A Surprise View of My Past

I left home at 17 to go to college and had very little contact with my family after that. About a month ago, my brother Bob emailed me and told me he had my father’s slides. (My father died in 1999.) He asked if I would be interested in seeing them.

Bob ended up having them changed into digital format and sent them to me. I already had some pictures from when I was young, but not many, and they are all in black and white. These slides are all in color! Most of them I had never seen before, or at least not in the last 50+ years! It has been a real treat to have a surprise view of my past.

If you like, you can click on one of the pictures and see them all in a slide show format! Continue reading “A Surprise View of My Past” →

A Tribute to Nirmalamrita

Yesterday, I was sitting in front of my altar and a picture caught my eye. It had belonged to a friend of mine who died in 1999. My friend used to focus on that picture whenever she meditated. It was given to me after she passed away.

Nirmalamrita's meditation picture — Nirmalamrita’s meditation picture

Nirmalamrita had been a special person in my life for many years. She was one of the first people I met in Amma’s community. At that time she was named Suneethi. She received the name Nirmalamrita when Amma initiated her as a brahmacharini (female monk) in 1996. Continue reading “A Tribute to Nirmalamrita” →

They Touched My Heart

In the last few months, I have seen five videos that really inspired me. They each touched my heart and encouraged me to move forward, to appreciate what I have, to recognize the strength of the human spirit, and to continue my commitment to make a difference in this world. I hope you find them inspiring as well.

How Do YOU Define Yourself Lizzie Velasquez at TED

“In a time when beauty is defined by supermodels, success is defined by wealth, and fame is deified by how many followers you have on social media, Lizzie Velasquez asks the question how do you define yourself? Once labeled, “The Worlds Ugliest Woman,” Lizzie decided to turn things around and create her own definitions of what she defines as beauty and happiness.”

Continue reading “They Touched My Heart” →

My Favorite Quotes

“Don’t be discouraged by your incapacity to dispel darkness from the world. Light your candle and step forward.” — Amma

“It’s not learning that brings you to perfection, it’s unlearning.” — Mother Antonia

“Don’t cry because it’s over; smile because it happened!!” — Dr. Seuss

“I know God won’t give me anything I can’t handle. Sometimes I just wish he didn’t trust me so much. — Mother Theresa

“Lord, Please help me make it through this self imposed, and totally unnecessary challenge.” — Author Unknown

“Teilhard de Chardin wrote that we must ‘trust in the slow work of God’………Ours is a God who waits. Who are we not to? It takes what it takes for the great turnaround. Wait for it.” — Gregory Boyle

A Reason to Believe

There is a difference between blind faith and mature faith. To me, a mature faith is built on experience. With each positive experience one has in life, faith builds. With enough faith building experiences one has an ever maturing “Reason to Believe.”

I met my spiritual teacher, Mata Amritanandamayi (also known as Amma, which means mother, and as The Hugging Saint) in 1989. Over the years, I have had many faith building experiences, but probably none as remarkable as the one that happened in December of 1996. Continue reading “A Reason to Believe” →

A Look Into My Personal “Propaganda”

Every week Sreejit, from “The Seeker’s Dungeon,” presents a writing challenge. I eagerly await Thursday morning, the day the prompt will arrive in my inbox. When I discovered that this week’s prompt was about propaganda and how our blogs could be seen as a form of propaganda, I was stumped. Did I agree with him? If he was right, how could I identify my own propaganda? How was I going to write about it? Where would I even begin? And how would my post be any different than my recent Lessons on Lessons post? Continue reading “A Look Into My Personal “Propaganda”” →

Lessons on Lessons

Life is a school.

Since I neither created nor do I run the universe, I don’t know if that statement is true or not, but that is the way it seems to me. Regardless of whether or not it is THE TRUTH, I think it is a useful concept. It helps me see life as a challenge; a series of lessons to be learned with tests coming every now and then, to see if I’ve learned what I need to learn. That attitude helps me see my growth and gives me direction for my life. Continue reading “Lessons on Lessons” →

Opportunity for Community May Come When You Least Expect It

When the Dungeon Prompt about Community came out the last week in January 2014, I wrote something in the comments section but since I didn’t have a blog I couldn’t post it properly. Now I have a blog!

February 1, 2014

To me, community is to be a part of something, to belong. For nearly 30 years I have been part of our therapy community. For 25 years I have been part of the Amma community. This year I have also found community in what, for me, is the unlikeliest of places. In September, I heard that our local football team, the Seattle Seahawks, were on a winning streak. In general, I have had no interest in sports of any kind. The only exceptions have been that I, on very rare occasions, have watched part of the Olympics, and a few, very few, times have watched some of the playoff games when one of our teams was doing exceptionally well. But essentially it is safe to say, I do not watch sports. Continue reading “Opportunity for Community May Come When You Least Expect It” →

To Be Seen, To Be Known, To Be Close, To Belong

The Dungeon Prompt for this week is to answer the question “What does love look like?” It didn’t take me long to decide what to write about!

Throughout my teenage years, I was very involved in church activities. That changed by the time I graduated from college. The college I attended was religiously conservative. The U.S. at that time was in the throes of the civil rights and Vietnam war crises. Continue reading “To Be Seen, To Be Known, To Be Close, To Belong” →

Living in Gratitude

I spent a lot of time during my childhood sitting in my room pouting. Decades later, during my personal therapy journey, I was able to move beyond much of the negativity and pain of those early years. It was in my therapy community that I first had a strong sense of belonging. I felt content and happy. One day, though, I heard a friend talking about feeling joy. Happiness versus joy….. hummm. That was something to contemplate. I felt happy, but I certainly did not feel joy. Continue reading “Living in Gratitude” →