So Happy It's Friday....

When you feel ready to crack, what do you do? Where do you go? How do your actions help you understand the patterns in your life? Do you react to stress in effective ways? Or do you let it build up until you explode with rage/pain/anger/sadness/distrust/imbalance? When do you know you're getting close to the boiling point? Do you take steps to alleviate the pressure? If not, what happens to get you into that TNT-moment?

In many ways, we are being pulled in so many different directions. We multi-task, we are over-involved with the world around us (think media overdose), and we don't give ourselves the permission to take a break. To enjoy a slow meal with the family. To talk about the day with each other, to laugh with each other. We don't give ourselves quiet time to think, or read a nice book, or make something with our hands. Or tend a garden. No wonder why time feels as if it is spinning too quickly.

This week, please take some time for yourself, if you don't already do that. Take just 5 minutes a day, all to yourself. Go sit outside and listen to the birds, enjoying a drink of water, or tea. or wine. whatever works for you. Inhale, exhale, slowly filling your body with air. Give yourself permission to let go for just a little while. Explore every one of your senses, and observe what you sense. That's all. Just five minutes.

Hello, is anybody out there?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know it's been 3 months. Had lots of stuff wandering through my synapses, but nothing that prodded me to sit and write it here. Part of that stemming from old insecurities and that damn incessant audio tape that tells me over and over that no one pays attention to what I have to say, and even if they do, is what I say really helpful?

Of course, we all have a valid voice, that's what I tell myself to counteract and disprove my old worn-out belief. I know that what I say matters. We all need a pat on the back now and then, not so much from others (though that is encouraging), but from ourselves. Most of us are too hard on ourselves, yours truly included. We forget that we are each a sacred being, and all part of a wider universe. All our energies are connected and interdependent. In Kaballah, since we all contain a piece of the Sacred Essence, which also contains a piece of each of us, we truly are all connected.

If that is the case, why are we all trying to destroy each other and the places in which we live?

Why do we interfere with the order of things with our "seemingly superior" intelligence?

What makes us think and act as if we own this world, and can "control" and understand everything about it?

Why are we all so arrogant about who should have control over the "lesser ones"? Each group believes they have The Answer. But, every solution has a higher price to be paid by certain segments in our society. The most powerful have the most money, the loudest voices, the most influence. There's always going to be someone on top, subjugating those below.

How do we truly and honestly "teach a person to fish?" Our culture has changed. Intsead of taking the time to pass on certain skills to empower others, we just give shit out. We encourage weakness and dependence, and we disable the best in each other. People don't have a chance to realize what they can do to improve their lives. We take the easy way out. Except, we lose something in the process. We lose the connection to each other. We used to know our neighbors. We used to be able to leave our doors unlocked. The world was less life-threatening in many ways.

Sure, we didn't have the technology to deal with lots of things: disease, illness, ways of getting more things done with greater efficiency. And we didn't have instant communication with people across the world. While these developments have certainly taken us out of the "dark ages" and is certainly a testament to our creativity and brain power, there is a huge price to be paid in terms of our survivability as a species.

We are more callous with each other. Instead of seeing each other face to face, we face a computer screen. It's alot different when we can watch each other's expressions and see our effect on each other. We don't have as much respect, or responsibility. People are "victimized" and need/are entitled to some sort of "compensation" for their "pain". Some of these cases are truly tragic: children are molested and/or killed, animals and elderly are tortured, the list of assaults is long. What sane group of supposedly superior beings kills their own kind? Disrespects elders? Assaults those who cannot defend themselves? Animals do that... and we're supposed to be stewards of this universe? WTF???

I know this sounds negative and discouraging, because when I witness the lack of compassion and its effects on each other, it makes me mad. It spurs me into action to do something good. Give someone a hug, a smile, say a kind word or two. I do my best to pass on something of beauty rather than something of destruction. Not that I don't swear at the stupid driver that almost hit me, calling him/her some manner of unfavorable and uncomplimentary names... if only we would all just pay more attention to what is going on around us in the moment, maybe there would be less pain in the world... and fewer stupid drivers.

To Batya

It is nearing sunset, the Shekhinah is about to descend, when we let go of the real world for a time, to enter our deepest selves. To connect with some larger force that helps us be better human beings.

I've known this certain woman for several years. We met in cyberspace on my long distance healing prayer list, and even spoke on the phone once or twice. We never did get the opportunity to meet in person, but we kept in touch. I knew she was ill, and it was touch and go for awhile. Things were going well, and I realized a few months ago that I hadn't heard from her in quite awhile. Fearing the worst, I sent emails. Up until a few weeks ago, they didn't get bounced back. I now began to realize that she must have passed away, and I had no way of really knowing, since I'd had no contact with anyone in her family or anyone who knew her from the prayer list. At work today, it was pretty slow, and my mind began to wander. I googled her name, and the first thing to come up was a wonderful article in a local newspaper about her passing. She was a real activist in the city where she lived and worked, and well-respected by all her knew her.

Batya's yahrzeit is coming up, and I'd like to honor her somehow. It feels kind of weird to want to write her husband a short note, but I want for him to know that she touched another soul, many miles away. So, then, with her life passing like a soft, quiet, but deep and wise wave, I'd like to offer an opportunity for each of us to focus on what truly matters in this world: each other. We have a responsibility to each other to be stewards for one another, and for the place in which we live. This doesn't mean sowing seeds of enmity and out-of-control power and ego. There is so much hatred and venom present in the world today, we need to be on hyper-alert towards its effects.

Rather than separating the "haves" from the "have-nots" -- and that's with anything that is esteemed in our culture, from large screen tvs to smart phones to fake boobs to no wrinkles -- we need to do away with classifications that shackle people into certain groups. You're gonna be rich, or not. You're gonna be successful, or not. You're gonna be loved, or not. Hey, we all don't have the benefit of a "perfect" life; some of us are starving, some of us can't get the help we need to honestly get back on our feet, some of us are ill and suffering. Some of us are even near death. Or, maybe even rebirth.


The world feels splintered in many ways. Jagged, deep schisms exist between all the humans on this planet. Tower of Babel is right. Why? Why are we all yelling at each other? Why are we all trying to control each other? What are we attempting to accomplish? It should be Wisdom, Trust, and Truth. Instead, it's a bunch of DISses.... DIS-respect for each other, DIS-ease, DIS-trust, and DIS-connect.

We have the responsibility to repair this world, that is why we are here. In what ways do we contribute to the betterment of this universe? It can be anything as small as rescuing the wayward spider or lizard, and putting it back outside where it belongs, to flying halfway across the world to help in the repair of a child's deformity, to being an honest business person and helping people procure whatever it is they need to get along in their lives. We all give something back as thanks for the gift of life. Perhaps, our contribution is something we can focus on. What we give of our energy and time, which ultimately is a finite quantity, so we'd better give it all we've got.

Come to peace about ourselves. Find what makes us want to get up in the morning. Come to terms with what we can change, and what we have to leave alone. What compromises are ok to make, and which ones are just way too depersonalizing, and making a choice to do what is right.

Thank you, Batya, for your courage, your joy, and your love. You are missed very much. Your memory is truly a blessing.