Mindful of One family: Remembering a Life with Sadness

Funny how life’s reflections start when you learn a family member has passed.  Yesterday I learned that my cousin Joanne had passed.  You may say it’s just a cousin.  She was however also someone’s daughter and someone’s sister.  I spent a lot of time with her when we were kids.  At one point, when my mom and dad got a divorce, my mom,  sister and I moved in with Joanne’s family which included her mom and older sister, Loretta. Her father was my godfather who had passed before we moved in.  So for a few years we all lived as one family. We were childhood playmates and schoolmates. read...

The Gifts of Gratitude – Part 1

Many of us spend time judging each other.  Some of that time we spend comparing which is another form of judgment that usually leaves the comparer holding the short end of the stick.  Many don’t even think comparing is judging.  To have a comparison you have to judge each element, put them on some form of scale and then see who has the highest mark.  Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. If you are in a bad mood, you lose a lot. If you are feeling haughty or better than the rest of the world, then you might win more. What is it if it’s not judging? All we’d really need is a bench and judge gavel to make it complete.  And sometimes we judge ourselves against a generic, do we not? read...

Am I a Healer or a Matchmaker?

I was told recently by a dear friend I admire that she sees me as a healer.  She said that “Everything you do is healing. Art, The Reconnection, your interests, the way you speak. Everything.”.  I was rather startled, stunned and yes, pleased. That is a lovely thing to hear about yourself.  Yet I have a problem with being called a healer. I believe if I accept that label, my ego will get involved.   I also firmly believe that all of us are healers and many have not awakened that facet of themselves. Some of us may be capable of allowing healing to occur in others and ourselves. read...

One Day Vacation–Mission Accomplished

So what do you do when you get a call that your niece and great niece that you haven’t seen in several years may be in your almost vicinity for a day or less?  There is no question that you want to see them.  They are driving in from Ohio.  However, making plans isn’t going to work because You aren’t positive you will get a chance to see them. You don’t know if you are going to get an hour or a day They will be one hour away from you and you need to go to them. You only know that the ocean is an important stop to the youngest member. So I start thinking, ok, how long will it take for me to get them and drive to say Santa Monica beach or Malibu? Google to the rescue.  With construction on the 405 and times varying from 35 minutes to 1 3/4 hours, I must come up with another plan. read...

The Art of Mirroring

Before I got on my spiritual path, I was very heavily invested in judging others: how they looked, talked, or ate along with their occupation, their mate, and their beliefs (especially if they didn’t agree with mine) to name just a few of them.  I started on my path due to an accident some 10-11 years ago. During my journey, I went to many spiritual seminars and  I began to realize how judging others was of no benefit to me, in fact, it causes me more harm than good.  Then I learned about the mirroring factor (and I’m not talking about disk mirroring for disc recovery here!).  Everyone we have in our lives is a mirror for us to learn from and use that information to improve ourselves.  At the time, I didn’t fully understand that. Now I do. I believe that’s part of our lesson, our growing and our evolving spiritual growth.  And if you’ve ever done this, you know it’s not always easy to do. Especially if the person, who is being that fabulous mirror for us right now, is someone we simply can’t stand!  The thought of having anything in common with them is just too much to think about. I’ve even argued with it at times thinking that there is no way in hell I have that same trait or habit or whatever. When that happens to me, I have some major angina (pronounced in a decidedly Italian way:  AHH – gi-nah, emphasis on the first syllable).  I keep reliving the situation and it fuels the anger. These battles rage until I remember that in...