A Story of Mourning

I recently sat with a woman who was going through a difficult time, including her Dad's health failing due to dementia, diabetes, and heart disease as well as a friend passing over and plans for a structural addition to their home being denied by their town board. In the midst of all of this she had faith that all was happening for a reason. But despite this it was hard to sit with. On a separate note, she mentioned that her asthma had flared up significantly over the past week.

When she was finished telling her story, I suggested that perhaps her physical symptoms had to do with her un-mourned grief. With that, she was able to take a step back. She was already aware of the association of the lungs to grief both in Chinese and Ayurvedic Medicine. She began to contemplate this possibility, had she not completely grieved?

This question specifically began to plague her surrounding her father, especially since she had already done so much grieving around this issue. She felt she was in acceptance. She accepted that through his own choices he was destroying his life and new well, there was little she could do about it. At that, I suggested that perhaps that was just a belief, and with that belief she would continually mourn the destruction of his life. In suggesting the possibility of a deeper truth, a new view was able to emerge.

I suggested the possibility that his life was exactly as it was meant to be. That we have choice to live life using Light Teachers and Lessons born of Light or Dark Teachers and Lessons born from our greatest Darknesses of fear, anger, resentment, and destruction. It is our choice when we come here to the Earth School and all choices are held within the Light and supported by the Divine, even when we choose darkness. Nothing exists outside of the Light, but within the Light, we often times experience dual forces. As this woman began to contemplate the possibility that all this time her fathers life was perfect just as it was, she began to find a new sense of ease and a new perspective to view her father within. One that truly embraced acceptance and the Divinity of his life. She had begun to release judgement. Only time will tell whether he asthma clears or not. But I can tell you by the time I left her, she had stopped coughing.

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Updating: A day later, I received a phone call from this woman thanking me for our conversation. She shared with me he gratitude and what an impact this conversation had had on her ability to view and deal with her asthma. She is coping better and more at peace.

The Guesthouse

This being human is a guest house. Every morning a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor. Welcome and entertain them all! Even if they're a crowd of sorrows, who violently sweep your house empty of its furniture, still, treat each guest honorably. He may be clearing you out for some new delight. The dark thought, the shame, the malice, meet them at the door laughing, and invite them in. Be grateful for whoever comes, because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.

~ Rumi ~

Letting Go of the Story

Sometimes, it is our story that makes us sick.

What stories do you tell yourself?

I'm not good enough, I'm fat, I'm too old, I'm shy, I'm stupid, I'm a substance abuser, I'm an adult child of an alcoholic, I'm a survivor, I have cancer, I'm only comfortable around people I know...The list could go on and on.

Yes, no doubt these stories make up your history, however, they are not who you are. In order to grow and to thrive rather than just survive we must let go of the self-imposed limits we place on ourselves and dare to expand and one day remove the box in which we exist in so that we may truly live.

Today, challenge the stories you tell yourself, let them live as only part of your past, today, create a new story, one that is expansive, full of potential and freeing. Make choices based on this new story. Or better yet, release the story all together and let your infinite heart potential that arises each moment define you just for that moment.