Hope is a beautiful thing. It keeps us moving through darkness, it is creative, it is a balm to the soul, it allows us to see beyond. Hope is the light in the lighthouse on a stormy day, guiding you home, guiding you through the darkest of times. -- @lovendures
From @Lovendures, with thanks for saying so much in one short post and capturing what we are about here in response to a new member who expressed despair at the state of the pandemic and the politics and guilt for feeling selfish:
Your feelings don't seem selfish to me at all. In fact, I believe many in this community feel as you do.
We want to come out the other end of this pandemic "ok". We want to survive, have good health, an income, food on the table, all those things. AND we want to live (not simply survive) while doing so. We are afraid and trying to deal with all of the "what ifs".
You also have a young daughter and so your thoughts are likely going to her, her health, her future and the impact this crisis will have down the line.
None of that is selfish.
By sharing your fears and your thoughts, you are doing a loving thing for your psyche. You are helping it be heard, to heal, to be understood. W
We understand. We care about you.
Don't lose hope.
Hope is a beautiful thing. It keeps us moving through darkness, it is creative, it is a balm to the soul, it allows us to see beyond. Hope is the light in the lighthouse on a stormy day, guiding you home, guiding you through the darkest of times.
If you can, join our Wednesday evening meditations. Everyone who comes seems to feel a gentle calming afterward. We help heal each other and try to help heal the greater world. It is filled with love and kindness. --@lovendures
Thank you, @Cdeanne and @Vestralux and for this post:
I am white. My son* is Black (I adopted him as a newborn). Although I try with all my heart, and engage both my maternal instincts and my intellect, I know I can never really know what it's like for him as he moves through the world.
*And recent graduate of Berklee College of Music--must also share some mom-pride here!
Nothing has shaken or moved me more deeply than the testimonies of mothers of Black sons. My heart breaks for the fear they must carry. And for the weight of centuries of oppression and stigma that your sons are forced to hold on their backs for the whole world.
Many years ago in college I took a powerful Race and Ethnic Relations course. White students were asked to simply sit and listen as minority students (those who wished to) told us about their personal experiences living in the world as it is. It became a really potent, supportive space and I vividly remember a young Black man breaking down in pain about how many times he'd seen women—even of his own race—reach to lock their car doors as he walked through the parking lot on campus.
We're all taught to fear people who look like him, to assume they are preparing to commit a crime and are already guilty of others. The worst part, he explained, is how deeply this suspicion had penetrated his own conscience because even he had found himself experiencing the same assumptions and biases toward Black men.
People are murdered everyday because of the success of structural racism. And this is just one of countless reasons why it's so important to me to do everything I can to help dismantle it, even when doing so is hard for people. White lives aren't threatened because we're talking about our privilege; only our egos are.
Congratulations, mama! I'm right here celebrating your son's success with you. May he thrive. 
Again by Vestralux, in the same day:
It is The System—the false hierarchical social code of a dying epoch—that must be abolished. And whoever the riot actors are, and whatever their motivations or potential blind spots, they are all reacting to that impulse: a rising collective desire to overturn centuries of domination and abuse in order to create something new.
Is that a price minorities want to pay? It's a question they might ask of themselves.
I'm grateful that you've chosen to create dialogue with me here. That's important. This is a painful, difficult subject but a vitally important one—especially for racial non-minorities to have with one another.
So, please know that when I disagree or point out what I may consider to be flawed logic based on essentially privileged assumptions, I do so with respect for you as a living person and with regard to your inherent dignity as a soul. I can see that you're striving toward a sense of things that you can believe is whole and good and just, and that's a valuable motivation, even if it may also be colored by critical misunderstanding.
To my eye, your quoted statements (above), along with your position that you've made your posts by relying solely on logic, reveal an inherent and unseen privilege. In fact, I believe these examples smack of (unconscious) paternalism, as if you're attempting to both scold Black citizens and then justify your right to do so (i.e., it's just "logic"). Again, I mean you no disrespect whatsoever. I simply believe that this may be an invisible aspect of your privilege you haven't considered—which believe me, I get. And I know it's painful to have to look at.
But in a longstanding patriarchal/capitalist society, we have ALL been indoctrinated to believe in a hierarchical caste system based on class, gender, race, and other differences. Hierarchy Code runs in the background like so much social programming and we are products and participants in it, whether we know it or not. Whether we like it or not.
As a result, regardless of what your own family or personal economic situation may be, if you're white, you automatically fall "above" all minorities in the social code. Is it an absolute bullshit conception? Yes. But it is no less a structural reality.
So, when you criticize the reactions of oppressed people—those who have been far more impacted by policing and the criminal justice system as a whole than you can understand—your intention falls flat. Do you just want to see safe neighborhoods where no one is at risk of losing their livelihood or safety as a result of public protest? I'm sure. But that's not all that you're communicating in the process of attempting to say so, and I hope that you might try to consider that. The fact is, as a result of systemic racism, Black and minority Americans know the price of community violence and destruction within their very bodies; you can only recognize it intellectually, at best. So, you ain't gotta tell them why it's futile or self-defeating.
It is The System—the false hierarchical social code of a dying epoch—that must be abolished. And whoever the riot actors are, and whatever their motivations or potential blind spots, they are all reacting to that impulse: a rising collective desire to overturn centuries of domination and abuse in order to create something new.
I personally don't want to see anything burned or broken either. It hurts me for the people in those communities and all of the protestors who will be blamed. But I acknowledge that it is not my place to dictate to Black and minority Americans how they should express their heartbreak, fear, and rage. However, it is my duty to help them create a more just society for us all.
Another stunning post from brother Coyote, in the Alchemical Moment thread, on 6-8-20:
Today an associate at work sent me a message from the Potawatomi author Robin Wall Kimmerer about the alchemical potential in this time of darkness. Kimmerer invokes the principle of wetiko/windigo, which I've written about extensively. I thought I'd post the message here, since it will probably resonate with many of you. Also, from now on, I'll be referring to the current president as the Windigo-in-Chief.
Dear Readers—America, Colonists, Allies, and Ancestors-yet-to-be,
We’ve seen that face before, the drape of frost-stiffened hair, the white-rimmed eyes peering out from behind the tanned hide of a humanlike mask, the flitting gaze that settles only when it finds something of true interest—in a mirror. Cruel eyes, a false face and demeanor of ravening hunger despite the unconscionable hoarding of excess while others go without. The spittle quickly licked away from the sly “fox in the henhouse” smirk that sends chills down your spine, a mouth that howls lies pretending it’s an anthem.
Americans keep acting surprised by the daily assaults on American values once thought unassailable. I can’t speak for all Native people, but we’ve smelled that carrion breath before. We know who this is, the one whose hunger is never slaked—the more he consumes, the hungrier he grows. We’ve met him on our shores, at the Thanksgiving table, at the treaty table, at the Greasy Grass, on the riverbank at Standing Rock, and in the courts. His mask does not fool us, and having so little left to lose and all that is precious to protect I call him the name of the monster that my ancestors spoke of around the winter campfire, the embodied nightmare of greed, the Windigo.
We know him. Perhaps this is why he has taken special efforts to poke Indigenous peoples in the eye, because we see him. He has proven himself an equal-opportunity offender to people black and brown. But with the spite of bullies everywhere, he has sharpened his stick with special vindictiveness for Native people from the first days of his administration, by reversing the glimpse of justice we held for one shining moment at Standing Rock, to dishonoring the Code Talkers, to undermining treaty obligations and threatening termination for our people, to casting Pocahontas’s name as a slur that manages to taint every stereotype across a range of Indigenous identities, to denying protection for Gwich’an livelihoods, to sending drill rigs to penetrate sacred land.
Americans are called on to admire what our people viewed as unforgivable.
He is the obscene of the Anthropocene, the colon of colonization, the grinder of salt into the original wound of this country, but lest I spend any more words on cathartic name-calling, let me say that Windigo is the name for that which cares more for itself than for anything else. It shrieks with unmet want—consumed with consumption, it lays waste to humankind and our more-than-human kin.
Windigo tales arose in a commons-based society where sharing was a survival value and greed made one a danger to the whole. But in a profit-based society, the indulgent self-interest that our people once held as monstrous is now celebrated as success. Americans are called on to admire what our people viewed as unforgivable.
The particular weapon of the Windigo-in-Chief is the executive pen, used against what has always been the most precious, the most contested wealth of Turtle Island—the land. With the stroke of that pen, he has declared that “oil is life” and that protecting the audacious belief that “water is life” can earn you a jail sentence. The same pen gutted the only national monument designed by Native people to safeguard a sacred cultural landscape, the Bears Ears. In opening those protected lands for uranium mining, he triumphantly claimed that he was re- turning public land to the people.
From his origins as a real estate developer to his incarnation as Windigo-in-Chief, he has regarded “public lands”—our forests, grasslands, rivers, national parks, wildlife reserves—all as a warehouse of potential commodities to be sold to the highest bidder.
Let us remember that what the United States calls “public lands” (and, if the truth be told, all of what the United States calls private property as well) are in fact ancestral lands; they are the ancestral homelands of 562 different Indigenous peoples. A time-lapse map of North America would show the original lands of sovereign peoples diminishing in the onslaught of colonization and the conversion from tribal lands to public lands, some through treaty-making, some through treaty-breaking, some through illegal sale, and some through what were termed “just wars,” by executive action and “encroachment.”
Not only was the land taken and her people replaced, but colonization is also the intentional erasure of the original worldview, substituting the definitions and meanings of the colonizer. That time-lapse map of land taking would also show the replacement of the Indigenous idea of land as a commonly held gift with the notion of private property, while the battle between land as sacred home and land as capital stained the ground red. Of course our ideas were dangerous to the idea of Manifest Destiny; resisting the lie that the highest use of our public land is extraction, they stood in the way of converting a living, inspirited land into parcels of natural resources.
You, right now, can choose to set aside the mindset of the colonizer and become native to place, you can choose to belong.
Native people have a different term for public lands: we call them home. We call them our sustainer, our library, our pharmacy, our sacred places. Indigenous identity and language are inseparable from land. Land is the residence of our more-than-human relatives, the dust of our ancestors, the holder of seeds, the makers of rain; our teacher. Land is not capital to which we have property rights; rather it is the place for which we have moral responsibility in reciprocity for its gift of life. Here is the question we must at last confront: Is land merely a source of belongings, or is it the source of our most profound sense of belonging? We can choose.
Our ancestors had a remedy for Windigo sickness and the contagion it spreads. Those who endangered life with their greed were banished from the circle of what they would destroy. They were cast out from the firelight and the bubbling stewpot, from care and community. You colonists also have that power of banishment. Will you use it? It’s not enough to banish the Windigo himself—you must also heal the contagion he has spread. You, right now, can choose to set aside the mindset of the colonizer and become native to place, you can choose to belong.
Colonists, you’ve been here long enough to watch the prairies disappear, to witness the genocide of redwoods, to see waters poisoned by the sickness of Windigo thinking. The Windigo has no moral compass; his needle swings wildly toward the magnetism of whatever profit beckons. Surely, however, the land has taught you differently, too—that in a time of great polarity and division, the common ground we crave is in fact beneath our feet. The very land on which we stand is our foundation and can be a source of shared identity and common cause. What could be more common and shared than the land that gives us all life? Rivers don’t ask for party affiliation before giving you a drink, and berries don’t withhold their gifts from anyone.
The moral compass guiding right relationship with land still remains strong in pockets of traditional Indigenous peoples. The sharp stick of the bully in the White House only hardens our resolve. The needle still points faithfully north, to what we call in my language Giiwedinong, the “going home star.” When we acknowledge the truth that all public land is in fact ancestral land, we must acknowledge that by dint of history and time and the biogeochemistry that unites us all, your dust and your grandchildren will mingle here. They will know what you do here, they will reap the consequences of whether you choose to banish Windigo thinking. You could follow the “going home star” and make a home here grounded in justice for land and people.
Colonists become ancestors too. The question is, What kind of ancestor do you want to be?
Sincerely,
Robin Wall Kimmerer
I nominate @parizienne. From the "Random Predictions" thread on 6/28/20:
I've been thinking a lot about this phenomenon on collective denial. Someone in one of the Predict the Future Nights, I believe, mentioned the five stages of grief --and that was an epiphany for me. When you look at the way people are behaving in terms of those stages, it makes a lot of sense. It helps me to empathize more with them instead of just seeing them as ignorant and partisan lemmings. Heh. It also helps me understand why they are so susceptible to falling victim to the propaganda machine churning out nonsense and pseudo-science. I see it in my friends and colleagues, and it's frustrating and so very heartbreaking.
From what does denial manifest? Well, it manifests from many places, but I think this is indeed coming from grief. Collective grief. And so many aren't recognizing their feelings as grief. They succumb to this denial and to the political suggestions that they are being controlled because it's easier than the soul-searching required to recognize this grief. Grief hurts. Grief is a psychological and emotional entity, and so many don't like to face that aspect of who they are. What is being grieved? The loss of the world they/we all knew. The loss of the world *they* knew is palpable, as is the accompanying lack of awareness that this will all lead to something better. They only see and feel and give in to the sense that they've lost control and that results in the desperately clawing against wearing masks or social distancing. It is their way of crying out, "I AM IN CONTROL! SEE? I won't wear a mask!!" One lady even admitted at a city council meeting somewhere that she won't wear a mask because she doesn't wear underwear and you have to let it all breathe. Ew. TMI! Like Bluebelle said, "It's so absurd, really." Yes, it is.
They absurdly allow themselves to be fooled into thinking the government, deep state, or whatever they want to call it is trying to take away their freedom. The irony is that they've been manipulated to think this because in their fragile state of denial, it's just easier to gravitate to *thinking* that refusing to comply with health directives is giving them more control.
So let's review the Kubler-Ross five stages of grief -- or now there are seven, actually -- These seven stages include shock, denial, anger, bargaining, depression, testing, and acceptance. I see those refusing to comply with mask order and social distancing as being stuck between denial and anger and not progressing beyond those. It's very sad, tragic, even to consider the suffering within these individuals. They are suffering so much and they don't really understand they have more control than they realize. And that they could be working toward a place of healing instead of wallowing in anger and fighting, fighting, fighting.
Shock - March 10-15 is when most communities went to Shelter-In-Place. Everything came to a grinding halt. The world was in lock down. Everyone was kind of paused for a brief moment while people sought to get their bearings. Collective gasp and wide-eyed realization that this was a historic, HUGE deal.
Denial -- Here in California, I'd say it was about six weeks before the first rumblings of dissent started against SIP. I remember thinking that with the right leadership at the federal level, we could come together as a nation in collective sacrifice -- it could've been a truly galvanizing opportunity, but Orange Foolius was incapable. Our governor tried as best he could, I believe, but there was so much push back from the Republican side to make it about control. When our leaders are in denial, so many will follow that example because it's easier, I think. Governor Newsom isn't perfect, but I think he did as best he could under the partisan climate that exists everywhere right now.
Anger -- This is an off-shoot of denial. People can't accept that this isn't something any of us has control over right now. Various targets have emerged -- Democrats, science, Dr. Fauci, China, City councils, school districts, teachers, profit motive of mask-makers and PPE, the economy, etc. It's easier to find a tangible target than to be angry at a virus or angry at the incompetence from someone you might have elected into office who won't take responsibility and lead. It's just easier -- path of least resistance. People don't like to admit they were wrong, especially when they believe their party reflects the epitome of Americanism. To reject Trump, for them, is to reject themselves, their country and accept the party of UnAmericanism. So small-minded and so uninformed, but there you go.
Bargaining -- These are the people pushing for returning normalcy even though it's not time to even think about going back to pre-Covid living. I see this locally in my own school district where so many parents want us to open the schools pre-Covid style -- full student attendance in person on campus with no masks or social distancing protocols. We aren't doing that -- our plan is for a hybrid model - but parents and at least one board member are pushing back strongly. SUPER frustrating. Their reasoning is that quarantine is ruining their children's mental health and the lack of social interaction is causing irreparable harm. "They NEED their teachers! I can't teach them!" they say. I would imagine that if those same children got COVID and had to be hospitalized or the unthinkable happened, they're not considering that impact because their denial is preventing them from believing that we aren't living in a *normal* world right now. They really believe this is all over-hyped and their kids won't get it because it's not affecting children in large numbers -- Hello? They've been in lockdown since March. Of course the incidence is lower in kids. Lol. THINK PEOPLE! But the bargain, too, is about reclaiming control. Thinking will mean releasing control to the reality that we aren't in control -- not the way we are used to being in our lives.
Depression -- The beginning of the realization that control isn't possible. The futility of fighting it. The sorrow that what's lost will never be reclaimed. The dawn of acceptance -- for some. Sometimes this leads back to denial and anger. Sometimes it progresses toward acceptance.
Testing -- I think this is most visible in states where they've started to re-open, not because it's prudent but because of fear of revolt. Governors must weight the health and safety of their constituents against economic damage and fallout to same. They claim that they'll open with safety restrictions, but with so many people in denial and angry, there is mixed results. We are seeing how Texas, Arizona and Florida are relapsing into serious Covid-spread because testing the fates isn't always successful.
Acceptance -- Pretty self-explanatory, but I think even this comes in stages. One person might accept wearing masks could be helpful to others, even if they don't believe wearing one helps themselves. Or they might practice social distancing at work because someone in the next cubicle is recovering from cancer and they want to be safe "just in case." But as Kubler-Ross advocates themselves would say, one must experience all of these stages, sometimes multiple times and not in order to get to acceptance. And even after achieving a state of acceptance, we can regress back to anger, back to depression, back to denial.
I've experienced profound loss in my life -- my parents' divorce as a child, my own unwanted divorce (I fought it like hell and finally when I let it go, my life blossomed--new life, found me again, new and beautiful marriage) , a relocation away from where I grew up, my parents and my husband's parents all dying within five years of one another. The setting of my dad's estate and the resulting deterioration of relationships in my family that came as a result of misunderstandings I couldn't fix or control -- I have felt and experienced all of these stages -- still do. It's so complicated. But knowing the stages I am struggling with definitely helps -- and knowing there will be better days ahead, too.
If only someone with an audience -- a true leader -- could help counsel the collective that *this* is what we are all experiencing and to be *aware* of it. It will help. It won't immediately transform everyone, but think it will give them pause. It may give words to what they're feeling-- for some, those willing to hear it. If only we could get this into the national conversation - this narrative of grief and recovery and these stages.
Even while the knee-jerk reaction of most who are stuck in denial right now is to object, I think-- no, I feel and believe -- that it will plant seeds of thought that could help them heal -- What do you guys think?
@bluebelle wrote this thoughtful post about what drives Trump supporters she knows:
The puzzle of what drives T supporters is something that crosses my mind every day. T supporters are members of my family (and they are a minority) and when I communicate with them, I am always floored by their beliefs and have to will myself to be kind. That said, I've had plenty of time since 2016 to observe behaviors and note a few things.
In my family, the T supporters are very rigid thinkers. They only see black or white on issues and are very much driven by fear: fear of people who are different, fear of people who are black and brown; fear of people from different cultures. One of them told me that they voted for Trump because they were so afraid of Hillary Clinton and they were afraid for their children's and grandchildren's future. T supporters are desperate to maintain the status quo because change is frightening to them.
Another part of that puzzle is culture. They live in a community that is extremely right wing, extremely fundamentalist Christian, so their whole environment is shaped by that right wing religious political cult. Probably 99% of the people they know are influenced by the evangelical churches. They don't have friends who are gay, black, brown, immigrant or Jewish. They have no interest in or compassion for the families and children in cages at our borders. The evangelical churches, to my knowledge, have done nothing to help this poor people and these churches have perverted the very Christianity that is the foundation of so many Southern lives and communities. So my family lives in an evangelical right wing echo chamber.
Plus, there's the influence of right wing propaganda through Fox News, Facebook, Rush Limbaugh radio. Their lives are saturated with right wing conspiracy theories daily and they are scared into voting for Republicans only. It defies logical thinking because they are not getting any benefit out of Trump's presidency except for conservative judges. Again, they are living in right wing propaganda echo chamber and all their friends are, too. Even discussing the pandemic, they have resisted the reality of science because of right wing propaganda. They won't take precautions and will not social distance. They hug and eat out in restaurants, assuring me that restaurants have never been cleaner. One of them explained to me recently that they just handle the pandemic differently in SC. This, as the Covid numbers are skyrocketing in their region.
I don't see T supporters as immoral, but I do question how they can claim not to be racist when they support a racist president. I question how they can claim to be pro life and be so indifferent to others' suffering and persecution. Where is their conscience in these matters?
It appears that we have roughly 1/3 of our fellow country men who do not know how to process data independent of their news sources. They don't have the skills to analyze and reason. Is that a fault of education, limited ability or is that a mindset? Is it an overwhelming need to conform to their local culture? I don't know. Not too long ago, Coyote posted about remembering not to demonize our fellow men and women, not to belittle them.
So, I struggle with understanding T supporters and don't know if I ever truly will. Do I come off as an elite, as someone who thinks I am superior? Seriously, I try not to be an asshole about this. I just don't get it.
My personal decision is to treat T supporters with love and respect despite our difference of opinion. My hope is that someday this nightmare will truly be over and there will no longer be these partisan barriers between us. My hope is to live to see that day.
Another good one by @coyote:
"For the past few days I've been hearing the Sheryl Crow song "If It Makes You Happy" in my head, especially the chorus:
If it makes you happy
It can't be that bad.
If it makes you happy
Then why the hell are you so sad?
I think those words pretty much sum up how I've been feeling about the whole COVID situation lately. It's like my spirit guides are reminding me "you wanted this, didn't you?" And it's true; I've been longing for some paradigm rattling global event for years. When it became clear in March that the novel coronavirus would sweep the globe, I was undeniably excited: the paradigm ratting event had finally arrived. But now that I'm dealing with this profound heaviness every day that everyone is experiencing on some level, I guess I'm a bit more sober. I don't get to be a passive spectator, or even an ascendant beacon of hope and energy amidst the darkness (that can come later). I have to deal with my own grief and the historical baggage of my culture. Even though I've been saying for months that we would be forced to deal with our shadows in this time, I'm struggling with how heavy everything is to the point where it feels like we're moving through molasses. But I guess that's the point; we can't quantum leap forward until we've been dragged through the mud."
UnkP, thank you for this one:
"So I found this quote, and thought it sounded like a fair and accurate description of He Who Must Not Be Named: "a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, blood-thirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.”
"Except, stunningly, it was not about T____. It was written by Richard Dawkins about the God of the Old Testament, as His own worshippers portrayed him.
"Suddenly, i realized how the Evangelicals could support the profoundly un-christian T- as most of them really dig the Old Testament, and just don't seem to be into Jesus that much. Jesus is just a name they throw around, without any mention of loving thine enemies, feeding the poor, nor any other of those beatitudinal, proto-hippie ideas of Jesus the Liberator." -- UnkP
One of the best of the best from @deetoo to @coyote in two part harmony.
"@coyote, whenever I think of your ongoing health issues, it’s hard to imagine not feeling discouraged. Most people will never encounter the unique life experiences and obstacles you have faced in your young life. Many of us take for granted those things with which you struggle on a daily basis. You are incredibly resilient, but I’m sure you already knows that; with everything that’s going on, both collectively and personally, it would be a welcome relief to have a break. To not have to think about things or plan your next move. The collective stress and grief we are experiencing, on top of your health issues, magnifies everything. It can create an extra burden on our bodies and our psyches.
Your physical challenges made me remember a psychotherapist who treated me three decades ago. When he was a young psychologist he had a brain tumor and was told that without surgery, it would shorten his life. He had the surgery but they could not remove the entire tumor, because it was attached to his brain stem. Over time he had multiple surgeries to address the returning and growing tumor. Each time they operated, he often partially lost some function – sight, hearing, balance. Eventually he went through a dark night of the soul. After he embraced and moved through this difficult period, he made a decision and announced “ no more surgeries.” His physicians cautioned that his survival depended on the surgeries, but he had enough. He survived, but more importantly, he thrived. He lived a long, happy and prosperous life – happily married with children, an educator, a successful therapy practice, and a notable, published author of almost 30 books. At the time I was meeting with him, he was in his 60’s. He was one of the most insightful, fearless, direct, kind, funny and transparent human beings I have ever known. "
**(I'm limited to 2500 characters, so I will continue in a following post.)**
Part 2
From @deetoo posted in reply to @cotote
(continued from previous post)
@Coyote, When I was going through decades of various treatments for my illnesses, and nothing seemed to be really working, a friend asked me “what if you don’t physically heal? What if this is as good as it gets for you?” It was a sobering thought. After some reflection, I eventually said something like, “I guess I’ll keep doing what I’m doing now. I’ll remain hopeful. And I’ll try to live a good, productive, meaningful life.” Nothing really changed, except my expectations. To this day I still remain hopeful that I will achieve physical healing -- some measure of vitality, even in these geezer years! -- and I still work towards that goal. Yet I remind myself that all I have is today, this moment in time. And while I’m still here, I intend to inhabit my rightful place on this planet and shine my light brightly.
As @ghandigirl stated, you are star stuff … a beautiful, wise old soul existing within an imperfect body. I don’t know whether you will be able to stop the progression of your illness. Only Spirit knows that. But I do believe there’s a reason why you are here on this earth, during this time of great transformation. And I also believe that so much of what you are learning, and will pass on to others, will come out of your physical and emotional struggles. We all feel broken in some way, and we all need healing. And we are all inextricably linked in spirit.
I once told you that as a senior, I feel at peace knowing that the future of this planet will be in your wise and capable hands. I still feel that way. Through your life lessons, your shared humanity, and your compassionate heart, you will inspire, teach and heal others. I feel it, I see it, and I know it.
I’m keeping you in my meditations and prayers, dear Coyote. May spirit direct, sustain, and heal you. ?