Thanks and giving day

Thanks and Giving Day

A memorable day of thanks given for a historic day of kindness and extraordinary unity as a people of one nation welcomed the troubled citizens of another, with an act of peace. Helping a fellow being in unconditional service is as close to touching the divinity within, worth celebrating with pomp and solace as we share a meal on a holiday with family and friends. Homage paid to a single act centuries ago etched in unbroken memory on the pages of past records. 

Yet I simply stop and wonder about the gratitude I must also unconditionally offer to the love of my heart as it stares me in the mirror day after day with passionate kindness and never asking for anything  more, except the innate though forgotten rite to be accepted. My mind and body  having taken a life of their own in a world of fast paced oscillation of order and chaos, have ignored what  they have always been searching for to complete their trifecta. 

The heart space. 

The love of the heart that bares no ill will when enabled to shine its brightest when the chains of ignorance, fears and hatred have been broken. When allowed to be heard, the shroud of misery is tossed aside, and the roar is deafening. The love that connects each of us through our words, actions and deeds such as that historic moment, is lived every day of every second in the feeling behind the thought to assist. Yet one cannot provide assistance to anyone  if the acknowledgment of the Self has not been first made. 

A single feeling, a single thought, a single action ignites the reaction of   a thousand suns all sparked from a space of love. A big bang reaction if you will that originates from a singular point in time and space. 

You. 

It is You that makes that difference.

A gratitude spell that sparks the love of You waiting with bated breath holds the key to untold miracles and magic of epic proportion and soulful ascension. A giving of thanks is not just of an ancient event in history, but more humble gratitude   of the  heart space of the people who sparked such a com-memorable   event. It is that same heart space that has transcended all of human history. It is the same heart space that began human history. It is the same heart space that the future will call "You, Me, Us."

Take a look in the mirror today and take a long or brief moment for the love that is You......it has waited your whole life for this event. Afterwards, the mystery unfolds.

Happy Thanks Giving. 

Can't afford to live

Can't afford to live.

My day started as it always does with the bustling of patients in the busy office practice. With each person a different set of issues that need to be addressed and in that time as much  healing  as possible to be processed. Then along comes a client who stomps you dead in your tracks with their complaint that you cannot hope to deliver a satisfactory outcome and you question your role as  physician in the cogwheel of health care. 

He had had numerous heart attacks and for the litany of ailments he was forced to take numerous medications. He looks at me with the weight of the world bowing his small shoulders, and sunken eyes recessed with little sleep. Haggard and disheveled he attempts a smile as I walk in the room. I ask him how is he doing and how can I help him? His response has haunted me yet. "Doc it is too expensive to live." I curiously inquired to clarify his statement. He replies dejected " I can't afford to live." 

My heart sank with these replies to a low I had not experienced till then. Tears rolled down both our eyes as we understood the nature of his predicament of the costs of medications, insurances, living costs and so on and so forth. With rising costs of everything, and with ailing health, he was broken. His very core was damaged almost irreparably. Almost. We dried our tears and discussed his financial, and health situation. He was more concerned about the money to pay  for the fuel to his aging car to even come to the appointment. He vented about the disparity of incomes and the dwindling job market. At times such as this, there is only space for healing by being silent and listening. The best medication was too costly for him, yet the cheapest therapy was the act of holding space for his grief to metabolize  and unfold into whatever form it was to undertake. The pause to listen to the barrage of the speaker is in itself the very act of spontaneous healing that many crave for, and  not just from their health care professionals yet also from a friend or spouse. 

I have no great solution to solve his finances as I struggle with my own. I have no greater ideas for his health care other than the  brilliant plans I had already set into motion for him, as I struggle with my own. I had only to offer my silence, as I struggle with my own need for silence to allow my heart and mind to not out pace each other, awaiting to be heard. When the conversation was then offered back to me for suggestions we uncovered some possibilities for him to seek out local resources for shelter, and for food and improving his employment opportunities. I offered to help him with some costs of medications, yet he was too embarrassed to  take money from me, as he stayed in gratitude that we had the chance to talk. That was it. Talk. I completed my doctoring duties of the examination and we bid each other farewell. As he walked out I quietly slipped into his jacket pocket enough cash to fuel his car and getting his prescriptions filled. 

It is not for doctoring that I see patients. It is for healing. It is not for advice that a friend unloads their problems to you. It is for healing. It is not for pity that a spouse unloads their days events at your feet. It is for healing. Healing begins with listening. It is that easy. Yet the hardest thing we can do, is to pause from our own unhealed wounds to allow someone else to heal. Yet in doing so what I have now come to realize that I heal myself expeditiously by unconditionally offering the listening that in turn is the healing for both involved. 

Listen and heal, heal and listen. 2 way street.  

Side of the coin

The side of the coin.

There is much going on in the world that leads our minds and thoughts, and in most cases our actions. Some of the happenings  we agree with, and at other times we abhor it. There are many issues that become problems that we cannot solve, and some that are solvable. Such is the nature of life when we step out of our world and explore the rest of the planet. Our tv remote controls  and scrolling mobile devices constantly keep us at the end of a tight leash of impulse action and reaction. 

When I identify that I am part of the problem then I really identify that I am also part of the horror that lies within the world. When I identify that I am part of the solution I begin to take on responsibility. Both identities  are 2 sides of the same coin, yet opposite and so bringing about opposite directions of action. Lineages of biases can effect my decisions ranging from familial to peer related opinions. Yet none are necessarily even my own. True identity does not come from the judgement of others about oneself no matter who is rendering that opinion, unless it is yours and yours alone. 

That is when the aspect of love steps up into the play and can abolish the egoic drama that is in an unending loop. When we offer any decision or idea through the lens of love, we are able to view things very differently. And in doing so we may find a solution to the issue at hand. This is called taking responsibility. When we hold ourselves as accountable  then the natural course is responsibility. This is how change is brought about. Yet the first step is the courage to even open one's heart let alone the mind to the issue at hand. 

To act or not to act is a constant battle. Which avenue s right or wrong? In most incidences it is a case of what is more right or more wrong and so the toss of the coin becomes irrelevant. If love is the driving force in every toss then the bias is always in the favor of a positive outcome when we choose to act from a space of love. Life is not black or white, yet it is a fertile ground of learning and understanding of one's identity and purpose.  

Which side of the coin are you on? Does not matter if the hand that tosses it is in a state of love.