healing Archives - Page 15 of 16 -

Whole Lot A Shakin’

By Simone Lipscomb | August 6, 2013

I was kneeling in the lush grass, removing my camera from the black leather bag when the minister said, “Let’s begin the rehearsal with a moment of prayer.” Since I was already kneeling I decided to remain on my knees and lift up my own prayers as mother-of-the-bride. It wasn’t mere chance that found me connected to the Earth Mother as we gathered to walk through the ceremony that would join my daughter and her fiancé as life parters…as wife and husband. I felt the strength of the Great Mother flow through me and surround Emily and Kevin and all who gathered that afternoon in the beauty of Dow Gardens. It was a continuation of an already powerful day.

Earlier that morning, while participating in a Pure Barre class with Em, my legs were shaking from fatigue (that’s what’s supposed to happen….but it’s quite challenging). As my knees were literally knocking together from the chair position I held on tip-toes at the barre, I wasn’t sure I would be able to hold the pose. The instructor reminded us that when our muscles shake it means they are changing. The truth of her statement struck a very deep chord within me that brought tears to my eyes.

The process of personal change and growth is far from easy. In fact, it’s the most difficult commitment anyone can make. It demands nothing less that complete willingness to look within at our behaviors and heal them so that we can move into a clearer expression of our true nature, our higher selves. This can generate a lot of fear and I remember many times when fear gripped me until I shook.

If you’re shaking you’re changing. Physically…emotionally….mentally…spiritually. That’s very reassuring…movement is a sign that progress is occurring.

Never would I have imagined that my daughter’s wedding could bring up so much emotion. Tender feelings of sacred love between mother and child, grief from choices made decades ago, joy for the love she has found, and a feeling of closing a huge chapter of growth in life so that I can move forward. Forgiving myself, forgiving others and celebrating the potential that life promises with an open heart.

Love does that. It shakes us to our core when we open ourselves to it. True love rips us open and our willingness to stay with the shaking, the terror of opening ourselves so widely that we heal is an act of courage. This love is found in all interpersonal relationships. Feeling such profound and vast love for my daughter has transformed me….and will continue to in the years ahead.

A Course in Miracles teaches this foundational truth: What is not love is fear. Twenty-eight years after first reading that statement it continues to deepen in meaning for me. Practicing this one, simple truth is worthy of a lifetime of work and dedication.

The beauty of Emily and Kevin’s ceremony reverberates within my mind and heart today as I allow space to feel the shift within myself and between us. There was a whole lot a shakin’ goin’ on leading up to and during the past week, especially at the Pure Barre classes I took. Shaking physically opened up emotional pathways that unlocked freedom to love more deeply.

And perhaps the most wonderful thing of all is I didn’t lose my daughter. I truly gained a son.

A Lightness of Being

By Simone Lipscomb | July 21, 2013

Sunday mornings, prior to sunrise, find me traversing an empty beach lot to the dune line. A short climb over ever-growing dunes and a quick walk across flat, sugar-white sand beach and voila! Wrack line. My target for the 1.5 mile search eastward.

I walk toward the rising sun. I’m looking for sea turtle tracks but this time of solitude at sunrise gives me space to be with the ocean, to open myself to the day and what life presents. Sounds great, right?

Today like most all other days I opted to carry my heavy camera, heavy super-wide angle lens and my carbon fiber tripod…not so heavy but after 3 miles it all starts to feel rather burdensome. I can’t help it though. Try as I might to leave the sturdy gear at home, the artist in me wants to see dawn through my lens. The environmentalist in me wants to pick up trash on the walk back. So a heavy trash day, like today, leaves me exhausted.

As I trudged back west picking up trash, the wind was blowing strongly against me. Lots of plastic in various forms littered the beach and so I was constantly bending over while trying to keep tripod and camera cases from falling off my tired shoulders. It was very frustrating….the trash, the soft sand and the heavy gear. I felt so weighed down.

Truthfully though, all of the stuff I was carrying was light compared to the inner burdens that were weighing me down. I struggled with my anger over trashy humans who throw garbage off of fishing boats, with tourists who leave plastic bottles, plastic caps, fireworks, plastic bags, and cigarette butts behind. After a mile and a half of gathering up the wastes humans left behind I felt weighed down with anger, frustration, feelings of hopelessness for our collective future and the health of our planet. And any other heavy emotion lingering about seems to pop up when I am tired. So hello my little friends….good to see you remember me. (Not!) Weary walking, this day. Very weary walking.

I was so exhausted toward the end of my walk I tried to push past trash rather than stop and put it in the already-heavy bag. But I couldn’t. I wanted to weep with fatigue and dehydration yet my love for the planet strengthened me to stop and collect the bits of garbage. I had to deal with it. I don’t want to do this! I’m tired, I silently whined. I wondered how long it would take the ghost crabs and other scavengers to pick my bones clean if I collapsed. And yes, I have a vivid imagination with a flair for the dramatic. Don’t artists always suffer for their work?

In spiritual studies, which are really studies in healing inner wounds, psychic debris and ego-driven living so our highest self can shine forth, I have sometimes wished for amnesia. Once a personality flaw is unearthed and brought to consciousness it won’t go away or get fixed by ignoring it. I thought of this as I picked up plastic garbage from the beach. Try as I might to walk past it I just couldn’t. My commitment to wildlife is to pick up this 1.5 mile stretch of beach every Sunday morning. Like my commitment to personal growth and healing leads me to keep working on myself no matter how tired or weighed down I feel. Oh, happy day. Right?

When I reached my car the feeling of letting everything go was amazing. The struggle had been great this day. Strong wind, soft sand, lots of trash…heavy gear. But the payoff…oh, the payoff. Feeling my heart and mind connect through my art. Knowing that the trash I collected will not harm innocent creatures…hoping that something I do will make a positive difference for the planet…this and singing to the sea gave me an incredible lightness of being.

The struggles? I still think it’s all worth it. Just look at this beautiful planet. Look at the sea!! And if you dare, look into my ever-lightening heart.

Seeing

By Simone Lipscomb | May 14, 2013

Last summer I spent nights sitting under a blanket of black sky twinkling with white stars. The sound of waves lapping on the sand and humid air hugging my skin brought me into the present where I experienced the wonder of nature. Sitting quietly awaiting the birth of sea turtle hatchlings, I was gently guided to recognize and harmonize with the magnificent natural world.

A few miles east, tourists wandered through souvenir shops looking for trinkets with which to remember their vacation. Perhaps few ever understood the biggest treasures could be found sitting on a quiet beach absorbing the peace and magic of the place. While the Gulf of Mexico and beaches affected them, maybe many left never seeing the beauty….the deep beauty…or feeling their connection to it, as part of it.

I wonder if that’s why humans can so easily ignore the plight of our planet. Collectively we see through eyes blinded with superficiality: Nice ocean, nice beach…oh, look a sea gull…wow there’s another tee shirt shop….let’s buy a $20 tee shirt to remember….nice flower….nice tree…too bad they are clearing them…gotta go to work…can’t save everything….oh that’s sad about the dolphins, let’s get a tee shirt with a dolphin on it….could I have extra plastic bags for shells….just put your cigarette butts in the sand they’ll dissolve….recycling takes too much effort….

There are probably many reasons humans ignore their connection to nature. I think we’ve specialized our roles in society and have forgotten that we are entirely connected and dependent on nature for our life.

Disconnect One: A farm half way across the planet grows food for us. A fisherman catches our dinner. We show up at the grocery store and connect to our food sources by perusing the air conditioned aisles. Most of us have no idea what it takes to grow enough food to sustain our own lives.

Disconnect Two: Collectively we have bought into the mindset that more is better. We consume at alarming rates. We feed the corporate mindset that more profit is vital and so resources dwindle at any cost.

Disconnect Three: We are too busy. Our collective pace is out of sync with the timing of the seasons and movement of the Earth. This is strongly connected to the ‘more is better’ mindset. We sacrifice ourselves to feed the ‘profit at any cost’ motto.

This reminds me of The Matrix movies where humans are only used for the energy they produce for machines. They are put into a dream-world of their choosing and exist in their minds in this place while their bodies are used only for what they produce. Sound familiar?

At some point individuals break out of their bondage and begin to see life as it really is in The Matrix. It’s not easy and they struggle but the reward is awareness, consciousness…awakening.

Our fate is determined by our choices…every day choices…by what we choose to notice, to give our attention to as that is what will multiply and blossom in our lives.

The birds are singing. My garden is growing…slowly, ever so slowly. The river is flowing. I breathe in slowly…I exhale slowly. My bare feet feel the warm soil. The leaves of the trees softly rustle in the breeze. Nature embraces me as its own. This, to me, is peace. This is a small beginning in learning to see beyond….

Feeling Helpless? Here’s an Idea

By Simone Lipscomb | May 7, 2013

It has been a rough 24 hours with really disastrous news for wildlife coming in from near and far. It is difficult to know how to stay informed and stay sane. But turning away and refusing to be informed isn’t an option. If everyone did that we would be in a bigger mess.

Of special concern is the large number of manatee and pelican deaths happening in the south. Over 600 manatees have died in the first four months of this year. The Gulf-side manatee deaths are being blamed on red tide, an algae bloom that is toxic to fish, marine mammals and sometimes humans. The cause is generally fertilizers being washed into the waterways after heavy rains and causing this toxic bloom. It is a neurotoxin and deadly to manatees and other wildlife who ingest it. Humans who eat shellfish or fish contaminated with it can also become seriously ill. Manatee deaths on the east coast of Florida in Indian River Lagoon have reached over 100 and there is no known cause for their deaths.

Brown pelican deaths in the Indian River Lagoon have reached high numbers and now they are reported on the North Carolina Coast as well. Lots of sad news indeed.

I have researched these events today and explored deaths of dolphins and other species during the past year. In Peru last year nearly 900 dolphins washed ashore with apparent sonar injuries. Sonar injuries occur in marine mammals from LFA sonar like the US Navy uses and sonar blasts used by oil companies in off-shore oil exploration.

It felt like a puzzle being pieced together. Everything pointed back to human-created environmental issues. Over-fertilizing lawns and golf courses, using technology that kills, boat strikes. As a member of the human species–sometimes with deep shame for our collective treatment of wildlife and wild places–I decided to take action and made a donation to Save the Manatee. This club helps manatees recover from injuries and is a clearing house for information on manatees. I joined and gave an extra donation for emergency treatment of manatees.

I needed to feel as if I was doing something besides sitting at my desk, researching, reading and sharing about these tragedies. So I took action. And every time I volunteer for Share the Beach, or the Sea Turtle Stranding Network, or the Alabama Marine Mammal Stranding Network I take action to help.

Likewise, I refrain from using chemical fertilizers on my lawn and garden. I don’t use pesticides inside or outside my home and support local and organic farmers. There are many practices that make a direct difference in our world. The effort required isn’t that much and the pay-off is positive change and community-building. TOGETHER we can create a safer, healthier planet.

Wisdom in a Garden

By Simone Lipscomb | April 17, 2013

This morning found me once again in the new garden–the task was mulching. It wasn’t difficult. It was just repetitive and like the grass removal, the effort gave me time to reflect. During my working meditation the same ideas I wrote about yesterday surfaced and continued to give me tid bits to ponder.

Yesterday I realized that many of us find our value from things we do for others or in our jobs. We might even assign ourselves a task for helping our spouse or significant other. This role might become our entire reason for staying in the relationship. And once that task is completed, we feel we are of no value to the other person or that there is no need to stay in the relationship. We might justify our existence by what we do and when what we ‘do’ is no longer needed, we fade away.

The same thing applies in work environments. If we base our value on the role or job we have, when that job ends we lose our value…at least in that way of thinking.

Amid scooping and spreading mulch this understanding kept growing….As the mulch pile decreased, the ideas increased.

There is danger in finding identity through what we do or our performance…rather than who we are at our core.

Over twenty-five years ago Thom Rutledge reminded me that my value doesn’t come from what I do. It was such a foreign concept he presented. I had based my entire life on approval for what I did. Not for who I was. Those layers are still peeling away and I understand on a deeper level exactly what he meant.

Success doesn’t come from how many books I sell or how much money I generate from hard work. If that were the case I’d be floating in cool cash after the past four days of labor in the garden. Perhaps success is really just about showing up, being present and living with an open heart and mind. I’m not sure yet…I’ll let you know in another 25 years.

Until then, I’ll be making my morning pilgrimage outdoors to unearth wisdom in a garden.