IN IT TOGETHER
JULY 2013

Hello Everyone...

Well, that Dixie Lee sure nailed the feeling of a "lighter month" when it came to June's energy, at least for me. I found myself taking the time to actually play a game of Canasta with my friend Ava, something we haven't done together in years and years. I bellylaughed one evening with one of my sons when he spontaneously dropped in for a visit. I got to see Sean and Nevart (Dixie's kids) and catch up with them, as well as several other old friends. I enjoyed a couple of times of being with my sister, singing....I read several books. I filled myself with some of the pleasures of life and as a result, felt much more rested by the end of June. I had a better balance of work, rest and play than I've let myself have in a long time - it was a great month as a result.

I DID make the mistake of turning on my television for several hours one night when I was tired, only to be bombarded repeatedly during commercial breaks with the not-sosubliminal message that I was going to get Shingles, that I ran the risk of heart disease, that I was depressed. Good lord - the side effects from the various drugs they were pushing for all the diseases/problems they were telling me I might get took longer to list than the actual mention of the problem itself. I found myself talking back to the television every time they told me I was going to get Shingles or heart disease, or that I might be depressed and need help. I would say, "NO, I'm not - you're not talkin' me into THAT one - I reject your message!"

I understand the value of being informed and to seek help if we need it. Absolutely, none of the above-mentioned illnesses are something to be taken lightly. But my gosh - I realized that in my tired state, I was feeling irritated on the surface with the pharmaceutical companies for what came across as an attempt to push their drugs onto me so as to bolster their net profit.....but I was also aware of being vulnerable to an underlying fear of "Oh gosh - am I going to have problems with my health?"

Shortly after I turned off my TV, I received an email from someone whom I highly trust to be level-headed and politically impartial. The information in his email caused my heart to sink as I read it. It just seemed to be glaring evidence of "something coming", and all the "what if's" started up in me. "What if" I'm not really ready? "What if" I can't take care of my family and friends? "What if" my beliefs aren't really true? "What if" I am less than graceful through this Transition? "What if" I'm not really ready to help others get through this time?

ONCE again, there I was dithering, but I caught myself quickly and climbed out of it because I know how to. But what about the people who DON'T know how to? Honestly, I feel so blessed to even be able to almost always know and recognize fear quickly when it comes into me. How many people DON'T know how to recognize it and can only be stuck in on-going fear? God bless them....how intensely difficult it's becoming for so many.....

Absolutely, we all need to be aware of our bodies, of our health, of our world.....but when we're tired or feeling off balance already, the last thing we need to do is feed fear into our Beings by turning on the news or reading the details of a headline that we KNOW aren't going to uplift us after reading them. When we're out of balance, even slightly, it doesn't take much to knock us straight into fear, and I think we can all agree that there's plenty of that in our world already without deliberately adding to it!

I don't mean to give fear a bad rap, by the way. At times, it's a life saver and something to pay attention to when our Soul knows we've placed ourselves in a dangerous situation. And it's also a good tool for measuring/refining our Beings in that we can sit and ask ourselves what it is that we're afraid of so we can understand what limitations/doubts we place on ourselves. (It really IS a good thing to do, reviewing our fears. If you have a friend who is better at listening than trying to "fix it", ask them to sit with you as you sort through your limitations, your fears.... and try to understand why those fears are there. Even if you don't know why they're there, the very fact that you're acknowledging them and speaking them out loud, releasing them "into the Light", is a tremendous aid, in my opinion. Each time we get a little piece of "darkness" out of us, there's a little more room for the Light to be....)

Our world is wobbling - it has been and no doubt will continue to do so for some time. The month of June offered me a reminder that equal amounts of work, rest and play time are SO important in helping us maintain our balance in the midst of the wobble. It also gave me the reminder to be careful about what we read or watch or hear from one of the gazillion sources of "information" that we have available to us. (I'm finding that it's getting harder and harder to trust ANY source of "information", by the way....seems to be agendas being pushed more than ever, though I must say it feels as though a lot of us are getting quite adept at reading between the lines....smile....)

Hoping your July is filled with Love and Gratitude for all the beautiful things in our world that are available for us TO focus on - the love of family and friends...the pleasure of shared laughter.....the satisfaction of a job well done.....the goodness in helping each other get through these times....the joy in learning more about Compassion not only for ourselves, but for all who struggle a little or a lot.....we're truly in it together.

ALL that matters in this world is Love......what a wonderful bottom line!!!

Hold on to your Spirit...        
Marty