many thanks.)
December 6th, 2009 at 3:03 am
Thanks Bev – it’s good to be back! i kinda wonder ( like Anil in post on “my ACIM story”) whether what i contribute is meaningful/helpful/ wanted (lotta ego in there!) and am learning to trust that if I’m moved to share then someone somewhere will join with me on some level. I feel so bolstered by everyone else’s contributions here and am particularly humbled by the calibre of love mixed with wit that is so obvious in all the rooms here.
12 years ago in my very first ( and last – until i ventured here) experiance in a chat room within minutes I was told to ’shut the f***k up’. Just crushed me – with my isolation issues yaddayadda – and I never ventured back. So for me, being here at all is a big deal … and yep I reap the forgiveness lessons of that gladly!
December 6th, 2009 at 3:20 am
People can be so effing mean – even more so on-line!
What I contribute is here meaningless – people are all at different “levels” of learning…
So, like the Course says, it’s like language to a baby…the words are meaningless symbols, twice removed from reality.
The expression of love I think, is what counts, and is never wasted, and is always maximal.
I was going to add a hiccup, or a pony, but you see, sometimes even I can be serious!
December 6th, 2009 at 3:21 am
i missed ya too al …. you are WONDERFUL and much loved !
thanks for the chamomile tea Bernard but i think its making me sleepy
December 6th, 2009 at 3:27 am
Giggling … YA’LL so damn wonderful round here. mostly I like it and occassionally my ego throws a vinegar hissy and can’t quite believe it’s real … Oh God did i just say that? Freuadian feau pas
December 6th, 2009 at 3:32 am
Tex I am learning to trust exactly that so yabadabadoo to you! (with maximal love of course) You’re a yummy gummy bear! In a Mounty uniform – right?
December 6th, 2009 at 3:40 am
Finally, somebody understands me!
Yaba-daba-dudley-do-right -indeed!
December 6th, 2009 at 9:13 am
Al, I LOVE you being here and reading your posts. I have never been involved in blog or chat connections like this on the internet either. My DH (husband) used to blog alot and I didn’t get it (forgiveness lesson-learned!). Now I’m the one. We are all one…hee hee.
December 6th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
Al: I think we all wonder “am I just posting Shxt?”… it’s part of putting words ‘out there’ for everyone to see. You can’t see the happy relief on their faces or hear their laughter, or their disgusted *sigh*… So, what a wonderful way to look at your (my) own perceptions, as you say (such a wise-one you are)… D♡G
December 6th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
TX: I love ya, my silly “Yaba-daba-dudley-do-right”
Bernard: Thanks muchos for the chamomile. Yummmm. Soothing, that’s for sure.
I’m with you, Winnie… chamomile makes me a bit sleepy. My gramma always told me that sleep is good when you need to heal. Guess that’s why I do so much of it!!
Kendall: I love your sharing…
Laura: I looked high and low for a Gene Autry Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer … all were too muffled to post. But I had fun searching around for it! Maybe someone else will find the perfect one for you. Let’s hope, eh?
Bev: {{Hugs}} (I missed Al too)
D♡G
December 6th, 2009 at 6:49 pm
Debbi…you are the Bomb…DOG Bomb…for looking for that Rudolph, just for little ‘ole me. I’m touched. But save your fingers now. I was more on a trip down memory lane than fondness. Instead, let’s just all hum Rudolph to ourselves. After all, we DO make beautiful music together, don’t we? (I’ve been trying to hear that ancient song the Son sings to his Father when I go into the mind…it still eludes me. I keep saying…Jesus said Listen…listen…but I don’t hear. Anyone ever hear that song?)
Ancient song to you, Debbi!
Hugs! Laura
December 6th, 2009 at 6:56 pm
Laura: I believe I may have found that ‘ancient song’ (hee hee) for you.. Love, from D♡G Bomb… ::::giggles:::::
December 6th, 2009 at 6:59 pm
Oh bravo Debbi! – excellently timed heheh
December 6th, 2009 at 7:14 pm
Laura: Thank you. What is the Ancient Song supposed to sound like? If it sounds like HS love, then yes, I suppose I have heard it. Or rather felt it. I’m not sure… =-= D♡G
December 6th, 2009 at 7:17 pm
I have never *heard* the song although I listen through the silence every night…
I can’t sleep, so I listen.
All I hear are my own thoughts wanting more, more, more of something I never had in the first place.
Perhaps we are the song….
December 6th, 2009 at 7:23 pm
I reckon it’d be more a feeling than a hearing … and the echo is in those moments of pure connection/ relationship / blissful synchronisation … yep we’re deffinately the song or a note within it without which it wouldn’t be perfect
December 6th, 2009 at 7:24 pm
So there’s Laura’s answer, then. SHE is the song… Lovely.
December 6th, 2009 at 7:35 pm
{sings happily} the hills are alive with the sound of music with songs they have sung for a thousand years… the hills fill my heart…..
December 6th, 2009 at 7:49 pm
…my heart longs to sing every song it hears…
December 7th, 2009 at 3:28 am
Hi Pumpkins, I am back (writes 3 red virtual hearts, pulsating, + a big smile)
posting this I got yesterday in this place, for anyone who is sick/ill and need a reminder of what Love might be. (I have edited a lot – and saw that I have to do it a lot more: now I see more clearly what the structure is, and waht needs to go out and what needs to go in. I am committed to do this daily now – taking the time it takes – so i might not be here as frequently as before.
that does NOT (cries it out from a churchtop) mean that I love you and this place less! (Is not really sure they get it, so sends archangel Gabriel to a mission to shower love-dust everywhere.EVERYwhere, Gabe! (Got it.)
OK – now to the lovely perceptions of Love from children that I found at DU yesterday:They are all adorable, but for me, Terry and Bobby and Billy S H I N E S a bit extra.
Wonderful to be back, all!
What does ‘Love’ mean?
A group of professional people posed this question to a group of 4 to 8
year-olds, ‘What does ‘love’ mean?’
The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have
imagined. See what you think:
‘When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn’t bend over and paint her
toenails anymore.
So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got
arthritis too.. That’s love.’
Rebecca- age 8
‘When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different.
You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.’
Billy – age 4
‘Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and
they go out and smell each other.’
Karl – age 5
‘Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French
fries without making them give you any of theirs.’
Chrissie – age 6
‘Love is what makes you smile when you’re tired.’
Terri – age 4
‘Love is when my mummy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip
before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK.’
Danny – age 7
‘Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing,
you still want to be together and you talk more.
My Mummy and Daddy are like that They look gross when they kiss’
Emily – age 8
‘Love is what’s in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening
presents and listen.’
Bobby – age 7
‘If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who
you hate,’
Nikka – age 6
‘Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it
everyday.’
Noelle – age 7
‘Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still
friends even after they know each other so well.’
Tommy – age 6
‘During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at
all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling.
He was the only one doing that. I wasn’t scared anymore.’
Cindy – age 8
‘My mummy loves me more than anybody
You don’t see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night.’
Clare – age 6
‘Love is when Mummy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken.’
Elaine-age 5
‘Love is when Mummy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is
handsomer than Robert Redford.’
Chris – age 7
‘Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all
day’
Mary Ann – age 4
‘I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes
and has to go out and buy new ones.’
Lauren – age 4
‘When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars
come out of you.’ (what an image)
Karen – age 7
‘Love is when Mummy sees Daddy on the toilet and she doesn’t think it’s
gross.’
Mark – age 6
‘You really shouldn’t say ‘I love you’ unless you mean it. But if you mean
it, you should say it a lot. People forget.’
Jessica – age 8
And the final one — Author and lecturer Leo Buscaglia once talked about a
contest he was asked to judge.
The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring child.
The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an
elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife.
Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman’s
yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there.
When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbour, the little boy
said,
‘Nothing, I just helped him cry’
December 7th, 2009 at 3:31 am
Oh yes. Realise that someone who does not know me will not understand that when i say “edit” I was talking about my manuscript: I have taken a week off from the Monastery to do just that.
December 7th, 2009 at 3:52 am
Ninakins! [[[[{hug}]]]] -you’ve been so missed here!Your unique brand of silliness and lovliness is always so refreshing … LOVE that you’re back! Good that it’s been productive for you though… do we get to share in the finished product?
Nikka sounds pretty wise but Bobby’s should be put up in giant neons in every mall in the world this month. ‘Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings comith wisdom’ – so true and so funny.
December 7th, 2009 at 3:59 am
“Little stars come out of you..”
Nina – right, what an image -
And glad you are back!
December 7th, 2009 at 4:08 am
The finished product will hopefully be published. It’s my story of finding Jesus inside when the demons were at its worst, and how through His lovingwise assistance I learned to have a new way of perceiving horror. It also shares case-stories,poems,dramas ( the “played” ones)and images from my patients and myself, showing a very consistent metaphoric cosmos when it comes to themes and images – it’s like when you read fairytales from all over the world and recognize that they are all about waking up.
And if it won’t be published, at least it has helped me tremendously: finding the images and stories that are “mine” has helped me see clearly, and truly appreciate PLAY as divine.
If anybody feels curious and would like to read the introduction, please ask Emm or Jane-admin for my email address.
(Edit/Reminder: Please do not post links in the cloister, or use “dot” and “com” to write out links. Thank you.)
December 7th, 2009 at 1:57 pm
hugs Nina ! we missed you … how exciting for you this current project must be…Thanks for the kids quotes / cuteness must be the order of the day today
December 7th, 2009 at 5:41 pm
Hi Nina, Love the love post.
December 7th, 2009 at 10:25 pm
So this is where everyone has been…
This is my first chat room experience too!
Al…I’m so glad you’re over your cold and that you said ‘She climbed out from the softest pile of tissues Debbi gave you. Can you forgive me for wondering what gender you were. Call me ACIM Barbie.
Kendall..when you used DH to refer to your husband…is that the chat room lingo for husband? I noticed in Debbie the Bomb’s pic gallery she used DH for her husband but at the time I thought it was shorthand for D Debbi’s H husband.
Nina love the love post too. I’m coruscating in my love dust you sprinkled. The new one for me was the ” little stars come out of you” What was DU short for in your post about where you’d been?
December 7th, 2009 at 10:43 pm
Michele – DH is internet-speak for “Dear Husband” or alternately, “Dick Head”…
DW is “Dear Wife” and DS is “Dear Sister”, etc. It’s just so we don’t have to continually type out “my husband this” or “my husband that”… cause they’re always doing SOMETHING to talk about aren’t they? In my mind I have said “DickHead” so much that it’s stuck there. As I recall, this was my very first dog-bomb I dropped here at the Monastery… and was in SO much trouble. hee hee
Did I really just say WAS? No. wait. maybe it was the skirt. Don’t recall.
Affectionately,
D♡G Bomb
December 8th, 2009 at 1:33 am
Hi Michele -
I’ve never felt bold enough to post in the infirmary (or the Grotto for that matter ;)), but have to, have to say – that someone who uses the word “coruscating” cannot, cannot be ACIM Barbie :)
And I thought I had a good vocabulary ;)… (what does the word mean anyway ?). I feel like an ACIM Barbie ;) (or I guess ACIM Ken – is Ken the male equivalent of Barbie ?)
Debbi..
(not at a Mac today…. but I have/had a thought about this whole DH thing… will write you on that later… got to run to a meeting).
Ciao,
Anil
December 8th, 2009 at 4:57 am
Coruscating = sparkling … and yeah i had to look it up. Blonde and gorgeous you may be Michelle – butcha no barbie bimbo!
December 8th, 2009 at 4:59 am
Oh and DU is short for gary’s book disappearance of the Universe and Nina was refering to the DU online group – I’m guessing the yahoo one. And forgive me for putting too msny ll’s in your name.
December 8th, 2009 at 8:55 am
I just saw the pink glove video had made its way here, and it reminded me of another little musing from my current life illusion which kinda fits here at the Infirmary.
When I was about 15, I volunteered to be a candy-striper at that very same Providence Hospital in Portland. In the interview, when they asked me why I wanted to do that job, I was too naive to realize my answer was supposed to be altruistic. I said that when I helped people, it made me feel good about me. The interviewer humphed a little, made an education/judgmental comment about how I was here to help the patients not myself, and let me continue into the job.
Anyway, once I got to the Course, I found that I was onto something back then. If you do something because it makes you joyful, it’s the right thing to do. And the goals/opinions/social engineering that folks in the world hand you to follow is usually a load of baloney. Nothing the world believes is true.
December 8th, 2009 at 11:32 am
Barbie is a bimbo?????? I thought she was excruciatingly New-Age for her time… heh heh
December 8th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
Anil: Nice to see you whispering in the Infirmary… and you are certainly most welcome in the Grotto, if you are brave enough… (Just kidding – It’s mostly just the ‘blowin off steam’ kind of silliness there.. and friendship.) That nice word that finds itself everywhere in La Monastere Beloved. Friendship. Can’t wait to hear your words on ‘DH’… You’re not at a Mac today? How DO you survive it? LOL
D♡G
December 8th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
Katrina: Your words “If you do something because it makes you joyful, it’s the right thing to do.”
plunked themselves right down hard on my lap and won’t leave… I try to shake them off and ‘do’ something ‘other’..
and end up right back here…
Thank you so much for your story. D♡G
December 8th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
One of my favourite things that Ken says is “to maximize our pleasure and minimize our pain” hmmmm i guess that`s what normal people do :)
nice to see you here Anil xxxoxoxo
December 8th, 2009 at 10:34 pm
Hi Anil ~
I got so much joy and happiness out of your post to me. And I’m glad my error seemed to pull you out to stand up for me and whisper here. What a sweetheart you are! Anil sounds like an East Indian name…are you? and I’m curious too now about your DH theories. Quite looing forward to seeing more whispers from you in any room you feel like exploring. It’s so odd that I was on this rebuilt site for a long while before I even opened one of the monastery rooms. I don’t remember if the old hacked in site before this one even had rooms. Oh…speaking of great click here. I don’t know if you’ve ever been there and I have a sense not many monklings have as there are very few whispers in it. At the very right hand top of the home page on this site is the figure of the Monk in his red robes. If you click on it you get his profile!! I just loved reading a bit about his personal background. Let me know if you’ve already been there done that. xoxoxxo Michele
Hi Al ~
Not to worry about the extra L’s. Thanks for giving me all the lingo tips. DU was The book that brought me back to the Course. Like many a youthful flower child seeker in the 70’s I had all three editions (text,workbook,manual for teachers) of the course back then on my bookshelf. I just couldn’t get into it at that time. The words God Jesus and Holy Spirit weren’t the direction I wanted to explore. I was into all the other cultures Wisdom ways back then. I love how you whisper here…child to skate-park taking and all. I had my Goddess group days too back in the late 80’s early 90’s. We had a circle and would go away for all the cross quarter days, solstices and equinoxes. We celebrated and co-created rituals and had great feasts.
I remember how once you wrote how you loved the course and how it could stand up to whatever you threw against it or something like that and I agreed in my mind that’s how it is for me.
Hi Katrina ~
I so loved your candy stripe story above. Amazing you actually worked there! I look forward to have the chance, in the hopefully not to distant future, to tell my breast cancer surviving daughter about your time there.
“Anyway, once I got to the Course, I found that I was onto something back then. If you do something because it makes you joyful, it’s the right thing to do. And the goals/opinions/social engineering that folks in the world hand you to follow is usually a load of baloney. Nothing the world believes is true.” so true my friend
December 9th, 2009 at 10:02 am
A news article from yesterday by Robert Lanza M.D.
Does Death Exist? New Theory Says No
Many of us fear death. We believe in death because we have been told we will die. We associate ourselves with the body, and we know that bodies die. But a new scientific theory suggests that death is not the terminal event we think.
One well-known aspect of quantum physics is that certain observations cannot be predicted absolutely. Instead, there is a range of possible observations each with a different probability. One mainstream explanation, the “many-worlds” interpretation, states that each of these possible observations corresponds to a different universe (the ‘multiverse’). A new scientific theory – called biocentrism – refines these ideas. There are an infinite number of universes, and everything that could possibly happen occurs in some universe. Death does not exist in any real sense in these scenarios. All possible universes exist simultaneously, regardless of what happens in any of them. Although individual bodies are destined to self-destruct, the alive feeling – the ‘Who am I?’- is just a 20-watt fountain of energy operating in the brain. But this energy doesn’t go away at death. One of the surest axioms of science is that energy never dies; it can neither be created nor destroyed. But does this energy transcend from one world to the other?
Consider an experiment that was recently published in the journal Science showing that scientists could retroactively change something that had happened in the past. Particles had to decide how to behave when they hit a beam splitter. Later on, the experimenter could turn a second switch on or off. It turns out that what the observer decided at that point, determined what the particle did in the past. Regardless of the choice you, the observer, make, it is you who will experience the outcomes that will result. The linkages between these various histories and universes transcend our ordinary classical ideas of space and time. Think of the 20-watts of energy as simply holo-projecting either this or that result onto a screen. Whether you turn the second beam splitter on or off, it’s still the same battery or agent responsible for the projection.
According to Biocentrism, space and time are not the hard objects we think. Wave your hand through the air – if you take everything away, what’s left? Nothing. The same thing applies for time. You can’t see anything through the bone that surrounds your brain. Everything you see and experience right now is a whirl of information occurring in your mind. Space and time are simply the tools for putting everything together.
Death does not exist in a timeless, spaceless world. In the end, even Einstein admitted, “Now Besso” (an old friend) “has departed from this strange world a little ahead of me. That means nothing. People like us…know that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.” Immortality doesn’t mean a perpetual existence in time without end, but rather resides outside of time altogether.
This was clear with the death of my sister Christine. After viewing her body at the hospital, I went out to speak with family members. Christine’s husband – Ed – started to sob uncontrollably. For a few moments I felt like I was transcending the provincialism of time. I thought about the 20-watts of energy, and about experiments that show a single particle can pass through two holes at the same time. I could not dismiss the conclusion: Christine was both alive and dead, outside of time.
Christine had had a hard life. She had finally found a man that she loved very much. My younger sister couldn’t make it to her wedding because she had a card game that had been scheduled for several weeks. My mother also couldn’t make the wedding due to an important engagement she had at the Elks Club. The wedding was one of the most important days in Christine’s life. Since no one else from our side of the family showed, Christine asked me to walk her down the aisle to give her away.
Soon after the wedding, Christine and Ed were driving to the dream house they had just bought when their car hit a patch of black ice. She was thrown from the car and landed in a banking of snow.
“Ed,” she said “I can’t feel my leg.”
She never knew that her liver had been ripped in half and blood was rushing into her peritoneum.
After the death of his son, Emerson wrote “Our life is not so much threatened as our perception. I grieve that grief can teach me nothing, nor carry me one step into real nature.”
Whether it’s flipping the switch for the Science experiment, or turning the driving wheel ever so slightly this way or that way on black-ice, it’s the 20-watts of energy that will experience the result. In some cases the car will swerve off the road, but in other cases the car will continue on its way to my sister’s dream house.
Christine had recently lost 100 pounds, and Ed had bought her a surprise pair of diamond earrings. It’s going to be hard to wait, but I know Christine is going to look fabulous in them the next time I see her.
December 9th, 2009 at 11:51 am
Dearest Emm. I have been sitting at my keyboard for the past few minutes, just absorbing your whisper and wanting very much to reach out and hug you and all your family. First I will say that because I had experiences during my life that, at the time, convinced me that there was life after death, I never had any question that everyone just moved on to another ‘plane’. In fact, I spoke with both my mother and father a number of times after their ‘deaths’ and was able to finally put to rest all my anger and pain from what I had seen as ‘bad’ upbringing by having those discussions with them. Of course, once I started with ACIM, I had to revisit all that and I was able to forgive in a different way. But since they, too, are part of the illusion, then to me they are as real as I think I am—-until I need not see it as that anymore. So I continue to believe that until the time comes when I am able to ‘let go’ of the illusion, I will see them as surely as I see my Brothers here every day. And I believe that you will see your Christine and she will be wearing those beautiful earrings. And she will be waiting for you and her husband with open arms. Love to you and your brother-in-law and to your family and above all, to Christine. Donna
December 9th, 2009 at 8:09 pm
Dearest Emm…my mental arms embrace you.
December 9th, 2009 at 8:27 pm
Emm- thank you for sharing the article and your story. Even though we “know” this world is an illusion, still, I don’t know how I’d feel if my sister suddenly died in a car accident. I think I’d be feeling like it was quite “real”. Sending you a warm hug- {{{Emm}}}. love, lisa
December 9th, 2009 at 8:46 pm
I’m sorry for the confusion everyone. This is just an article I copied and pasted. It’s not a personal story of mine.
Love
Emm
December 9th, 2009 at 8:53 pm
Hi Emm, Thank you for letting us know what you and your family are going through and sharing with us. My thoughts are with you with love and comfort. Love, Kendall
December 9th, 2009 at 9:04 pm
No problemo Emm…love, Kendall
December 9th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
I’m thinking that Emm sent all of our loving thoughts on to Christine’s brother and family.. and Christine.. Such compassion is never lost. What a loving group this is….
December 9th, 2009 at 9:19 pm
And that’s the reason you are so aptly chosen – Lovely Mother – we are blessed indeed!
December 9th, 2009 at 9:47 pm
Debbi is right, I’m sure the people that needed the hugs got them. That’s a nice thought.
December 10th, 2009 at 3:31 am
About the death thing –
When someone (in Hospice) dies, they family will sometimes look at the body and say “That doesn’t look like them at all!”
And I always answer “That’s because (that body there) – it’s NOT them!”
What made them who they are – that part already left!
Everyone loves that. It’s very comforting.
December 11th, 2009 at 1:40 am
Hi Michele -
Glad you liked that post. I was very worried that I might have posted in haste, and not been clear (or would get misunderstood).
(Usually, I only post once for every three or four “posting thoughts” that come up in my mind). Yes, Anil is an East Indian name. Was born and brought up in India. College in the US. and worked there for many years (and in Japan) before returning to India.
I have clicked that Monk profile icon before (but will go check it out again after this post to make sure its the same one you’re referring to… there’s also a great entry of Monk’s called “My ACIM story” which is amazing. (and where Winnie is giving us a serial installment of her ACIM story – (Winnie, is the next installment up already ?? :)…)
(Al – many thanks for looking up corsucating…(and lovely gallery you have with some sparkling pictures…)
So many posts to catch up on. I feel like Lawrence (and must learn that there is nothing to catch-up on :)).
Deb… oops, Mother Superior… am back on the Mac. Maybe we should call you Mother♡Superior ?
Love,
A
December 12th, 2009 at 4:19 pm
Hi Anil ~
Yep that’s the same profile you’ve already read and I’m excited to read the my ACIM journey post of Monks too. Thank you so much for mentioning it!! Do you know the best way to find it?
Once in 3 or 4 posting thoughts would probably serve me well here too. I’ve been on my own forgiveness/purpose/ego thoughts awareness journey of discovery here in these various rooms and watching my mixed bag process of various takes on what I whisper and reveal. Right minded love and tremendous gratitude mixed in with embarrasment and not good enoughness. It’s a comfort to remember My specialness thoughts here in the world have to be seen to be undone. I’ve thought i should change my name to oh so special michele.
I’m in Chapter 11 God or the Ego in the text with this my third time through it, always like a first read and it’s so helpful with where I’m at in this questioning my motives/purpose journey.
It’s given me tremendous peace and comfort in general and is helpful to understanding how important it is to be willing to look at the ego’s thought system with perfect honesty. It’s given me alot of insight into the recent troubling issue I was experiencing with my daughter and I’ve come to peace around this temporary bump in the road.
So enough about peace, love, viligilance for the ingeniously nefarious ego and let me share some of my specialness India story. I love India and went there for the first time in my late teens in the late 60’s as a flower child with my daughter’s father. We got married in Simla in a full on 3 day Hindu ceremony (with one day of rest in between) arranged by the Aria Samagh sp? They arranged for a Brahmin priest to come all the way from New Delhi to perform the ceremony for us. The groom rode on the horse to the temple, I was with the women getting henna tattoed hands… the full bit.
Next visit was a three month stay as a touring Kathak dancer based in Calcutta with my teacher Chitresh Das. We had all studied for seven years at the Ali Akbar Khan College of Music where we got to enjoy having a very young (heck we all were)Zakir Hussain play with us. Zakir ended up marrying an American student, Toni a fellow dancer and student of Chitresh’s. Every year Chitresh would tour solo in the winter touring season of music and dance festivals and would tell people he would bring us when he thought we were ready.
When we did come for the first tour we knew we were going to be viewed very critically. We stayed at his parent’s wonderful home that was also a dance and music school. We rehearsed with the Ali Akbahr College musicians we brought with us as well as the local Indian musicians we added to our small orchestra. All these producers came to our first concert and after the performance we were booked all over major cities in India. My favorite highlight was performing for the Maharaj of Jodphur at an outdoor full moon evening performance. All townspeople and surrounding villagers were invited. The setting was straight out of an Indian minature as the Maharaja and his special guests sat under his little marble outdoor seating area and everyone else sat on carpets laid out on his lawns. We revised our choreography to enter desending down the back steps of his palace onto the stage they put up for us. Afterwards we were invited to dine with him in the palace.
We did several tours and as the years progressed in our length of study we came to understand “our” Zakir was as famous in India and is to this day, as Michael Jackson was at the height of his popularity.
What part of India do you live in now Anil? Do you like Indian Classical Music? Kathak? I love Oddisi classical dance style too. Who are your favorite Indian film makers? Have you seen Sita gets the Blues? It’s an animated modern retelling of the Ramayana told with a slant. It’s superb!!! You can only buy it online I understand. I got to see it at an independent film theatre that showed it for a very limited engagement.
Lawerence is right…don’t worry about getting back to posts or to me. I’m so happy to have an East Indian brother amongst our monastery. Much love to you Anil!
December 16th, 2009 at 1:03 am
Hi Michele -
It’s been ages since your post – although you very kindly said not to worry about not getting back to posts or to you… I did think about it every day :(. Mostly, because you had asked some questions that were left hanging. ( and one of my (ego ?) pet peeves – is leaving questions unanswered :(, or keeping people waiting, or even the feeling of it. Ego, ego and more ego…:))
Anyway, re: your questions, not living in India any more, although the bulk of our business is still there. Currently a Hong Kong resident, and my wife and I are also in Singapore a lot as I look to set-up a company here. (My wife is from Brazil and had the dickens of a time living in India – even before we got married a few years back, I had decided to move out of India, mainly because my parents who are now US citizens don’t have any plans to return to India either.)
Not much of a fan of Indian classical music – although one South Indian Classical Music movie – Shankarabharanam – will always stay etched in my childhood memory – the singing was amazing, and the story-line too. I saw it when I was perhaps 10. Would love to watch it again.
Thanks for writing such a substantial post. I had no idea you even got married the traditional Indian way !! That was quite a surprise to read about.
I’m cutting back on reading, breathing, sleeping ACIM stuff. Monk is right – it’s a recipe for disaster ;) (although it’s hard to stop now, because those darn ACIM thoughts keep buzzing in my brain all day long !!. I think some of them even make it into my dreams at night).
I’m going through some massive Chapter 11 self-therapy. Do I really believe in God ? or is it just that I like to think I do ?? God or the Ego is a good chapter heading that Ken, Helen and Bill came up with. Am also wondering if I can find an ACIM group to visit with each week or each month in these parts of the world. It’s getting difficult for me these days to communicate on-line.
Take care, and be well and the best of life n love to you and all the monklings here…
Cheers,
Anil
December 16th, 2009 at 7:16 am
Hi Michele -
Wrote you a long(ish) note with responses to the questions above, but it’s awaiting moderation :). (Probably just as well – since I’m not too happy about what I wrote – nothing bad in it – just too dis-jointed :)
Cheers,
Anil
December 16th, 2009 at 11:14 pm
Anil, I know what you mean about reading, breathing and sleeping acim stuff, but it is something I have no control over, without the interplay of life as we we think it is, then the course doesn’t make much sense. So, enjoy and experience what this dream has to teach us, and if the back drop is the course, so be it. If one is of a spiritual inclination, then if it wasn’t the course it would be something else. I became a member of The Self realization fellowship in 1974. And, it’s founder Paramahansa Yogananda is still important to me as a Christ like figure. After his death, Daya Matta became the head, and it was she, I do believe, that showed us around.
I had driven from Pittsburgh, Pa. to California with a friend. We had been in the Air force together. I was a security policeman and so was he. After 3 years of doing my duty, and with 1 year left, I said I wouldn’t carry a weapon any longer. I told them I loved my country and would help them in other ways, but no more guns. My friend was a conscientious objector, and we became the best of friends. Needless to say that refusing to carry a gun during wartime didn’t go over very well.
I just want to let you know, that in your travels you will be kept in our hearts. It doesn’t matter if we believe in God, God believes in us. It is all smoke and mirrors my brother until it isn’t. To keep in touch with course stuff get some of Ken’s and Jamie’s classes, and just let life unfold. It is going to do it anyway. I hope some of this made sense. Thank you for sharing, I hope you and your wife have the best of times, stay safe.
God bless us every one
December 16th, 2009 at 11:30 pm
What? Reading, breathing, sleeping ACIM stuff? {Looks around innocently for 100th time today}
December 17th, 2009 at 12:54 am
Hi Anil ~
You global citizen you!
If your wife was brought up in a Brazilian culture and not an East Indian ex pat or heritage one I would imagine dickens of a time was there adjusting to India. I love Hong Kong and really like Singapore. I was there fairly recently after not being there since the late 60’s in 07. I love all the diversity of cultures and humanity there.
Lawerence has a nice take on To ACIM or Not ACIM. I like his line…”it’s all smoke and mirrors till it’s not. I do have a link, which of course posting here is verbotten now, to ACIM study groups all over the world. One of the things that came out of my daughter’s journey with breast cancer is her dad, has become a Course student. I left two books there for him when he flew over to be with her for the chemo. One was Gary Renard’s DU and the other Brent Haskell’s Journey Beyond Words. Then he wanted to read ACIM. I mention this as he’s been living with his wife and son just outside Chaing Mai Thailand and I found a Course study group for him there from that website. He travels alot and his family is back here in the states while his son is going to school here.
So if you want to locate some, I’ll bet you’ll have a couple of choices in each area. I don’t know if you’ve already been taking Monk’s classes, and if you have you know you can download them and listen to them anywhere.
Pacing and taking the time we need, balance, rejuvenation, life’s simple pleasures, and being normal here in the dream are important and yes that inner looking/questioning our motives ect is part of an aware spiritual life that just comes with the territory . I have such a nice feeling getting to communicate with you Anil and our other ACIM friends here and thank you for including me in your wanderings in these rooms. I join Lawerence’s wish for you and your wife’s happy and safe travels.
Look forward to our next chat!
December 17th, 2009 at 10:14 am
Lawrnece, I joined also in those years. LOVED the Yogi as a Jesus like you. And in a dream – a completely vivid one – I met Yogananda at the bus stop of Rykkinn. he was in glowing orange,a dn I have never forgotten the glance between us – being swept into the One Heart.
That was nice to remember, Lawrence!
December 17th, 2009 at 10:57 pm
I read Autobiography of a Yogi a couple months before I found the Course, and it was a very, very important stepping stone for me. There is something so cool about Yogananda and his posse that I just love. H and I’s closest friends (our godparents actually, for lack of a better word) are an older couple who are devotees of the Self-Realization Fellowship, so it’s never too far away.
December 19th, 2009 at 12:14 am
Nina, why am I not surprised you have a Yogananda connection. The thing that sticks in my mind about him has always been his eyes. He was an incarnation of love, and it showed in his eyes. I could see the look between you and Yogananda when you described your dream, thank you for that!
Nick, his posse was bad ass. He was the last of that particular line of gurus. If you remember in the book, Babaji and Jesus were working together to help mankind get back to source. I remember too Yogananda speaking of just sitting and holding Jesus hand and the beauty of that experience.
I have an 18 hour long unabridged audio copy read by Ben Kingsly. I mean to tell you it is like having God read it. I was thinking of begging him to narrate the course. That book was my stepping stone as well but it was almost 40 years ago. I went from a prejudice and angry young man, to a young man who was to search for a way home in spiritual books the rest of his life.
But, the bus finally stopped when I was introduced to the course after reading DU by Gary Renard, about 3 years ago now. I think it was Al who said she threw everything she could at the course, to find a crack or something that didn’t ring true, I did too. I am no scholar, nor an educated man, but I am my Fathers Son. And like the prodigal son, I know my way home when push comes to shove, and the closer I get to it. I am as close to home as I am going to get, until I awaken from this dream. And, that only happens with a little help from my friends. Your godparents sound like some really cool people Nick.
There are videos online if you search google etc. you might be surprised what you find on Yogananda. I have found just about all the videos I could on ACIM, and then the site comes out with all the ACIM history and all. lol O well!
God bless us every one
December 19th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
This place could use a pretty tree – how about a nice pink one for all the DIVAs here?
December 19th, 2009 at 7:02 pm
“I’m ready for my closeup Mr DeMille”
December 19th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
OK, dah-ling….
Here’s a close up on the tree…it was put up in a nursing home by a group of Hospice Nurses….pink feathers and ribbons….
December 19th, 2009 at 7:24 pm
Utterly Lovely My Sweet !
December 19th, 2009 at 7:28 pm
TX: The tree is lovely, so beautiful… and did you notice it matches my outfit? heh hehe .. You da PRO picture-putter-upper now!!
December 19th, 2009 at 7:32 pm
December 19th, 2009 at 7:42 pm
MotherMom: of course I noticed – pink is your colour….you were made for it, and it for you
Ruth-Anne: get by with a little help from my blogging friends, eh?
December 19th, 2009 at 7:44 pm
Michele – you are always so nice, and supportive….
December 19th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
TexAnne, Y’all are my best friends, eh.
I spend more time here than anywhere except work.
I am so grateful for the fun and advice and help and wisdom and our Monk.
I am grateful.
Hey and the Cowboys are kicking the Saint’s A@#!!!!
GO COWBOYS
December 19th, 2009 at 8:11 pm
Cowboys kicking Saint’s A@#!?? Is that like. supposed to happen?
December 19th, 2009 at 8:13 pm
It could happen.
December 19th, 2009 at 8:19 pm
What I should have said was, IT IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW!
YES!
December 19th, 2009 at 8:20 pm
3 touchdown in 3 quarters.
Romo Redeemed (!)
December 19th, 2009 at 8:22 pm
Great. That’s all we need is ONE MORE REASON and they’ll cancel Mardi Gras. Hmphfff. {{Go Cowboys}}
December 19th, 2009 at 9:32 pm
Thank-you Jesus.
You really ARE a Cowboys Fan….
December 19th, 2009 at 9:33 pm
Well, I guess I wasn’t all that fond of Mardi Gras…. Loved the VERY last play by the Saints. What sportsmanship!!
December 19th, 2009 at 10:41 pm
All that sackin’ & fumblin’ shoulda been worth somethin, but nooooo. Sending condolence flowers to all Saints’ fans here in the Infirmary (where you probly are right now).. It’s always sad when an undefeated team takes it in the shorts. :( And here’s a nice green lollipop too. They’re my favorite, I hope you like them too.
Congratulations Dallas fans.. played the vidjo “With A Little Help From My Friends” (above, from Ruth-Anne) in Cowboy-honor.
Love,
Mother
December 19th, 2009 at 11:25 pm
Just one more Beatle song before I go to bed. Fiona Apple does this and I think it is so incredible. I would love to know what y’all think about it.
Nighty-night.
December 19th, 2009 at 11:33 pm
For Al
Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup,
They slither while they pass, they slip away across the universe
Pools of sorrow, waves of joy are drifting through my open mind,
Possessing and caressing me.
Jai guru de va om
Nothing’s gonna change my world,
Nothing’s gonna change my world.
Images of broken light which dance before me like a million eyes,
That call me on and on across the universe,
Thoughts meander like a restless wind inside a letter box they
Tumble blindly as they make their way
Across the universe
Jai guru de va om
Nothing’s gonna change my world,
Nothing’s gonna change my world.
Sounds of laughter shades of earth are ringing
Through my open views inviting and inciting me
Limitless undying love which shines around me like a
Million suns, it calls me on and on
Across the universe
Jai guru de va om
Nothing’s gonna change my world,
Nothing’s gonna change my world
December 19th, 2009 at 11:35 pm
{{{hugs}}}
December 19th, 2009 at 11:41 pm
I love it Ruth-Anne – isn’t that from Pleasantville? I loved that movie.. an important flick. Fiona’s awesome, isn’t she.
December 19th, 2009 at 11:50 pm
I don’t know where it’s from. I never saw Pleasantville. Yah I like Fiona Apple a lot.
It reminded me of my right mind and my ego thoughts. That’s what I thought of. I’m pretty sure I recognize some of those thoughts.
A LOT of them…..
Love to you.
Be back soon.
December 19th, 2009 at 11:57 pm
Oh yah and I just wanted to say that the “Little Help From My Friends” was for Lawrence. His post #239 was what led me to post it. (that seems like a LONG time ago)lol
God Bless Us EveryOne.
December 20th, 2009 at 3:26 am
Ruth-Anne: Lovely song – Many levels. Nothing’l çhange the world (for the better) Nothing can change my world (state of peace when in my right mind). God’s laws are changeless.
It’s just AWESOME how much music is put on here … I guess hearing people are really into music huh? I’m finding, possibly the first time ever, that here it’s a point of joining, not separating. I get a thrill every time … no matter what the song , so long as the lyric are there … so thanks eveyone who submits their choices – it’s a real honest to goodness treat.
December 20th, 2009 at 3:29 am
Michele – ya doing some wils and witty stuff on here – you an Texas could go into vaudiville – just for our entertainment yeah?
December 20th, 2009 at 9:07 am
hugs to all here { just caught up } and many thanks for the videos and pretty pink Christmas trees …..It was most enjoyable reading about everyone`s lives – Michele and Anil and Lawrence. I love getting to know my friends better
December 20th, 2009 at 6:58 pm
My dear friend Lawrence –
Many moons ago, you wrote me a beautiful note, and it has played within me ever since. Thank you, thank you, thank you — it was what I needed to hear that day (and every day since). My gratitude to you goes beyond any words I could write. Like Michele said – the phrase “it’s all smoke and mirrors till it isn’t…” stood out, and this other passage —
“it is something I have no control over, without the interplay of life as we we think it is, then the course doesn’t make much sense. So, enjoy and experience what this dream has to teach us, and if the back drop is the course, so be it.” is also so true. Without the interplay of life as we think it is, the course can’t teach us….
I remember first noticing your posts through your signature sign-off that many of our fellowship here love, and that was even further back in time, and then as the weeks passed, I noticed that the sign-off brought tears to my eyes, without any warning – they would suddenly take me by surprise… and then I found myself reading your posts more and more slowly and deliberately, and boy, am I glad I did….
Thank you also for your warm wishes to my wife and me… I could ramble on and on, but I better stop :)
Hugs,
Anil
ps. This morning I read the “Forgotten Song” First section of chapter 21. Clearly, I”m not on the bus ;)
December 20th, 2009 at 11:15 pm
Ruth-Anne, I am going to attempt to post a video from youtube, Rufus Wainwright singing the Beatles Across The Universe. Al, and everyone else of course, here are the lyrics. Even if the video doesn’t show up the lyrics are relly cool.
Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup,
They slither wildly as they slip away across the universe
Pools of sorrow, waves of joy are drifting through my open mind,
Possessing and caressing me.
Jai guru deva, om
Nothing’s gonna change my world,
Nothing’s gonna change my world.
Nothing’s gonna change my world.
Nothing’s gonna change my world.
Images of broken light which dance before me like a million eyes,
They call me on and on across the universe,
Thoughts meander like a restless wind inside a letter box
They tumble blindly as they make their way
Across the universe
Jai guru deva, om,
Nothing’s gonna change my world,
Nothing’s gonna change my world.
Nothing’s gonna change my world.
Nothing’s gonna change my world.
Sounds of laughter shades of life are ringing
Through my opened ears inciting and inviting me
Limitless undying Love which shines around me like a
million suns, and calls me on and on
Across the universe
Jai guru deva, om,
Nothing’s gonna change my world,
Nothing’s gonna change my world.
Nothing’s gonna change my world.
Nothing’s gonna change my world.
Jai guru deva
Jai guru deva
Jai guru deva
Jai guru deva
From what I found out, Jai guru deva loosly means “I give thanks (victory) (salutation) to Guru Dev (or heavenly teacher), om”.
God bless us every one
December 21st, 2009 at 8:51 am
Anil, I am thankful for this place to meet. I am thankful for your friendship and the love that is ever present here. Bellow is a quote from what you are reading, that I love.
“Beyond the body, beyond the sun and stars, past everything you see and yet somehow familiar, is an arc of golden light that stretches as you look into a great and shining circle. And all the circle fills with light before your eyes. The edges of the circle disappear, and what is in it is no longer contained at all. The light expands and covers everything, extending to infinity forever shining and with no break or limit anywhere. Within it everything is joined in perfect continuity. Nor is it possible to imagine that anything could be outside, for there is nowhere that this light is not.”
Is this not why we study the course? The monk has given us a great gift in a place where only minds and hearts and spirit come to join as one. Yes, there are many rooms but in the other good book it says,: In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you….. John 14:2 The author of the course indeed has prepared a place for us, and it where we meet as one.
Jamie, come back soon you are missed, You have done a beautiful and loving thing in creating this monastery. I hope your travels within bear sweet fruit, and I hope too that one gives you a fruit cake for Christmas.
Anil my friend, if you are reading the Forgotten Song, First section of chapter 21, you haven’t fallen off the bus, you are just in a different time zone! Take care my brother, you take us all with you in your travels.
God bless us every one
December 21st, 2009 at 8:56 am
In the above whisper it is supposed to read: I hope no one gives you a fruit cake for Christmas. The way it reads now is like we all present jamie with a fruit cake as one! You gotta love it!
December 21st, 2009 at 5:16 pm
This is the Winter Solstice/ Yule … and the longest night of the year…
Hence, the shortest day of the year – the sun stands still – *sol~stice*
December 22nd, 2009 at 1:43 am
Lawrence, dear friend -
That’s a wonderful, close to awe-inspiring section from Forgotten Song you’ve quoted…… but…. I like fruit cake ;)
Love,
Anil
December 22nd, 2009 at 4:48 am
♫♪♫♫♪♫
pssssst
Al is having a BD today!
Party in the Grotto – after everyone wakes up, I guess…
I came to the Infirmary to get the “medicinal supplies”
Yeah, that’s it – medicinal supplies!
December 22nd, 2009 at 5:43 am
Ruth Anne,
That video was very, very cool! Thanks for sharing it!!! Lawrence’s didn’t come through here.
Hugs,
Revvie Jean
December 22nd, 2009 at 3:27 pm
A True Story…
This summer, every time I went into Lowe’s, this song came on.
Morning, noon, or night. Therefore, I stopped going to Lowe’s!
December 22nd, 2009 at 7:30 pm
Now I shop at Lowe’s AND I love the song!
Grace is what I needed.
And how ironic, I went in for a light! And a fan.
Was it light, or heat?
December 22nd, 2009 at 7:57 pm
TexAnne, I don’t recall ever hearing this song. It is beautiful. Thank you for falling in love with it and sharing. Hugs….
December 23rd, 2009 at 4:28 pm
I had already fallen in love when I first heard the song….
That’s why I tried to run away!
December 24th, 2009 at 5:49 am
Really enjoyed this song texas – minimalist instuments and clear vocals works well with my ‘ear’ and i could pick up the melody as well as the words. Touched by a texan angel (again).
January 6th, 2010 at 11:48 am
Maybe this is the most suitable place for this – since it is about illness. I am a member of an energy-medicine group on Yahoo, and for some time we have read about a woman who had them most inexplicable symptoms, reminding me of those you might get when you have Post-traumatisk stress-syndom – there’s often a crazy amount of owerwhelm and cortisol/adrenal energy.
Doctors had examined her big time, and found nothing that could be reason wor the strange attacks she was having.
So today her husband posted this – and i am allowed to quote a bit that would interest ACIm’mers:
“Interestingly, 3 days ago X found within her a powerful conviction – that she will not have these episodes again. She said she just felt that enough was enough enough, and there are no reasons in her life to be under such a stress response.
And she hasn’t had one since. She can still feel a bit fragile at times, but those times don’t turn into the full blown episodes that wipe her out, so it sounds like they are losing momentum.
Go decisionmaker!!!
January 6th, 2010 at 2:35 pm
Hi guys.. I have been fighting off a case of bronchitis, successfully I might add… but not feeling my usual self for almost a week now.. A good friend recommended I take some vitamin C & B and I think that’s helping a lot.. Usually when I get any kind of upper respiratory illness going on I’m not even at my computer to check my email, and this time it’s very different, and I am grateful.
Anyway, I could use some chicken soup and hugs.. and maybe a Kleenex or two for the times I am feeling sorry for myself.
Love,
Mother
January 6th, 2010 at 2:46 pm
{{{hugs}}} times a ga-zillion….
Soup *slurp* for days….
Love, love, love and videos…
Please cheer up, Mother….
No cry – you….
January 6th, 2010 at 2:54 pm
I knew something was up. I was just hoping you were having fun instead. Here’s wrapping you around my arms with oodles of love. I just finished a pot of my chicken soup my family loves and I’m ladling the first steaming bowl for you. You cannot not be well so hurry up and be well. I’m bringing you boxes of kleenex, a warm plush slipper, a soft blankie, movies, books, whatever you like.
January 6th, 2010 at 2:59 pm
January 6th, 2010 at 3:01 pm
oh my darling Mother ! please just rest and take it easy… we love you so much ! …. am lighting a candle for you right now in my room …It`s a large round green one i got for Christmas and it has 3 wicks… ok I am lighting the first and that one is that you experience no suffering… the second one – that every mouthful of soup just flows down into you and nourishes every cell…..the third one – that you may never forget for one second just how beloved you are !
January 6th, 2010 at 4:31 pm
MloveM, I see that you are well taken care of so I’ll add my hugs and love and let you know you’ve been missed. Warmest hugs, DD.
January 6th, 2010 at 4:52 pm
Beloved Mother, we were missing you here in the cloister and you were with this bronchitis, but now that we know we are going to take care of you, of course you can count with our hugs, kleenex, warm blankets, chicken soup and all our love. Take care, we need and miss you here. Love, Lisi
January 6th, 2010 at 5:33 pm
thank christ you turned up Lisi .. the chicken soup wick was starting to burn low….
{leaves a large single wild ginger flower in Mother`s best crystal vase for its lovely perfume to sweeten the air]
January 6th, 2010 at 7:17 pm
for you Mother dear
January 6th, 2010 at 7:21 pm
Thank you so much my pretties for all the love, chicken soup, kleenex, hugs, candles, flowers, blankies, movies, books and whatever I’d like!! (A girl could get easily hooked on this kind of caring, and well – I am!!) I am a little better today, and each day. I don’t do well with antibiotics and I’m on some pretty good (strong) ones. Doc is just trying to get me well and keep me out of the hospital. As I said before I am tolerating this surprisingly well.. I hear laughter is good for one’s recovery and we’re never short of that around here!! I had the chicken noodle soup for lunch and will for dinner, too.
Thanks again for all your loving kindnesses!!
Love,
Mother
January 6th, 2010 at 7:28 pm
Oh, Winnie, that piano is just amazing and beautiful!! Thank you so much!!
Love,
Mother
January 6th, 2010 at 7:42 pm
Oh, Mother, who has given us so much
Let us gather round you and touch
that place that ills and pains
to soothe and smooth and rain
our condolences, knowing not what to do,
we shower you with fluffy feathers
that float down and round your head
and form the softest pillow ever made
that cushions you in our love.
Be well.
LTS
January 6th, 2010 at 7:46 pm
M☼M, a little card for you. Hope it makes your heart happy. Hugs, DD. PS: I hope this works Image Shack seems to be a little different now.
January 6th, 2010 at 7:47 pm
Well, it is a little card, isn’t it? Can you squint?
January 6th, 2010 at 7:53 pm
Thank you T.S. Laura.. and DD… so much love.. both
January 6th, 2010 at 8:43 pm
Mother, sending Puffs for gentleness on your little nose and loads of gentle hugs. Hoping that recommendating some magic that works for me is not off limits…I have found putting Vicks on the soles of my feet and covering them with socks, helps with congestion, big time…if congestion is a problem. Please feel better soon.
January 6th, 2010 at 9:40 pm
dearest Mum-
was wondering where you’ve been (and missing you). you are surrounded by many who are taking good care of you, so i’ll just say i love You, and i miss You lots..
Anil
January 6th, 2010 at 11:10 pm
Mom, so I hear you are a little under the weather. The good thing about being sick is it feels so good when your not! It is also nice to have the extra attention, and the truth of that is the love it brings. The soup is good and all the gifts, but it is the love behind it that brings the healing. Get well soon, and much love, I almost forgot Big Hug. I am a hugging kind of guy. (think Steve Martin voice)
God bless us every one
January 6th, 2010 at 11:17 pm
Thank you Marty — Love you all so much BACK… I will be for sure trying out the Vicks trick, thank you. It sounds delightful — I love the smell of Vick’s — and how did you know my favorite tissue is Puffs? They’re so gentle on sore noses, aren’t they… {{;-))
Anil, though I haven’t whisper much, I have read every one of your whispers, and feel the love you give to us all… and the love given to you, and to me..
Steve MartinLawrence, thank you for the big love-hugs… Very nice.Love,
Mother
{{{hugs all around}}} (I’m not catchy)
January 6th, 2010 at 11:18 pm
Dearest Mum ~
(fluffing your pillows with love and seconding that using Tigers Balm/Vicks (not that tiger) on the soles of your lovely feet and wearing socks as you sleep will work wonders)
{{{{Here’s a big hug}}}}}and an old fashioned get well card to join all the other wishes here for your comfort and quick healing.
January 7th, 2010 at 4:32 am
Michele -lol at not THAT Tiger!
MoM – hope your *cough* is better!
We have all missed you around here.
No pranks going on in the Grotto -
just an echo of laughter from times gone by,
And a distant memory of sitting in pie!
(My Monastery Sisters/Brothers once put a slice of pie in my chair, and, well, you can guess the rest…)
January 7th, 2010 at 6:46 am
{{{Hugs Mother}}} Hope you are feeling better today.
Annie
January 7th, 2010 at 7:08 am
Mother, I just saw this – in a minute several very small blue birds will manifest around you and sing a special song for you – directed at bronchial bacterias –
I had the bronchs for about 20 years, now i use EFT and don’t need antibiotics any more- for me a great relief -and that’s the main thing, isn’t it – we do what we feel safe with – get well ,Beloved – {{{Debbi}}}
January 7th, 2010 at 10:49 am
Michele, thank you for the card and all your love…
Texas, that is some poem, made me laugh!! *Watch that chair*
LaAnnie, thanks for the hugs, yes – I’m feeling better today!!
Nina, thanks for the hugs and blue birds.. so sweet
I’m so glad to be feeling better today, coughing has subsided A LOT. No doubt due to all the love and ministrations offered here by my Monastery buddies!!
Love,
Mother
January 7th, 2010 at 12:51 pm
Dear Mom, really happy you are feeling better today. Just came for a moment to see how are you today. I will return in the afternoon for the q&a. A big hug and lots of love, Lisi.
January 7th, 2010 at 2:01 pm
“…And a distant memory of sitting in pie!
(My Monastery Sisters/Brothers once put a slice of pie in my chair, and, well, you can guess the rest…)
True story…
January 7th, 2010 at 3:08 pm
So glad you are feeling better today our darling Mother! Hope you get plenty of rest still… loving you always xoxoxooxo
January 7th, 2010 at 5:37 pm
Just a little update for my kind and supportive friends… Much much better today.. in fact I played a little in the Grotto and found it to be just like being home again… And – oh – the Vicks on the soles of my feet.. not only has it helped with congestion, but I have the softest, most Vick’s smelling, non-congested feet around!! Thanks so much for the nice tip. I am continuing to enjoy the soup, blankets, and flowers and such.. and the Puff’s tissues.. still feeling sorry for myself by ever just so much.
And thank you to “Pumpkin” and “Pomegranate” for the large helpings of behind-the-scenes-help… truly awesome you are…
Love,
Mother
January 7th, 2010 at 7:01 pm
Happy to hear you are feeling better Mother. The Vick’s on the feet really works, though it sounds funny. I have heard that lavender oil on the feet is calming so the feet must be nice conduits…
I think getting to feel sorry for yourself is probably the only perk of feeling sick, as long as it’s done in secret, lol.
January 7th, 2010 at 7:13 pm
Thanks, Marty… I’m getting quite a charge out of publicly feeling sorry for myself, too. I find that the laughter it gives me is just as healing as anything else I could possibly do… or maybe it’s my first clue that I’m getting better.
Boy, you have some great ideas about putting wonderful stuff on feet. Can’t wait to try the lavender too. Love ya much,
Mother
January 7th, 2010 at 8:32 pm
Mother but what about the draughts in your house?… Cant DH fix things so there are none?…….{Isnt that what men are for? … tee hee}
January 7th, 2010 at 8:54 pm
My house is nice and warm, Winnie.. thanks… it’s just that a lot of heat is escaping through the crevices in the duct work in the garage, which only adds to our heating bill… kind of a joke about how duct tape is used for everything BUT ducts.. I am kept nice and toasty warm at all times and can turn the temperature up to as high as I need. I also have a wonderful electric blanket for naps and bedtime, lots of sockies to wear, blankies for cuddling, and a DH that doesn’t allow me to get cold… For instance I am forbidden to enter the garage if it’s cold outside. (He he – I like it when he gets bossy with me like that)… So yes, that’s what men are for.. and I am kept VERY warm…
Love,
Mother
January 7th, 2010 at 9:38 pm
Mom, I’m so glad you are feeling better, but still be sure to stay inside, all nice and dry. Too much rain. You were missed. I thought maybe there were so many new monklings you were overwhelmed! Don’t worry about us, we will be waiting here after you have had your rest and are recuperated.
January 7th, 2010 at 9:45 pm
Katrina, thank you!! New monklings makes Mother’s heart sing with joy!!! Thank you for your warm love, I will be sure to stay warm, inside, and here as much as I can… thank you,
Love,
Mother
January 9th, 2010 at 7:02 pm
Mother i am wondering how you are feeling today ? and also please forgive my impudence but will you be taking probiotics to mimimize the side effects of the antibiotics….love you always
January 9th, 2010 at 7:11 pm
Hi Winnie! I am doing better today after my long nap.. and yes, I am taking probiotics to minimize the effects of the antibiotics… and today is my last day of them, was on a 5-day regimen. So… on top of really loving yogurt, I am also taking the pros… I almost forgot, then one of my family mentioned it. So I checked the fridge and lo and behold.. there is tons of it there for me!! DH will get me more.. I suspect it would be good for me to be on them for at least a month now.. What do you think? Longer?
Love you,
Mother
January 9th, 2010 at 7:36 pm
that is great {smiles happily} if you think a month then that must be right….
January 17th, 2010 at 11:46 am
So as I am lying on the table at the cancer center letting them nuke me (read radiation therapy)it occurs to me that this is just the high tech side of the ‘energy healing’ coin vs. ‘laying on of hands’ energy work/healing side. The ‘coin’ is an illusion.
Intellectually I already knew this but some how that day while staring at the machine it ‘clicked’ a bit deeper and broader for me.
January 17th, 2010 at 11:54 am
Dearest Pam …. I am lying there/here with you…. hugs sister !
January 17th, 2010 at 12:34 pm
♥♥♥PAM♥♥♥
January 17th, 2010 at 12:36 pm
Oh Winniekins, you wonderful snuggle-bunny you, thanks!
January 17th, 2010 at 12:39 pm
{{{DonnaD}}}
January 17th, 2010 at 2:52 pm
Pam: all my love and a big, big hug. Lisi
January 17th, 2010 at 3:22 pm
Thanks Lisi.
January 17th, 2010 at 5:53 pm
I’m envisioning the collective hands from the Monastery covering “the machine” from above and “the table” below.
Hugs to you and Cory.
Sending an Extra Prayer your way.
Annie
January 17th, 2010 at 6:02 pm
Sending you love, Pam and Cory.
January 17th, 2010 at 6:03 pm
Well said, LaAnnie. Well said.
January 17th, 2010 at 6:33 pm
Pam, Pam, Pam…
Thinking good thoughts toward you, dear one!
January 17th, 2010 at 7:41 pm
{{Pam}} All the hugs you need… they’re yours
January 17th, 2010 at 8:03 pm
Pam, what a great awareness. Has it been helping you to feel more peaceful?
January 17th, 2010 at 11:34 pm
Pam, holding very still and watching with you. Hugs and resting afterwards for you and Cory.
January 18th, 2010 at 12:01 am
{{♥♥♥♥Pam♥♥♥♥}}
Holding you inside my hummingbird heart with love love love♥♥♥♥
January 18th, 2010 at 7:27 pm
Pam, I liked what you had to say ‘energy healing’ coin vs. ‘laying on of hands’ and I called it being nuked as well. Years ago I had daily radiation treatments. I wish I had been a course student back then. I did do something similar to what your doing, as I studied spirituality back then too.
But, along with that I also would pretend that the radiation and the noise the machine made, was Pac-Man going around and gobbling up all the ghosts in the old Atari game. And sometimes I would think it was a game called Megamania I believe, which had a ray that blasted everything. So, I would either be blasting or gobbling up the cancer, and then of course winning the game. Thinking of you luv.
God bless us every one
January 18th, 2010 at 8:02 pm
O.K. The whisper I did a few minutes ago before Lawrence’s whisper disappered. I will try to remember what I said.
With much gratefulness for everyone’s loving thoughts. Lisa, Yes there is more peace with everything. Katrina, Holding very still :) how did you know? ;) Every time they put me into a machine that I have to be absoultely physically still for I mentally go still and meditate asking for clarity.
I even put the interesting misspelling of the word absolutely back in.
Hi Mother, glad you are feeling better also.
Lawrence, Am adding this now for you. It wasn’t in my whisper that disappered as yours wasn’t posted yet when I wrote it. Yes, It does give one the feeling of being in a video game. The way your post reads I makes me think that you got to read my wisper befor it disappeared. Or am I just going loopy.
January 19th, 2010 at 11:31 am
{{{Pam}}}
Your concern and loving thoughts towards me are returned to you. I am so glad to see you back on-line. You were missed. Love to you and Cory.
January 19th, 2010 at 1:45 pm
Glad you got a day off Ruth-Anne. {{{HUGS}}}
January 25th, 2010 at 3:58 pm
Doctors! Ya can’t live with them and ya can’t live without them.;-) So like at any other time a doctor would be thrilled that I lost 8lbs when being 60lbs overweight. Not so radiation guy.(’specially since it happened in 7 days).On the level of form I unerstand his concern but I can’t help it, I’m happy that I lost the weight. I am not one bit concerned that I will become emaciated or nutritionally deficit. I guess I’m writing about this because I am somewhat amazed at my lack of concern. Of which I tried to act concerned for the doctors benefit,ya know that thing about ‘being normal’ but it don’t feel ‘normal’ for me to be concerned about it not like the ‘world’ thinks I should anyway. I feel totally fine. I think I’m babbling on about this cause I feel like I’m on the verge of a “CLICK” kinda moment. Something about seeing the insanity of the ego a little more clearly. Even though words are twice removed I’m trying to find words. Is that insane too? Anyway high protien and calorie diet here I come.:-)
January 25th, 2010 at 4:12 pm
you go girl….doctors shmoctors … sending you heaps and heaps of love and hugs !
January 25th, 2010 at 4:21 pm
And hugs from me, too!
January 25th, 2010 at 4:25 pm
Thanks Winnie how’bout some high protien custard for a snack up in the treehouse along with whole milk hot chocolate. :)
January 25th, 2010 at 4:27 pm
You to Tex yer low carb, come join us.
January 25th, 2010 at 5:01 pm
More hugs Pam!!
January 25th, 2010 at 5:24 pm
I thought you’d never ask!
I’ll bring goodies o’ plenty!
Low Carb, Hi Protein style, just for you.
And you, and you, and you!
January 25th, 2010 at 6:33 pm
{{{Pam}}} — I’ll be cheering you on from the sidelines, good luck with your diet, You Go Girl!!! (Lucky we have so many low carb cooks around here, huh? They can cook you some delicious stuff…)
Love,
Mother
January 25th, 2010 at 6:55 pm
Pam…Yeah! A “CLICK” kinda moment coming. That has all kinds of intrigue to it. Please keep us posted about any clicks. Meanwhile, I have my arms full of protein.
A pyramid of Omaha steaks for the Nebraska girl. Hugs!
January 25th, 2010 at 8:12 pm
{{{{Pam}}}} Hugs and all my love, Lisi
January 25th, 2010 at 9:21 pm
As you are all on my mind tonight, with love and warm thoughts, I wanted to send tender {{{love and hugs}}}…
I like what Texas said,
It’s for you, and you, and you
Love,
Mother
January 25th, 2010 at 11:58 pm
{{{Pam}}}
Love, Hugs and protien and healthy carbs
January 26th, 2010 at 8:56 am
Thanks everyone,It’s shaping up to be a great cookout(omaha steaks oh yum). Had intended it to be last night but right after inviting Tex. my internet went out AGAIN. Probably from the 40 mile per hr winds. Sheesh, can’t wait for winter to be over this year.
January 28th, 2010 at 1:19 pm
I am at this moment sitting at my computer wearing a heart monitor. Now I know what Monk must have felt like wearing his. Wrapped up in wires, mesh to hold it all together and a little black box taking notes of everything going on with my heart. I wonder if it feels love.
Awhile ago I had what is called a TMI (sometimes called a mini stroke, apparently). I went blind in one eye for a short period of time. Long story short, this was finally the diagnosis. Because of family history (one of which is my sister dying a few years ago in her fifties who is younger than me), there is now a neurologist involved. So at this stage there are blood tests (have none left), heart monitor, ultrasounds of the coderoid (sp?) arteries and neck, and next down the road, ultrasounds of the heart itself and the arteries leading from it. It has been quite a journey. The TMI didn’t affect me (that we know of) other than I seem to be going “oops” a lot at the Monastery.
For the most part, I am doing fine—not stressing out too much about it. But I think underneath it all is an undercurrent of fear. I have never been afraid of death and am not now. But I don’t do well with unknowns and this is one. So now every little thing is more magnified and noticed more often. But basically I just feel that whatever happens, happens. And I suspect I will be around a long time—which is another issue for discussion.
So I will curl up here and just snuggle for a bit. I’m sure if MoM and the pool boy haven’t been around for awhile there will be chocolate and all sorts of good stuff available (particularly if Nina, Winnie and Ruth-Anne have stopped by). I am grateful for the space to tell my story. The safety of the room and the monklings have a wonderful healing effect, along with the opportunity to put the words down and let them go. Much love to all. DD.
January 28th, 2010 at 1:31 pm
☼DonnaD☼ – I love you so much… and no, Pool Boy and I didn’t eat all the chocolates… When He is around there is a never-ending supply – Go Figure… At any rate, you can have whatever it is you need, at any given moment, including all our Love.
Love,
Mother
January 28th, 2010 at 1:56 pm
☼DonnaD☼ times a million!
January 28th, 2010 at 2:02 pm
{{{DonnaD}}}
January 28th, 2010 at 2:08 pm
Donna,
Sending you soft butterfly kisses, warm hugs and lots of love.
Leni
January 28th, 2010 at 2:09 pm
{{{DonnaD}}} Lots of hugs and lots of love. I am very grateful with you. All your sharing really touch me and also help me a lot. Thanks so much for all the love you share with all of us. Lisi
January 28th, 2010 at 2:12 pm
Hi DonnaD: Maybe you’re wearing the same heart monitor I did. :) I did include a note with mine when I sent it back (”if ever DonnaD should need to wear one of these, could you please send her this one?”).
There is something weirdly reassuring when you look down at the monitor and see the heart icon pulsing happily. How long do they want you to wear it?
You wrote:
>>The TMI didn’t affect me
I do believe that is the Atonement Principle. ;)
Let us know how you make out with your new wirey companion, and take good care of our dear DonnaD. {{{hug}}}
Love,
Monk
January 28th, 2010 at 2:53 pm
Yoohoo ! look down here in your pocket. I`ve got some Finest dark chocolate each one wrapped with a wish of real happiness and tied up with ribbons of love for you our beloved sister xoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxo
January 28th, 2010 at 3:24 pm
♥☼EVERYONE☼♥ Thank you for all your love. I have such a lump in my throat that I think I might EXPIRE!! :::laughing::: You are all such darlings. MoM, you are so right. There are tons of chocolate available. And I’ve just checked my pocket and I have enough to get me through the night. Is there such a thing as chocolate brain-freeze? I might be getting one.
Dearest Monk, I definitely got your monitor. It has the BIGGEST heart. Luckily, I only have to wear it for 24 hours. They also want me to mark down everything I do—and I mean everything. The only other person who knows so much about me is my hair dresser. Well, okay, maybe Jesus….
Hugs and kisses back, DD.
January 28th, 2010 at 3:34 pm
and lovely DonnaD, here is a hearthealthywise recipy:
onions and thinly sliced squash is sauteed in a bit of chicken-broth. grill a piece of salmon, not too long time- it might be a little pink in the middle – and you might make a little sauce of Tamari or soysauce, garlic, a little honey for sweetness and some finely chopped chili and virgin olive oil. When it has steeped a bit, you just dribble it over the salmon. Brown rice is very nice to this.
Good apetite, my dear.
We all have noticed how big your heart is, dear DonnaD.So Motherly and all-inclusive for us all.
I love you!
yours, Nina
January 28th, 2010 at 4:48 pm
My goodness, Nina. You sure got my appetite stimulated. That sounds delicious!! Seriously, I am printing this. You are so kind, my dear. Warmest hugs.
January 28th, 2010 at 4:52 pm
Monk, I forgot to tell you that when they told me I had had a TMI, I started to laugh. Looks were exchanged amongst the doctors. I’m sure someone whispered “insane”. DD.
January 28th, 2010 at 4:55 pm
:::::Giggles, snort – “hairdresser”:::::
January 28th, 2010 at 7:11 pm
DonnaD…sending you mind waves that circle you in gentle valentine hugs.
January 28th, 2010 at 7:41 pm
DonnaD, “…told me I’d had a TMI, I started to laugh. Looks were exchanged….” I know what you mean I’ve had a couple of those ‘looks’ my self. They really don’t know what to do with it do they?
{{{{hugs}}}}
January 28th, 2010 at 7:52 pm
Laura, ♥ hugs back to you.
January 28th, 2010 at 7:58 pm
Pam, I was thinking of you and MoM and Lawrence–to name a few–who are going through your own journeys with the body dance. Your sharing and openness has helped me tremendously. And yes, I am in agreement… the doctors don’t know quite what to make of it all. A bit of an enigma to them, I guess. How have you been doing? DD.
January 28th, 2010 at 8:16 pm
Hugs for Donna D (my fellow Canadian)
January 28th, 2010 at 8:30 pm
TexCan. See, there you go, making me dizzy again… and in color. You are such a Canadian.
January 28th, 2010 at 8:30 pm
PS: How did you do that?
January 28th, 2010 at 8:37 pm
Thanks for the compliment!
I took yer basic Xmas lights, and spun ‘em round ‘n round.
With the shutter open!
January 28th, 2010 at 8:52 pm
You have a de-lite-ful mind, Texas… I just love the stuff you come up with. (Always have) =-= Love, Mother
January 28th, 2010 at 9:01 pm
MoM I messed up – (and I so wanted to do right for DD)
Can ya take that last one down please, eh?
THIS is the pic I wanted to put up for her!
A heart!♡
January 28th, 2010 at 9:18 pm
DonnaD, I am doing fine. I remember the feeling when the doctor told me that I was stage 4 and all of a sudden a ‘glass bubble’ that had encased me shattered, up until that instant I hadn’t been aware of it(the bubble), it was the most freeing thing I had felt in a long time. I didn’t laugh out loud but I got a big silly grin on my face that I couldn’t get rid of and one of my first ‘looks’ from people. I did laugh for no apparent reason frequently for the next week or so after that though. I also cried a couple of times but mostly it was laughter over the funniest ‘joke’ even though I couldn’t put the ‘joke’ into words. It just is what it is. :-)
LUVS & HUGS
January 28th, 2010 at 9:24 pm
Wonderful light show TexAnneCan.
January 28th, 2010 at 9:27 pm
TexCan, how perfect. ♥
January 28th, 2010 at 9:28 pm
☼PAM☼
January 28th, 2010 at 9:29 pm
Texas: {Scotty accent} She can’t do it Cap’n – she han’t got the power!!
I can only hold your hand and weep with you…. the others would have to do it, and I think they’re sleepin.
Love,
Mother
January 28th, 2010 at 10:03 pm
DonnaD — pulsing with you, holding you tight. Tons of hugs and love, Katrina
January 28th, 2010 at 11:29 pm
DonnaD, Your attitude is great and that is the best thing you can do for yourself. And picturing yourself a lot older down the road is a good thing as well. I am still getting older last time I looked, and I love it. I just now read of this thingy with your heart. That they called it a TMI is rather funny though. I will be leaving a Hersey Bar with Almonds because the almonds are good for you. I just let that dark stuff melt in my mouth to get at the almonds of course. It is one of those large ones so eat a little at a time.
Big Hugs, lawrence
God bless s every one
January 29th, 2010 at 4:25 am
hope you are sleeping okay with that thingummyjig on Donna darling {tucks Teddy in}
Tex that photo is beautiful – would look really good in your gallery with the other light-themed photos xoxox
January 29th, 2010 at 8:00 am
Cool light show, TexAnneCan! It’s like a symbol for our DonnaD! Does the song, “You Light
Up My Life,” come to mind to anyone?
January 29th, 2010 at 11:42 am
☼Katrina, Lawrence, Winnie, Laura☼ Thanks for your words and hugs. So very much appreciated. Yes, Winnie, I did sleep a bit. It’s off now. Just got back and now called into work for an emergency. So have to read my Q&As and the other whispers tonight. Laura, yes, love that song. Bye-bye, everyone (munches on Lawrence’s chocolate with almonds—yum).
January 29th, 2010 at 12:37 pm
For our own DonnaD
And anyone’s heart…♡
January 29th, 2010 at 12:44 pm
☼Texas☼ – The candles are beautiful, soft, glowing, warm. Filled with hope of light. Thank you, =-= Love, Mother
(I promise not to use them to light my cigar, so as to not get in trouble with you this time…)
::::Giggles:::::
January 29th, 2010 at 1:03 pm
That’s ok Mother!
Just FYI, though –
That thing by the door when you first come in –
That’s not an ashtray for ceegars!
January 29th, 2010 at 1:14 pm
{{Seems she catches me out every damm time…}}
January 29th, 2010 at 1:19 pm
Read these latest whispers and experienced Love being here… heart opened wider with the picture in #370. Now that is my laptop’s wallpaper. Struggling for words to convey the depth of softening that comes with every visit.
Hope my love is pouring out onto this page. I want to hold everyone. njn
January 29th, 2010 at 1:38 pm
Thank you, ☼Ninjanun☼ – it feels SO wonderful to be held by your love, =-= All my love in return to you, Mother
January 29th, 2010 at 2:30 pm
{{☼☼♪♫♥DonnaD☼☼♪♫♥}}
D is for Darling, Darling to us all
Divinely, Deftly, Determined to See this differently And remmembering to laugh!
I love you DonnaD and am sending you big heaps of itxoxox
I can always feel your love, and see and feel your twinkling eyes and smile inside my heart.
If you like root vegetables, here’s a heart healthy absolutely yummy nutricious mixture on of my favorite organic farmers turned me onto. Quick and easy to fix too! Parsnips and Celery Root “mashed potatoes”. I dice them and steam for a quick ready to mash. Flavor them with a Persian Lime flavored olive oil ( could be any nice flavored olive oil-roasted garlic perhaps) Freshly ground pepper- a little salt.
Great light show Tex Anne! Yummy receipe Nina!
☼☼Hugs all around the Monastery☼☼
January 29th, 2010 at 3:22 pm
NinjaNun – I feel the Love, too!
Warm and cozy.
January 29th, 2010 at 4:21 pm
ooooh what lovely hugs Ninjanun and Michele.. Thank you dear ones…
This is a song to celebrate the lovely candle picture and The Exquisite #370, the recipes flowing, the wonderful humour -- {at first glance i thought #383 was a fancy urinal -{giggles head off at the thought} and just all the love and friendship here, oh and every song is always for Lisa of the Music.
httpv://sheila70.multiply.com/video/item/6/YouTube_-_Olive_Snook_Kristin_Chenoweth_-_Eternal_Flame…
January 29th, 2010 at 6:20 pm
Ninjanun so good to hear from you hope all is going well. [[[Hugs}}}
January 29th, 2010 at 7:05 pm
# 389
for all of us holding hands together with Jesus and not minding being constantly interrupted by life -- we just go right on singing and hey we`re used to “the mess {of “life”}
January 29th, 2010 at 9:24 pm
☼Michele☼ I feel totally wrapped up in all the love and beautiful thoughts. And what a yummy sounding recipe. I thank you and my heart thanks you. Much love and light to you, beautiful Michele.
☼Nijanun☼ so good to hear from you. Warmest hugs. DD.
(checking candles to see if any cigar ash lingers….;-))
January 29th, 2010 at 9:31 pm
(If you find any, it wasn’t meeeeeeee.)
January 29th, 2010 at 9:59 pm
Thank you, winnie. {{{hug}}}
January 29th, 2010 at 10:04 pm
☼Hi Lisa☼
January 29th, 2010 at 10:17 pm
Hi DonnaD. How are you feeling? How are you and the heart monitor getting along? {{{hug}}}
January 30th, 2010 at 9:18 am
Hi Lisa. I am feeling fine. The monitor came off yesterday and all that remains is a constant itch from the pads that were attached to the skin. Seems I am allergic to something on them. :::laughing::: It can always be something, can’t it? Thank you for asking, Lisa. Hugs to you. DD.
January 30th, 2010 at 9:33 am
The adhesives make the majority of people itch! Red skin and all. So laugh away, but you are not alone. : )
January 30th, 2010 at 9:37 am
DonnaD, next time anyone will give you these adhesives, just know that there are those who do NOT itch. You can ask for them: they are more expensive, so…:-) but they will give it to us when we tell them we are allergic to the glue-
January 30th, 2010 at 9:46 am
Thank you ladies. ♥
January 30th, 2010 at 2:22 pm
so how is everybody today ? {sets a big bunch of happy daisies in the middle of the room}
February 6th, 2010 at 3:26 pm
How are you feeling today Mother ?
I`m making you a nice pot of lemongrass and ginger tea to warm you up
February 6th, 2010 at 7:43 pm
Hi Winnie! I’m doing okay, thank you… still on antibiotics, still getting lots of sleep, still being well taken care of by DH and all of you!! Last year when I was sick with this stuff I seemed to be barely surviving. This year is different, and I am grateful. Seen through the eyes of our process, it may be that I have less self-hatred and am not punishing myself as severely with a body illness.. that can only mean that forgiveness is working for me… But I don’t know how to judge these things (I still do it anyway)… All I know is I am relieved to be doing better as I fight off these respiratory infections.. Maybe I have let a little more love in, and less fear. Thanks for asking, you are a dear Winnie.
Love,
Mother
February 6th, 2010 at 7:43 pm
And thank you so much for the lemongrass and ginger tea… it is a favorite of mine!!
February 6th, 2010 at 8:11 pm
Darling Mother, If you need anything, I’ll put on my scrubs and be right over!
Want some sugar-free hot chocolate?
February 6th, 2010 at 8:19 pm
Yes, Texy, sure!! (I love Winnie’s name for you, Texy)… Bring that chocolate on over here, scrubs and all!!
February 6th, 2010 at 9:42 pm
Love is so freely given here. I feel drawn and comforted by all of you who are so supportive and eagerly responsive to each other. Al was so right. It feels like home here at the monastery, like the kind of home you wish everyone had.
I have read your whispers for so long I feel I know you … Mother I’m glad you are recovering so well, Donna may your heart beat in a loving and regular rhythm with ours.
February 6th, 2010 at 10:02 pm
{{{Linda}}} Thank you for your love… I am grateful you are here…
I am from the Seattle area, USA – from where do you hail?
Love, Mother
February 7th, 2010 at 3:20 am
glad to hear you are okay Mother and that DH is doing a good job of looking after you ….. Tell him i said “g`day ” and to please make sure you want for nothing…. sweet dreams beloved….xoxoxoxo
February 7th, 2010 at 3:51 am
{{glug, glug}}
Hot chocolate for everyone!
(mine is sugar free)
Texy. Hmmm.
Hugs and chocolate.
February 7th, 2010 at 11:33 am
{{{Mom]]] I did not come yesterday to the Infirmary and here you are. Glad to hear that you are feeling okay this morning and that DH is taking care of you. We love you so much, that is really nice hearing you are feeling much better today. Lots of hugs and love, Lisi
February 7th, 2010 at 12:23 pm
Linda, thank you for your loving thoughts. I am grateful. DD.
MoM, I am pleased to hear you are feeling so much better IN SPITE of your shenanigans in the pool ;-)) Love and hugs to you. DD.
February 7th, 2010 at 1:11 pm
{{{{Everyone}}}}
February 10th, 2010 at 1:50 pm
No idea where to post this, thought about the new room but… Monklings have a way of finding all the whispers and exactly what they need.
There seems to be many “storms” out there, and I will let Patty and Melissa take it from here. Love, NJN
When It Don’t Come Easy
Red lights are flashing on the highway I wonder if we’re gonna ever get home I wonder if we’re gonna ever get home tonight Everywhere the water’s getting rough Your best intentions may not be enough I wonder if we’re gonna ever get home tonight But if you break down I’ll drive out and find you If you forget my love I’ll try to remind you And stay by you When it don’t come easy I don’t know nothing except change will come Year after year what we do is undone Time gets moving from a crawl to a run I wonder if we’re gonna ever get home You’re out there walking down a highway And all of the signs got blown away Sometimes you wonder if you’re walking in the wrong direction But if you break down I’ll drive out and find you If you forget my love I’ll try to remind you And stay by you When it don’t come easy When it don’t come easy So many things that I had before Just don’t matter to me now Tonight I cry for the love that I’ve lost And the love I’ve never found And when the last bird falls And the last siren sounds Someone will say what’s been said before It’s only love we were looking for When you break down I’ll drive out and find you When you forget my love I’ll try to remind you And stay by you When it don’t come easy When it don’t come easy
February 10th, 2010 at 3:43 pm
NJN thank you !!! that was so beautiful ! sending you big loving hugs darling xoxoxooxox
February 10th, 2010 at 3:52 pm
NinjaNun – Very good -
OMG – in the Army, we used to listen to a bootlegged copy (of a copy of a copy)
of Melissa…Go go go!
Love it!
February 10th, 2010 at 5:05 pm
Ninjanun, thank you, it´s simply wonderful. Hugs and love, Lisi
February 10th, 2010 at 7:00 pm
This is one beautiful song, Ninjanun… so comforting.. thank you.
February 10th, 2010 at 7:51 pm
I have been looking after a very sick lady with breast,lung and bone cancer who fervently believes she is going to get better and that well may be…..
She spent 9 years at University to become a Natural Health Practitioner. First she had to become an MD. She is also into all the New Age stuff. She is only forty something , has never had children and looks as beautiful as an angel.
She cant talk at the moment and sometimes can barely breathe . I know she is very frightened, though she always smiles. She is unable to talk and has to write everything down.
There`s not lot of sleep going on and sometimes we just have to wait patiently til her leg feels able to take her weight before she can get up out of her chair.
She had a double mastectomy years ago and now there has developed a huge ulcer on her side the like of which I have never seen.
But I love looking after her, tending her every need {sometimes I fuss too much but I think she likes that }. I love lighting candles everywhere and filling the house with fresh flowers from the garden.
I can see just how much she if fighting . We all have a vested interest in not dying but when one is a dedicated doctor / Goddess of Healing, well maybe it`s a little more difficult. After all think of the glory awaiting one who wins a fight such as that..
Just recently she had a channeling session with a dude who told her she needed
to forgive {the old fashioned way} and there was improvement for a while and she was very happy, pointing out to me how the ulcer looked like it was getting smaller. I felt like a mother feels when she has to watch her children gleefully hold up the trophy they`ve just won and you say all the right things but you know in your heart that victory is always hollow..
But we all spout crap including channeilers who call themselves ““beloved of God” – beloved my ass…..disincarnate mind/bodies have specialness needs like everybody else.
The mind/body that heals itself of cancer or makes temporary improvements, is still just as sick as the mind/body that cant or the mind/body that doesn’t even get cancer in the first place.
I stay over for 48 hours, giving her main carer a break . It was a very silent time this time. She didn’t want to have any music but I am going to send her that lovely song you gave us Ninjanun…….
Enclosed is a poem she wrote yesterday :-
Mercy
…….
Beautiful creature
you are in limbo
2 steps forward, 1 step back
desperately trying to find a way
Why are you still suffering?
Your tears have turned so salty
they burn your eyes
Why is it so hard?
How deep must you go?
I cannot bear to think
that you are still causing yourself more pain
still holding yourself back
even now
Torturing yourself
punishing yourself
crippling yourself
It breaks my heart
Please have mercy
If there is a corner of your heart
that somehow can’t forgive yourself
even now
all that is left
is mercy and compassion
I beg you
have mercy on your poor suffering self
Just let it go
Let the pain be carried up into the light
the beautiful soft light of love
that is all around you
February 10th, 2010 at 7:53 pm
*sigh*
February 10th, 2010 at 8:03 pm
Yes, *sigh* and love for Winnie and her lady in pain…
February 10th, 2010 at 8:25 pm
Blessings to NJN, Winnie,The Lady and the lady’s main caregiver.HUGS
February 11th, 2010 at 2:59 am
Yes, that’s about the *sighs* of it!
:)
Laughter (and morphine) – the best medicine!
February 11th, 2010 at 12:53 pm
the “have mercy”…yes….says it all…thank you for sharing her story and her poem,Winnie – please tell her that it moved me so
February 11th, 2010 at 1:57 pm
yes but methinks that her plea to “have mercy ” on herself is yet another insidious way of punishing/torturing herself.
The Course aside, mercy is something we give to others. You cant really have mercy on yourself, if your suffering is coming from a hidden source.
I saw scribbled on one of her notes her definition of mercy -> “Mercy the highest form of compassion more powerful than forgiveness can dissolve/solve any problem”
Frankly it sounds like gobbledegook to me……. and i wonder if she is desperately trying to breathe new life into old words/concepts….
hugs to all here xoxoxoxooxxo
How are you Mother ?
February 11th, 2010 at 2:49 pm
Hi winnie! When I saw that your friend said this, “Mercy the highest form of compassion more powerful than forgiveness can dissolve/solve any problem”, I thought that maybe she is trying to see true forgiveness instead of the old fashioned kind, and using the word ‘mercy’ to help her with this concept.
I immediately thought of this from Shakespeare: (And I do not know Shakespeare well, but my oldest son has a book of poetry filled with Shakespeare)
From the Merchant of Venice, Act 4, Scene 1, Lines 182-195
The quality of mercy is not strained.
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest:
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.
‘Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown.
His scepter shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings.
But mercy is above this sceptred sway.
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings.
It is an attribute to God himself,
And earthly power doth then show likest God’s
When mercy seasons justice.
What do you think winwin, could she be trying to see a different way? That would be nice, wouldn’t it? : )
February 11th, 2010 at 3:08 pm
I had a dream once, about Mercy.. it rains on all, alike. The good, the bad, the murderer, the blessed.. it was only up to me to accept it or not, as both murderer and blessed. Both could be as equally forgiven. In fact, as I stood there in the rain over the bones of those I had murdered, I could not NOT accept it, as it was obviously soaking me through to the bone and I could not hide from its benevolence.
The Shakespeare is lovely, Lisa.
I am fine, thank you for asking, WinWin.. love you,
Mother
February 11th, 2010 at 3:19 pm
Mercy for me means gentleness – in untold measure. I also see it as great motherly tenderness. And inside my mind I hear Stephen Levine’s beautiful voice from his many tapes from workshops, “Have mercy on yourself”, and instantly I feel safe and know that i don’t need to expect this from someone outside, since I have it to give to myself.
February 11th, 2010 at 3:57 pm
Ya’ll -- it snowed in Dallas today.
It was so gentle and beautiful!
February 11th, 2010 at 4:22 pm
gee thanks guys for helping me to look at the word “mercy” differently. I believe you are right, and now that i look up my Concordance i see that this word is mentioned 51 times, and Jesus obviously means that it is synonymous with forgiveness and does in fact ask us in the Song of Prayer to “have mercy on yourself”
Thank you for quoting The Merchant of Venice, Lisa. That was beautiful and explained true forgiveness perfectly, and i think you are right too about her wanting to see another way… thank you darling btw Her name is Lisa too :)
And Mother thank you for the dream and what an excellent succinct clear one ! I`ve got a dream about murder too that i want to tell…
So glad you are feeling better…. Now what can we do to strengthen your immune system…. i presume you are having cod liver oil {not the tablets} sorry sorry for fussing, {cant help it} xoxoxoxoxoxoox
Nina your post was the clincher … when i read your post i totally understood a word that has never been part of my vocabulary, except as something that is cruelly and mockingly never given to those who desperately need it…..
big hugs to all xoxoxoxo
February 11th, 2010 at 4:44 pm
Thanks TexAnn for your video I really enjoy it. It´s beautiful. Love, Lisi
February 11th, 2010 at 4:50 pm
Winnie, thank you for your post about this lady and thank you Mother, and Nina and Lisa for all the explanations about the word mercy. I didn´t either like it very much, but now I have a complete new version of it, and I like it. Hugs and love, Lisi
February 11th, 2010 at 5:19 pm
The snow today was so beautiful, it was like Lesson 189
Who could feel fear in such a world as this? It welcomes you, rejoices that you came, and sings your praises as it keeps you safe from every form of danger and of pain. It offers you a warm and gentle home in which to stay a while. It blesses you throughout the day, and watches through the night as silent guardian of your holy sleep. It sees salvation in you, and protects the light in you in which it sees its own.
It offers you its flowers and its snow in thankfulness for your benevolence.
February 11th, 2010 at 5:43 pm
Texas, the snow is so serene and peaceful. Thank you.
Mom, so cool how you and Shakespeare see a connection between rain and mercy. Those are the kinds of things that remind me there is just one mind here.
winnie, I’m just hoping for myself that your Lisa is trying to see differently. It’s so painful to see others in pain…the only hope is that some real learning takes place. That makes it worth it. I hope.
February 11th, 2010 at 10:36 pm
dear Winnie, MoM, Tex, Pam, Lisi, Nina and Lisa:
Very *something* (can’t find the word for it :)) to read through 419 through the end.
Many thanks,
anil
February 12th, 2010 at 6:01 am
{{{something}}}}
(Anil, I love it!)
February 12th, 2010 at 6:18 am
:) Nina :)
February 12th, 2010 at 6:42 am
Yes all. Winnie I couldn’t think of a better caregiver than you. Candles and fresh flowers and “fussing”. I feel like you take care of me all the way from Australia.
Great new way for me to look at mercy, too. After I read what Winnie said, I saw that’s what I thought about it too. Something doled out by a wrathful God.
Mercy like rain, falling on everything.
Forgiveness is what I am here for.
February 12th, 2010 at 6:46 pm
Aw it`s so wonderful to share life with you guys ! xoxoxoox
February 12th, 2010 at 7:36 pm
It’s nice, eh?
Back at YOU!
‘Twas ever thus.
February 13th, 2010 at 12:04 pm
:)
I loved all the snow photos Texy and the video – just beautiful…
I would like to request an update on all the folks who have had health situations recently… c`mon guys we want to know how you are feeling ???
{ leaves a big bunch of daisies in the crystal vase and lights some Nag Champa incense to chase away any lingering bugs}
February 13th, 2010 at 12:19 pm
Wonderful photos Texas… and I just loved the tie-in with lesson 189 that you did… Beautiful… surely we will eventually see that world… and much quicker with the help of each other.
Ruth-Anne, “Forgiveness is what I am here for.”…. nice…
Winnie, my ‘health’ update… I have been cured of heart failure and now have emphysema… and being my chosen path to Home, am trying to learn to see it with gentle forgiveness… like Ruth-Anne said, that is now the only option open to me.. It’s either that or dig in deeper to ego.. My hope is I will choose forgiveness more and more often.
Love to all,
Mother
February 13th, 2010 at 12:57 pm
and of course you will, my darling…. but are you quite recovered from this latest infection?
February 13th, 2010 at 1:29 pm
I’m not sure, Winnie… I think it’s still hanging on…
February 13th, 2010 at 1:41 pm
Mother you are perfect Love … always have been.. always.. a perfect shaft of pure light… How happy i am ! xoxoxoxoox
February 13th, 2010 at 1:45 pm
{{Winnie}}
February 13th, 2010 at 5:27 pm
NJN, I just came here to the infirmary because, well, I don’t feel well today and stopped fighting it and just got into bed. Just reading along and starting to feel less afraid and then watched the song from Patty and Melissa. Thanks for posting that very much. Had a good cry and I feel more gentle now.
I like what you wrote…”Monklings have a way of finding all the whispers and exactly what they need.” Isn’t that true.
LOVE to {{{All}}}
February 13th, 2010 at 5:43 pm
Winnie, you asked about health and that seems to be my hot spot…and a most difficult lesson for me.
Mom…I am not at that place where I see it/accept it as my chosen path Home…I keep wanting to change the form…like Winnie’s lady I believe this can be cured as I have had my share of magic/miracles/woo. I am struggling but do hear the quote about not breathing life into my failing ego. Each moment is its own.
Over years have had range of illnesses and this one seems to be the most difficult where my liver doesn’t rid the body of what needs to go and I have to spend all my nights and inside time in a clean room. I have multiple chemical sensitivities and my body thinks it is being attacked…imagine that. My sense of smelled is jacked up high and I could be hired out as a blood hound but would have to do it virtually.
Outside is usually fine but confined space has to meet air standards. It is a crazy life on top of having the usual crazy life. Sort of a cloistered nun existence at times.
Love to all of you and the Monastery. njn
February 13th, 2010 at 5:51 pm
Kendall, love and hugs back.
Will try to post another Patty song, so beautiful. You are not alone. Oh my, a heart opener indeed.
“Not Alone”
She sees him laying in the bed alone tonight
The only thing a touching him is a crack of light
Pieces of her hair are wrapped around and ’round his fingers
And he reaches for her side, for any sign of her that lingers
And she says you are not alone
Laying in the light
Put out the fire in your head
And lay with me tonight
One of them bullets went straight for the jugular vein
There were people running , a flash of light
Then everything changed
Nothing really matters in the end you know
All the worries sever
Don’t be afraid for me my friend, one day we all fall down forever
She says you are not alone
Laying in the light
Put out the fire in your head
And lay with me tonight
The wedding date was June just like any other bride
She loved him like no one before and it was good to be alive
But sometimes that can slip away as fast
As any fingers through your hands
So you let time forgive the past and go and make some other plans
You are not alone
Laying in the light
Put out the fire in your head
And lay with me tonight
You are not alone
Laying in the light
Put out the fire in your head
And lay with me tonight
February 13th, 2010 at 6:17 pm
Hi Kendall, so nice to see you! Hope you feel better soon. {Wraps up in love with hot water bottle, tea, special drops, hugs}
NJN, wonderful song, thanks.. I am always amazed at how many songs reflect Real Love if we just look at them that way… {love and hugs} to you, too.
Love you both,
M.
February 13th, 2010 at 6:23 pm
pssst….over here, everybody….
I brought candy kisses….for Valentine’s Day…
February 13th, 2010 at 6:37 pm
Awww, Texas, you are a jewel!!! I just love candy kisses… and your arrangements are cool. Thanks for both the chocolate (cures everything, doesn’t it?) and the kisses… xoxoxoxo to you!
NJN: I too am a ‘cloistered nun’ if you will…. my condition leaves me so weakened and fearful I do not leave my house – except for grandkids’ birthdays, then I go for a couple of hours to our daughters’ houses. They live very close… I am afraid I will run out of air, or pick up a cold… So I too live cloistered, but out of fear.
Love,
M.
February 13th, 2010 at 6:45 pm
MoM – I love you very much, you know.
You know this!
And all of ya’ll!
February 13th, 2010 at 7:52 pm
Hey Winnie, I’m still about same-oh-same-oh but the other day the radiation guy made a referance that he felt that I was standing on the edge of a cliff but he thought they could pull me back away from it and I instantly thought “Hey we are all standing on the edge of a cliff and we are all going to go over the edge It’s just which of us are going to allow ourselves to fly and which are not.” :)
February 13th, 2010 at 9:07 pm
Mom, Kendall, Ninjanun, Pam wrapping you all with loving hugs. I love you guys and all the monklings and Marco and….everyone.
February 13th, 2010 at 9:11 pm
And thank you Texanne for the kisses. I’m so looking forward to the next vidjo. How about something for valentine’s? Pretty please?
Your # 1 fan, Leni
February 13th, 2010 at 10:09 pm
Gosh! Oh, my, I’m speechless!
And video-less….
I am flattered….but…this has been a very very busy week at work…
“Hospice Nurse Trudging Around In The Snow”
would be more of a documentary….
But it sure would have been a good idea!
My Funny Valentine, perhaps?
February 13th, 2010 at 10:34 pm
Lovely to connect with my Monkling friends. Yes Mom, Leni, Tex, Pam, NJN, Winnie, Ruth-anne I sure feel the love here. I have kept right on reading here every day.
You know, I rested after having my cry while watching Melissa and Patty vid and did some “looking” with “the One Who Knows”. My DH made me some eggs and I slept and then I got up and felt much better. I will watch the next Patty vid for a Valentine’s treat tomorrow NJN, thanks again.
The past several days I have had a lot of peaceful feelings, just very mellow and gentle. I sure am grateful for the peaceful times of rest now days when I choose to accept Love. I think I notice the peace because I am so much more aware of the darkness of the time I spend with my ego.
My physical health has improved over the past several months very much.
Sending hugs all around.
February 14th, 2010 at 10:43 am
{{{ninjanun,}}} I am so happy that the infirmary has exactly the right sort of air for you, no attacks in here, just friends who love you – I am one of those, dear
{{{MOM,Kendall,Pam…}}}
February 14th, 2010 at 11:55 am
{{{Everyone}}} Love, hugs and Valentine’s wishes…. Love, Mother
February 14th, 2010 at 7:49 pm
Hi everybody, I just come here to say I love you all so much. Mom, Ninjanun, DonnaD, Pam, Kendall, thank you for all the love in all your whispers and for the learning I am achieving through them. Any time I read any of them I confirm we are just One and the same. Sometimes the symbol of our fear is different but the content is always the same. Nonetheless we are navigating in the same boat toward the same harbor. Love and lots of hugs, Lisi
February 14th, 2010 at 8:44 pm
Oh, {{Lisi}}, thank you for your gentle love…. it feels so wonderful… Love, M.
February 15th, 2010 at 1:30 pm
Just joining in with loving thoughts to all those dealing with illness in one form or another – much monitoring of hearts going on around Valentines Day!
Pam been meaning to ask: if you don’t beat this cancer – what happens to Cory? I have a wee friend whose Mum is going soon from brain tumour … and noting what he’s going through … not easy for either of them. I just keep womdering about him … Cory that is … and how he’s been with your cancer journey. {{{[[[[everyone]]]}}}
February 15th, 2010 at 3:54 pm
big loving hugs to you Kendall and to Ninjanun and Mother and all our cloistered nuns…
What a lovely and true thought about the Infirmary having just the right kind of air for those not well… Thank you for the chockies and the kisses Texy…
and soft winged kisses to L..i and L..i of the butterfly clan
Pam…. the radiation guy said ” he felt that” you were “standing on the edge of a cliff”, but i wonder if he also felt the presence of the entire sonship standing there too, not to hurl each other off the precipice this time but to fly Home Together as One.
February 15th, 2010 at 11:59 pm
Winnie Whisper #419 is simply beautiful! What you and the caregiver offer is beautiful, as is the lovely Lady you look after. I believe she spoke of her true self when she spoke of mercy, aware that it was her deluded self (or ego)that needed to let the pain go, so she could awaken to the truth. I felt this strongly and then read Lisa’s whisper. Shakespeare is said to have been awake during the dream or enlightened.
The first thing that came to mind was this song. “Quality Of Mercy” by Michelle Shocked. If I got my story right she was homeless and used to jam down by the railroad tracks. One night during her playing and singing someone recorded her. I like her msic very much! Following are the lyrics and after that if I don’t mess it up the video. Love ya Win. I have some catching up to do, but you all are in my prayers alway’s.
key of [F]
All you hypocrites and liars
In the temple seeking gain
All you senators and lawyers
With your motives to explain
All you victims and heroes
Your petitions to complain
All you murderers and martyrs
On the fields where you lay slain
On the just and unjust alike it doth rain
And the quality of mercy is not strained
Vengeance and revenge are just two words for pain
And the quality of mercy is not strained
Did not I crucify my Lord
Did not I bind Him in chain
Did not I three times betray Him
Three times deny His name
Did not I cast the first stone
And then justify the blame
Did not He die for my sins
But never would I do the same
I’ve been three times a sinner and two times a saint
And the quality of mercy is not strained
Love, if it’s love, is changing but unchanged
And the quality of mercy is not strained
Dead Man Walking (Columbia 1995)
God bless us every one
February 16th, 2010 at 12:02 am
Hi Lawrence!
I got it for you!
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oao-Aj8X3
Hey, they’re lookin’ for ya in the Grotto…
February 16th, 2010 at 12:04 am
Huh! Maybe not!
February 16th, 2010 at 12:05 am
Jinx!
February 16th, 2010 at 12:57 am
Lawrence, dear friend -
Good to hear from you. Lisa is right – Nina and I searched high and low for you !!
Hugs,
Anil
February 16th, 2010 at 1:20 am
Lawrence, it is so VERY good to hear from you again… Man, does Michelle Shocked have a great voice!! And I loved the words, too. Thanks for posting the vidjo. How’s the fam?
February 16th, 2010 at 8:18 am
Oh my gosh it is wonderful to see you again. How are you? I think about you so often and I hope all is well with you and your beautiful family.
Are you a hockey fan? (she asks out of the blue)
February 16th, 2010 at 8:53 am
Al re#463, If I check out before Cory is legal age then my mom gets custody. If something would happen to her my uncle(mom’s youngest brother) and aunt will raise him.
He seems to deal with it O.K. for the most part. I can see it get him down every once in a while but he doesn’t seem freaked out by it. He comes to most of my treatment sessions and wants to come in the room when the doctors talk with me most of the time.
I have always taught him( from the time he became aware of death ,baby goat died when Cory was 4yrs) that the body was just a temporary vehicial that we use here on earth but don’t need when we go to Heaven. He also has been through the process with his Grandfather. (3 yrs this comeing August) I had been studying the Course for about a year or so and Cory was having me read Gary Renard books to him also when my Dad got sick. On the day before Dad died we went to see him in the care center. After we left Cory said, “Grandpa’s sand is almost gone out of his hourglass.” I said “I think you’re right.” The next day Dad died.
February 16th, 2010 at 9:01 am
Winnie, re #464, I do belive your right. I’m glad you shared that insight with me.
February 16th, 2010 at 9:03 am
tender loving hugs to you Pam and your lovely boy xoxoxoox
Thank you for kind words Lawrence and the video. It`s so nice to hear from you again…. we missed you xoxoxoxox
February 16th, 2010 at 9:25 am
☼Lawrence☼ How good to hear from you and what a great video. Many hugs, DD.
February 16th, 2010 at 9:26 am
♥Pam♥ You are a lovely, wise lady. All my love to you. DD.
February 16th, 2010 at 11:08 am
Hi Pam:
Agree with DonnaD. You are truly a wise woman…
All the best to you, and thanks so much for being here and sharing with all of us.
Anil
February 16th, 2010 at 2:08 pm
And all of you are lovely and wise also. Your sharing of your selves has helped me and Cory tremendously also.
February 16th, 2010 at 2:41 pm
{{{Pam and Cory}}} We all love you so much….. and we feel lots of love from the two of you, also. Thank you so much!! =-= Love, M.
February 16th, 2010 at 3:05 pm
{{{{{Pam and Cory}}}}} You are so Loved.
February 16th, 2010 at 3:30 pm
Pam #472
I can feel the love of clear communication btwn you and your son and now us.
No urgency, no sugar coating no wasting of time or words.
Truth is like that…efficient, honest and Eternal.
Grateful for all your sharing.
Annie
February 16th, 2010 at 3:37 pm
Pam, dear..just want to be part of your embracing circle – I too sense your light, like a light-tower…just love you so much, and treasure your sharing always
February 16th, 2010 at 5:46 pm
Nina, You are always in the embrace you wonderful goddess of heart love glow.
February 16th, 2010 at 5:57 pm
Al, I have lit candles for your wee friend and his mum and for you and JZ. Peace be.
February 17th, 2010 at 12:30 am
#414 What a beautiful song ninjanun, thank you. I hope this finds you in a good place and time. As you said, so many storms out there. Pam, Kendall, Mom, DonnaD and all who hurt in any fashion remember who gave us this course, he is as close as our breath and heartbeat and the healing light he brings is everywhere. DonnaD I was thinking of you and your heart monitor episode. On Valentines day Sharon and I spent it with Kaitlyn in the Emergency room. She had a rapid heart beat and discomfort, so she had a heart monitor put on Sunday, and we took it back yesterday. We are waiting for results. Kait had a year of heavy duty chemo when she was 15, she is 24 now. So, we are concerned about damage that may have been caused during her treatments.
Anil, Nina Mom, and Ruth-Anne thanks for the kind words. Lisa thanks for the heads up and trying to help me! I will stop by the grotto tomorrow night and try to explain my rudeness. It is abour 2:30 here and I am falling to sleep. Good Night Monklings!
God bless us every one.
I can handle stuff wrong with me a lot better, than having her hurt, or be scared. Kaityn lives about an hour and a half from us, but comes home quite a bit. But, when she came home with the monitor on she sat in a chair and started to cry. I knew why, the ride home was the same ride we took for over a year when she was getting some pretty nasty chemo at Children’s Hospital. I saw a 15 year old girl looking back at me. She is strong, and went through her ordeal without much complaint. But, every breath we take is a new moment, a new thought, a new experience (or so it seems) and we deal the hand dealt us. She is used to it. Pam, when I think of you I see you well luv, try very had to do the same no matter the circumstances. Cory is a brave and knowing young man and a comfort for you I am sure.
February 17th, 2010 at 12:41 am
big hugs to Kaitlyn and to you Dear Lawrence and Sharon …love always
February 17th, 2010 at 12:47 am
Lawrence, love to {{you, Kaitlyn, Sharon and your whole family}}.. Many of our hearts ♡ are being challenged right now.. we hold you in the softest of embraces along with your loved ones. Love, Mother
February 17th, 2010 at 12:49 am
dear Lawrence -
You are never rude. All the best to you, Sharon and Kaitlyn… may everything work out well.
love,
anil
February 17th, 2010 at 1:28 pm
Missed you Lawrence – loving thoughts and e’ hugs to the family. ( e’hugs … my mum always hummms “Eeeeeeee” when she hugs me and i find myself doing the same).
Pam – lots of loving thoughts for you and Cory too … he sounds so awsomely aware already… and not frightened much. Jimi-Zac has been going through sustained panic attacks about thinking he has a tumour and that he’s going to die soon … I think in reaction to whats happening with my friend … and I try to reassure him, lots of cuddles and spirit goes on etc and I think he gets this but huge waves of fear keep coming up… I tell him to talk to Jesus but i’m not sure how much that helps him really. sigh …
February 17th, 2010 at 1:33 pm
{{{Hugs for Jimi-Zac}}} — {{{and his Mum}}}
February 17th, 2010 at 2:08 pm
Lawrence & Kaitlyn {{{HUGS}} I’m with Anil you dear Lawrence are not rude. Blessings for you and yours.
February 17th, 2010 at 3:45 pm
big hugs to Jimi-Zac xoxoox…..
February 17th, 2010 at 7:21 pm
♥Lawrence and Kaitlyn, Pam and Cory, Al and Jimi-Zac♥ I hold all of you in my heart with much, much love and gentleness. Hugs, DD.
February 17th, 2010 at 10:56 pm
A little song
February 17th, 2010 at 11:25 pm
Thanks Texy, great song, love Linkin Park.
February 18th, 2010 at 12:34 am
I dreamed I was missing…. I dreamed i was missing
You were so scared ….. i dreamed i was scared
But no one would listen….. i dreamed no one listened
Cause no one else cared……i dreamed no one else cared
………………………………
will be thinking of you tomorrow DonnaDear xoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoox
February 22nd, 2010 at 6:42 pm
On the other hand, what about the hospice nurse who gives fat people ice cream and cake?
And takes them outside to *smoke* or put the dog in the bed with them one last time.
Is it wrong to meet people where they are at?
If you only meet yourself?
On the other hand – look MoM – no more hands!
February 23rd, 2010 at 3:35 am
TexAnne please be my hospice nurse if and when I need one. I’ll send a list of my vices now!
February 23rd, 2010 at 3:40 am
Certainly, my dear Judy!
*curls up my cape to sit down*
“God Forbid!”
(You have to say “God Forbid” to keep the jinxes off)
February 23rd, 2010 at 3:43 am
“It’s only a movie!”
(Using my best Michael Jackson /Thriller voice)
Which also fits the theme, by the way.
February 23rd, 2010 at 10:10 am
TexAnne you can be my nurse anyday too! Content, not form…so the ice cream and cake and cigarettes are only symbols, comforting symbols given lovingly.
Perhaps that was out of line…if so, I hope Mother happens along and fixes it ;-)
Hugs all around.
February 23rd, 2010 at 10:43 am
Theme lovin, haiku master, cape wearing TexAnneCan you nurse me everyday with your love and humor. But just to be on the safe side I’m getting right behind Judy and Marty.
I don’t see anything Mother needs to edit; this dialogue has really brought the symbols of love to light.
February 23rd, 2010 at 3:16 pm
Hugs all around back!
God is but Love…..
February 23rd, 2010 at 9:15 pm
I’m with the rest of you… I hope to God that if I ever need a hospice nurse that it will be one with the kind attitude Texas has… you are just wonderful, Texas.. and a fine example of how loving it really is to “meet someone where they’re at”…
Love,
Mother
February 23rd, 2010 at 9:45 pm
♥♥♥EVERYONE♥♥♥
February 24th, 2010 at 2:44 am
Thanks, really, but ….
*sigh*
February 24th, 2010 at 6:54 pm
Somehow with the recent whispers in the Infirmary, this very tender song came to mind.
Mary.
February 24th, 2010 at 6:57 pm
Mary Lyrics
Mary you’re covered in roses, you’re covered in ashes
You’re covered in rain
You’re covered in babies, you’re covered in slashes
You’re covered in wilderness, you’re covered in stains
You cast aside the sheet, you cast aside the shroud
Of another man, who served the world proud
You greet another son, you lose another one
On some sunny day and always stay, Mary
Jesus says Mother I couldn’t stay another day longer
Flys right by me and leaves a kiss upon her face
While the angels are singin’ his praises in a blaze of glory
Mary stays behind and starts cleaning up the place
Mary she moves behind me
She leaves her fingerprints everywhere
Everytime the snow drifts, everytime the sand shifts
Even when the night lifts, she’s always there
Jesus said Mother I couldn’t stay another day longer
Flys right by me and leaves a kiss upon her face
While the angels are singin’ his praises in a blaze of glory
Mary stays behind and starts cleaning up the place
Mary you’re covered in roses, you’re covered in ruin
you’re covered in secrets
Your’e covered in treetops, you’re covered in birds
who can sing a million songs without any words
You cast aside the sheets, you cast aside the shroud
of another man, who served the world proud
You greet another son, you lose another one
on some sunny day and always stay
Mary, Mary, Mary
February 24th, 2010 at 7:13 pm
NJN
Very nice – just like all the nice people here.
Peace -out!
February 25th, 2010 at 11:23 am
♥MoM♥ Just checking on you. Hope all is well. Love to you, DD.
February 25th, 2010 at 11:34 am
Mom, echoing Donna. Thinking about you. Love, Leni
February 25th, 2010 at 11:44 am
Mom, ditto DonnaD and Leni, I love your. Lots of hugs and love, Lisi
February 25th, 2010 at 11:46 am
Hi guys, not sure if this will go through…. I’m having intermittent internet troubles, working on it.. Thank you for thinking of me, I send my love to you, too… Love, Mother
February 25th, 2010 at 2:42 pm
Winnie, just discovering some of the posts now, like your 419. My sister (50 yers old) left her job as an executive assistant to care-give like you are doing. Her job is very difficult, poorly paid, but she wouldn’t do anything else now. She says there is such a joining with the patient, and with the family, she finds it hard to describe. Her former boss used to hate my sister’s laugh, which can be a little loud, giggly, silly, very happy and bubbly (not corporate at all). Her boss was a workaholic and dervied no pleasure from life. Now my sister says she has more clients than she knows what to do with – they all want her for her laugh and her smile. It’s tough, because she loses clients sometimes. But through it all there is this tenderness that you are showing us, too. Thank you for your sharing… Hugs.