Living Love- Living As If You Make a Difference

Today contained another blessing and gentle reminder from the mirror. Today’s communications came from Mother Earth. I have been inside my cave like most with the cold and stormy weather that’s been prevalent in our country. The storms outside of course really speak to and reflect what is happening within, and I’ve still been challenged with the surfacing of many long suppressed emotions and ideas. My abdomen is where this has played out heavily in my body. I have long-held things I struggled to properly digest. This is the way it has happened for many women in my family, I have no doubt there are things in my cauldron from them.
I was glad to have a reason to get out. My daughter had practice at City Park in New Orleans and when I got there the sun was shining. I wasn’t feeling that inside but I knew getting out in it would be good for me. It’s important to step out into the energy that we know we need, even when it seems to elude us. I got out of the car and started walking on the raised land area that bordered the fields and park. I began to warm up and come out of my fog. I also noticed a bit of trash all along the way and my heart sank slightly. It has been a passion of mine, and an internal agreement to clean up every area I encounter, to leave every place “better” than I’d found it. I pondered this for a bit, not feeling as motivated as usual, until I came across a large beautiful shell placed in the middle of the path. A realization and conversation then hit my awareness. For many years, this has been nature’s currency for me. I LOVE shells and would be “gifted” with them often during my service expeditions. This was a gentle nudge and reminder of my relationship with the Earth, an acknowledgment of the exchanges and love between us. I held it close to my heart and felt a deep gratitude and reverence. I was called out of my perceived shell, and I finished my time there cleaning the area of trash as I encountered it, and visiting trees and wildlife that cheerfully serenaded me.
This pact started several years ago when I was walking on the lake front near my home with my 2 older girls. We observed the trash that was in the area, some of it really large, and I remarked to them that the next time we went I was going to bring a trash bag. Several days passed and I was in my morning meditation when I started to hear the song “We are the World” in my head. It startled me because I hadn’t thought of it in decades, it wasn’t on my playlist. I settled into it, and received the message that it was time to go to the lakefront with my trash bag. I excitedly grabbed a bag and my girls, and headed back to the shore. As I drove, I wondered if my bag would be enough. I had remembered seeing a large busted up ice chest on the beach. My girls were laughing at me as they often do when I get ideas for impulsive adventures. They came with a curiosity about what I was getting into…
I started at the beach and although I had a big bag it was filling up quickly. As I was silently working, I had a young man come up and ask if he could help. I accepted and he then noticed the ice chest and told me he would haul that off. The girls became more curious. We finished that area and my bag was full, he hauled that off cheerfully too. I then proceeded to walk further and decided I would clean it as I went. I had a few pieces of trash in my hand and a woman called out from the street “Mam, do you need a bag?” I gratefully thanked her and continued to clean as I hiked. My girls were astonished! Every time I filled and needed a bag, I received one from a bystander. I never spoke a word, but as I passed I was joined by the people in the surrounding areas. I did this for the entire length of the lake and street, and it was effortless. I had what I needed exactly as I needed it. By the time it was over, my girls were excited and a little in awe of how things went. They started the trip laughing at me, but ended enthusiastically helping me. We all felt a connection and magic in the air.
After I got home I got into a hot bath. I then picked up a book I read from time to time. It was Dr. Wayne Dyer’s interpretation of the Tao Te Ching, “Living the Wisdom of the Tao.” I read some books that way, reading them in parts as guided, allowing space for integration or experience with the content. As I opened to the next chapter, it was titled “Living As If You Make A Difference.” The title is obvious, but in this chapter he actually references “We are the World” and he ends the chapter with an exercise, specifically—he suggests going to a local area to clean trash! I was delighted and validated. I had followed my guidance and experienced the magical nature of the universe. I directly experienced my relationship to it, and felt the gratitude and joy experienced by all that participated.
After this event, I made the pact with myself to be of service this way. I have cleaned many areas now without bringing a single thing. There are always items of use available as I go. I’ve seen bags floating in the air with one handle lightly touching the ground, wind blowing and defying gravity, but hovering there waiting for me to use as I need it. I have helpers, sometimes from the animal kingdom. When you know that everything is alive and communicating with you, you never feel alone. I have many conversations, sometimes with great humor. I was cleaning in the middle of a dirt field one time and talking to my husband on the phone who was laughing at me. I hung up and asked, “Am I crazy?” I then turned around and heard “here, for your payment.” There was a 5 dollar bill laying on the ground and I busted out loud laughing. I knew why I was doing it, I knew I was regularly gifted with everything nature had to offer. Living in acknowledgment of that, is the point. Still I get gifts from time to time, things I love as tokens of this exchange.
This simple shell brought me back into this relationship, this reverent reciprocity. Every time I engage, in cleaning or ceremony, in just opening myself to a landscape, I feel the intense love there for me no matter what I’ve done, where I’ve been, how deep I’ve gone inside my hole. I share this today as part of living as if I make a difference. The truth is that we all make a difference, we all have our place in the scheme of things, we are all loved more than we often can conceptualize. We are all receiving an abundance of things we sometimes lose sight of, and we can bring this back to our awareness and balance in our lives when we remember WE ARE THE WORLD. How we treat ourselves, how we treat our environment are related and reflected. We are held captive only by our perceived limitations in these areas, but we can shift this, and open ourselves up to BEING the one to make the difference. We are celebrated and supported by the forces of nature and the universe when we do…
Living love