Category: Uncategorized

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What if?

I actually started crying when I first read this on Facebook. I immediately shared it on my feed but felt to say more about it here.

What first touched my heart was imagining how the world would be if all teachers had this understanding and routinely offered this kind of support to the children in their care.

But then I found myself thinking, what about our workplaces? What about our homes?

If your family is experiencing difficulties at home, I would like to provide additional support at work. I understand that you are not always able to share details and that’s okay. If your wife/husband/adult child is coming to work after a difficult night, morning or weekend, please text me “Handle with Care”. Nothing else will be said or asked. This will let me know that your wife/husband/adult child may need extra time, patience, or help during the day.

OR…

If my wife/husband/adult child is experiencing difficulties at work, I would like to provide additional support at home. I understand that you are not always able to share details and that’s okay. If my wife/husband/adult child is coming home after a difficult day, please text me “Handle with Care”. Nothing else will be said or asked. This will let me know that my wife/husband/adult child may need extra time, patience, or help during the night or over the weekend.

OR EVEN…what about ourselves?

If I am experiencing difficulties at work or at school or at home, I would like to provide myself additional support within. I understand that I may not always be able to deal with details and that’s okay. If I’m trying to cope after a difficult day, night, or weekend, please God, help me remember to “Handle with Care”. Nothing else need be said or asked. This will remind me that I may need extra time, patience, or help.

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Puttering around at home

Today was entirely a puttering around, homebody kind of day, in which I never stepped foot outside the house.

I cleaned a bunch of (very) old stuff out of the frig; laundered four loads of clothes; washed lots of dishes; and watered all my indoor plants.

But I also had coffee and a chat with Ramesha; read my book; watched a few video clips; and dozed off for a while.

Now I’m going to watch a movie while I fold four loads of laundry.

It’s days like this when I’m reminded that, although I love people and can be quite the social butterfly (after all, my sun sign is Gemini!), at heart I’m an introvert and need days like this to restore my inner equilibrium.

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Sharing the video of Jyotish’s celebration

I don’t know how Bhaktan and team captured this so beautifully on video (since I never saw them actively video recording during the event), but I’m grateful they did.

Not only for those who weren’t able to attend, but also for myself — and others who were in the midst of things — because it’s such a joy to be able to see it and hear it from the perspective of the audience.

If you watch it on YouTube, be sure and read the first comment. I’ve excerpted just a portion of it here:
“…The woman in blue introduced herself as Devi and carried an aura of peace, sweetness, and knowing as we began to chat. Upon leaving our brief talk, Jyotish looked at me, smiled, and pranam’d with hands folded 🙏 I was immediately uplifted and brought into an expanded state. A true blessing to have received his darshan. It wasn’t until a few days later that I was on YouTube learning more about Ananda that I realized they were the spiritual directors! The third woman was one of the Palo Alto Ananda leaders. Ananda is in good hands, led by God saturated souls.”

This man isn’t an Ananda member, but he totally tuned into the greatness that is Jyotish.

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Wishful thinking

I’m feeling kind of wistful as I think back to the days of baby teeth and visits from the tooth fairy.

I had a consultation with an oral surgeon today about having a tooth extracted. It can’t be done by a regular dentist because I’ve been on Zometa for the past year.

Zometa is used to treat bone damage caused by multiple myeloma; it works by slowing bone breakdown and increasing bone density. Which is good news except that the increased bone density can make it harder for healing nutrients and blood flow to reach deep into the bone, possibly causing complications in the jaw bone after a tooth extraction.

So, I’m back to learning about things I never thought I’d need to know — like details of tooth extraction; all about bone density; the whys and wherefores of bone grafts; a possible tooth implant — and wishing I could hand the whole thing over to the Tooth Fairy!

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Stumped

I am really, truly stumped tonight.

My mind’s a blank and I can’t come up with a single interesting idea to write about.

Oh well. 🤷‍♂️

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The ONE Thing

I was turned on to the book, “The ONE Thing,” by my friend and fellow music ministry team member, Jeannie.

The funny thing is that she thought I had originally told her about it! We still don’t know where she first heard about it, but I’m evidently supposed to pursue the lead.

Why do I say that? Well, because I actually started reading it yesterday and today, and so far I’m finding it powerful enough to be slightly depressing.

But then this appeared when I opened a new tab tonight:

At first I thought, “Nah…it’s probably not really related.” But then I saw this testimonial:

“….to work on just One Thing…”

So, okay — I’m listening! I’m going to keep reading and — as soon as possible — figure out what’s my ONE thing.

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Beauty all around us

Many thanks to our friend, Ram, for this gorgeous photo of a lotus taken at one of the ponds here at Ananda Village.

I’m so grateful to live surrounded by so much beauty.

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Celebrating Jyotish

“Jyotish” means “light” in Sanskrit and this photo certainly shows the light that is Nayaswami Jyotish!

Today we celebrated Nayaswami Jyotish’s 80th birthday with a glorious party in the lower gardens of Crystal Hermitage. Everything was glorious, from the garden setting to the weather to the decorations to the musical program to the cupcakes to the sea of joyful humanity gathered in his honor.

It truly couldn’t have been better.

So, how does one describe Nayaswami Jyotish? Well, he and his wife, Nayaswami Devi, are longtime devotees of Paramhansa Yogananda; Global Peace Ambassadors; Spiritual Directors of Ananda Worldwide; published authors; inspired speakers; incredible teachers; and beautiful role models of discipleship and how to live a life dedicated to God.

In addition, Jyotish is a gifted painter, and the designated spiritual successor to Swami Kriyananda, Ananda’s founder.

But I feel blessed and deeply privileged to know Jyotish and Devi as divine friends.

I’m tempted to ask how did I get so lucky, but I know it’s not luck. It’s very, very, very good karma.

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Enjoying the golden hour

It’s been a while since I sat outside and simply enjoyed the quiet.

Even better: this evening I also enjoyed the dinner time view — it went really well with pizza!