Dear Friends,

A few Saturday’s ago, I sat on my couch watching the riots and protests in Seattle.  I don’t normally watch the news but something called me to do it.  Well, actually my mother called me and wanted me to watch as she was fearful I would go downtown and get in the middle of things and she wanted me to pay attention, bless her heart!  As I sat there observing, I found myself crying as I watched the looters and other protestors vandalizing stores.  I watched the burning police cars and listened to the yelling going on from the angry participators.   My tears were tears of sadness.  However, at the same time, I watched peaceful protestors filling the streets in solidarity and love for all of mankind.   My heart was full and I cried some more.

I then watched videos and read articles about the police response in different states to the protests occurring country wide.   Many very disturbing videos surfaced with police gravely mishandling situations.  However, I also observed police kneeling in front of the crowds, in humility and patience.  I listened to one sheriff communicating emphatically with people stating the police were listening and wanting to know what their concerns were.  I watched many videos of the police exclaiming they did not associate themselves with nor condone the horrendous acts that had taken place and continued to occur involving other police.  They wanted the crowd to know they were there to serve and protect the community.

I know many of you may have had the same experience.  I don’t think I ever cried so much for sadness one minute and joy the next.  I cried when I watched a young black boy of about 12, maybe younger, giving free hugs to police with tears streaming down his face.   I cried again when I watched a 20 something young black man also giving free hugs to the police as people in the crowd exclaimed he was a traitor.

This beautiful young man pointed out to them that the police were human beings just like everyone there. That they had families to go home to just like everyone else and that they were not there shooting them and hurting them at this particular protest.  He yelled to the crowd that it was important to stay neutral and to see these men and woman as human beings just as the crowd want the police to see black people and other people of color as human beings deserving respect.  What a wise young man!  I watched as protestors, many of them black, protected a white policeman who was separated from his team.

I remember years ago, at a spiritual retreat, hearing a person in the audience talking about how important it is that there are spiritually minded people in all walks of life, including teachers, police and garbage collectors.  It is not about all of us going out into the wilderness to hide out in nature (unless we are called to do so) but about also listening to the call to immerse ourselves in life in whatever we are doing and bringing these spiritual principles we are learning into these jobs and all aspects of living. Many people feel what they are doing is not important enough.  But what I realized that day at the retreat, was that it is not about what we are doing but about what we bring to the experiences we are having.

Some protestors brought peace and harmony to their walking, others brought violence.  Some police brought peace and harmony to the protestors others brought violence.   In every field, every neighborhood, every family, there are people who walk a spiritual path of lightness and kindness and others who choose a heavier path of disharmony and discord.

As a nurse and healer, I like to take what I observe and connect it to the healing path of body, mind and spirit.  The young man who talked about the importance of neutrality pointed out a very powerful spiritual principle.  When we are neutral to anything in our lives, we become open to all possibilities and we step into a place of universal source energy.  From that place, we allow the highest good to evolve from what is occurring around us.  This principle is what that wise young man was teaching the crowd.  This applies to anything that is happening in our lives such as illness, relationship issues etc.

When I watched the police kneeling in front of the protestors, I felt the humility and place of neutrality they were holding.   I experienced the same feeling when the protestors knelt down as well.  I pondered on how we could take that visual and feeling of kneeling and kneel towards ourselves first, our own inner demons, our own beauty.  When we kneel before ourselves, we are holding a place of respect and love for ourselves.  If we are dealing with an illness or heartache, perhaps we can feel ourselves kneeling before ourselves and hold whatever we are dealing with in the light of reverence and neutrality.

Whenever we fight against what is occurring, such as the police fighting against the protestors and vice versa, healing cannot happen.   This aggression creates more aggression, it is an energetic principle.  When we fight against anything going on in our lives, we are giving it attention, and that attention is disharmony.  However, when we allow what is happening in our lives, and kneel before it so to speak, we create an openness to occur and evolve into something that is more in harmony with what we are desiring in our lives.

I’ve been playing with this visual of kneeling before the issues in my life, not as a victim but in a place of reverence to what is happening and the understanding that I do not have all the answers but I am willing to be open to ideas/paths/people/healing modalities that I  might not have otherwise allowed.

If you are experiencing a relationship issue and feeling upset with a significant person in your life, you can picture/feel yourself kneeling before them, not from a place of making them greater, but from a space of humility and openness and love.  You don’t have to actually kneel before them, but feel the energy of this act and hold yourself in that space.  The other person will feel the energy behind this and the dynamic between you will change to something vibrationally higher and more peaceful much like the energy between the police and protestors.

If you have cancer, you can feel the energy of kneeling before it.  Again, not as a victim, but in humility and openness in terms of what you might be learning or what gifts this illness might be bringing into your awareness.  For instance, because of this illness you might have traveled down a new path and because of this you found someone who becomes very important in your life.  When you energetically kneel in humility towards something going on in your body, your cells will expand with this openness and new life will emerge.  And you might feel a tugging to try a new form of treatment or therapy that you were not open to prior that could have an amazing result for you.

This same principle holds with the namaste greeting, in which we are putting our hands together over our hearts or third eye and bow as a sign of respect flowing the feeling of divine love towards another or situation or respect for life.  This ritual of holding our hands in namaste or kneeling down in a space of openness, humility and neutrality allows for healing within ourselves as well.  My point of this sharing is to encourage each of us to feel the energy of kneeling or namaste within ourselves, bowing to ourselves, kneeling to ourselves and what might be happening within our own bodies and souls and lives.

A teacher years ago told me that many people want to go out and save the world when they and their families are suffering at home.  If we take that energy of namaste and kneeling for ourselves first and then our families,  we will find that when we eventually step out into the world, we will do it with much more grace, humility and with divinely inspired actions.   And when we do this first for ourselves, we will have much more power to change our own world and then the world around us.

I kneel to all of you.  I bow to all of you.  And I wish for peace in your hearts, homes and communities.

Namaste,

Rosemary

Dear Friends,

Many of you may have read stories recently regarding wild animals showing up in greater quantities or for the first time in years into the cities and parks around the world since the world has become quieter due to the COVID 19 virus response.   I feel the energy of these animal beings expanding almost as if they are breathing a sigh of relief in terms of their increased ability to roam without harm to their well being.  You might say they are just reclaiming territory they once inhabited but I feel it goes deeper than this.

What I feel energetically is that the earth and its inhabitants have a chance to heal in this quieter, less aggressive world at the moment.   Whenever any being holds itself back due to fear of harm, then that withholding itself causes suffering, illness and depression.  As cities become more and more crowded and parks and forests are decimated, natural habitats of animals are destroyed and with them goes the animals.  Or the animals and nature beings find another home.  Unfortunately, the home they find might not suit them as well biologically and emotionally as the original home they once inhabited.  This disruption creates a domino effect of disharmony that is experienced by other creatures and humans.

At this moment, I feel the silence and the healing that is occurring all over the world.  There is less pollution as well due to less emissions from cars and pollutants from other sources.  My hope is that each and every person around the world can take a deep breath and feel into the healing of mother earth that is settling in at this very moment.  And because of the healing that mother earth is experiencing, we all have a chance to heal as well.

Have you noticed you may have a greater awareness of the birds singing, you may have noticed other animals frolicking more out in the open?  I have even noticed a significant increased number of earth worms in my garden.  At first, I thought this was because of the record rain fall we had, and that may be the case.  But I also feel that even the earth worms, as a collective consciousness, are following this energy to explore the earth.

I was talking to a friend the other day about the changes in the animals.  I realized as I was talking to him that I felt awe but I also felt a very deep grief.  The grief came from my fear of humans harming these animals once life goes back to some semblance of what it was before this pandemic.  Some people, unfortunately, feel they hold dominion over the animal kingdom and some see these beings as a commodity to be sold and tortured or discarded as trash rather than beings with an inherent consciousness all of their own who feel pain and suffering just as humans experience.

There is a possibility that when the earth becomes louder again, when greater amounts of people flood the streets, these animals will be seen as nuisances and harm may befall them, if they do not go back to where they were before.  But I also grieve as I know that this natural flow will be suppressed again.  I pray that this shutting down of energy will be less and humans will be more aware of their impact on the earth and learn to walk more softly on its soil and treat its inhabitants with greater love, awareness and consciousness.

When we get out of the way of the earth’s natural rhythms, it heals.  Likewise, when we get out of our own way, we heal.  There is a natural flow of energy that animals and nature beings both seen and unseen are tapped into.  We have been given an incredibly rare gift of being forced to slow down.  Not just a few people slowing down but the world slowing down so we can see what happens when humans get out of the way of these natural rhythms.

This natural flow to me is God.  It is the universal ultimate power that flows through each and every creature on this earth.   Some cultures, such as indigenous people, have a much greater ability to tap into this energy.  Children and animals, if given the freedom, will also step into this way of being naturally.

Our own body has the ability to heal, when we step back and allow this healing to occur, and get out of our own way.  If we can fully take in and observe the healing of the earth at this time, we can experience on a deeper level how our own busy minds, and busy bodies keep us from experiencing the healing that we crave.  We pollute our bodies, just as we pollute our air.  We cram our minds with thoughts and our homes with material things, we run around like we are on fire and then we wonder why we can’t breath very well, why we have burning pain in our stomachs, or why we are feeling depressed.

The earth is giving us a huge gift right now of reflection.  It is showing us how we can heal ourselves.  It is showing us how humans have taken over and have created pollution, and pain and suffering to each other and to the animal kingdom.  The earth is giving us a reprieve right now, a chance to ponder, to regain our footing, to regain our consciousness regarding other beings of this earth.  The earth is giving us a chance to breath deeper as pollution subsides, to walk more slowly as there is less to do, to hear the birds singing and the creatures exploring and to feel the joy that we used to feel when times were simpler and humans were not so narcissistic.

The biggest impediment to healing is the blocks we put in our own way.  If we can embody these moments of silence in our days right now, and allow our own natural flow to find its way back to us, we will experience a lightness of body, mind and spirit, that will bring a greater sense of well being into our lives.

This time can show some of you that your natural state is one of being quiet, of introspection.  You might realize that you have spent so much agonizing time thinking you should be out in the world doing more and being more, that you missed who you really are, perhaps a quiet deep reflective person who enjoys simple things and simple pleasures or a deeply creative person who has spent too much time in the technological world.

I urge each and every person to ask yourselves what this time of quietude has shown you about yourself about who you really are deep inside.  There is nothing wrong with being out in the world exploring, trying new things, meeting new people, those are wonderful things.  The problems ensue when we get out of our natural rhythms and pursue certain activities because we think we should do them, because we will experience ourselves as less if we don’t partake in these things. When we push our bodies, minds and spirits in directions that are not natural to our own unique being, sickness takes hold just as the earth experiences disharmony when we push ourselves onto mother earth in an unnatural way out of sync with natural rhythms.

I wish for all of you to receive the gift that mother earth is giving you at this moment.  Take heed and pay attention to the natural rhythms unfolding both in the outside world and within yourself.  Take a deep breath and acknowledge your own unique rhythm that is showing itself to you if you will allow it.

I wish for you the healing of body, mind and spirit that is yours if you accept it by stepping into these gentler, more flowing ways of being.

Namaste,

Rosemary

Dear Friends,

I was at the grocery store a couple times this week. And no, I’m not writing to discuss the topic of toilet paper with you. (smile) Actually, what I desire to share with you is how both times, after leaving the grocery store, I felt irritable. And it was not because there was no toilet paper.  I realized, after each visit, that irritability was the general feeling others were experiencing while shopping. I knew it wasn’t my irritability as I was feeling neutral and fairly good both times upon entering the store.

As an empathic person, I am able to feel what others are feeling.  And I believe we are all empathic to some extent. However, some people are a bit more aware of this ability. Because of this, it is important for all of us to be vigilant, to stay centered and grounded in whatever is going on within ourselves and the world.  Even if you do not venture outside of your house, you will feel the energy that is building globally at this time.

I have also discovered recently that my sleep is very deep and I almost feel drugged when waking. I slept very well last night and still took a nap today and had to drag myself out of bed after an hour and a half. I’ve always been a good napper but this was a different feeling.  I realized there is so much emotionally charged energy around right now in the form of fear, panic, insecurity, confusion, anger, etc, that it can be challenging to keep out of the heaviness of this energy field if we are not aware.  Napping can be a wonderful way to reset your central nervous system so you can be stronger to what is occurring around you.  Participating in any activity that raises your vibration and brings you joy is a wonderful antidote to the difficulties in the world right now.

We are all a swirling mass of energy, there is nothing solid about us even though we buy into the illusion that we are a dense mass of cells. Because we are energy, we are in constant communication with the energy of the world and beyond. How much someone is aware of this energy varies from person to person and depends on how evolved they are as a human being and soul.

I also contemplate on the unseen world that is also energy. Viruses, bacteria are energy. Because of this, they too are interacting with us on an energetic level. Just as human beings have the ability to project love to a loved one around the world and have that loved one feel it, so too can we project love to the unseen world and hold the space for homeostasis, of balance, to return.

Humans and animals are not the only inhabitants on this earth.  There are many other beings that most people are not able to see, who inhabit our earth space.  However, some people have the ability to see and communicate with them.  I have at times, seen nature spirits in my garden or out on walks in the forest.  They usually appear out of the corner of my eye and I can hear them giggling.

Praying for the return of balance to all inhabitants of this earth is a powerful prayer.   Everything, and I mean everything, responds to the power of love.   We live with viruses and bacteria all the time.  There are trillions of microscopic beings all around us and we live with them without any harm most of the time.  It all has to do with how in balance we are with this unseen world and with ourselves and others.

The current state of the world is feeding into this imbalance, created by panic, fear and illusion.  We have a choice in what we feed the world energetically.   At every moment we have a choice to decide how we want to respond to what is manifesting around us.  Do we want to send love out into the world and all of its inhabitants, both seen and unseen?  Or do we want to feed the world the lower vibration of fear that feeds the very thing we are not desiring.

You might say that being in quarantine or isolation is a horrible thing and it’s hard to keep your vibration up during this time.  I understand but please know it can be done.  Just go on facebook and watch all the beautiful people of all ages and backgrounds, sharing their gifts of music, cooking, dance, poetry, inspirational messages, jokes.  In the moments these people are sharing their gifts, their vibration is higher and they are sharing love.  And in watching them share their gifts our own energy becomes lighter, more vibrant.  Because love is the true essence of who these people are and who we are!  I am humbled and inspired by every one of them.

If you are in quarantine or isolation, you might say that you have lost your freedom.  Well, perhaps you can’t move your body out of your house like you desire.  That part might very well be true.  But your soul, spirit can never be contained no matter what is happening.  The power of the human spirit with its unlimited creative potential can never be controlled or contained.   Some of the greatest inventions came from people who were in a place and time of isolation and quarantine.  As long as you have a mind and a spirit, you can travel the cosmos.  In the future, I believe we will be able to teleport our bodies, but right now we can teleport our minds and souls.

I have worked with people in other countries over the phone and can clear energetic imbalances and know what their issues are because our energies are connected.  Even if you are not on facebook, but are doing something creative at home by yourself, you are benefiting the world.   As you do what you love, your vibration will raise and you will raise the vibration of the planet and assist with bringing it back into balance because everything is connected at all times.

I’m an avid gardener.  Years ago, I was frustrated because I created so much beauty around me but did not have much time or energy left to share it with my friends and others as much as I would have enjoyed.  Creating the gardens took many hours and most of my weekends.  And then I experienced an epiphany.  I realized, as I sat enjoying my creations one evening, that the gardens have their own energy.  And that I can share pictures of them and that can spread the joy and beauty.  However, even if I choose not to send pictures or have people over, the energy of the gardens and my vibration while working in them will be felt by the world in an uplifting way.

You have within you the power to choose how you create right now, every moment.  You have the power to choose how you will respond in the grocery store or behind closed doors.  Because here is the thing, the world will feel your energy whether you are alone at home or out in public.  And not just humans but the animals, bugs, viruses, bacteria, nature spirits, all of it will feel your energy.

You are free no matter what is happening in your life.  You have the freedom to share your words, your prayers your thoughts even if you are sequestered in one room.  Even if you do not have a computer or paper you have the power of your thoughts and of your prayers. You can meditate and contemplate.  How will you choose to use this power?

Everything on this earth is energy.  Even this so called Coronavirus.  You might say you don’t want to send love to a virus.  That is fine.  However, please remember that you can just send love and light out into the world and that is what will bring this earth and all of its inhabitants back to balance.   And the greater number of people who do this will exponentially create healing for the earth and all of the fellow travelers on it.

So, choose wisely, love your fellow human beings, and all of the beings of this earth, seen and unseen.  Let’s step beyond our egocentricity as humans and realize we are sharing this earth with so many other creatures.  As much as you can, know you are free to choose, to create, to love.

Wishing you all balance in your life, love in your hearts, and health of body, mind and spirit.

Namaste,

Rosemary

Dear Friends,

I am currently reading a book titled “Olive, Again” by Elizabeth Strout.  It’s fiction about a quirky character named Olive and other characters in a small town of Maine.  One of the characters in the book is meeting with her attorney to go over her father’s estate.   She is quite bereft and her attorney is a very kind empathetic man.   At one point, they discuss spiritual matters of life and death.  This particular person, in the story, is a young woman with depth of soul.  As their conversation is coming to an end, this young woman exclaims to the attorney,  she is beginning to realize “that our job, maybe even our duty, is to bear the burden of the mystery with as much grace as we can”.

That statement above caused me to pause and reflect on what it means to “bear the mystery with grace”.  The mystery of course is something that each one of us lives every day of our lives.   Most of us want an answer to why things are happening.  Why did someone get cancer, why did the love relationship end, why did a love one die in an accident, why is someone dealing with an injury that keeps them from doing what they love?

Sometimes, with soul searching, talking to counselors, health care providers, friends, ministers, family, we can obtain some of the answers.  We might know that the relationship ended because of infidelity, that diet and lack of exercise and stress might have contributed to an illness, that someone was texting while they were driving and experienced a car accident.

However, what I’d like to suggest is that even with certain knowledge about why something has occurred, that there is often a deeper mystery happening at the same time.  Two people can have the exact same diet and stress levels but one person does well and the other person experiences illness.  Or as in the case of a 97 year old mother of a dear friend of mine, she continues to stay on this earth even though the doctors told her she was close to death and that was over 3 months ago.

My friend whose name just happens to be Grace, is embracing the mystery of her mother’s life and potential death and allowing for the not KNOWING of why her mother continues to stay on this earth.  We have had many discussions regarding her mom and how much younger people are leaving this earth and yet her mom continues to linger.  Some people might ask “where is the fairness in that, what is the reason for this?”  Therein lies the mystery.

To me, the mystery is God, life force, a higher power, the energy that connects all of us to everything.  To know this mystery, well, is really a mystery.  We can know aspects of this mystery from a KNOWING within ourselves.  However, I believe, that even the greatest mystics on this earth most likely can not explain the full mystery of life and death and beyond.

So what does it mean to bear this mystery with grace?  What I have come to realize for myself, is that it means to leave room for further information to show up.  It means to realize that I don’t have all the answers, or that someone else does and allowing for the greater mystery to unfold without a need to control what is occurring.  When we step into a place of allowing grace to enter into our lives with whatever is happening we feel an expansion in our energy fields and an opening of our hearts.

One of the definitions of grace by the Merriam-Webster dictionary is “ unmerited divine assistance given to humans for their regeneration or sanctification”.   When we step into the energetic space of grace, we are stepping into the space of healing.  When we heal we regenerate our cells and our selves.   We also step into the power of all that is, of sanctification or holiness.  Not from a place of religious ideology but from a deep sacred place that lies within the unknown.  Within the unknown lies all possibility, all creation of unlimited proportion.

When I think of someone who is graceful, I think of them as having fluidity of body or mind.   Someone can be graceful as an ice skater and it is beautiful to watch their ease of movement.  Someone can be graceful with what they are experiencing in life and that also is beautiful to observe the ease with which they are navigating the waters of their experience.  This doesn’t mean there aren’t bumps or falls or scratches along the way, it just means that someone has learned to allow the space of source energy, a higher power to touch their hearts, minds and bodies so there is less resistance which allows for regeneration to occur within their beings and greater ease of movement in their physical bodies.

The beautiful thing about experiencing the state of grace is that it is open to all of us at any time.  And it can be accessed at any moment with just a shift of consciousness.  All it requires is a willingness to experience the unknown in any given moment.  If you are having a conversation with someone and they are saying something that bothers you, then grace can help you navigate communicating without damaging the relationship.

If you surrender to grace in the moment, you can allow for a greater experience to unfold that is not personal but based on the sacredness of your connection.  By stepping into grace you can move into the space of holiness that is your essence.  And you will also realize is the essence of the person whose words are bothering you.

When you step into a state of grace with an illness you merge into a sacred place where all answers live.  You keep doing everything you can to help yourself, of course, but you also realize there is a greater mystery unfolding.  Grace allows for non judgement, for neutrality and this allows for regeneration on a deep cellular level.  It is the deeper KNOWING that not only are we deserving of healing, we are not separate from the healing that we are desiring.

My wish for all of you, as spring unfolds and new growth appears in nature, is to allow space for grace in your own lives every day with body, mind, and spirit.  You can meditate on the word GRACE, and feel the expansion within your own being.  Grace to me is the opposite of constriction, of resistance.  It is the allowing of the sanctity of life to emerge  and to open each of us to the great mystery that is calling us to experience a deeper knowing of ourselves, of life, of death, of creation.

Namaste,  Rosemary

Dear Friends,

What exactly does it mean to heal from the inside out?  In my own life, the most powerful shifts have come from inside me, and I usually know the moment when my physical being has connected with this inner healer.  If you think of this concept like a pilot light in your heart this might help.  This flame is the spark of divinity that is within all of us.  It is lit all the time.  However, sometimes, it seems as if the pilot light has gone out and there is no way to get a fire going, to get some warmth of life force.  The fire is the healing energy, God, life force, universal source or whatever you call a higher power.

Sometimes this light seems very dim or not lit at all.  Every person has this spark within them.  Unfortunately, in the most extreme cases, this light is buried deep within a person due to lack of tending to this flame.

Years ago, when I first moved to Seattle, I attended my first silent retreat.  From the moment I arrived at the monastery, I started feeling sick.  And for the whole weekend, I was miserable, blowing my nose constantly.   Needless to say, I had no peace that weekend.  On the Sunday afternoon just before we were to break silence, I immediately started to feel better.  And within a few minutes, I was completely well physically.

My resistance to the silence was because the constant silence was scary to me.  I had never participated in such a retreat and my hamster brain was going crazy.  You know that wheel your mind gets on and even when you think your not thinking your thinking!  I might have had snippets of silence but I doubt it!  There were so many powerful things I gained from that weekend, not the least realizing what a busy mind I had.  But also, realizing the power we have within us to heal.

Once I knew I was safe, in this case, being safe meant breaking silence, the healing occurred.  My resistance all weekend to the retreat kept me sick.  Once I no longer needed to resist the retreat, I got better instantly.  I’m not talking about a few sniffles I was experiencing.  I had a full blown miserable, nose dripping, coughing thing going on that was non-stop from Friday evening until Sunday.  I’m sure I was an irritant to many of the participants and  probably provided a source for their own contemplation and healing!

So how does the above sharing relate to my comment about healing from the inside out.  The pilot light, the flame of divinity, was in me all along even while experiencing my miserable symptoms.  If I had been able to embrace the retreat with an open heart, most likely I would not have become sick.  The sickness in this case was my meditation and an incredibly valuable lesson.

When we acknowledge this pilot light, this spark within ourselves, then we can turn on the flame within us to create healing physically, emotionally and spiritually.   Often times, we take medication or supplements in an attempt to make ourselves better.  There is nothing wrong with doing that, but if we really want to get to the core of what is ailing us, then going inward and turning up the flame (awareness/consciousness) is what heals us on a deeper level.

By turning up the flame, we are creating energy, warmth, vitality that can flood all of our cells.  And after we heal ourselves, we can turn up the flame even more so that that vitality reaches outwards to our fellow beings on this earth and beyond.

So how do we turn up this inner flame?  Anything that allows us to become more conscious, aware, and deeper more soulful human beings ignites this flame.  By all means, take the vitamins, supplements, medications, but at the same time go inward and feed this flame.  You might say that by working with counselors or other healers, we are using things outside ourselves to get better.  However, a counselor, or any healer, who has done his or her own inner work, will know how to tap into this pilot light and help ignite the fire of your own inner being, your soul.

Anyone who helps ignite this light within you is a healer if that person is coming from an authentic expression of their own being.  This person could be a cashier who smiles at you and acknowledges something about you that touches you deeply.  It could be a priest/pastor who helps you to go inward and feel the love of a higher power and find awareness to an issue that was bothering you.  It could be the garbage man who smiles at you just at that moment when you needed it most.  The commonality is that all of these people brought you back to your core, your essence, to the inner flame.

Meditation and prayer are so powerful because it helps us to get back to that essence, that flame within ourselves and to connect to the divine source energy that is within and around us all the time.  Even if a person is meditating for the first time, and the hamster brain is doing it’s thing, the soul will feel the intention, and the light within them will grow. Yoga is another modality that creates an inner connection with our energetic beings/our souls and enhances this light within us.

Healing from the inside out, is about growing this flame, this fire within you.  Sometimes it happens very slowly.  Perhaps the embers are a bit wet, a bit soggy from the negative numb mind set you have been carrying.  That is okay.  Keep working on the fire, keep feeding it the dry kindling that is your intention, and awareness and the fire will become greater and provide more energy and vitality within you.

Anything that helps us to become more aware, more whole human beings feeds the flame within us.  Feeds our souls.  Even sitting and watching the birds, or your child, or sweet furry family member can ignite this flame within you if you do it with your full focus and awareness.

Sometimes awareness can bring pain, and you might ask, how does this help?  It helps because it is a real, authentic expression of your soul and your being at that moment of time.  Even if the pain seems like it’s dimming out any light within you, trust me it is not!  Once awareness settles in and the resistance to whatever you are experiencing fades, you will feel more energy from this inner flame.  You will be stronger and your cells will be more vital.

It is a good thing to remember that every single person on this earth has this pilot light within their being.  And once you have learned how to turn up your own flame, and have healed from within, then you can shine your beautiful light on others and help them to acknowledge this within themselves.  Once you know of your own inner light of awareness, even your smile, can ignite this flame within another.  The reason for this is that your smile will be an authentic expression of yourself and the love you feel for another being whether you know them or not.  You will recognize the inner essence of who this other being really is.

My friends, I wish for all of you the warmth and vitality of acknowledging your own inner flame of awareness.  You are all healers in your own right.

Namaste,

Rosemary

“A happy life is just a string of happy moments but most people don’t allow the happy moment, because they are so busy trying to get a happy life”.    Abraham

Dear Friends,

This quote above has been circulating through my mind for the last few weeks.  I’ve been contemplating on my life this past year and feeling a bit down at times that life’s challenges have kept me from enjoying life the way I thought I should be enjoying it. Then the quote above kept inserting itself in my consciousness and I realized quite profoundly that I have many happy moments all the time.  My natural state is to be light and playful and I am able to find humor in things that might seem dark or dreary.  Because of this ability, I did find myself joking and laughing even during the difficult times.  I try not to take myself too seriously (most of the time).

When you acknowledge that life is a string of happy moments and that there is no “happy life” you need to go out and attain, you will feel a huge burden lift off of your shoulders.  We spend so much time wishing we were somewhere else, doing something different, with someone different, that we miss the opportunities to be joyful right here, right now.

There is always something in life to make us smile, laugh, and sigh in contentment .  Currently I have two more sweet dogs temporarily living with me.  I have to say, I was a bit worried about having two more 50 poundish four legged’s here in addition to my own two sweet dogs and cats.   My prediction there would be more chaos has come true, but that was a no brainer really.  However, I love these furry beings and they have brought many more happy moments into my life even during the frustrated ones of dealing with more dirt and doggie footprints!

The other day I was wiping off 16 paws after a romp outside as it had been raining.   Two of the pups  are under a year old and venture to have a contest on who can push their way into the house first.  One of them is worse than the other, and she will crawl over, under, around any of the others to get inside first.  Usually the older ones will wait patiently, but this particular day, no one wanted to be patient and I was trying very hard to wipe paws very quickly and keep them sequestered.  Well, they won!  They all pushed their way in and the struggle to contain them was a bit too much for me at the moment and I sat on the floor laughing saying “I give up!  You guys win this time but not next time!”  Yeah right….

When we give up our struggle to have things be a certain way, and allow what shows up to happen without struggle, then humor and lightness can arise.  I could have been really mad that the dogs didn’t listen.  And I have to admit, that has happened at times.  However, that day if I stayed mad at that moment, I would have missed out on the silliness that followed.  Of course, I want them to listen and do what I want, it certainly can make life easier and less chaotic.   But sometimes we need a bit of chaos and silliness to shake us up and help us not to take life or ourselves too seriously.

I ruminate over how to apply this to other occurrences in our lives we feel are very serious, such as with a life threatening disease.  It would probably be very difficult to think you can obtain a happy life during those times.  But the wonderful thing is, no matter what is happening you can obtain happy moments.  And if you let go of the goal to get rid of the life threatening illness so you can be finally happy, and you embrace the moments that show up and make you smile then something miraculous can happen.  If you stop spending so much energy on the things that aren’t making you happy therefore you think you are not happy, and instead focus on the moments that show up that make you smile, then you free up energy for something so much greater, like your own physical healing.

There is always something to smile about, to cherish, to be in awe of!  Those are the happy moments.  I was at the beach the other day watching a man feed the seagulls.  He was throwing bread pieces in the air as he was walking and the seagulls one by one would catch it in their mouths.  I was in awe as the seagulls were flying in a circular pattern and being very orderly.  Every single one of them caught the bread and turned to let the next seagull get his due.

Those seagulls weren’t wishing they could have a happier life.  They were in the moment, catching the bread and enjoying their prize.  The puppies pushing their way into the house, were in the moment doing what inspired them and smiling the whole time, every one of them!

We can learn so much from animals and I am blessed to have their examples of how to embrace happy moments all the time.   Just watching birds at the bird feeder creates much joy in me.  The birds aren’t looking for happier times, they just want to eat.  And in their presence is a feeling of peace and joy.

If you are dealing with difficult times, and you feel there is absolutely no way out of your darkness, please know there is always a way in and out of every situation!   If you can observe a bird, pet a cat, scratch a dog’s belly, watch children playing then I promise you will feel better and your energy will be lighter.    There is nothing more you need to do.  Just stay as present as you can in these moments even for a few seconds and you will allow your energy to move, to lighten, to bring healing and more light into every cell of your body.

It is natural and absolutely okay to want something more in your life, that desire is just human nature.  But if we can allow our lives to be where they are at and not worry so much about creating future happiness, then we can find many more happy moments in our lives.  If you truly realize that life isn’t about creating it to be happy but about cherishing moments, then you can unlock a tremendous amount of energy you can put elsewhere.

And the wonderful thing is, as we lighten our energy and stay more present in the moment, we start noticing more synchronicities in our lives and become more open to guidance from the spiritual realm.  If we are bogged down with life’s woes then we can miss out on the communication that is happening all the time through our intuition and life’s experiences.   When I stopped and focused attention to the seagulls, I had no idea I would be sharing this story with you until I started writing.  I just stayed present in the moment enjoying fully the grace and beauty I was observing with these beings.

During this holiday season and into 2020, I wish for all of you the peace and joy that comes from experiencing many happy moments.   As much as you can try to avoid making it a happy season or a happy new year and enjoy what shows up each moment.  This is a particularly wonderful time to experience precious moments with the lights, beauty, music, and children’s glee all around us.   Stay light, laugh, and don’t take yourself too seriously.

Lots of love,

Rosemary

Dear Friends,

I’ve been reflecting on transitions as I observe my flowers in my gardens slowly returning to the earth for their winter slumber. I have to admit I’ve never been quick to accept transitions. It seems I just get used to the longer days of summer when we turn the clocks back and find ourselves immersed in more darkness. Then I find myself enjoying the cozy slower winter days when we once again turn the clocks forward. In the mornings upon awakening, my spirit is slow to return to my body having had a wonderful time traveling around the universe in the dream world.  And when I watch my gardens slowly fading, I always feel a bit of sadness even though I know they will return again, once the clock moves forward an hour and more daylight calls forth the new life embedded in the seeds and tubers.

I am reflecting on other transitions we have in life.  Some we find ourselves embracing wholeheartedly and others we cringe at the thought of possible loss such as when someone we love is getting ready to leave this earth or we are in the middle of a divorce. Some changes are much easier to embrace, such as a birth of a child or a new job we have been hoping to obtain.

In all of these transitions, however, have you noticed they rarely follow a straight course.   Yes, the cycles of the seasons do, and the change from night to day. However, most things in our lives never follow a straight line. We might think they do, but if you observe on a deeper level what is occurring, you will see there were probably many twists and turns along the way.

For instance, creating a baby is pretty straight forward, in terms of the anatomy and physiology involved. However, the desire to have a baby, the ability to know you could care for a child, probably took time and life experience along the way. The new job you were wanting probably didn’t happen overnight. You gained momentum with reflecting on what you wanted, gaining confidence with other jobs, and perhaps you traveled to a new area of the country to obtain this job.

The reason I am writing about this is to bring our attention to the fact that obtaining the things we want in life requires a bit of finesse in maneuvering through the challenges that present themselves.   For instance, as with a divorce, it might have taken years to finally realize this is what you want and to have the strength to follow it through.   If you have a health crisis, often times it isn’t healed overnight, although I know for certain it can in some instances.  However often it is a journey of self discovery that brings us back to health.  We have our eye on the goal, good health, and then life proceeds to bring us down many diverse paths to obtain our goal as we listen to our intuition about what our bodies are needing.

The road to obtain our health might find us traveling to a new doctor, or trying a new treatment, herb, supplement.  We might embrace yoga, meditation, more physical activity or realize we just need more adventure in our lives.   If we were able to get from A to B quickly how fun would that be?  Fun not in the traditional sense but in the more interesting sense that helps us to gain in depth and wisdom.  It is these twists and turns in life that create color and vibrance to who we are as human beings.

If we can keep our eye on the goal, but allow our hearts and spirits to guide us along the way, we will most likely get to where we are going and with much more strength and power.  In the meantime, embrace the journey and listen to the guidance of your heart.  It might be suggesting you change your diet, or quit your job, or start your own business or take up a new exercise regime.   All of this guidance is the journey.  It is the twists and turns and ebb and flow of life.  Along the way, you might fall down, trip, fall asleep, that is okay.  But get right back up and keep your eye on the goal and still embrace the journey that is your life.

Chinese Philosopher Lao Tzu shared “The journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step”.  Added to that step is another and another and another as your travel your way to your goals in life.   There will be transitions from night to day, from health to sickness and back to health, from happiness to sadness and back to happiness.  The key is to embrace the journey as you move forward.  Just because you take a side road does not mean you are not on the path.  The path of life embraces everything!  All the joys and heartaches, all the ups and downs, all the light and darkness.  If you ride the wave of the transition to the next wave of life, you will find yourself immersed in the power of all that is, of God, of Universal life force energy.

If you don’t fight the transitions but allow them to naturally occur, you will find yourself to be more at peace and you might just find that your goals were hidden in the colorful path you took along the way,

Much love,

Rosemary

Dear Friends,

Many people go through a dark night of the soul at least one time in their lives. This is a time when everything seems to be coming crashing in on you. It seems that nothing is going as planned and in fact, is going in the opposite direction then what you might have planned.

The dark night of the soul is ego based yet spirit driven. It’s the ego, personality part of us, that wants to have things all figured out, our plans all nicely arranged. I get it. I’m a creature of habit and I love thinking I have control over the things in my life. However, the biggest disappointments, the greatest impetus to the lowering of my energy is expectations about the way that I think things should be.

I’ve been through my own dark nights of the soul over the years. One of the biggest one I went through was when I moved to Seattle in 1986. My goal was to move out here and get my Master’s Degree in Nursing from the University of Washington.

One month into the program and I found myself very depressed. I did not want to be there in that program. However, I had spent my life always following through with what I said I would. My parents had expectations of me, at least, that is what I thought, and didn’t know how to tell them I didn’t want to get my Masters.

Unfortunately, I had no words to describe what I was going through. I had lived my life up until that point, thinking I was a very happy person. Ha, what an awakening that was. All my repressed emotions went into physical symptoms and injuries. Energy wants to move and emotions are energy. If we don’t express them, acknowledge them, they will find a way to communicate with us. And my body was communicating big time!

Luckily, I had enough life force energy to reach out for help. I literally walked the streets looking for something to help me. I ventured into a Dianetics office and talked to a counselor there.  He actually was a bit helpful.  I did find another traditional counselor who had me beating up pillows to express my anger. I knew that wasn’t quite the right approach for me but beating up pillows did make me feel a little bit better.

I ended up finding a spiritual teacher in Canada. I was led to her through my roommate at the time. By this point, I had left the Master’s Program and was looking into becoming a Naturopathic Physician. All my searchings started opening doors to a whole new way of looking at life. In essence I discovered the New Age movement and Holistic Medicine.  And from that point on, I experienced many wonderful teachings from various people and many different modalities of healing.

Little did I know that my Dark Night of the Soul would lead me to the Light Dawn of the Spirit. Little by little, I started opening up, questioning myself, and understanding things in a deeper more meaningful way. My spiritual teacher showed me how my old patterns were ancestral or past life driven, meaning learned through patterns passed down through my ancestors or patterns brought in from other lifetimes. She told me there was always a way in and out of every situation, I just had to rise above the old way of looking at life to find a new way.

So why am I sharing this story with you? The reason is that I know of a couple people right now who are going through their own dark nights of the Soul. I know they are isolating themselves and not reaching out. I know the life they had planned took a very different path.  But here is the good news. The dark night of the soul leads us to a different path because that is the path we are meant to find.

If I had not come out here to Seattle, with my plans and goals all arranged and if those plans had not fallen through, I may not be writing to you right now. I may not have experienced the depth and breadth of my own soul to the extent I have at this time. I may not have discovered all the new things that life had in store for me so that I could eventually use these new teachings to help others.

This past weekend, I spent from morning until evening communing with my gardens, the birds, the bees, my sweet 4 month old puppy and 3 year old Golden Doodle. I felt very present and conscious of life flowing around me and grateful for the sanctuary I had created in my own backyard. It took me many years to be able to slow down enough to just “Be with the Bees” so to speak. It is so enriching to sit and watch a bee on a plant or a hummingbird at the feeder or a butterfly flitting around and it fills me with such joy.

When we have plans, expectations, arrangements that are made through shoulds, and doing things the way we always have, we can miss out on the simple joys of life. If all of a sudden, things change, and nothing is working and the darkness is slipping in, please stop and take a deep breath. And if the darkness finds its way again, stop and take another deep breath, and another and another.

Everything is cyclical and the nature of life is change. If you are in a dark night of the soul, know that the light dawn of the spirit will come again. Just as the sun sets at night and the sun rises at dawn, this darkness, this heaviness too shall pass.

If all else fails and hopelessness is setting in, then I suggest take yourself out into nature. Observe a bird or a bee, a flower. Flowing through these entities is the light of God, of spirit. If you do nothing else but sit with these beings and breathe, then light will find it’s way into your heart and your heart will open.

The dark night of the soul is a constriction of energy, a fundamental loss in the belief in the connection to life. It’s not gone, you just can’t see it through the darkness. Remind yourself of the cycles of nature and how everything and I mean everything changes, including our emotions.  When you start opening up from this place, you will find a larger connection to the energy of life.

If you are in the middle of the darkness, know that the light is only a moment away. It’s okay to sleep a bit, to rest during the darkness. This is a time to let things be, to allow your soul to talk to you, to show you a new path, a new understanding for new ideas to percolate. Life is leading you to something that you probably would not have discovered if life had not brought you to your knees, so to speak.

However, if people are reaching out to you, try to maintain the lifeline, even if it takes a lot of energy to do so. People care whether you know it or not! Right now, there is someone who loves you so deeply and would do anything to help you. Reach out and grab that hand. They just might be the person to show you the new path you could not see in your own dark state of mind.

So dear friends, please know if the day is dark, it’s just because you have temporarily forgot to open the curtain. The light is there waiting for you. The light of dawn is moments away…

So much love to you,

Rosemary Veilleux

Dear Friends,

It has been a few weeks since I’ve connected with you.  I have had my hands full and time filled with chasing a bouncing baby boy puppy around my home and yard.  He is now 3 ½ months old and is still keeping me hopping but he is a very good boy and brings me joy.   Many of you may have read my blog this winter about the journey with caring for my sweet boy Waldo who passed away the end of February.  My heart was heavy as he was only 6 ½ years old and I loved him dearly.   From the moment Waldo was born, he lived life with such joy and enthusiasm.  My new puppy keeps me hopping but Waldo kept me running!  This home and yard was too small for that big spirit and any chance Waldo had he escaped.  I marveled at the ways he found to have a new adventure.   The phrase “where’s Waldo”, was spoken quite often around my home during his growing years!

When Waldo passed, his spirit came to me very quickly.  He showed himself to me as being very excited, with his front legs pumping up and down like he couldn’t contain himself.  His spirit let me know he was ready to come back into a new body very soon and wanted me to call the breeder who gave me this sweet being.  I sighed every time he came to me, not because I wasn’t happy he was wanting to come back to me, but because I just wasn’t sure I was ready.  I was caring for another very sick furry family member and couldn’t fathom the thought of chasing a puppy around, not to mention dealing with potty training.  Nonetheless, Waldo’s soul persisted and I gave in and contacted the breeder.

Sure enough, the breeder had a litter that was growing in their momma’s womb and was to be born the first or second week of April.  I realized Waldo’s soul was being very persistent as he wanted to jump into a body of one of these puppies.  In fact, the thing that really surprised me was that the body had been conceived even before he had crossed over.  I believe from working with many spiritual teachers and from my own inner understanding that anything is possible.  Souls can find their way to this earth in any number of ways and can work things out together with other souls in terms of inhabiting a body.

Waldo’s soul tried to reassure me he would not be as “crazy” as he was in his recent life.  He said in his prior life before Waldo he had been repressed and abused and never felt he was able to fully express himself and he was a bit fearful.  He thanked me for letting him live his life with such abandon as he felt he was able to heal the prior wounds of the previous life fully.  He said he had so much pent up energy that had not been expressed in the prior life that he couldn’t contain it at times during his life as Waldo.  He knew this was hard on me at certain moments but he also knew I loved him unconditionally and for that he was extremely grateful.   He said he would be easier in this lifetime for me, as he had already lived out the “crazy” part of himself as Waldo.   I have to say I still was not convinced.

However, I found myself putting a deposit down for a puppy still not feeling fully sure I would proceed in bringing one home.  After the litter was born, on 4/12/19, pictures were sent from the breeder.  I scanned the pictures and knew within seconds which body he was in.  I had talked to him about possibly being female in this life and he said he was open, but I could feel he really wanted to be a boy again.  I also knew he wanted to be a Blue Merle (color) again and an Australian Shepherd.  He thinks this breed is really “cool” and smart.

My eyes landed on the puppy at the end of the litter.  They were all curled up together.  The puppy was a Blue Merle but I had no idea if he was male or female,  although the energy felt male to me.  But I knew it was the Soul of my sweet furry friend.  There were two other Blue Merles (who I later found out were female) but I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt, his soul was not in those bodies.

I had communicated with his soul and told him if I were to bring him home, I hoped he would be as happy as he was as Waldo and he assured me he would.   I asked for a sign.  In addition, I love numerology and when I added up the numbers of his birthday, I realized his birth number was one.  I knew the number one would show up somehow as another way to show me it was his soul.

I went back a couple days later to the first and second pictures of the litters and my heart jumped for joy.  On the fur of the puppy I felt was Waldo’s soul, was a big smiley face in his coloring.  I couldn’t help but laugh!  He was reassuring me he would be a happy boy.  In the next picture that came, there was a big black number one  in the fur of the puppy.  I remember when my brother saw the picture he immediately pointed that out as well.  Again, my heart leapt with joy and I was deeply touched.  I found my inner reservations melting and my own inner being opening to the thought of holding this sweet boy.

Spirit is not subtle at times and I find it can be very humorous.  I think sometimes we look for signs and think they will come to us in serious ways, however, I find spirit has a great sense of humor and I love finding this humor in unexpected places.

If you can keep an open mind about what I am sharing, the world can open up for you.  Our loved ones who pass are only temporarily separated from us.  Sometimes, they might need a bit more time on the other side before joining us again and it might not be in this lifetime.  However, sometimes our loved ones come back quickly much like the soul of my sweet boy Waldo.  I have no idea why he had to leave his body so early in the last lifetime, other than to know it was his time.  It had to have been or he would not have left.

From my experience, animals are able to reincarnate a bit quicker than humans.  The reason for this, I believe, is because, animals do not carry the same baggage as humans.  They do have lessons to learn, just as Waldo showed me.  However, they move through their lessons quicker when given the right opportunities and they do not hold onto negative baggage as their humans do.

Life is so magical and fun when we openly and consciously engage in the creation of our lives.   We get messages all the time from our loved ones on the other side and in a myriad of ways. When you truly understand this and have a moment of this kind of magic happen for you, you will feel an incredible lightness of being!  Spirit is joy and magic and this is the message I want to share.

So how is the personality of my new sweet boy, who has been in my life now for 7 weeks?  He is pretty much what he said he would be.  He is definitely easier than Waldo was and he is also such a joy.  Don’t get me wrong, he is still a puppy and as stated above keeps me busy but he learns so quickly and seems content to stay in the yard, and enjoy this family.  I’ve named him Mojo.  Mojo means power and magic.  Mojo has his power back after living such a healthy life as Waldo.  He, once again, has shown me the magic of life in his journey back to me.  And in essence, I have my Mojo back!  And I am grateful and excited to see how our lives unfold together.  I hope he lives a long life in this incarnation.  However, his journey and timing in this life is his own.  And as long as he is in my life, I hope to enjoy and share this Mojo together and with others.

Much love to all of you.  I am wishing you much MOJO in your lives as well!

Rosemary

Dear Friends,

I’ve been contemplating on what it means to surrender to my own life challenges. I’ve had several conversations with various friends on this concept as many of them. like me, are having significant challenges in their lives as well.

What does it mean to surrender to a higher power? I’ve come to realize it does not mean hiding away, and avoiding making choices or decisions. On the contrary, when we are called forth in our lives with various occurrences, we can rise to meet them or not. We can step forth and make the best decisions we can, or we can hide away and not move forward in any direction and eventually be taken over by the momentum of the things we are being challenged with.

I believe there is a difference between being “taken over” versus “surrendering”. When we are “taken over” it implies being a victim and not having any choices in terms of what is occurring in our lives.  By surrendering, we are a potent player in what is occurring as we are making a choice of letting go and letting God, so to speak. We can choose to move forward with treatment for a condition but at the same time surrender to allowing the treatment to help us if that is what it is meant to do. You can move forward with choosing a new job and at the same time surrender to where that new job is taking you.

Surrendering is both active and passive. It’s about making the best choices we can in any given moment and then allowing for space within those decisions. Allowing life to take us to where it wants to take us within the framework of those decisions. When I was caring for my sweet furry ones this winter, as I discussed in my last blog, I was constantly being called forth to serve these sweet beings with the best decisions I could regarding their needs.

I kept having to surrender to how they responded as ultimately their response was out of my control. And now once again, I am being called forth for my sweet Persian kitty, Kiku, who has been having some health issues. I am choosing to care for her with consciousness and love knowing that ultimately her fate is within her own soul in terms of whether she stays or leaves this earth.

Surrendering can also mean stepping into new parts of ourselves. Sometimes we are aware of these places within ourselves hovering along the periphery of our lives. At other times, these places within ourselves sweep in and grab us before we even know what is happening. In both cases we are surrendering to a call from a higher place.

The end of this last January, I went to the grocery story to pick up a few things. On the way home, I needed to stop and pick up a syringe to feed my sweet boy Waldo. He had stopped eating on his own and the one I had broke that morning. I had planned on going to Safeway originally to get the syringe as I knew they had the size I needed and the grocery store I was in did not have any. However, the grocery clerk suggested I go to Rite Aide Pharmacy across the parking lot.

As I was getting in my car and still planning to go to Safeway, I kept getting nudges to go to Rite Aide. I found myself pulling into the parking lot and proceeded to walk towards the door. As I was walking, I noticed a man videotaping with his phone three young men who appeared to be wrestling at the top of the stairs leading up to the road. He kept saying, “stop it, stop it” but not with much force and the guys did not pay any attention to him at all. It took me a few moments to figure out what was occurring. I realized that two of the men were trying to steal the backpack off another Chinese man and ganging up on him.

It’s amazing how quickly the brain can process information. Within a split second, I knew that the man videoing the scene cared more about a viral video than on what was happening to the young man that was being mugged. I also assessed quickly if there were any weapons and the next thing I knew I was running towards the guys screaming at the top of my lungs for the two muggers to leave the other man alone.

The video guy gave a half hearted attempt to follow and then seemed to disappear. The next thing I knew, the two muggers looked up at me like two deer caught in the headlights and took off running. One ran across the road and the other up the road. At the same time, I was still yelling at them. Once I was assured they were gone, I turned to the young Chinese man, who was quite shaken up, and stepped back into the healer side of myself to assist him to calm down and provided a ride home for him.

The whole time this was happening, I did not experience any fear. In fact, when it was all over, I felt laughter bubbling up inside me. Of course, I felt badly for the young man being mugged as he was obviously upset and realistically so. However, a very pure part of myself stepped forth during that situation, and a part of myself I had never experienced in that way before. She was my inner warrioress and I have to say, she does have a bit of a big mouth, which still makes me chuckle.

I believe that young man was not meant to be mugged and lose his backpack. He had recently moved here from China and was going to a nearby community college. Perhaps if he had been mugged fully, his life would have taken on a very different path. I shared with him that I was very sorry that happened to him but also tried to reassure him that there were many good people around.

I believe that at the moment of the attempted mugging, life force scanned the area to see who was up for the challenge and I was chosen and my spirit surrendered. I felt at the time, I had so much pent up energy in terms of what was going on with my sweet dog and caring for him and my sweet cat that it needed an outlet and I was given one at the same time. And in that surrendering was a sense of joy afterwards.  I realized that when we enter into a place of pure spirit in collaboration with the divine there is joy even in unexpected places.

I still laugh when I see the looks on the two young mugger’s faces when this crazy lady was charging at them and yelling at the top of her lungs and how they took off running. It is also interesting how I was going to go to Safeway and ended up going to Rite Aide. If you look at the metaphor with these names, I was not meant to go the ‘Safe Way” but it was Rite that I came to the young man’s Aide”.

Surrendering can mean so many things. But surrendering is never passive. It is always active in that there is a choice in surrendering and there is movement by spirit, rearranging the pieces of the puzzle to provide an outcome that we have yet to discover. If we are dealing with a health crisis by all means, make choices about how to move forward and then surrender to the outcome. If you are drawn to make another choice at some point, then make that choice and surrender again. Surrender does not mean death, although sometimes it does mean surrendering our bodies, but even that is an active process. When we surrender our bodies, we are moving towards a more spiritually divine place.

My friends, I am wishing you the peace that comes from surrendering to a higher power while at the same time making decisions to the best of your ability. You are not being weak if you surrender, on the contrary, you are being quite powerful. In that place of surrender, lies infinite possibilities and you might also discover your own inner warrior or warrioress in that moment of surrendering.

Much Love,

Rosemary Veilleux