Dear God/ess, Today I am thinking of the Joy of Old Dogs. Puppies are delightful, too, but often cause chaos and havoc in their rambunctious wake.
Then, if they live to be 3 years old, you have a wise sage just waiting to awaken. Ulysses was more of a quiet soul through his life, except when on a lead. I remember well the lead pulling and the resultant tear of the rotator cuff ala left shoulder.
I will always remember Mukunda chasing 4 sheep up our lane and I feared, into the eye of fast oncoming traffic. Instead they veered left and ran along the grass to the golf course a mile away.
I was able to coax he sheep back to the house with a bowl of corn, but Mukunda was no where to be found.
When he returned an hour later, with a soulful guilt laden expression, I hugged him, welcoming him back to the herd, for that is what all of us were to this part Australian Shepard, part Golden Retriever.
Now that Ulysses is in his senior wisdom years, I love being in his quiet presence. The whisper of a breeze, the caw of the Crow, the dark clouds before a storm–all of these and more are noticed clearly with an old dog around.
Dear God/ess, Thank you for another day with Ulysses The Dog, a patient with a strong will to live. Currently he is warm and snuggled under a blanket on the couch. I am thinking about the predawn quiet and am resting in the solitude of these precious moments.
All of the events that seem to occur outside of us, all of the situations we have no control over, everything that brings us fear, can be transcended by Mystical Insight.
That which cannot be changed can be and must be transcended from the inside. We use external crisis as a tool for transformation. That which does not destroy us, helps us rise to the next level of spiritual experience through the Power of Love.
This transcendence is like birthing a whole new life.
“Why me, God?” becomes “Why not me?”
Love and compassion in all of its guises counteracts any so-called force for evil and destruction.
Let us side for Love today, where nothing is ever destroyed, as each moment flows through us and beyond us.
Dear God/ess, Thank you for another day with my dear dog, Ulysses. As mentioned in yesterday’s prayer, it’s too soon to tell the story of his healing journey. But what I have noticed is, when I stay out of the story and thoroughly take in all the dimensions of the Present Moment, sadness disappears, and a new world blossoms like a rose bud giving birth to the rose.
The true celebration of All That Is is a work in progress, and requires a Present Moment concentrated awareness. It may take all of your skill to stay centered where you always are anyway: in the Here and Now.
From the vantage of a concentrated Present Moment Awareness, you discover that all of the potentials for Love and Forgiveness come alive. The stories of who did what to whom are no longer significant in the mind’s eye.
Suddenly everyone you have loved whether on this plane or beyond, are here with you, too, and are as alive as every dancing molecule in this house or on the snow covered Conestoga River.
If your heart is broken, rather than stay in the memories and stories of the past, realize that the potential for opening the heart in Love is yours, if you cultivate Present Moment Pulsation.
Creativity comes alive. Solutions to previously unresolved challenges are simultaneously placed into action and resolved.
You are no longer held prisoner of grief and sorrow, but instead, are liberated from ordinary thought. You’ve been raised to a higher vibration of vitality.
Dear Godess, I want to tell the story of Ulysses but since I do not know the whole story, and more needs to evolve regarding the miracle of the healing journey, I will just say that Ulysses is living another day as we take care of him and love him.
I also think that we will learn about the true nature of healing and healer from this experience. Tomorrow is undoubtedly going to be another snow day, and Ulysses, Tom and I will snuggle and watch the snow together, with no where to go. Ulysses loves to go to one of the rooms in the barn which we remodeled last summer. Now we heat it with a beautiful old Shenadoah stove. Ulysses plops right down and goes into a deep meditative trance, refusing to leave the room. Watching snow fall: a transformation experience, but only if you have no where to go.
We all have unfinished stories, unfinished lives. Often our stories are told prematurely and we have to retell then again.
Often our stories are best left untold, because silence and emptying the mind of the drama surrounding the story gives greater peace of mind.
But we can always tell our dog and cat any story at all, and she will accept it, unconditionally.
Dear Godess, I watched a talk given by Andy Weil MD last night on Netflix. The topic was healthy aging. It was wonderfully comprehensive, covering all aspects of mental, physical and spiritual health, of which there is no separation.
He encouraged all of us to look at aging NOT as a state of decline, but as an opportunity to become aware how time brings out the good in all people, trees, violins, wine, dogs and cats! American Culture tends to emphasize aging as a state of decline, disability, loss and limited mobility. I believe the Boomers will change this notion of limitation as more and more of us hit the milestone of our 60th birthday! In fact, on my 60th, in 37 days, I plan to go to a dance party with all my friends from work. I will be the oldest person there–so far.
Dogs get wiser and more noble with age. I have always watched this. As Ulysses is deciding whether to live or die, he is helping me accept whatever he decides to do. What a great teacher What a Zen Master!
The Laws of Nature are such that none of us are getting any younger. This fact has created a whole science of anti-aging, because essentially, people are terrified of dying. The supplements recommended for turning back the aging process, for example, Human Growth Hormone, are dangerous and could be deadly.
Why not think of aging gracefully, and dying with dignity, surrounded by a community of friends, family and spiritual advisers? Let it also be known, in my humble opinion, that no one dies alone, because the angels are waiting to help with the transition.
I love Dr Weil’s question: who is the self who never changes? For instance, when we look over our lives, we touch upon a dynamic core self who loves us and forgives us. This experience of touching upon this Essential Self is something we can learn to communicate with in prayer and meditation. The more we nurture this self, the more balance we will experience in our lives.
One thing I need to do more of is sleep, which alone is an incredible stress release. In this moment, Ulysses is sleeping, and so I must sleep by his side, because he is going through a healing crisis and needs my nursing care, if required. He always used to go to bed early and sleep late, so that’s what he’s doing on this cold winter’s night!
Dear God/ess, What can we learn from selflessly caring for sick people, a sick child, a sick dog or dogs, or taking care of ourselves when we are sick?
The answer is to see God/ess in all the details, keeping your heart open with loving intent, and live every moment as a means of keeping your heart filled to the brim with Love.
This is all we ever really need to remember.
If someone in our lives angers us or commits what appears to be an injustice, love them anyway.
Seek out all the love in any situation and eccentuate it, allowing any negatives to recede from your experience.
We cannot afford to live our lives in any other way.
When life events superficially seek to disprove this truth, that Love Supercedes All, simply disregard the tendency to doubt that Love Is The Answer to any Question based in this lifetime and beyond.
Caring for my sick dog, then going to the hospital and often caring for sick people, and more and more, unhealthy people, in the dead of Winter, has pushed me to turn on the Love switch and let all the rest go.
There is no other choice.
I am who I am no matter what happens: a Loving Beacon of God/ess.
Dear God/ess, I’ve been using sound healing with Ulysses The Dog this week. What I was led to are the Cosmic Chants of Paramahandsa Yogananda, which I learned long ago. Ulysses responds to them by sighing deeply, then going into a deep sleep.
Lullabies are a hit, too. But in reality, Ulysses seems to be moving on. I must let him go. Even if he decides to stay for awhile, I still must let him go. This does not mean that I stop being his nurse, attending to his every need.
It just means that I know that he has other roads to travel, other worlds to embrace. I don’t want to be the one who holds him back.
Animals are the greatest teachers. Our dogs have taught us that there is no separation. I like to think that when Ulysses passes, he will be reunited with Mukunda, but then I realize the two have been together all along.
The passing of a beloved companion animal is truly the sorrow of a heart which bleeds. But perhaps when I pass on, I will be greeted by every single animal I have ever loved.
Dear God/ess, Pictured here is the Unitarian Universalist Church where I grew up. Yesterday, I returned to attend a funeral of a gentleman whom I have known all of my life. His name is Jack Ward Willson Loose.
Mainly, he was my mother’s Republican friend and the two of them enjoyed sparring with each other. I think they needed the other to keep themselves on their toes. But then again, my mother, Kitty Loving Shenk, was always on her toes.
She dodged attack from the Religious Right as well as embracing Love from all of her admiring friends.
Jack Ward Willson Loose was a Lancaster Pennsylvania Historian. He knew everything about every property in Lancaster and the surrounding environs. He knew these things without looking anything up, although at one time, he without doubt did his homework!
One of the men giving a eulogy said, if there is an after-life, then Jack will be writing that history. Or if the history has already been written, then he will most certainly be editing it.
Jack was a Retired History Teacher in a local High School. His former students adored him. He taught in a truly Unitarian way, which is, if you showed up to class and participated intelligently, you got an A. Unitarians, for those of you who do not know, love a good discussion. They love to disagree in an agreeable manner.
I remember Sunday School where we explored all of the World Religions. We were taught that no one religion had all of the answers. We debated religion, even as we visited every church in the area, and then returned to Sunday school to debate some more.
Jack comes from that school of thought. He embodied Unitarianism to the tee–as did my mother.
Jack had one place where he sat every Sunday. If you mistakenly sat there, one of the church members would shoo you off without hesitation. Yesterday, one of the church elders had us all stand and clap toward that exact place where Jack always sat.
Something happened in that moment. Every piece of wood, every wooden beam in the immensely tall ceiling began to breath. The history of every vibrant molecule came alive. My parents were clapping too. So was Jack. And so were all the angels in the Multi-verse! It was a stunning tribute that occurred in one spontaneous creative moment.
I did not expect to be so moved at this service. I forgot my Kleenix, I stifled sobs, and barely saw my way our of the Church!
Tomaso’s 101 year old Aunt also passed this week. I will be sure to bring a whole box of tissues to that Life Celebration!
Dear God/ess, I’ve been thinking of Nurse Healers, again, and resurrected my Nurse Healer Blog yesterday. I feel there’s so much that is good about nurses and nursing, but many of my colleagues are so close to what they do that a larger perspective is lost. No one even considers that she might be a healer.
The un-healing climate of most hospitals and clinics might have something to do with it. These places have become a business and therefore, very business like. Naturally, an individual can choose to ignore the Corporate Takeover of Medicine and concentrate on calling in the angels with her patients. But to ignore the noise and the machines and the toxic medicines can be like living in an Ivory Tower of truthlessness. Something’s got to give.
And that’s the point: Giving. Giving of self for others selflessly. Negating the complaining. Rising above the drama. Being there only for patients and their families.
And rising above the potential for burnout. We’ve all experienced burnout at some time or another by taking too much on before we learn to say “no.” Sudden crises at home can disturb equilibrium. All of this and more can help us to establish a greater sense of Self. Or lose all sense of Self. The choice is entirely ours but please know that we don’t have to be a victim.
Unless you want to be.
Please God/ess help the Healers take heed of what needs to be done in the world. This is not the time to recede in a weakened position or condition. This is the time to own Personal Strength and Power.
This is the time to shine brightly, like the light upon the river or the most luminous Planet near a waxing moon. This may be the most exciting time that Humans have ever experienced in Linear History.
Believe it or not, one of the most powerful healing gifts you can give your sick Companion Animal is to pin a note to her blanket, written by her Guardian Angel!
My Ulysses, pictured her with Trouble The Dog, is ill with Lymphoma. I give him daily Mechano Magic Treatments, (a prayerful massage) along the spine, organically prepared food, prayer and meditation, –but the note upon the blanket is making him act almost normal today!
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