His Family Breathes Love for Him

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Somewhere back in my earlier posts I mention that I am in recovery from Agoraphobia (fear of open spaces). Well, today I have to say big freakin deal...I was sitting here at 11:00 p.m. tonight thinking about going to bed but was not quite tired enough. As I scrolled through the listings in my DVR, I saw that Oprah's interview with Michael J. Fox was on today. I have only, at this moment, seen the first 10 minutes; and the crappy day I thought I was having is nothing, nil. My recovery from Agoraphobia is nothing, nil, my quitting smoking is nothing, nil...my giving up excessive drinking is nothing, nil. What Michael J. Fox and his family are living is
"everything to everyone." I am sitting here now so blown away by the courage and fortitude that man has; and I am so grateful that President Obama has signed the bill that is going to help Michael have the life he so deserves.
There is so much love in his life. Just breathing the love his children and wife have for him must be his miracle drug. I have yet to read his book, but it is so on my list right now.

It's amazing that whenever you think things are bad in your life; something always comes along that makes you remember how grateful you are for everything and everybody in your life. All I can say is Thank you, God...thank you...thank you, for this wonderful human being, that is Michael J. Fox.

I am touched, motivated, and blessed that I was not ready to go to sleep, and took the opportunity to listen to this interview. If you haven't see it I hope they will repeat it (I'm sure they will). But, in the meantime, just remember to be grateful everyday for everything.

GRATITUDE HERE ON AMAZON

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The Monarch Butterfly

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I have been looking for this story for almost 2 years now, since I first heard Dr. Dyer tell this story on PBS. When he tells the story he is so animated and it brings the experience to life. It is truly beautiful to see and hear. I am so happy to have found it and am loving being able to share it with you. Thank you God...Thank you...Thank you.

Dr. Wayne W Dyer's Butterfly Experience
Excerpt from his book Inspiration: Your Ultimate Calling

June 2007- In this final chapter, I offer my own very personal view on how the world looks when I feel inspired.

I’d like to acknowledge right from the outset that I don’t live at this level of being in-Spirit 100 percent of the time—like most everyone else, I occasionally have lapses and feel uninspired. Yet these moments have become rarer and rarer; in fact, it’s difficult for me to recall a day in the past several years when I felt completely uninspired.

What follows is a personal account of both how I feel inside and what seems to take place in the world around me when I feel connected to Spirit in the ways that I’ve written about in the pages of this book.
Jack

The same day that I completed Chapter 17 and read it over the telephone to my editor, Joanna, on Bainbridge Island, Washington, I had the most profoundly mystical experience of being in-Spirit in all of my 65 years. The photograph on the cover of the book is a re-creation of what happened.

When I finished up with Joanna, I went for my daily hour-long walk along the beach…but for some reason I elected to take a slightly different route along a grassy area adjacent to the beach. I was recalling my friend Jack Boland, a Unity minister in Detroit, who crossed over about a decade ago. Jack loved monarch butterflies, often telling stories of how he marveled at these paper-thin creatures who migrated thousands of miles in high winds and returned to the same branch on the same tree where they first emerged from their cocoons. Before Jack passed away, I presented him with a beautiful paperweight containing a dead monarch that I’d found in perfect condition. When he died, his wife returned it to me, telling me how much Jack loved that gift and how much he admired these amazing creatures who had such mysterious intelligence built into their brains, which are the size of a pinhead.

Jack always told me to “be in a state of gratitude,” and he ended every sermon with this message to God: “Thank You, thank You, thank You.” On three occasions since his death, a monarch butterfly has landed on my body. Since these creatures studiously avoid human contact, each time this has happened I’ve thought of Jack and thought, Thank You, God—thank You, thank You.

Anyway, as I walked, feeling grateful for having completed the second-to-last chapter of this book, a monarch landed on the ground, three feet in front of me. I said Jack’s magic words to myself (Thank You, God—thank You, thank You), and felt deep appreciation for my life and the beauty of the day. The butterfly stayed right there until I approached, then he flapped his wings several times and flew away. Thinking of Jack and feeling a little bewildered and immensely thankful, I watched this creature in flight, now 40 or 50 yards away.

As God is my witness, the butterfly made a U-turn and not only headed in my direction, but landed right smack on my finger! Needless to say, I was shocked—but not totally surprised. I must confess that it seems to me that the more I stay in-Spirit, the more I experience synchronicities similar to this one. But what followed did border on the incredulous, even for me.

This little creature became my constant companion for the next two and a half hours—he sat first on one hand and then moved to my other hand, never even coming close to flying away. He seemed to be trying to communicate with me by moving his wings back and forth, and even opening and closing his tiny mouth as if attempting to speak . . . and as crazy as it may sound, I felt a deep affinity to this precious living being. I sat on the ground and simply stayed with my new fragile friend for 30 or so minutes. Then I called Joanna from my cell phone, and she was also stunned by the synchronicity, insisting that I somehow get a picture of this event.

At this point I decided to return to my home, approximately a mile from where I was sitting, with my new companion. I returned along the beach walk, where the winds were brisk—the butterfly’s wings were pushed by these high gusts, but he clung to my finger, and even moved to another hand without making any effort to leave. As I walked, I encountered a four-year-old girl with her mother. The girl was sobbing over some perceived tragedy in her young life, and when I showed her my “pet” butterfly, her expression went from sad to blissful in one split second. She smiled from ear to ear and asked me all about the winged creature on my forefinger.

When I got home, I was talking on my cell phone to my friend Reid Tracy as I walked upstairs. He laughed with me as I related the bizarre synchronicity at play in this very moment. I said, “Reid, it’s been 90 minutes, and this little guy has adopted me.” Reid also encouraged me to get a photograph of this, since it was obviously in complete harmony with what I was writing.

I left my new friend—whom I was now calling “Jack”—sitting on the handwritten Chapter 17 on my lanai, and went downstairs. I found Cindy, a young woman who works nearby, and asked her to run to the store and purchase a disposable camera. She did, and I went back to the patio, put my hand next to Jack, and watched him jump right onto my finger! (The photo on the cover of this book is a re-creation of that magical moment.)

It appeared that my butterfly companion had decided that he was now going to live with me forever. After another hour or so of meditating and communing with this little creature of God—and pondering this event as the most unprecedented and out-of-the-ordinary spiritual episode I’d ever encountered—I gently placed Jack back on my manuscript while I proceeded to take a long, hot shower. When I returned to the patio, I placed my finger near my winged friend as I’d done many times in the previous 150 minutes, but he now seemed like a totally different little critter. He fluttered away, landed on a table, flapped his wings twice, and flew off, straight up toward the heavens. Moments with him were now history, but I still had the photographs, which I treasure.

The next morning, I decided to watch one of my favorite films, Brother Sun, Sister Moon, which I hadn’t viewed for more than a decade. And sure enough—in the opening scenes of Franco Zeffirelli’s interpretation of the life of St. Francis, there he was . . . with a butterfly alighting on his fingers.

MUSIC AND HUMOR HEALS

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I was watching The Bonnie Hunt Show this morning, (avoiding writing a persuasive essay for ENG COMP), and she had Kevin Bacon and his brother on. I was so enthralled with the charity project they are a part of. It is called Musicians On Call.
They, and many other musicians, go to different hospitals and play for patients. I started to think about the amazing effect that must create and my "goofing off" turned into the a "purpose." Which means, my essay will be about how music and humor heal. Sometimes it is possible that people will heal even faster from music and humor; than they do from medicine and medical care, not to advocate against medical care, because it will always be a crucial element in healing, and in most cases, of course, the first step.

So there are two lessons that I learned today:
1. Even goofing off has purpose. (finding the topic of my essay)
2. Music and humor are amazing medical finds in healing care.
I love my life.

Together We Can Change The World

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THE TEEN CREED

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The Bonnie Hunt's show on Friday was really interesting with Rosie O'Donnell as a guest. Rosie talked about her new movie "America" airing tonight on the Lifetime Channel and also about "Munny,"from KidRobot which is a new toy that helps children become more creative.

The most poignant part of the show was a retrospective of Bonnie's about when she was 12 years old and her mother (who often shows up on the show via web cam or Skype)gave all of her brothers and sisters a laminated copy of "The Teen Creed," which they had to memorize and recite each time they left home without their mother.

It's really funny how everything comes full circle. This is a great tool from when I was a teen, (I'm older than Bonnie, much older)and parents provided very specific guidelines for children, and instilled a sense of responsibility in them. In my home most of what we had to memorize were bible verses, but they were related to punishment, which in hindsight I now realize gave me a distorted sense of structured religion.

Even two parent homes seem to be having difficulty teaching their children about the consequences of their actions these days. And it is such a difficult time right now in the world, our children need to know how to handle much graver issues than we ever had to deal with. Below is a copy of "The Teen Creed" consider making a laminated copy for your child, have them memorize it, and also instill in them that you will love them unconditionally, and they only have to call you to pick them up when they are in trouble...NO QUESTIONS ASKED...and make sure to stand by that commitment, don't ask....unless they want or need to talk about the situation. Be proud of them for taking the right route. Calling home and removing themselves from bad situations, means they have the tools they need to make smart decisions, by knowing and understanding the consequences of their actions.

Bonnie including her mother as part of her show, and sharing experiences of her childhood with her mother's parenting skills, is a purely perfect move. Her mother ads a great dimension to the show. Her mother truly understands what loving "unconditionally " means.

HERE IS THE TEEN CREED from the Bonnie Hunt Show

1. Don’t let your parents down, they brought you up.
2. Be humble enough to obey, you may give orders someday.
3. Choose companions with care, you become who they are.
4. Guard your thoughts, what you think you are.
5. Choose only a date who would make a good mate.
6. Be a master of your habits or they will master you.
7. Don’t be a show off when you drive, drive with safety and arrive.
8. Don’t let the crowd pressure you.
9. Stand for something or you’ll fall for something.

LIFE IS A DREAM

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02-22-09

LIFE IS A DREAM

We live our lives looking for our dreams to come true, but what we are missing is that life is a dream. It began in utero, entered postpartum, puberty, adolescence, teen, adult, and then senior. Our life is the script that we write for ourselves. The play we are acting out everyday is the dream that we choose for our life. So life really is the “fake it til you make it,” mind set. What else is there? The poor me? My life sucks? I can’t help it? I tried but it didn’t work? What dream are you living, because you are living your dreams?

Hits you where it hurts doesn’t it? I was sitting at my computer this morning after a grueling few hours last night trying to put up a web page, (which, by the way is supposed to be very simple) but I ended in frustration, put it on hold and began fresh this morning. Well I still did not get it done. My friend James called and asked me if I got his email. I said “no, but what is it about?” he answered, “It will really help you out.” I asked, “help me out with what.” he replied, “with what you want to do.” Now I went to the website he showed me, and after spending the morning with the grueling….do this do that directions on how to build a web page, an auto responder, and an email list… this looked just like everything at that moment I hated. So I closed all of the windows on my desktop and sat with my head in my hands listening for the voice within.

Whenever I do that, my cat Pogo comes over to the table next to my computer desk and puts his paws on my shoulder. Some say he is responding to what he thinks is sadness but I always think he is looking for something, so I give him a treat and the nature of Pavlov’s Dog is now living before my very eyes in the shape of my cat. I “allowed” this behavior in him, and yet, even though there are times I am endeared by this gesture, most times I am sitting like that out of frustration and I snap at him. Funny thing about cats, they know everything, they have the best of everything because they demand it, and because it is a show of our love for them, we enable this behavior. Why don’t we think about our animals in the same way we do about our children. When our children develop bad behavior, we correct them to keep them safe. Whatever direction they are going in, we cannot control forever, eventually we have to let go of their behavior and let them live in whatever dream they are in, even when their dream to us, is a nightmare. But, it is our nightmare not theirs. Their dream is the reality they choose it to be, how they perceive it. We cannot perceive it, EVER, as they do. It is within.

When my father told me years ago that it was all in my head, (I heard it derogatorily) he was absolutely right…it is in my head, and in yours also. Our dreams, our reality, our life, is in our head and only we can control the outcome. No matter how much help and direction we are given by others, we must follow the dream in our head, because dreams do come true…when we make them. The next thing you hear from some people when they hear that is that you cannot reach your dreams without this action, or that action, and even that is true, but the action…is our dream…and the dream…is in our head. It is our own reality no matter what. NO MATTER WHAT! So I choose to do what the voice within tells me to do, to stay happy and balanced in my life, that is the dream I choose. What dream are you living? Does your life suck, are you in a state of poor me, are you living I can’t, I tried, I failed, because if you are just let this run through your head and see where it takes you…I am living my dream. If when you say that you are not happy, then change whatever you are doing and do what makes you happy. I know this is where everyone that is substance abusing, or being a martyr, or blaming others for the way they are living out their dream, says…”I can’t, I won’t, It’s not my fault,” and “you are nuts lady.” well, if I am nuts then I am loving every moment of it because this is my dream…the one I am living today and I am so grateful to be living this dream and planning my new dreams that nothing that comes my way is going to stop me from living it, unless it comes from within. UNLESS IT COMES FROM WITHIN, because “there is no new thing under the sun,” and “you are what you think about.” Be happy in your dream and your life will be happy.

My friend Dave Kenyon shares the most wonderful videos and this one seemed to hit home for me today, ENJOY: