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Saturday, September 29, 2012

Redefining Relationships




We are in a time now where it has become possible to reach out far beyond our own neighborhoods and even our own borders to connect with a wider group of people. Because of the internet and social blogging/networking sites we meet a plethora of groups of people from every walk of life. Sometimes deep and abiding friendships are formed. Binding us for many years to relationships of support, camaraderie and sometimes everlasting love.

The very fact that we "talk" with these friends so easily via our computers cements the familiarity we feel. We get to know their families, their friends and we exchange a lifetime of stories that help us to know each other in sometimes intimate ways. We could be no more greatly connected than if we lived with these people in our own neighborhoods for our entire lives. W know their triumphs, their sorrows, and their joys. We become friends in every sense of the word.
Many times people find those who become their life partners on the internet. And even when it might take many years to finally find a way to manifest into each others physical reality, the time and distance has no bearing on the emotional attachment and commitment the two develop.

I've known personally many of my friends who have traversed this unfamiliar path. Finding ways to navigate these new waters with grace and dignity, selflessness, love and commitment. Some have moved great distances, even leaving their own homelands to be with their loved one. Others have had to let it go and walk away, finding that the distance and the effort and money spent trying to build a life together, too much of a burden, the forced separation, too painful to bear. Some of the difficulties couples like this who desire to be together, is made more impossible by government regulations about travel, immigration, citizenship and health care.

There are as many different situations as there are people who create them. No one way is the right way to continue and develop relationships in this ever shifting time we fine ourselves in now. What if you find yourself in a relationship that seems to be at a standstill? What if your plans and dreams to be united with a loved one seems to be taking forever in becoming a reality?

This forces us to take a moment to think of what we are giving and getting from these kinds of relationships. We have apparently created them this way for our personal life lessons. We must look inside and ask why are we continuing when so many obstacles stand before us. I might interject here that we put those obstacles up. We are not victims of some outside invisible force that puts them there. The obstacles we create have their functions. And when we are done with whatever lesson that obstacle was in place for, it seems to disappear.

The most important thing in this globalized neighborhood I think we should remember, is to find the joy in every relationship. Look for the love that is there. Sometimes when two are joined, one of the two will be able to do more, or give more at some particular time than the other. That's ok as long as the one giving realizes that's the job they took on. If one feels they are getting depleted or tired or discouraged, there is no shortage of friends they can find, that give back support to them that can lift them back up again. If a relationship hurts beyond bearing you can let it go. But remember that you might have decided yourself to experience that kind of hurt and disappointment. We are all mirrors for each other. Every time you draw someone in that causes heartache you must ask yourself, "what did I need that for? What is it about me that I am wanting to learn?" When you are able to answer that question honestly, you can be grateful to the one who held that mirror up for you, that they agreed to help you in that way, and you can love them for that.

Yes, we are in a time of re-defining relationships. We no longer are limited to the way of living in a community for all our lives, seeing the same faces, marrying and raising our children in that same community. We are reaching out, we are expanding our horizons and our way of living. Sometimes we might "know" someone online for many years without ever meeting face to face but we grow very fond of and we love deeply. We spend many years laughing together, crying together, arguing together. Never meeting face to face does not diminish the emotional commitment we make to each other. But it does mean that we are learning a new way to be together. To be connected.

Namaste

Eternal




Eternal

Down that dusty road I watched you go,
My ears still ringing with your words:
"I love you so."

Sun bright and golden in your hair;
Back so straight, shoulders squared,
Dreams we shared now put on hold;
To beg you stay I was not so bold.

Proud to answer your country's call,
As you faded from view I prayed;
"Don't let him fall."

"I'll wait forever!" I shouted to the wind
As out of sight you turned the bend.
My words now a sentence for the ages;
My living, a toil to turn the pages.

Ever searching, just out of reach,
Never making it past the breach
Of long-forgotten pacts made twixt just two
Who swore an oath of all we'd do

To keep the shroud of forgetting from our minds
So to peer at last into familiar eyes.

And though I sit in my solitude pondering,
Remembering parting words and weary of wandering,
But feeling still the warmth of your leaving hand in mine
I swear I'll walk with you 'til the end of time!

~Sheila MacGregor from "Quiet Reflections" ~ October 2008~

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

US Congress Has A New Leader




"After midnight yesterday, the Senate voted 90 to 1 to express the "sense of the Congress" as weighing in on the debate about what red lines the U.S. should declare against Iran. You'll remember this issue as the one roiling the relationship between Benjamin Netanyahu and President Obama at the moment. On the Hill, almost everyone—including most of the Democrats—just sided with Netanyahu.

The resolution, initially introduced by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) in the Spring, laid out a non-binding position that "strongly supports United States policy to prevent the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapons capability" and "rejects any United States policy that would rely on efforts to contain a nuclear weapons-capable Iran." Obama has set his red line at Iran producing nuclear weapons rather than the "capability" to do so, a phrase loaded with a special yet ill-defined meaning in proliferation matters.
The "capability" debate was initially framed as one over "containment" in February, and hawks like Graham found little bipartisan support until their position became a centerpiece of the AIPAC policy conference in March. But the initial resolution from Graham in May stalled. Then things rose into the national consciousness.

This month, an unprecedented campaign by Benjamin Netanyahu to get Obama to shift his Iran red line drew jeers from liberals and even Members of Congress. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) upbraided Netanyahu for interjecting himself in American politics. AIPAC took notice, e-mailing its members last week with articles on Obama's refusal to lower his threshold for war and Netanyahu's denials of interference. The debate seemed, for now, over, with Obama victorious. Then this week, Majority Leader Reid suprised everyone by re-introducing the Graham resolution.
In the end, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) cast the only vote against the measure and two Democrats—Boxer and Washington's Patty Murray—abstained along with seven Republicans (one being the convalescing Senate hawk Mark Kirk). Insofar as Mitt Romney can pick and hold onto any position, the Congress sided with him too. (Someone forgot to tell the Democrats that Republicans have already politicized Iran red lines.)
This top bipartisan Senate priority—spurning Obama's Iran polcy—came as a final act of the chamber before it joined the House in the earliest pre-election recess in half a century."



In an interview with Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, he had lots to say about this.

“What I do wish to address is this atmosphere and opportunities…to be made ready for their use and disposal. Why should the world rest upon foundations on which some are given the opportunity to continuously threaten others? And, most importantly, more than their willingness to threaten is the management that is governing the world today. Why should the world have such management…in which some are continuously given the opportunity to continuously threaten others?

“We do believe there needs to be serious reform there. Let’s assume that three to four months from now we all reach the conclusion these threats were privy of any value. If such opportunities are given, entities like them will always have opportunities to threaten the well-being and safety of others. They are seeking opportunities for their own salvation and to safeguard their own interests. That is why they are raising the stakes and making so much noise.”



Overwhelmingly our US Congress, Repugs and Demigods alike have sided with the bully that is running the State of Israel. When you read the interview with President Ahmadinejad you well get a sense of a voice more inclined toward world peace than any I have heard lately, and yet...he isn't going to back down. He doesn't have to.

Friday, September 21, 2012

Daddy-O


My Daddy might be coming to live with me. Ever since his retirement from the Navy he has helped run his local VFW and now he is getting lonesome for family. He still drives a car and is pretty independent. I spoke with him just yesterday and told him we are looking forward to his arrival, and he still said "maybe." LOL

We all hope he doesn't change his mind and decided to stay in Virginia where he has lived for the past 47 years. He needs to be with family now I think.

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Great Smokey Mountains National Forest

Spent the day with Grandarling Veronica in the Smokey Mountain National Forest. We went horseback riding through the park and then spent the day on the river taking pictures and videos.

Great day it was.

Friday, September 14, 2012

Trust




Trust
I really never knew I had trust issues, or maybe just didn't pay close attention to the idea that I did, and do, have a problem trusting. Trusting myself, trusting others, trusting circumstances. Then my Higher Self got my attention on this issue by breaking the connection my well pump had with it's source of power and presto! I forced myself to stop and pay attention to several things, not the least was this matter of trusting.

So, on a gorgous Fall morning while the sun was bright and the air crisp and workers were busy building my raised garden beds, I discovered that my washing machine wouldn't finish it's washing cycle and while pondering whether or not I was going to have to dig into the till to buy another washing machine or have this one repaired, my mind zipped back to the day before when I felt a "visit" from my late ex husband. Many syncs occured that morning that I don't think need to be elaborated on that did bring memories of him to the surface, so I call it a "visit, or a pop in." Alvin, being an electrician is important to this story as I will explain. When the washing machine stopped working and I began to remember Alvin and his profession, I knew that I had an electrical problem on my hands and began to wonder what kind of electrical problem? Then when I turned on the water faucet to wash my hands I knew my well pump had stopped working and that it was indeed an electrical problem. I had a bit of doubt at first in my own conclusion about this and so this was my first trigger about TRUST.

I decided to call the only electrician I know now, Alvin of course being gone, and phoned the man who used to work for him. Ronnie Davidson recommended someone that he said would find the problem right away and so I phoned Hudson Pump Company and spoke with a man who sounded older and very friendly, who came out right away to look at my well and assess my problem. Another sync to this situation was that this man, in the past, had called on Alvin numerous times to do wiring for him and he liked him a lot and told some funny stories about his experiences with Alvin, and so did the man who was with him helping out. Another attention getter and trigger for me. And even though I didn't know these two men personally and only had Ronnie's recommendation, I had a choice to make. I could either pace around wringing my hands wondering if I was going to get ripped off and not get my pump repaired and if it was going to be somthing major, or I could let go of that fear and TRUST these two men to treat me fairly and find a problem that would be simple to fix. I chose the latter. So the next morning when I was going to have to go to Tennessee to babysit my Grandaughter Veronica, I was going to have to stay home and get this problem sorted because they were going to have to bring in their big truck to pull my well pump out and find a broken wire that they said was the issue.

So for the rest of the evening and next morning I was in a quandry about why in the world I had manifested this right now at this time when I had to take care of so much at once. I knew I was going to have to stay home until this was finished because who was I going to TRUST to accomplish this task in my absense?

Now, besides the attention and the focus on TRUST, there is a much deeper lesson that I had to teach myself. I compare the water/well pump to the heart. Because the heart is a pump. Physically and on the surface one can see the analogy. Well pumps, pump water, hearts , pump blood. That might be the end of it and you could scratch your head all day wondering "what kind of lesson is this and what is she talking about?" But going deeper to more spiritual meanings, I can tell you that I brought my attention to my "spiritual heart" using the physical pump from the well and its broken connection from its power source to teach me that TRUST broken or not realized will block the flow of love going outward from the "spiritual heart" every time!

And so I must deal with my issues of TRUST. I must learn that by allowing others to live and learn and make choices that they make, trusting that they alone know what is best for them, will begin to heal my own trust issues. Because when I don't trust, I am placing a judgement on another persons' choice and I am saying either that is or is not a good choice. It's neither for me. It's neutral if I stop to think about it. The judgement being mine is unfair to them. If I place, for instance, a belief that a choice someone else makes is bad, then how is it possible for me to let the love toward that person continue to flow? It's something quiet profound to think about isn't it? I don't know about anyone else, but for me it seems to have always been true. If I place a judgement on another person's choices and if their choice does not reflect my own values then I set myself up for disappointment in them, or anger toward them, just a lot of stuff that can block me from freely giving them an unconditional flow of love from my "spiritual heart pump." Likewise, If there is something that I have done in my past, a choice that I have made that today in the now, brings a lot of guilt with it, then how can love for myself flow freely?

Many things can block the flow of love, both outward and inward toward yourself. I used the incident of my broken well pump connection to bring my attention to myself and healing my own trust issues so that I can more freely connect with my own power source, either the Universe or my Higher Self who waits patiently to love me uncontitionally while I learn these lessons in this life. The well pump was fixed quickly and fairly easily, and it may take some consentrated effort, but I believe that the hardest part of healing my issues of trusting is past simply by being aware that I had a problem.

Monday, September 3, 2012

Evening Adorned







As that great bowl of night,
Settles once more upon the earth,
The horizon puts on a necklace of gold
And diamonds adorn it's lofty walls.

Sheila MacGregor 2012