(not necessarily in that order)
A dear friend shared about a HUGE “aha” moment this week. Her tasks seemed insuperable and she was feeling totally overwhelmed.
Then she remembered to give it to Divine Mother and….solutions happened (some of them downright miraculous)!
I’m so grateful for this reminder that God is the Doer and Divine Mother always has our back.
Saying good-bye tonight to someone who I knew only for a short while “in person,” but we stayed connected on Facebook through multiple moves and numerous life challenges for the ten years or so that followed.
I followed her seemingly victorious battle with cancer and knew when it had come back. Just a few weeks ago she shared that she had made the decision to chose hospice over hospital-based care. She was at peace with making her transition.
Lizzie continued sharing her love and light until the very last, dying peacefully in the middle of sharing a prayer on Facebook. I find this so deeply inspiring; I don’t think she would mind me sharing it.
Aspiration to The Holy Family
Prayer:
Jesus, Mary and Joseph: I give Thee my heart and my soul.
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph: assist me in my last agony.
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, may I breath forth my soul in peace with Thee.
Go with love, dear Lizzie.
I laughed and laughed at this! Just what I needed mid-way through a long week. 😂
As my day of fasting draws to a close — quite a bit later than I’d hoped — I’m reminded of the phrase, “empty space between the ears.”
That’s how my head feels right now. I can’t even say that’s how my brain feels, because at the moment it’s like there isn’t a brain in there at all (cue the scarecrow: “If I only had a brain…”).
Okay, that’s it. Next thing I know I’ll be hallucinating. Good night!
Yes! And no…
Absolutely! But maybe not quite yet…
Of course! Except I’m a little nervous…
So, yeah. Today I got my first taste of what a tentative, ambivalent process it’s going to be as we transition back to “normal.”
After decades of driving all over Northern California for gigs or fun or spiritual pursuits, it was disconcerting to experience the strangeness of driving to Grass Valley by myself for the first time in over a year.
It wasn’t hard, just…odd. Like it took attention muscles that I haven’t had to use in a really long time!
And then I stopped to get gas and couldn’t remember the PIN for my debit card! Something else I used to do in my sleep, but hadn’t done in over a year.
This next phase is going to be….interesting.
It’s been months since I was so late writing my blog post that I had to race the clock to finish before midnight!
But here I am, feeling like Cinderella’s finery, knowing that I’ll disintegrate if I haven’t finished when the clock strikes twelve!
So, I think I’ll call this “done,” with four minutes to spare.
I win!
After a week filled with a whole series of brain-drain projects, I was really glad to be distracted by a variety of wildflowers during my daily walk. Some were too magically tiny for my phone camera to capture, but I particularly enjoyed these three.
It’s been a week of late nights and tonight I just can’t.
So I’m stopping now.
Happy Friday, friends!
This red bud tree pretty much took my breath away the other day. Especially together with the contrasting Japanese Maple, the green pine trees, and deep blue sky, all framing the beautiful Temple of Light.
I’m so grateful for the beauty of this patch of the planet that I get to call home!
Plus, Ramesha and I finally made another fun video, also in honor of Earth Day. Enjoy!
This is my favorite photo of me and Swami Kriyananda, from sometime in 2003 at Ananda Assisi. I had met him for the first time only three years before, yet I was beginning to comprehend how completely my life had changed as a result.
When Swamiji left his body on April 21, 2013 — eight years ago today — my first reaction wasn’t particularly spiritual or uplifted. When Ramesha read the email message to me, my immediate response was “NO!” And I kept repeating that for some time. Despite knowing how ready Swamiji was to be free in God, I was definitely not ready for him to go.
I felt like I was losing my dearest friend and I couldn’t help thinking of all the times I hadn’t made the effort to be where he was, to hear him and see him and simply be in his presence.
It didn’t (and still doesn’t) matter that I had many opportunities to work with and spend time with Swamiji; the pain I feel is because I couldn’t fully appreciate those blessed times, because I really couldn’t even begin to wrap my mind around how great he was.
I knew Swami in the body for thirteen years. Such a short time, really. But I think about him pretty much every day and thank him for the music, his friendship, and the opportunity to serve Yogananda’s mission through Ananda and Ananda Music.
I can’t imagine a more beautiful or more meaningful life than the one I’m living. Jai Swamiji! 🙏