Inspiration

It seems that many people are ready to say goodbye to 2009.  It seemed like the year was riddled with deaths, break ups, sicknesses, changes, job losses and injuries... more than usual.

Like many of you, I was not immune to the 2009 virus.  I thought I took the vaccine but no amount of positive thinking could get me through the year 2009.  Why? Why? Why? We are human, not super human, just human.  We are guaranteed to go through rough times - it is how we carry ourselves and what we learn in those darker moments that really count.  All year I was reminded of what my grandmother told me when I went through cancer:

"Hannah, the only way you can experience and recognize great joy is if you have experienced deep pain." 


So for all of us who have experienced deep pain this year - let's celebrate together! Now we will truly be able to enjoy happiness - we will feel it in our bones, our souls and our hearts. 

Here is my 2010 Poem I wrote.  

Can You See?

Can you see the road in front?
     Or are you too busy looking behind you?

Can you imagine all the possibilities?
     Or are you wrapped up in all the past disappointments?

Can you feel the love?
     Or are you stuck in rejection?

Our greatest joy can come from our greatest pain.
Our moment of clarity can from our biggest road block.
Our greatest love can come from our deepest heart break.

Relish in the darker moments as this is where our deepest learnings take place.
Celebrate the happy moments as this is where our heart grows.
Love who you are now as this is where we can accept others.

Can you see that just as the sun sets, the sun also rises the next morning.  

Cheers to 2010, a year of hope, communication, growth, learning, laughter and love.

- Hannah

I get it; our culture has an engrained need to “fight for what we want”. We fought for our land, we fight in wars, and we “fight for our right, to paaarrrty!” (Great song, by the way). The other day, I even saw a post on FaceBook, which read:

“We need to fight for what we want”

I feel the whole fighting mentality is counter-intuitive. The best example is our bodies. What happens when there is a “sick or diseased or unhealthy” cell in our body? What does our body do? Does our body banish the sick cells? Does our body send it to the corner? Does it blame and point fingers? Does it call the paparazzi? Does it fight and destroy the cell?

I bet you are thinking YES, we fight and destroy it! Of course, most would because our society teaches us to FIGHT!

Well we would all be sadly wrong.

Our cells do not fight against each other, they surround the unhealthy cell. Can you believe it? The healthy cells surround the unhealthy cells with the intention of healing it.

The next time you are sick, don’t “fight your cold”, and just imagine all of your healthy cells surrounding the unhealthy ones. Your cells know that they can nurse the unhealthy ones back to health; they can change it, love it and teach it how to be healthy again. How do they do it? Well by being healthy cells first, they lead by example.

Essentially our body knows that positive will always win. There is power in healing and healing can only occur in a loving and healthy state.

Quite the lesson, don’t you think?

We are so quick to put people on pedestals and the minute something happens, we are just as quick to knock them right off. Tiger Woods is a great example of this. Unless you have been living in a hole, I am sure you have heard about the current “scandal of alleged cheating”.

His persona is perfect. Perfect golf game, perfect wife and perfect attitude. I have never heard anyone say a negative thing about this man until a week ago.

As a society we are so quick to judge, attack and point fingers. We have absolutely no compassion. It seems our fight mentality kicks in and we want to beat down anyone who has done anything wrong.

Have you ever done something wrong? How did you feel? Ashamed? Guilty? Afraid? What did you need the most in those moments of darkness?

Did you need someone telling you what a bad person you were? Explaining to you all the things you did wrong? Yelling at you? Telling you how horrible you were? How would you react to something like that? Defensive? Hurt? Angry?

That is because, just like our bodies, we cannot change in that energy of defensiveness, anger, guilt or shame.
Have you ever been in love? How did you feel? Did you want to be a better person? Give more? Love more? Be more?

Again, just like our cells in our bodies, we can only change in the energy of love.

It makes me think of the DAY and NIGHT. Essentially we have light and we have dark. Have you ever thought of how the sun rises every morning and how we have darkness every night? It really is the perfect balance. In order for there to be LIGHT, the SUN has to rise. In order for there to be dark, the SUN has to go down.

Think of it for a minute longer.

Imagine a light switch. Darkness never appears, in order for there to be darkness; you have to TURN OFF the LIGHT.

The darkness NEVER over takes the light. The light has to leave in order for darkness to be there. The SUN (light) is stronger and in control. The light will always overtake the dark.

Is anybody scared of the sun? Do you know anyone who says “I am scared of the sun?”

NO.

But I have heard people say

“I am scared of the dark.”

Guess what? Secretly I think we are all scared of our own “dark” and that is why we are so quick to judge others dark.

The sun is a powerful energy that feeds our cells in a positive way. Our environment shows us though that there is a time for everything – light and dark. We need the balance in order to live, grow and learn from our light and dark.

The light, just as the dark, has its purpose. We all have our own dark; be it secrets, wrong doings, lies, cheating or insecurities.

War, fighting and public lynching will never accomplish anything. So the next time you want to judge, attack or fight you might want to think of what you are creating. You might want to drink a “big old bottle of compassion” and think of the last time you did something wrong. Remember what our cells are teaching us every day, we must surround our sick, unhealthy and weaker cells with healthy ones.

Thank you Tiger Woods for the reminder that nobody is perfect.  We all have light and dark.  Out of the the dark some of the best learning occurs.  It is simple, sometimes our light goes out.....