ON THE OTHER SIDE!!!

Last night I met my friend, Dixie, and we met with several other people for an evening with a woman named Abby Noel. She communicates with souls on the other side. She has a very frenetic energy, she calls it fractal, and refers to God as Dad, Jesus as J, and Mary as Mom.

Once I got used to these salutations, she began to talk to all of us about letting go of shame, blame and guilt. The one thing she said that really nailed this concept of "light vs. dark", is that "somebody has to be the bad guy". Whenever we hear stories about atrocities committed against one person, or several persons, it really comes back to "somebody has to be the bad guy". How would we know good without bad? Laughter without tears? Joy without sadness? Love without hate? It doesn't make the heinous act any less savage, but in the grand scheme of things, it does make sense, at least to me.

After her talk, she started communicating with souls on the other side. At one point, she mentioned getting a "Robert", who liked baseball, and was showing an apple tree. I thought of my Dad when she mentioned the first two but had no connection to the apple tree. When she finally got around to me, I mentioned about connecting with my Dad, or my sister, Lisa, or my grandmother, but who came through was a voice yelling in her ear "Paul". Then she asked if my Dad was a jovial kind of guy, and I said "no, not in this lifetime. He had a pretty hard contract for himself." She said, "he's telling me he agrees but now he's really happy and has a big smile on his face." Then she asked me if he drank in this lifetime, and I said he did. Then she asked me if he had any connection to trees, and I told her he loved being in the mountains. She said "I'm also getting something about big band music and he's showing me horns." I said "he loved the big bands. I can remember hearing Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey." Then she asked me if he had ever danced with me, and I got pretty teary-eyed and said "no, never." She said he's indicating you can dance with him now. She said "you can be any age you want to be, just imagine he's there with you and you're standing on his feet, dancing." Then she mentioned "He's showing me a big blue car, like a cadillac, but, I'm not good at identifying cars, but this one is large." I told her I had received my Dad's Buick LeSabre after he died, and for me it was like having a Cadillac. I had never driven any car as big and luxurious as that and it was a grey-blue car".

I really believe we can connect with our loved ones after they leave this physical reality. Last night was very special for me, being able to connect with my Dad and to hear that he's happy now. I love you, Dad!!!! I'm looking forward to our dance together!!!

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU ASK FOR!!!

In my last post I told about working on my issues surrounding "spiritual arrogance". I also mentioned I was seeking to be more conscious of those moments where I found myself in judgment, criticism or feelings of "do it my way and you'll have a better life", etc.

Today, once again, I was with another friend of mine. We had been together a couple of weeks ago, and I was telling her the story about my goal of preparing myself to walk the El Camino next year. As I started to invite her to join me I very critically said "if you decide to go please leave your whiney self at home." Then I went on to explain about the time when she and I and our friend, Bernie, hiked up Mt LeConte in Tennessee and she whined the entire way up, much to my annoyance. The only time on the way up I felt happy and free to hike my kind of hike was about half way up the mountain and I said to both of them I was going to go ahead and hike and they could then follow at their leisure.

Obviously, my comment was, first of all, in very poor taste, and secondly, certainly didn't invite a response of "yeah, I'd love to come!!!" Today, as we sat down to watch a video, we had a discussion about my comment and she mentioned how hurt she felt afterwards. I knew as soon as the words came out of my mouth, I was wrong, and I told her this today. I apologized and mentioned my work this year about moving out of my spiritual arrogance and loving each person as they are, not as I would like them to be. My comment about her whiney self really is my work, not hers.

Once again, I am reminded of the phrase "be careful what you ask for". In this case, I'm asking to be shown where my work is, and my friends are more than happy to oblige me. I am so grateful to each of them for having the courage to confront me and each time for me to see a part of myself where I have work that needs to be done. It's so easy to point our fingers at others and yet, the real work comes in when we turn the finger around and point it at ourselves.

The picture above is my little buddy, Diva, who teaches me so much about love. If only we could develop the heart of a dog, what a wonderful world this would be!!!!

MY OTHER TWIN!!!

Just a few days ago, I had the pleasure of having lunch with my buddy, Stephen, who happens to have the same birth date as my twin and I. So for years, I've called him my other twin.

He still works where I just retired from and he's pretty well worn down by all the bureaucracy and bulldookie that wore me down. Unfortunately, he still has a number of years to go before he can retire.

On to another subject, I recently was called to task for, what I call, my "spiritual arrogance". I was with my friend, Shelia, and at various times pointed out ways she could do something better, more consciously, my way, well, you get the picture. She quite pointedly said "stop that, you sound just like my mother!!!" It stopped me in my tracks and I apologized. I promised to really stop my criticism and to allow her to make her own choices. I've done very well since then.

It does, however, give me pause for thought. With all the hullabaloo about the 2012 mystery dealing with the ending of the Mayan calendar, my feeling is that we are all being "challenged" to live a higher ideal of our lives. I believe this year, for me anyway, I am being called to "love my brother as myself", to really practice loving each person exactly as they are, and to honor where we have each "planted" ourselves. I am seeking to hold my judgment, and to speak from the heart with the wisdom found only when I seek a higher vision of myself and others. So, I ask each of you to please call me to task if you hear me criticizing, judging, or speaking less than comments about myself or others. I hope to be able to say a heartfelt "namaste" (meaning, the God in me sees and honors the God in you) to every Holy Being who crosses my path!!!

On that note, I say to each of you reading this" NAMASTE'!!!!!

MY CHALLENGE TODAY!!!

This morning I had plans to meet my lovely friend, Melanie, at our favorite coffeeshop, Otherlands. I'd set my alarm for 7:30 a.m., in order to get up in time to watch my favorite Sunday show, CBS' Sunday Morning.

I'm currently pet-sitting for my friend, Brenda and her little queen, Diva, at their exquisite home in Harbortown. My room is on the second floor, and as I was coming down the stairs, gingerly one step at a time, I missed the last step and fell down.

Thankfully it was only one step, but I landed on the right side of my body on the leg I fell on a couple of years ago, in the grocery market.

I sat there for quite some time, rubbing the outside of my knee which took the brunt of the fall. When I made sure I could straighten both legs, I offered up a prayer of thanksgiving for not breaking anything. My knees are a little sore, but, other than a couple of bruises, I am fine.

Melanie and I had a nice time catching up on each other. Now that I'm back at Brenda's, I'm going to take a nice soak in the tub along with some Aleve, and I'll feel much better shortly.

Let your day, today, be about gentleness and ease. Take care of yourself and your physical comfort.

Peace out!!!

OUR GANG!!!!

Here's another view of the pool area, but this one is taken from the patio area where Shelia and I sit to play games and to enjoy the warmth of the sun.

This particular day, however, is totally overcast and we had to play in the dining room with the large glass lazy susan. Oh, boo hoo!!!!!

I wanted to take a picture of this wall. These are metal plates, each one with multiple colors and each attached to a metal rod at the back. It's nearly 7 ft. long and 3.5 ft high. It sits on the opposite wall from the fireplace and is directly opposite the door as you come into the room. As you can see it is quite lovely.

Here's my favorite of the three dogs. Her name is Southy and her former life was very brutal. She even had been shot and still has the bullet in her hind leg. She bares her teeth at you, but Shelia was told that's what she does when she smiles at you. She is the sweetest dog and was rescued by this couple, thank God. She's a mixed breed and weighs about 15 lbs. She is allowed to sleep on the couch and has her own bed in the master bedroom.

I took another picture of the kitchen just to give you some idea of the enormous size of this home. The counter tops, including the island you see here, have granite counters. It makes it nice when you're cutting up food since you can't ruin these. I have, however, managed to burn up the handle on the french press and to boil over the soup. It's a very powerful gas range, but I really love cooking on it.

So, here's my gang story. On Saturday, Shelia and I decided to visit the antique store. I believe I have already mentioned this in another post. What I'm not sure I told you was I wore my red cotton knit pj bottoms and my red t-shirt pj top to the store along with my red Alaska jacket. Later, Shelia was talking to Chris, her partner, and we were told that's the new "gang" look in the mexican gangs. The girls wear their pj bottoms out to shop. When we heard that Shelia said "so, that's why we were treated so good at the mexican restaurant!!!" Yeah, that's right, I'm cool!!! Want to be in my gang?! Speaking of gangs, have you heard about the ROMEO clubs, Retired Old Men Eating Out. No joke, they really exist, I've met one of the "gang" members!!!

STILL IN PARADISE!!!

Last night, as Shelia and I headed to a little diner by the name of Wolf River Diner, we stepped up into my truck and were greeted by this amazing sunset. Even the clouds looked like nothing I've ever seen at sunset, like air bubbles floating up through the water. Even using my little phone camera, it turned out beautiful!!!!

We were invited to dinner by Shelia's daughter, Lynn and her husband, Len aka Switchy. They had their son, Jared, with them and he'd brought along two friends/brothers, Justin, 11, and, Josh, 10. The whole family was excited about being able to order fried catfish, a southern favorite. I'm not a catfish person, unless is shovel-bill catfish, so, I ordered a taco salad.

After dinner, they followed us home so Switchy could show us how to light one of the fireplaces. He and I also shared a bottle of Merlot/Cabernet. Josh, the youngest said "I wish I could have a glass of wine, but I'm not 21 yet." "Believe me, Josh, you'll get there sooner than you think", I said. When I was 10, I thought 21 was a long way away. Now, I'm 60 and it got here alot quicker than I thought it would".

"WOW, you're 60! You're 3 years younger than my Dad and you look like you're 40".

(Never thought I'd get to say this!!!) "Josh, 60 is the new 40"!!!! He just sat there staring at me!

My weekend was made in that moment!!!!!

What's up in your world?

RADICAL TRUST!!!

I said I'd do it, and I did it!! Here's the picture of the ceiling light in our casual dining room. You see why I said it looks like a "coolie" hat. The "dots" look like those discs that come from a plant called the "silver dollar" plant. I actually knew someone who had one of these plants here in Memphis. When they are ready to be picked, you rub the "leaf" between your fingers and the outer skin falls away and the white "silver dollar" disc is left behind.

Just below this light is a round wood table that seats 8 people. This piece of round etched glass under the glass bow, was imported from Italy. It's a "lazy susan" and turns around to help feed the entire table. Can you say gorgeous!!!!

This was a day of doing spiritual things. We got up early and drove into Memphis to participate in a writing class. The woman who facilitated, Elaine, asked the question "now it is a new year, I hope to begin? or I hope to end?"

She wrote a wonderful piece about living with radical trust. The trust you see in the animal world or watching the bird world, where all their food, finding shelter, mating, etc., is provided by Nature. They live radically trusting that their needs will be met. How many other ways can we "radically trust", or not? In portions of my life, I know that I'm radically trusting in being surrounded by a loving God, that I am safe and that absolutely nothing happens to me that God doesn't already know about. It is a concept worth thinking about...

OUR CELEBRATION!!!

Yesterday was a better day for Shelia and her family. Still difficult, very sad, but better. Here's Shelia in the formal dining room at our estate home. Various shades of brown, with ambers and golds around the room.

One of the things I love about this lovely home are the light fixtures. They are all various shades of beige, some with antiqued gold frames holding the lamps and others, like the huge ceiling light in the informal dining area. It looks like a huge upside down "coolie" hat. I'll put a picture of it up soon.

Later in the evening, after having a delicious meal of ham, black-eyed peas, with other accoutrement, we prepared to do our New Year's ceremony. Because the weather was so beautiful, and fairly comfortable temperatures, we sat on the porch, lit our candle, had the yellow and white feather the cocatoo offered up for our use, joined hands and offered up a prayer and set the intention for the evening.

I decided we could "divine" some wisdom for our year from the Osho Zen Tarot. Out of the entire deck, we each drew two cards and Shelia and I both drew a "fire" card and a "clouds" card. Believe me, out of all the cards this is highly amazing that we each got one of each of the same "suit". Just as an aside, the first card I drew was the 4 of Fire (4 my power number and fire the source of my spiritual learning). Our messages for this coming year are "Traveling", "Morality", "Participation", and "Control". Each one of these words conjure up different ideas and beliefs surrounding them, and for us it offers up the opportunity to be fully present in our experience, and to look at our own "stuff" regarding each.

We both spoke out what our goals are for this year, my primary one being keeping my enthusiasm up for moving my physical body back into alignment in order to prepare for the El Camino pilgrimage in 2013. We are also offering up the energy of "living large" in a large world, and being able to stay at even more beautiful places.

In case you don't recognize her, this is my buddy Shelia in her ceremony garb. Believe me she is aghast I'm even posting this! She's a real pooh-pooh queen about her looks, can't imagine how she'll take to my camp wear when she comes along in my camper!!!

So let the year begin!!! Bring it on!!!!