Changes and Chances

Neighbors

2011-01-30T05:39:00.000-08:00

As I drove my truck off the driveway and right next to the fence, I greeted my neighbors with a smile and a wave as they marched through the tall dried weeds of the field next door. We exchanged our greetings and they commented on my daily treks into the city. They asked about health care...... well, they asked if I provided health care....... then they asked who I voted for and what did I think of that foreigner as a president......that the whole country is going to hell in a hand basket...... and "we need people who believe in the United States of America" and "they are trying to take away our freedoms and our guns!!" OUR GUNS! I thought this guy had my back at the front end of my driveway!! If I had been standing I would have been taking steps backwards.

It was a 5 minute conversation. Hmmmm well maybe it was more of an interrogation. I found myself stumbling to find the words that would neither offend or inflame their passionate displeasure of our current government. I did not declare my allegiance to an individual, or a country but asked "what of my family in Lebanon"? What of my brothers and sisters in 186 countries all over the world?

I watched as the very mild mannered, sweet Sunday school teacher widened her stance and her eyes glaze over accusing me of not loving my country. The kindness was gone from her eyes. He husbanded "joked" a bit about the conversation, remaining cordial. And then they excused themselves as they had to go to the practice range so she could renew her concealed handgun license.

Lord Help Us!!

Trust

2009-08-06T19:28:00.001-07:00

Trust

2009-08-06T19:28:00.000-07:00

So while I was laying 4 pallets of sod -two days worth.......... ugh......I was thinking. A while ago you (a general "you") told me that if there wasn't unconditional trust, that authentic partnership would be impossible. Soooo I took the leap, and I trusted. I found that one of the most difficult things ever, and I wavered. I stood my ground - my feet planted firmly in self-reliance, denying that I could trust beyond my own capability. I know my capacity, that resilience and it frightens me. Its so "out there". I've trusted so many times and every single time, yes......every single time I was disappointed. And yet I stayed. I stay still.

Trustworthiness. Being worthy of trust. Shouldn't that be mutual and reciprocal?

2009-06-19T19:55:00.000-07:00

d'Artagnan............proved himself worthy (to be a Muskateer)

Renewal

2009-06-02T05:11:00.000-07:00

The most beautiful weekend with "the big girls" shifted my operating energy! Ya Baha!! Moving my core energy from one of emotion to the place where the feminine comes from could empower me so!

Sisters of my Soul

2009-05-30T11:37:00.000-07:00

We sing so that our voices might be heard. Notes wafting in and out of the breezes of our reality, reminding us of our noble station and to those attributes so long latent within us.

2 A.M.

2009-05-06T22:30:00.000-07:00

Tonight I cannot sleep. The words ebb and flow through my tired brain, unrelated at times and painfully clear at others. I wonder if this sleeplessness will do me in as the hour I must awake draws dangerously closer.

I am afraid to put what is on my mind and in my heart to paper because the implications of my thoughts may well be without merit and would then totally disrupt many things. Where to turn? Who to talk to??? I find this night that I cannot identify the subject of my prayers.......so I offer only one, very general prayer. What is it that can shake me? What causes fear to creep into my soul and linger a little too long? Is it fear or is it something else........

The Abyss

2009-04-15T18:52:00.001-07:00

You asked me to list 10 Things I LOVE to do. And then, again, you asked me to list 10 Things I Am Good At.

And there I stood. My toes at the edge, looking ever downward......past the trembling of my body, my mind numb unable to comprehend - only to be. Find a thought.........look for a sign......right? left? God, how could I know right from left when I didn't even know up from down?

And now you ask me to list 10 Things I Love?

In the Corporate world we are allowed 3 days bereavement. 3 days. Then its back to work. BACK TO WORK!!! That includes the last day, the planning of the funeral, the funeral, and then.......BACK TO WORK!

Mischief

2009-04-05T19:34:00.000-07:00

"Amity and rectitude of conduct, rather than dissension and mischief, are the marks of true faith." ---Bahá'u'lláh

This is absolutely serious......I recently sent an email in response to one I have received. What I read in the email wasn't so much the actual message, though the words in the message were quite strong and well, actually downright rude, but the underlying intent mean spirited. I could have chosen to be indignant, but I found that I truly did want to find another way to respond so as to not inflame the sender. I replied to the email within the hour. I waited a bit and called the sender.........waited a bit more and called again..............and eventually sent a text. That was a day and a half ago and have not yet received a response.

What, you might ask, does this have to do with the quote I've posted? Well, I read it and reflected on what I did next. By the way.......the email was work related. The email, initially was not sent directly to me

JOURNEY

2009-02-08T07:06:00.000-08:00

I wonder who I would have been. I mourn the loss of that potentiality. A conversation yesterday had me standing on the edge, a place that was not foreign to me, one that I would usually retreat from. It was that last threshold that keeps me from trusting implicitly, that I looked out from. A fear so deep seeded welled up inside me calling every fiber of my being to retreat. My life's experience told me that this next level of trust - the highest level of trust, held great power for the one to whom it is given. It has the power to do great things or to destroy or handicap.

What happens to a child when the very first person you learn to trust does not protect you? Cellular memory tells you to keep placing that trust because that is where your survival lies. Shouldn't we as mothers also have that cellular memory to "protect"? What does it look like if that cellular memory is missing generationally? It causes a rebuilding from the core. It is a journey that is fraught with pitfalls and incredible joy, highs and lows that give me pause.

Sacrifice

2009-01-23T21:51:00.000-08:00

I suppose one could assume vain imaginings are huge in what I am about to write, but from where I sit, the reality is apparent in the passage of time and in reflection on the events that have shaped who I am and how I got to where I am now. One cannot honestly say they are grateful for the horrific paths that life takes, but I can say I understand the learning that causes patterns of living and thinking that evolve and make us a product of our own ability to process and thus survive.

Preparation

2009-01-23T19:52:00.000-08:00

After a conversation yesterday with my friend, it was clear to me that I had prepared myself emotionally to be alone. In listening to the process of trying to make sense of suddenly (or not so suddenly) finding yourself without the one you have come to love and cherish, I found that my own process had been very similar. For five years, I had been told "not long" "not much longer". I didn't live my life in fear or denial, but in a conscious state of knowing. It wasn't that I was waiting for Wassim to go, but more than ever aware that each moment was precious and how important it was for me to live in the moment, and without regret. So with that, I was able to detach, slowly. To find an inner strength in order to do more than go through the motions involved in decision making, emotionally helping others during my own challenging time. A funny turn of events!

But finding that place of detachment had nothing to do with loving any less, much to the contrary, and more to do with the finding of space for both of us. Both in the going and the staying. There is a sweetness in that.

(NEUrOPEPTIDE Y)

2009-01-21T14:35:00.000-08:00

I was party to a conversation last year and received some pretty good advice. "Life usually happens either in "white water" or in "calm water". Our natural human tendency is to long for the calm waters where life is easy and predictable. Unfortunately, in the REAL natural scheme of things, our lives are lived in "whitewater"......tests and difficulties. That is how we stretch our potentiality and grow stronger in character and certitude.

Sometimes I can't help but think that I've stretched and grown enough in the past (almost) 4 years and the I am definitely ready for some calm water. And, by the way, if this isn't reality, I want to know who the humorist is that is writing my life's script. AND I am thinking of demanding a happy ending! I'm just saying.......... :-)

Re-evolving!

2009-01-14T06:24:00.000-08:00

I feel like a crystallise. In December I journeyed to Mount Carmel intending to leave my baggage there. As I walked into the Shrine of the Bab I felt that I was drawn from the inside of me. I was a lone for a short while, hardly aware of the silence that enveloped me. Before I could place my head on the Holy Threshold, I was racked with sobs. Uncontrollable.....until I got ahold of myself!! (Shoulda gone with it)

I could only stay a short while. My mind totally blank. I read the prayer of Visitation on the Wall. I tried reading from my prayer book.

"Sorry for your loss"

2009-01-11T07:26:00.000-08:00

My friend passed from this life last weekend. I found the experience from my part to be very interesting. As an observer this time away from the emotional turmoil that happens with the passing of a close family member, I was reminded of the curiousness in which we express our condolences. I don't know the origin of "this dark time" but in light of the spiritual guidance of our Beloved Faith, moving on to the Abha Kingdom should be viewed as the beginning of a journey. Moving forward with great joy, like looking forward to a birth. In essence the same thing. Her passing was anything but a "dark time". It was one she had given a lot of thought to. When Wassim passed people said "sorry for your loss". I didn't lose him. Not really. I knew where he was going, so he wasn't lost. :-) And I didn't find that I was "sorry". I did get a little mad at him because I wasn't ready, and rightly told him so from the middle of the living room.....okay, and at the top of my voice.....at times........actually, many times, so I am certain he heard me.

But I wasn't sorry. I was given 18 years with all its ups and downs and was quite happy for almost all of it. So you shouldn't be sorry for me either. Which sounds like pity. And I don't think pity fits in any form.

So to say "this dark time" just doesn't work. Not for Kathy, or Wassim, and certainly not those of us who have shared their passing. The joy that you experienced when you crossed over was felt by all who love you so dearly! Light upon light! We felt your soul soaring!!

2009-01-10T05:37:00.000-08:00

I returned to The Ranch on Tuesday, still in an empty minded state. Problem is that I had a realization while in California that I found a little troubling. As women we seem to expect that since we have been oppressed for so long, that it is only the men who need to do their "work". And I've come to understand that in that expectation we don't grow and learn ourselves. We just expect the men in our lives and around us to "know" what needs to change and then do it (damn it!). But what of that change? In those steps towards equality, we have somehow lost the notion that we are hanging on to antiquated ideas of what a relationship should look like. We don't quite get it if we are stuck in the maladaptive behavior that helped us to survive generationally in disfunctional relationships. With the advancement of the men in our lives, there MUST come a realization from our part that we MUST drop the survival habits that served us so well and evolve ourselves.

So here I am. Stuck somewhere in the middle of where I was.....my expectation that somehow I was okay with who and where I was and that others should change around me.....and that all would be right with the world if that happened. And if my actions and reactions remained where they were for so many years, how then do I move forward in my own process? How does the way I react in the world really change?

I've listened to my girlfriends - old ones and new ones, in the subtle comments about their relationships with husbands and family members. I wonder where did any semblance of happiness go? Is there no shred of joy left? Why is it okay to just go through the motions of a relationship? Kind of like a dance with no music. How very sad.

Was my marriage perfect? Absolutely not! But there was a joy of being together in the moment. The wanting to be together, even to reach out only to hear the sound of each other's voice. An adoration.......ahhhhhhhhhhhh adoration....... (I miss that part - mutual and reciprocal). But so often I hear distain in the voices of women. I can't stand in that place any more. The place that allows me to agree that we just put up with men because that is the way they are, or that "that" is the way we are for that matter. But as I said, I am now somewhere in the middle of that process. I can't go back to what I used to know, the place of comfort in male-bashing expectations that excluded me from the pattern of growth. I can only move forward and hope like hell that I don't fall back in to those old patterns that die hard.

Grace

2009-01-10T00:44:00.000-08:00

I learned a lot about grace this past weekend. Does one "participate" in a friend's passing or are we merely by-standers? Kathy allowed us "in". It was a very sweet time. We laughed and sang and remembered many things. And cried a lot. And laughed some more. There were 4 of us who spent time during her treatments in Ojai. A bonding time, for sure

Ojai.....what a beautiful place. I can see why she wanted to be there. Breathtaking. The green part of southern California. Very peaceful.