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As the new year approaches, I’ve been reflecting back over the last year, and all who have shared it with me, briefly, intermittently, or continually, as well as all the events and happenings of 2008, and the layers of change, transformation and insight of my internal landscape. Whether it be people, events, happenings, change, transformation, or insight, all nourish one another in a beautiful synergy that is marvelous to contemplate.
May I grow, each day.
May I grow in compassion, today.
May I grow in love, today.
May I grow in wisdom, today.
May I grow in vision, today.
May I grow in healing, today.
May I grow in joy, today.
May I grow in light, today.
May I grow, each day.
I thank you all for an exceptional year, and my most sincere wishes for a wondrous 2009.
Many blessings,
Margaret Ann |
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Leaves dance in the wind
Forming spiral vortices.
Suddenly… silence!
The intricate patterns the leaves traced were not of their own volition, something was moving them. I could say, “It was the wind.” But then what is moving the wind? Like “me” (leaves), and “I” (wind), there is still a greater force moving both. By many names it is known, yet names limit. How can I name that which transcends all names? Oh, GREAT SILENCE, Thy Mystery reveals itself in all things in all ways. Thou Art all names!
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“Please appreciate everything and show gratitude.”
This line of the Reiki Precepts is particularly apt at this time of year, perhaps tritely so, yet my thoughts wander there. And even though I make appreciation and gratitude part of my practice every day, I wanted to share in a fuller way at this special time of year:
- I am grateful for decent shelter, and having more than enough food and clothing for my needs – and never having to worry about my basic survival needs.
- I am grateful for being able to pay my bills, and pay them on time – something that ten years ago seemed impossible.
- I am grateful for my loving family and the healthy relationships we now enjoy– evidence of healing and growth for all of us.
- I am grateful for my friends – all of whom have traveled with me in different ways and at different times – and the continuing threads of our friendship over time and distance.
- I am grateful for my colleagues and professional friends and acquaintances – who are from many communities and ways of being.
- I am grateful for being able to do work that I love and am fulfilled by – and to be lovingly supported financially by that work so that I do not have to do anything else.
- I am grateful for reiki, and for the beautiful practice of Reiki System.
- I am grateful for all my teachers and mentors and wise ones – both physical and non-physical.
- I am grateful for those who come to me for training or sessions – through them I have become a better teacher, a better practitioner, and most importantly, a better person.
- I am grateful that I can take breath and live each day more fully than the day before.
- I am grateful that each moment is potent with possibility.
- I appreciate every experience within and without that have culminated in this moment.
Many, many thanks… and may your Thanks-giving day be a joyous one!
Many blessings,
Margaret Ann |
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A lot has happened in our world recently, but rather than comment on these events – especially as so many others have done so with particular insight – I’d like to tell you about something I experienced this summer.
I occasionally receive invitations to many of the online networking sites, which I generally accept, and just before I left for the West Coast at the end of June, they mined some unforeseen precious gems.
Out of the blue (seemingly!), and just before I left for the West Coast at the end of June, I received a couple of emails from friends who found me through these sites, friends I hadn’t seen in over 27 years since our 10-year high school reunion. And I'd known them going back to when I was 10 and 12 years old, having attended grade school and high school together.
Several rounds of emails later, we arranged a day to get together, settling upon a Saturday in July for our “reunion.” In the meantime, we continued to email or phone one another, catching up on some of what had happened in our lives since we last saw one another – education, marriages, careers, children, and more.
One friend with whom I had shared a deep love of music (piano for her, classical voice for me), I found that we had both left those dreams behind for others. One friend had pursued and continued to live her dream of becoming a doctor, an ambition that she had had for almost as long as I knew her. Another who I had always thought of as a true free spirit had explored a wealth of life experiences. And there was the friend who had become a teacher and continued to love it after more than 30 years. I heard about others of our friends – one who had died 20 years before of cancer yet had time to make a successful career as an actress, playwrite, and director. Yet another who had become a successful artist. And it went on.
When we finally got together on that Saturday in July, it was both new and old, gold and silver. The faces and spirits were the same, yet different. Yes, time had wrought changes on the exterior. But we recognized each other – both as the little girls we had been, and the women we had become.
The alchemy of time, experience, and change had turned the silver and gold into burnished patina of light that shone through each of these wonderful new/old friends.
Each one shone with life experiences. Each shone with shared memories – some forgotten until then, some remembered and filled in through the sharing. Each shone with the truth of their lives, both painful and beautiful, shared in the courage and fearlessness of maturity.
For the alchemy of time had turned it all into wisdom. And the present moment was all that mattered.
Until next month...
Blessings,
Margaret Ann
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Every once in a while I get an email making the rounds, forwarded from one person to the next (usually without attribution), that really touches me with it’s story, quotes, and inspiration. I make sure I save it, so I can reread it.
Since I'm still catching up from being away most of July and August, here’s one of my favorites, received back in December 2005, as this month's message:
“What does Love mean?”
A group of professional people posed this question to a group of 4 to 8 year-olds. The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined.
"When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That's love." – Rebecca (age 8)
"When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth." – Billy (age 4)
"Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other." – Karl (age 5)
"Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs." – Chrissy (age 6)
"Love is what makes you smile when you're tired." – Terri (age 4)
"Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him to make sure the taste is OK." – Danny (age 7)
"Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more. My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss." – Emily (age 8)
"Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen." – Bobby (age 7)
"If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate." – Nikka (age 6)
"Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday." – Noelle (age 7)
"Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well." – Tommy (age 6)
"During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me, and saw my daddy waving and smiling. He was the only one doing that. I wasn't scared anymore." – Cindy (age 8)
"My mommy loves me more than anybody. You don't see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night." – Clare (age 6)
"Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken." – Elaine (age 5)
"Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford." – Chris (age 7)
"Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day." – Mary Ann (age 4)
"I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones." – Lauren (age 4)
"When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you." – Karen (age 7)
"Love is when Mommy sees Daddy on the toilet and she doesn't think it's gross." – Mark (age 6)
"You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget." – Jessica (age 8)
And the final one...
Author and lecturer Leo Buscaglia once talked about a contest he was asked to judge. The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring child. The winner was a four-year-old child whose next-door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife.
Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there. When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said, "Nothing, I just helped him cry."
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Until next month…
Many blessings,
Margaret Ann |
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Gone fishin'...
Many blessings,
Margaret Ann
For Margaret Ann’s summer schedule, click here. |
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