There are many things that bring me great pleasure.  I love being a mom, and I love getting into metaphysical discussions with my friends.  I love that I have friends.  I love Teeccino brewed herbal coffee with Starbucks mocha powder.  I love taking pictures with my Palm Pre, because now I just take them all the time.  I love reading, and I love holding a stone in my hand when I read.  I love that sometimes I fall asleep with my glasses on and my book leaning on my chin, and my husband will gently put them on the nightstand when he comes to bed.

I also love singing.  I love writing.  And I love speaking.  I guess I could be called a performer, but that’s not actually what it feels like to me.  It feels more like I’m sharing a part of my heart and soul when I speak.  I don’t do wild hand gestures, or practice how I walk back and forth.  I tell a story, and try to be inspiring.  Usually the story is about how I did something insane (or stupid) and how my higher self got me out of it.

When I write music, that’s also a part of me, and it’s about something I’ve gone through.  It’s about healing pain, finding love, finding myself, and even finding a way home again after I’ve been wandering.

It’s what I love.

There are other things I do.  But what I’ve found is that even the boring stuff is a means to an end to get to do the stuff I love.

I express what I love, because I’m supposed to.

What I love is what I do.  It’s who I am.

I would look at mothers and their babies, and think “how could you bring a child into this world?”

Then one day I was talking to my good friend Steve.  I told him of my philosophy.

“This world is just too scary, and so many bad things happen.  It’s out of control.  I just don’t see how anyone could bring a child into this world!”

He looked at me, without so much as batting an eye, and said, “what if it was your child that made the difference?”

Two years later I had my first child and then two years after that I had my second child.

If you see the world as a scary place, it IS a scary place.  My friend’s gentle words unlocked something in my psyche; the part of me that wanted to believe that we could, at anytime, make a difference in this world, and see it as a friendly place.

That was over 15 years ago.   And now I look at my children and am filled with hope and wonder.

The world is surprising, invigorating and exciting.  And everyday my children remind me of that.

“… only love unites our hearts, justified until we die, you and I will magnify, the magnificent.”

And I started thinking about how when any two (or more) people get together, they magnify something.  It’s not always magnificence, but it’s something.

Sometimes we are lucky enough to be with someone who inspires us and fills us with love.  Other times we walk away from the encounter drained and depressed.

And it’s not always about the person we are with.  Sometimes it’s about us.  How do we add to our everyday encounters?  How many people walk away from us feeling better?   How many people are drained by our presence?

Do we talk about hate?
Do we judge?
Do we condemn?
Do we lie?
Do we wish someone dead?

Do we inspire?
Do we nurture?
Do we midwife someone’s creativity?
Do we live with integrity?
Do we love?

Do we magnify the magnificent?
Do we magnify fear and hate?

We magnify.  We always do when we are with someone else.

“This foolishness can leave a heart black and blue…”

It’s up to us to decide…

Now my dog, on the other hand, who wasn’t paying the slightest attention, never once crushed a snail under her giant paws.  And never broke her stride! 

Now I have always considered my dog to be a big lumbering beast.  She knocks glasses of water (or worse) off the coffee table with the sweep of an enthusiastic tail wag, she can shove an entire pile of clean laundry off the bed just turning around to make herself comfortable, and she’s whacked her head into the wall in her excitement to go walking in the morning and has literally knocked me over when I go to let her out.

HOW is it that such a clumsy beast never, EVER, once, crushed a snail beneath her feet on our morning walk?

Maybe it’s because she’s happy (all the time).  Maybe it’s because she gets a better night’s sleep than I do.  Maybe it’s because she eats healthier than I do.  Or maybe she just doesn’t see herself apart from the natural world like I know I do.

I know when babies are teeny they believe they are just extensions of their mamas.  Maybe all animals feel this way… they are extensions of their earth.

At some point we come to believe that because we walk and move on our own, we must be separate.

That’s why, if we walk early in the morning, we have to worry about crushing snails!

Before the written word, tales and records where kept by the poets.  Scrolls were too fragile to move from place to place, and not everyone had access to writing materials.   The history of the clan or tribe was kept by the poet.  Tales and mythology were sung gently over crackling fires, beneath glittering stars, to those with eyes wide open who never tired of hearing of the tales of old.

In the Celtic cultures these vision singers were known as Bards.  To the bard, poetry is more than just words on a page, or a song rolling off the tongue.  Bardic poetry carries its own magic, its own power of enchantment.  In fact, it was a poem spoken by the Poet Amergin that calmed dangerous seas and allowed the forefathers of the Gauls, the Sons of Mil, to invade Ireland.

Here is one version of the Song of Amergin that can be found by searching the internet.

I am Wind on Sea,
I am Ocean Wave,
I am Roar of Sea,
I am Bull of Seven Fights,
I am Stag of Seven Tines,
I am Hawk on Cliff,
I am Dewdrop,
I am Fairest of Flowers,
I am Boar for Boldness,
I am Salmon in Pool,
I am Lake on Plain,
I am a Mountain in a Man,
I am a Hill of Poetry,
I am the Point of a Weapon,
A Weapon fierce in battle.
I am the One who fills the head with Fire.
Who makes smooth the rugged mountains?
Who knows the ages of the moon?
Who knows the place of the sunset?
Who calls the cattle from the House of Tethra?
On whom does Tethra smile?
Who is the Troop?
Who is the One who places infections on blades?
Enchantments on the spear?
Enchantments of the wind.
I am Wind on Sea

Because poetry was memorized, it made the words all that more powerful and persuasive.  There is something inspiring and moving about words that roll magically off of your tongue to fill the air around you.  Words committed to memory bring comfort and peace when uttered.

The great bards and poets of old, including Merlin the great wizard and sorcerer to King Arthur, and Taliesin, the famous Welsh poet, utilized the power of poetry and song to learn valuable truths and to teach others.  They knew the power of the spoken word could heal or hurt, give comfort or break apart.  Whether sharing stories of old, or for pure entertainment, poetry speaks to us on a different level, elevating us to places we hence only dreamed of.

“… making a choice to commit to one path in life means that we must give up other possibilities along the way.” Hal Zina Bennett in Write Starts

I have my focus in so many places that I never seem to get anywhere!  I never seem to get a book read, a blog written, a scarf crocheted, a song memorized, a poem written, or more done on my book.

A good friend of mine tells me that it doesn’t matter… I can be everything.  But I don’t feel like it.

Then I think “what if I’m not supposed to be a writer… only a singer?  What if I’m not supposed to be a singer?”

Then I panic, not knowing where to put my attention.

How do you get through this?

How do you know?

Existential dilemmas are so frustrating sometimes!

She tried to speak, but could only make a choking sound.  She felt a chill run through her body and more tears burned her eyes and her head swam with confusion.  Her ears even hurt, and every sound seemed to assault her.

She felt movement around her, and heard people speaking purposefully and calmly.    Someone was examining her; she felt so sore and tired.  She then felt them gently tucking a warm blanket around her, and she felt a minimal comfort as the warmth flowed through her skin.

She jerked her head to one side as she felt movement at her shoulder.  She tried to ask “what’s going on?” but it came out as a stifled cry.  Now the tears flowed as fright overcame her.

She tried to remember what she’d last been doing, but it was so hazy.  The trip, that was it, she was planning for her trip.  She had been so excited and so prepared.  The next thing she remembered were the blindingly bright lights, and the loud noises.  A flicker of memory came to the surface; there had been a tunnel.  She’d been traveling through a tunnel, and she remembered seeing the light at the end.

Had something gone wrong?  Had she had a near death experience?

Just then she felt herself being lifted through the air, and the motion made her dizzy.  They were moving her… okay, so nothing was broken.  She closed her eyes and an image of her friend Jonathon floated into her mind.  He was smiling.

She remembered being home, and she’d been looking around her room, wondering how to prepare for her trip.  She wasn’t one to travel much, and was happy staying home in the embrace of those who loved her.  But after a while she’d started to become restless as she’d listened to her friend talk about one of his recent trips.

“I don’t know what to take?”  She’d smiled at Jonathon.  He was the reason she’d finally committed to going.  He told her he would go with her, and they would have such a great time discovering new places and seeing new people.  He laughed at her puzzled expression.

“You’re going to be fine,” he said, “ I’ll be there the whole time.”

“What if I can’t handle it though?  What if it’s just too busy and hectic?  What if I get lost?”

“What if, what if, what if,” he laughed.  “Just breathe.  Just take a deep breath, feel you are centered.”

She did.  And she had to admit, it had worked, she’d felt better.

So now she struggled to block out the sounds and movements around her and focus on her breathing.  At first it seemed she was wheezing, even choking and coughing a little.  But as she centered herself and felt her breathing calm, her body relaxed.

She heard Jonathon whispering gently to her, and she felt him put his hand over her own.

“You’re going to be okay,” he whispered, and she opened her eyes to see him smiling at her.  She immediately felt more relaxed, and the lights around her didn’t seem to burn so brightly anymore.

“Remember what we talked about?”  His bright green eyes sparkled, “remember what I told you?”

She nodded her head.

“Good, now just relax.  You’re off to a good start.”  He smiled and seemed to fade into the background.

“There you go Mama,” a gentle voice announced, and she felt herself being held safe and warm.

“Your bouncing baby girl,”  The nurse smiled and walked away.

“Good morning my little Julia,” the voice was the sweetest sound she had ever heard.  She opened her eyes to see the bluest eyes she’d ever seen, and a smile so gentle and hypnotic she couldn’t help but feel warm and happy.

She reached an arm toward this beautiful face, but found herself clumsy.  The smiling woman laughed and leaned over to kiss her face gently.

“My beautiful baby,” the sweet voice cooed, “my beautiful baby girl.  You are going to have such an amazing life.”  The new mama’s eyes filled with tears, and Julia finally felt herself get comfortable in her new body.

She saw a pale green light floating behind her new mother, and knew that Jonathon was close by.

The week before Christmas can be intense.  With holiday planning, wrapping up the last of the gifts, baking, shopping, and the over-excitement of my children, I found myself seeming to race at the speed of light toward my favorite holiday of the year.

WAM!!!   It was Christmas Eve!  BAM!!!  It was Christmas morn.  Wrapping paper littered the living room, my husband was in the kitchen cooking, and I sat scratching my head, wondering if I was in some sort of parallel universe where Christmas came a week earlier than in our dimension.

Now the holiday bustle is over.  And with the space to breathe, I think about the Winter Solstice that seemed to sneak by, the upcoming full moon (that’s also a Blue Moon) and our New Year’s celebrations, which are much more low key than Christmas.

I love this week.  Just before New Year’s I can feel the possibilities.  With a whole year ahead, I know that I have the potential to accomplish anything, do anything, be anything.  And I can still listen to Christmas music without people thinking I’m totally crazy!

The days are growing longer.  Inspiration fills my heart.  The Light has returned.

Inside each and every one of us is a piece of that One Star. Bright and glowing, it waits to be recognized so that it may become a beacon to other sleeping stars.

It’s time for us to see the truth in each and every heart right now.

We need to release our judgments about those around us. No matter what spiritual path someone follows, no matter what type of job they have or music they listen to, they are a star, sleeping, yet still brightly lit, waiting to be recognized.

It’s time to sing the soul back home…

When we recognize the beauty in another, see the star within them, we help them to awaken to their true self. We help them to take that first step on their journey home.

The journey starts right here, right now. We don’t need to do anything but get started. We don’t need a special job, more education or more money. Our journey has started in this moment of awakening.

There’s something I must tell you now…
You are the light, so shine it now…

With gas prices going insane, food prices going up, salaries being cut, medical insurance doing less and costing more, it’s no wonder that over all, anxiety seems to be on the rise too.

But I have to admit, that in spite of the craziness happening around me, I still manage to maintain a sense of hope and a very strong belief that things are going to get better much sooner than we think, at least most of the time.

I had recently read the book “The Moses Code” by James Twyman, and followed it up with “The Greatest Secret of All” by Marc Allen, and both authors had the same thing to say. There’s more to life than flashy possessions, it’s really all about how we can be of service to each other.

I happened to be thinking about this the other day while driving in the car with my 11 year old son and 9 year old daughter.

I had a lot on my mind…. I was worrying about my husband’s job – it has been a bit unstable lately, and finances have been tight, and I was thinking about how my back has really been bothering me. I was letting myself drift out of my normally hopeful state, and into a place of worry and fear.

Then my children started arguing. My son decided he was going to keep his little sister from doing something that would upset their Dad. She got mad, he was being bossy, I was frazzled, and that’s when I noticed the car in front of me.

It had a personalized license place that simply stated “GV HOPE.” That was it… that was all I needed in that moment.

I asked my children “why do you think we are here?” Surprised by my question, they stopped arguing to wait for my answer.

“We are here to give hope.”

I asked my son how he could have given his sister hope instead of trying to scare her by threatening that she’d get in trouble.

Then I asked my daughter what she could do to give her brother hope.

They both came up with something sweet and comforting for each other, and then decided that they could give me hope by reminding me that I could go to the chiropractor and feel as good as new.

And there we were… giving hope.

And it was so easy to do. Just when I was in need of hope, I received it by giving it.

In that small moment we changed our world by giving hope.

How many of those small moments are still to come to us, day by day? How many opportunities do we have to give hope and change our world?