Another one from @lovendures
How do I find my joy again? Right now I feel like I am in a holding pattern waiting for a stimulus or really just waiting for something to get me back to that joy. I'm ok, I actually am doing great in my life, but I know I have that spark in me, and I can do more. so much more.
I often find that bringing joy to others often brings me joy. Random acts of kindness are wonderful ways to create more positive experiences around you. Think of the acts as something you "get" to do. You never know what the impact of your act of kindness will bring forth either.
2 years ago, my daughters, my mom and I were shopping at the mall before Christmas. A young boy of about 8 approached my mom. His parents and siblings were abut 10 feet behind him, watching. In the sweetest voice, he told my mom he was passing out gift certificates to Dairy Queen to people. He wanted to bring Christmas cheer to as many people as he could. Turns out, his Christmas wish was to be able to do this random act of kindness for others.
My mom was stunned. She is usually the one doing the giving, she was not to used to being on the receiving end of a random act of kindness. She thanked the young boy and began to cry a little. The boy left with his family but my mom soon caught up with them.
My mom explained to the little boy how she used to be a school teacher and how she was touched by his act of kindness. She verbally recognized how much his family loved him by how they supported fulfilling his wish to spread joy to others. She then asked if it was all right for her to give him something so that he could continue to bring joy to other people and presented him with a $10 dollar bill. Most everyone was teary eyed and they all chatted for a few moments. My mom thanked his parents for raising such a caring young man. I took out my phone and took photos from a distance knowing something special was happening, but not yet knowing what had actually occurred.
My mom is a giver. She has spent her life giving to others and yet, it was little boy's desire to bring joy to mom who had the biggest impact that holiday season. Everyone who was there will remember that little boy who "got to" make a memorable impact which was felt long after Christmas was over.
Be a pebble in the water and trust that a positive act, no matter how small, will have ripples that will make an impact. It might just impact you too.
The US destabilized Central America's government for decades. The CIA was behind the coup against the Guatemalan government in the 1950's which lead to decades of instability, civil war and genocide against the Indigenous populations. The US supported the banana conglomerates over the needs of the local citizens. The US basically supports any right wing government, no matter how bad (most recently Honduras) And the US exported the gang problem that's made El Salvador and Honduras a living hell for many people, especially women and children. US policy of mass incarceration of Central American youth throughout the 1990's and 2000's led many young men to become gang members, and the US then deported these gang members to their home countries. Without any way to make a living. We know how that worked out.
The real crisis is US-destabilization of other countries. The border is humanitarian karma.
The US needs to to stop equating right wing governments with the lesser of two evils, stop messing in the affairs of other countries, and start working to stabilize them instead. People will stay in their countries if they can live in relative peace and safety and have some hope of a better future. No one comes here for kicks, or for money. They do it out of desperation.
By @lovendures:
Until we finally see all human beings as our brothers and sisters, we are doomed to repeat the same mistakes over and over again.
We are all human beings and we need to find our own humanity in each person we interact with. Our neighbors and friends, our co-workers and family members. Those who are blue and those who are red, the haves and have nots. Children and elders, those raised in love and those raised in fear. Those who have white privilege, and those who must try harder than others to achieve half of what their peers achieve. The masked and the massless. Those living with constant scarcity and those who dwell in abundance. Those who have one God, many Gods or no God.
If we are taught to fear others, to think of them as below or above us, evil or filled with hate, we run the risk of becoming the very person of whom we live in fear.
We must learn to love people. We must find a way to make the opaque box in which they have be placed into a transparent one opened doors and windows. We need to see their humanity and in doing so we might find ours. - 5.14.21
There are so many good posts in the When they go low, how can we go high thread that I'll have to go through and put the best ones in here. This one just said it all: @lynnventura
"I think we can and should hold people accountable, but we can do that without dehumanizing them, even if it's hard to do so because they are behaving in ways that dehumanize others. I don't think compassion means enabling. We can and should respond, even harshly, to very bad behavior. Doing so, I believe, helps the person who is out of line. It's not good for someone's spiritual evolution to just be allowed to continue behaving abominably without getting a metaphorical slap on the face. My true friends tell me hard truths, even if they know I may get angry or upset. That's how I know they care about me. People who enable bad, cruel behavior don't care about anything but creating chaos for their own benefit.
Accountability also means, to me, that people don't just get forgiveness. Forgiveness comes when the transgressor seeks it. It involves making amends and seeking to be forgiven. So much is written about how people "need" to forgive. I don't buy that. It lays too much on the injured party. Sure, if situations are irresolvable because an offending party doesn't admit they are wrong, eventually we just have to move on, but distancing ourselves from hard feelings doesn't mean the offender's transgressions are extinguished. The people who have brought so much pain to our society in the past 4+ years (including MTG, 45, et al) are NOT forgiven until they make things right. However, I do think we must deal with them and speak about them in ways that are not cruel, not just for their benefit but for our own spiritual integrity.
Sometimes easier said than done...:)" -- @lynn
Here is another amazing post in the ever evolving thread called When they Go Low, How Can We Go High? by @Frank
"Justice and punishment are really just socially acceptable methods for obtaining revenge. It is a method that humans have developed to try to impart order in a chaotic world by tempering the passion of individuals with the, theoretically, greater dispassion of a collective. There is nothing good or bad about it, it is exactly what we have needed up until now. However, our paradigm is shifting and we are raising our awareness towards ever greater Unity. We are beginning to understand that we are not just individual islands, fully blocked off from any other individual whom we choose not to interact with. We are actually indivisibly connected to all others. We are unique facets of an all encompassing Universal Consciousness.
As we continue on this path of awakening, society will come to realize that punishment is a self defeating path. The human body is a good metaphor to understand this. We are comprised of millions of individual cells of immense diversity. However, they all work together for the greater good of the body. When some of these cells, for example immune cells, begin behaving in damaging ways we don't demand justice. Rather, we ask for healing. That is exactly what our collective body needs; healing for the individuals causing our collective dis-ease. The greatest, most powerful medicine we as individual cells and as a social body have is Love, and, as Lightworkers, our job is to be the world's super-spreaders. ❤️" -- @ Frank
@deetoo and @tgraf66 both picked up on a metaphor that fits what is happening in our world.
In February, Deetoo wrote:
posted by @jeanne-mayell:You can tell when something has had its day because right before it dies, it spikes and goes even more intense.@jeanne-mayell, when I read this I immediately thought about a medical treatment I once had. The treatment created a Herxheimer reaction, which is a form of detoxification within the body. In other words, you feel significantly worse for a period of time -- as you stated, "it spikes and goes even more intense" -- and you may fear that the illness is progressing. It is not. The Herxheimer flare is an indication that the treatment is reaching its target and is considered a good sign. The detoxification process is necessary to expose and excise the toxins -- the rot -- and create a space for healing. That's where I believe we are heading. I believe the "treatment" is the truth -- and the truth will set us free.
Then in June, Tgraf66 wrote:
I was sitting here quietly reading this morning, and I was suddenly told (out of the blue, as such things often happen! ? ) that what we and the rest of the world are experiencing is akin to a Herxheimer reaction in medicine. If you're not familiar with it, here's the wikipedia entry on it:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jarisch%E2%80%93Herxheimer_reaction
Essentially, it's what happens when a person who has a serious systemic infection starts taking antibiotics. As millions of units of the bacterial infection die off all at once, they release their toxins into the body faster than the body can clear them out, and the symptoms of the disease seem to get worse instead of better for a little while. What it means is that the "treatment" is working.
More and more of the previously hidden stuff is being exposed and removed, but there's so much of it that it seems to be getting worse instead of better. It isn't. We are still in the beginning stages of our "treatment", and it must continue in order to completely remove all of the garbage.
The most important thing to remember is that while things will seem to get worse for a little while, the "infection" is dying, and it knows it. We will survive this, and we will heal. Have faith, but more importantly, cultivate patience. It won't happen overnight, but it will happen. We only need to stay the course.
This one is from @bright-opal (aka Sophie), posted just now in the Revolving Lounge II thread.
Hello everyone, it's been a very long time since I last posted and visited. The forum is so beautiful! I mention it often to people I interreact with. I like coming back to my roots for a visit because this is where a new life began for me. I owe Jeanne and this community so much gratitude. I wasn't certain where to put this post so feel free to move it to where it might fit better. How is your 2021 going? Mine? CRAZY! In everyway...
Tarot has taken a huge part of my life in the last 6 months. I launched a few things, I am practicing reading with strangers. The more I learn, the more I realize I have to learn. I am working on creating my own deck. I've grown up and matured a lot. But my weird and sarcastic sense of humour that only I get is still there and I love it! I have been experimenting with the chakras, trying to find balance which is still a struggle. But I got to see my soul. My oh my, it is beautiful, I loved it. My light mixing with the Universal One, it was amazing the love and joy I felt. Amazing!
Jeanne, I owe this to you. You brought me closer to me, showed me the way to grow when I was stuck. You taught me healing. You taught me to feel. You taught me to open up to the world. It is a work in progress, but I get it now. I've grown up and matured a lot. But my weird and sarcastic sense of humour that only I get is still there and I love it!
I also came out of the proverbial closet. Nope, I'm not gay, but if I were I would be coming out of that closet too. I used to hide myself from everyone. You would have never seen my face on the internet in the past, you would have never been able to associate my name to that of my avatar's. Behind the name Bright Opal is Sophie Turgeon. On my Avatar is my picture. You will see me on my videos. I am not an illness or a disease, I am Sophie, a tarot reader, psychic and empath. A daughter, a friend. I am a spiritual being wanting to contribute to something bigger and greater than myself in spite of the risks that it entails. I could not have done that without you Jeanne.
Earlier this month, my aunt Denise passed away. My mother and cousin were with her, thankfully she did not die alone. The last time I lost someone really close to me was in 1987, my grand-mother. I was not by her bedside when she passed and was very unprepared for what I experienced when my aunt, someone I am very close to, someone very dear to me, passed away. This is what I would like to share with you.
I got there about 30 minutes after her passing. My mother and cousin gave me time alone with her. I had absolutely no idea what to do because in my mind I had already said my goodbyes. Then it came: this feeling, strong feeling of pure joy and love. It was so strong, beautiful and so peaceful! She was so happy, finally freed from all the bad health and physical suffering she had been enduring over the past 20some years. All the emotional upheaval she lived through where gone. Only joy and love. So while I was expecting to cry along with the others, I was happy. Happy she was transitioning to a better world and becoming one with God. It was amazing and beautiful. What a gift she gave me. This is a gift I would not have been able to receive had I not grown spiritually.
I have no doubts I will be crying along with the others on Friday when we celebrate her life. But what will remain with me is her beautiful ,welcoming and generous heart. Her laughter and bad singing. And the beautiful gift I was given as an inheritance: pure joy, love and peace now that she is on the other side.
In a way Jeanne, this is an open letter to thank you for your wonderful teaching and friendship. Without you I would not have experienced these last 6 months.
Namaste,
Sophie
@deetoo emailed this message to some friends, and they asked her to post it in the forum. She did, and I think it should go here. Coming at the end of five years of insanity in the U.S. government, she tells us about her Fourth of July shift in perspective. Thank you, deetoo!
Each year our town holds their July 4th celebration in a park directly behind our house. You can always see and hear the fireworks from our back deck, although there are trees that always obstruct our view. Lots of people from the town attend the celebration, generally vying for parking spaces along our street.
Last year the fireworks were cancelled, so this year you could feel the excitement as families, many of different cultures, playfully walked along our street, mostly without masks, as they made their way to the park’s ballfield bleachers. I thought about our country’s history and ongoing struggles with racism, inequality and discrimination, understanding that we have yet to form that “more perfect Union.” As I stood there an Indian man and his young daughter passed by, smiled broadly at me and said “have a very happy Independence Day!” There was something so intimate about our brief exchange, that it almost brought me to tears. I felt enormously grateful that we still are, and will remain, a country of immigrants.
Lots of people were milling around and I decided to remain outside with them, standing with a couple who I invited to park their car in front of our driveway. As darkness settled and the fireworks commenced, I suddenly realized, “oh my God! I have a beautiful, clear view of the fireworks if I stand here!” I know this sounds ridiculous, but until last night I never considered we might have a better view of the fireworks if we stood in front of our house! Until yesterday, my husband and I would have isolated ourselves on our deck and away from the crowd, watching fireworks that were partially obscured by the trees.
As I stood there, watching these explosions of extraordinary particles of light, I asked myself where we are collectively, and where we go from here. I then heard “can’t see the forest for the trees.” (Spirit certainly has a sense of humor!) We can’t understand where we are because we’re too close to it – our vision is obstructed. Even though we can each play a part in transforming our world, we also need to breathe, let go and allow things to unfold. And we need to do it together. There’s a new way of seeing, and being, that is available to each of us. We just need to turn in the right direction -- towards those extraordinary particles of light -- and open our eyes. -- @Deetoo
@ghandigirl shared her heartbreaking story of her daughter who has stopped communication between them. Then @lovendures offered some wise and gentle advice. Finally @seeker4 stepped in and shared her own story of her daughter's rejection of her. Thank you all for being willing to share yourselves here. You help us too. ❤️
From @lovendures:
Ghandigirl, My best advise is to continue to keep the door open. Continue to send her love. Be available t be receptive when she does walk through.
It is important to find other ways to additionally share your love. Animals, volunteering, mentoring, taking up a cause or supporting an existing one, food bank helper, helping with a drive to collect school supplies. Perhaps you can find a cause which your daughter likes and you can volunteer together. Join a group which does volunteer projects on a regular basis. I bet you can find one in your area.
Helping others on a regular basis is an excellent way to move forward in a positive direction.
From @seeker4
I feel for you deeply. I am estranged from my adult daughter too. I know that my two divorces and my intense personality both hurt her deeply. Her biological father rejected any involvement with her while she was growing up, but came back into her life after she was out of college. His explanation to her for his absence and neglect (He asked my second husband to adopt her and paid all of the expenses for it in order to get out from under child support payments.) was to tell her that I refused to allow him visitation which was a total lie. This is at the heart of her anger. I offered to go into therapy to resolve issues, I accepted a list of "boundaries" that she created only to violate herself, I sent her loving messages, etc. In other words, I did everything I could including telling her that my door was always open to her and that I would always love her. After two years of no communication, I tried again last month and suggested that we not try to resolve past conflicts, but simply go forward in a simple, social way. I received a terse NO. Oddly enough, this brought me peace. I knew that there was nothing more I could do and that I had tried everything for, perhaps, far too long. There's a way in which someone who refuses to reconcile controls and manipulates us as we teeter on the brink trying not to fall over. I decided not to engage anymore. I told her that I wouldn't bother her again, but that my door remains open. Her brother, fortunately, supports me and said, "You've done all you can do." I don't know if you can get to that place of surrender, I can only tell you that if you can forgive yourself for your mistakes, if you know you've tried everything, etc, and believe that reconciliation can occur beyond this lifetime, then I hope you will find peace and comfort. The real conundrum in my struggle with her is the fact that she's a Christian missionary. I counted on her practicing her faith somewhere in all of this, but it was misplaced trust--she even ridiculed me because of my own devotion to my faith. As Lovendures suggests, finding something else to focus on helps--especially things that help others. Just know that you are not alone. We all struggle with something. Sending peace and love.