Greatful

For many years, I've held that the value of the two little words "thank you" is inestimable. Thank you - feeling and, more importantly, expressing gratitude. And today I'm noticing the word 'grateful' and I'm hearing and seeing the word 'greatful'. Hmmm. That's what makes us feel so good when we're full of gratitude, we're full of the 'Great' - The Good, Love, God. It's been said that gratitude is the ultimate heart opener and now, to me, this is why. Consciously or unconsciously, when we’re feeling grateful, we're directly connecting with the Divine, the very essence of us, of Life. What could be better! I invite you all to join me now in becoming ever increasingly aware of our Greatfulness.

What Gifted Men!

My friend Milla Ilieva gifted me mightily yesterday. She had invited me to join her at a Health & Wellness Day, that was part of an ongoing series called Times Talks. Tina Parker-Pope, consumer health columnist for The New York Times, did a great job of moderating fabulously informative and inspiring interviews with Dr. Deepak Chopra and Dr. Mehmet Oz. These men have long been heroes of mine.

I’ve already written with gratitude about Dr. Chopra. His ‘quantum healing’ work surfaced shortly after my intense indoctrination into the marvels of the body/mind/spirit connection as a student of the extraordinary teacher and healer, Hilda Charlton. This turned out to be an indoctrination that healed me and totally transformed my life. Our scientific community and Dr. Chopra were now making available to the masses what Hilda had been teaching, and the ancient wise ones espousing, for millennia – that the Universe and everything in it is energy. And that in the case of us humans, this energy pulsing unceasingly within us, is profoundly affected by our thoughts and the feelings they engender, as well as our beliefs and attitudes. These can be either healthful to our physical bodies or harmful to them. As Chopra tells us repeatedly our bodies are not frozen sculptures in time and space, they are pulsating energy, ever changing, ever renewing themselves. They are self repairing mechanisms, which is a constant message in my own work. He spoke of addictions yesterday and encouraged us to become increasingly aware of our choices. We always have choice. Expanding awareness is the antidote to addictions, along with finding ways to inspire ourselves. Inspiration always works, he said. His message was abundant with far too much wisdom and information to cover here, but his parting words for our ongoing wellness were:

1) Good Sleep
2) Awareness of everything we put into our bodies
3) Taking the Vow for Wellness (make one up for yourself)
4) Moving – the body needs to move!

Dr. Mehmet Oz appeared on my radar in the 90’s when the Magazine Section of the Sunday Times presented an in depth article about his prowess as a cardiac surgeon. The pictures showed him to be quite a young man, extremely attractive – movie star looks – with great respect for, and close affiliation with, healers. My heart smiled. Now, of course, he’s a really big star with his own TV show, which evolved out of his many appearances on Oprah where he educated the masses about health and well-being. He shared with us yesterday that although his surgical practice was wonderfully fulfilling, he lived for a long time with the frustration that his patients didn’t need to have arrived at such a difficult and painful place in their lives. So much of their disease was preventable. He finally decided to go outside the box and teach us how to truly care for ourselves, so that many of us won’t have to undergo such invasive treatments. Though the TV show demands a lot of his time, he still operates one day a week. He knows that this intimate involvement with his patients remains a big part of his purpose in life. He encourages us all to make peace with our purpose in life. Like Dr. Chopra, he emphasizes having good sleep each night – most of us need seven to seven and a half hours. He encourages developing eating habits that truly nourish our body/mind system as well as doing some form of exercise every day. He feels that first thing in the morning a brief routine of stretching will serve us tremendously. Once our many faceted days begin, exercise often falls between the cracks. I can relate to that one. Dr. Oz exudes enthusiasm and joie de vivre. His vibrant aliveness in person and on TV is totally infectious. I’ve thought from the first time I saw him on Oprah that this man would do more for preventative medicine than any one on the planet. He reaches millions with his message of taking responsibility for our own lives. He’s delightfully human and fun and brilliantly aware of the love and caring that are mandatory for our own well-being and the health and well-being of our world. My heart overflows with gratitude for these two divinely gifted men. Thank you, Dr. Oz! Thank you, Dr. Chopra! Thank you Milla!

Love

Years ago I wanted to write a song about Love. Not romantic love, though that’s wonderful, but the glue of the Universe, Love, the essential energy, Love, the “God is Love”, Love. Though it had never occurred to me that I’d ever write a song, this would become my second composition. Amazing!– I sang songs, I didn’t write them. But I felt the prompting and for the next week went about my life with a tape recorder ever at the ready. I’d hum the melody into it – I’d get a few lyrics waiting for a bus. In very short order I had a song. Richard Shulman, my fabulous pianist at the time, added accompaniment to the melody and there we were – "Love Is The Answer" was a full blown song. The opening lyrics:

Love surrounds us every moment
Refreshing us with every breath we take.
Smell it in the beauteous rose,
Hear it in the sweet bird’s song,
See it everywhere you choose to look.

Since my spiritual immersion and healing with the extraordinary Hilda Charlton, I have resonated with “God is Love”, feeling and sensing, when conscious and in-the-present, that we all live in this sea of Love (God). This probably explains why the most oft repeated word in Hawaii is Aloha, which means far more than hello and goodbye. It means “The breath of God is in our presence”. Hawaiians also say “Thank you” a lot. These people know they’re living in paradise – they’re very grateful. As am I. Once you’ve slogged through life-threatening disease, you’re very grateful.

And now I find that my mission can best be articulated as gently guiding people to the experience of Love and Peace that resides within us all – as well as all around us all, always – in all ways – even in the throes of dark circumstances. So in my programs and meditations, there’s the encouragement to be grateful throughout the day for the most ordinary things that we all take for granted – the soft sheets that embrace us as we rest in our comfy beds, the water that gushes forth from a faucet at our every beck and call.

Which brings me to the graphic you see above. This picture that I’d clipped out of a magazine years ago suddenly surfaced, and I knew I was to share it now. Every spiritual teaching for millennia has taught us that God is everywhere, in our air, in our water, in everything. So, I suggest that every time we take a shower, we imagine that this is Love (God) pouring upon us – every color of the rainbow soaking into our pores, soothing, relaxing, renewing, revitalizing, healing every cell of us. How blessed we will feel. Why shouldn’t our daily ablutions be consciously healing? Albert Einstein said: Imagination is more important than information. Imagine. Try it.

DeLightful Spring

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never ending line
Along the margin of a bay;
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee;
A poet could not but be gay
In such a jocud company!
I gazed– and gazed– but little thought,
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie,
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye,
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

William Wordsworth's words danced in my head as I awoke this morning. Spring is more deliciously seeping into the light we see and the air we breathe each and every moment. And as I look at the relentless pace of our lives, I feel the wisdom of gifting ourselves with wandering, even "lonely", in nature. (Central Park or any city park works wonders.) The freshness, newness and abundance of this precious season revitalizes and renews all our senses, to say nothing of our hearts and souls who long to revel in this joy, these new beginnings. Allowing ourselves to open to this beauty is truly the gift that keeps on giving, as we subsequently allow ourselves the luxury of silence and reverie to be ever-nourished by this soul food over and over again at our slightest whim. Relax-Receive-Renew. May Spring's Light bless all.