Connection to the Earth

Because we're so focused on ourself and the core of family and friends that is the nucleus of our physical existence, it's easy to become so wrapped up in living life that we miss our surroundings entirely. Yet our physical surroundings greatly influence who we are. In order to accomplish those things that we set out to do, we choose the setting that will best assist us.

When you find yourself questioning the path you're on or you're dealing with a particularly difficult situation, by shifting your focus from what is bothering you to what is around you, your physical surroundings will automatically sooth and comfort you. This is part of your make up that you probably don't even realize.

At one point in my life, I had to move to central Canada for work reasons. I went there with an open mind and even a sense of excitement to be moving to a bigger center, rife with culture compared to the area I was born in. After less than a month I was filled with longing for the sea. The Great Lakes are huge bodies of water, but when you stand on the shore, the smells and sounds feel nothing like standing on the shores of the full blown Atlantic Ocean. I realized with wonder that I needed the ocean, it's actually a part of me. Even one of the world's biggest lakes couldn't come close to taking the place of the ocean in my soul.

The earth is a part of each of us, and we are the Earth's keepers. Of all the creatures that exist, we alone, except for perhaps the whales and dolphins, are actually aware of the earth and its part in our lives. This week, a day was designated as Earth Day in order to remind us of our duty to look after it, as it looks after us. I would encourage everyone to think of everyday as Earth Day, and remind you not to overlook that this Earth is an important, integral part of your being.

Physical and social structure

Sometimes we choose our physical environment to assist us in our journey to understanding because we want or need to experience a particular climate or culture, and other times we choose it just because we lived in the same area before and for various reasons are drawn to it. (See posts on February 14 & 15, 2010 about affinity for places.) Some people are born into an area and remain there, while others leave their childhood neighbourhoods because they are drawn to another area that will better satisfy the tasks and experiences they've set for this particular lifetime.

I'm drawn to the ocean - maybe because I'm a water sign (Cancer) - or maybe for other reasons. I love the harbour city where I live on the east coast of the Atlantic Ocean just the way it is, but shortly after moving here in the 1980s, I became aware that I'd lived here before when I unexpectedly "remembered" it as it once was.

I was born a couple of hundred miles from here and came to this area because my husband's work dictated we must. We bought a house not far from the seashore and the road home passed right along a rocky stretch of beach. One evening as I was driving home from work I came around a bend in the road and suddenly had a vision of that same beach, but in another time. In my mind's eye, I saw long wooden racks of fish with smokey fires burning beneath them. Adults were working busily catching and gutting the fish and laying them on the long racks to dry under the billowing smoke while older children tended the fires. The younger children ran up and down the beach throwing stones and waving their arms at swooping seagulls to keep them away from the precious smoked fish that would help carry them through the long cold winter. My vision lasted only a moment, but in those few seconds I stepped into another time. Then the beach reverted to it's current state of barren rocks, waves and water and I was back in the modern world of supermarkets and speciality stores, where I'd never even thought about how fish was caught and preserved long ago. That little glimpse of another time was so clear and detailed, that I have no doubt I'd lived it myself and I still think about it often. I obviously have an affinity for this part of the world that has brought me back.

Along with the physical environment I enjoy so very much, comes a social structure that allows freedom of choice in almost every aspect of life. As long as I pay my taxes and live within the confines of our legal system, there are no religious or political restrictions in this part of the world that inhibit me from persuing whatever path I wish to follow. It is because of these freedoms that I can develop my own theories and religious belief systems and share them with others. This might not be the case if I'd chosen to reincarnate into a some other areas of the world. In my next post, I'll discuss other types of society and the importance of cultural diversity.

The physical environment

So far I've spent a lot of time discussing our individual paths and choices as we travel along the reincarnational journey. I've pretty much focused solely on personal events and lifetimes, but they are each just single facets of our multi-faceted world. With this post, I'd like to introduce the concept of our collective conscious.

While we are each individual and separate in our waking lives, on the subconscious level nothing is further from the truth. In this physical life we walk alone, but in our sleeping lives, and in the intervals between our physical lives, we are totally connected. Just as we have an inner circle of entities who make up our closely related groups or families, we are also part of the much larger outer group whose focus is not on the individual experience, but the overall environment in which we function and have those experiences.

So, while we decide individually who will do what in each lifetime so that we can each undertake our personal learning paths, as a group, we decide on the type of environment we will journey through. This environment is not only the physical world, but the technology of that world as well.

There are deserts, oceans, mountains, glaciers, plains, boreal forests, and rain forests in every possible combination and/or permutation imaginable. Yet all people are basically the same. Yes, we have some obvious cosmetic physical differences, but overall, we are generally the same type of being no matter which environment we inhabit. So, with just a few adjustments in how we clothe it, our physical body is capable of adapting to almost any environment the earth has to offer. This adds a myriad of choices to the type of life and experience we can choose.

Twists in the path

It's interesting how your focus and beliefs mature and change over your lifetime. Although the basic tenets haven't changed for me for a very long time, life's experiences have shown me the finer details and the intricate workings of the very complex world we've created and exist within. Many things that were abstract ideas in the beginning are now firmly entrenched as truths.

What never fails to surprise me is how life pushes you along paths you never intended to travel. The last couple of years have been difficult ones for me personally, and as I struggle to find my new 'normal', I find instead that the Universe is very firmly plotting my path away from the future I was sure of and into a realm completely unexpected (and I might add, undesired) at least on a conscious level.

Lately it seems that I've been experiencing the same lesson over and over and frankly, it's getting a bit tiresome. I'd like to think that I'm not obtuse, but this time I haven't a clue what the point is and where it's leading. It's getting easier to understand how people sometimes get 'lost' on their journey.

I'm actually in awe of those people who are risk takers - the ones who suddenly do a complete turn around and follow their heart to a new and self-fulfilling place. This often happens after a major life event - perhaps a brush with death or the loss of a loved one, or maybe just a sense of time running out and a need to complete all the tasks on the 'bucket list'. Whatever the cause, my hat is off to those who can and do.

The important thing is to recognize a major shift in the plan when it happens and not be afraid to find out where it leads. When life's path takes an unexpected and/or unpleasant twist, we need to remember that in spite of the fact that it appears to be chaos, everything in life eventually does and will make perfect sense, even if it isn't the road we always thought we'd travel.

Choosing the path

While it's important to pay attention to the signs and symbols that punctuate your life, it's also important that you not spend all your time waiting for a sign that you're making the right choice or doing the right thing. The symbolism in life is highly individual and often can't be interpreted by anyone but you and not until much after the time it happens. How then can you know you're following the right path for you?

When I've made major decisions in my life, occasionally I've found that there is a force that pushes me in a direction that I probably would not have chosen when it happened, but later turns out to be exactly right. It's hard not to push back when this occurs, especially when you're certain you're doing what you really want. If the decision you make is not aligned with the path you've chosen for this life, it will become a difficult (but usually not impossible) path to travel. The reason I say not impossible, is because we always have free will, which gives us the option of following a different path, although it may be at our own peril. On a few stubborn occasions, I've forced something to happen in spite of the fact that the choice I'm making is fraught with roadblocks and difficulties. An example of this that almost everyone can identify with is the forging of relationships.

We all know of someone who has forced a relationship when it was apparent that it would not and most likely could not work. People are social animals and it's natural for them to crave companionship, love and acceptance from others and especially from a mate. However, some people are so determined to be in relationship, that they ignore the warnings of their inner self and steadfastly cling to the wrong partner, even long after they've admited to themselves that the relationship is a mistake.

For any major life decison, whether it's buying a house, choosing a mate, changing jobs, whatever - if we've made the right choice, we'll experience minimal inner turmoil or regret, the path will have little or no resistance and things will just naturally 'fall' into place.

Signs and symbols

Throughout our lives we encounter signs and symbols that give us clues as to why things happen, or gently "push" us in the direction that most aligns with our chosen path. Free will gives us the option of acting on those signs, or ignoring them. Case in point would be my friend who unintentionally found a house she saw often in her dreams, but chose not to pursue what meaning it might have for her in this life. (See my post of February 14, 2010, Affinity, for the entire story.)

Sometimes the signs and/or symbolism simply eludes us because we're so embroiled in the physical and emotional aspects of a situation that we totally miss them. This really became clear to me when I was writing the last series of posts. It's been over 20 years since I met Celia and more than 12 years since I lost my loved one, but it was only now, during the writing of the series of posts about Celia, that I was hit with the symbolism of The Littlest Hobo (the tv program Celia and I watched together faithfully). How ironic that the program we enjoyed together so much was about a dog who came into people's lives just long enough to make a positive difference, then moved on - exactly what Celia did for me!

Our inner self will sometimes provide signs of what's to come, often through dreams or events that offer us little clues. Unfortunately, we often make the mistake of writing off these signs as "coincidence". Over the years I've come to the conclusion that there really aren't any coincidences and that what seem like random events when they occur, actually make perfect sense later when viewed in retrospect.

Of course, that's probably where we got the saying that hindsight is 20/20...

A season and a reason - final instalment

Summer 1998 - 8 years later.

For the past 2 years a close family member had been receiving treatments for a malignant tumor. I knew the illness was serious, but I had been assured the treatments would be successful. Unfortunately, the Universe had other plans. In early August I received a call asking me to come home right away, the treatments had failed and time was fast running out.

In no time at all, I was on the road.

At 42 years old, I wasn't a stranger to the loss of loved ones, but my sadness at the passing of a friend or relative had always been tempered by the firm belief system I'd developed over many years of study and research. I had never doubted that we would meet in other times in other lives. But now, faced with the loss of an immediate family member who I loved dearly and who's time was far too soon, the doubts began to creep in.

I was experiencing a crisis of faith.

This illness and impending death was so senseless, such an unfair waste of a precious young life, that I questioned everything I'd ever believed. The world held so many people of so many faiths - could I really be sure that mine was right? Did I really know that there was an afterlife and this was not the end? In my secret heart, I knew that I didn't. My grief and disbelief were such that I could not believe on faith alone. I simply couldn't let him go because I didn't know for certain that there was anywhere to go to.

As each day brought us closer to the inevitable, my turmoil became worse. My heart was heavy and my faith was shattered, but I did what I had to do. We made sure that a family member was at the hospital 24 hours a day, and each day I took my shift, torn between my determination to be there and my need to run as far away as I could.

At the time I was still a smoker, so when the nurses needed the family out of the room for a few minutes, I would go outside to have my cigarette. It was a windy afternoon and as I struggled to light my cigarette, my mind was racing with questions and fears and doubt. I had my face to the wall as I lit a third match and tried again. "DAMMITT!" I exclaimed in frustration as a puff of wind extinguished yet another tiny flame. I threw the match on the ground impatiently and ripped another from the folding match book.

It was then that I heard a woman speaking with a strong Acadian French accent say, "You have to face into the wind".

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" I asked as I turned around to face the speaker.

The hairs on the nape of my neck stood straight up and for a moment I forgot to breathe. The elderly woman looking up at me was dwarfed by the wheel chair that held her. She had shoulder length snow white hair and her right leg was elevated and swathed in bandages. But what held my gaze and had stolen my breath was the swatch of white gauze taped tightly over her left eye.

"If you want to light your cigarette, you have to face INTO the wind", she repeated.

I started to stammer a reply, but had barely managed to say thank you when she maneuvered her wheel chair around and rolled away to join some other older ladies who were gathered together nearby.

I finally remembered to breathe again and managed to light my cigarette on the first try. My mind was racing at this impossible coincidence. The woman was not Celia, but the unique physical likeness was so compelling that I couldn't doubt who had sent her. And if Celia had sent her, then there was indeed somewhere to go when one left this world.

My sister had come looking for me and appeared at my side a few moments later. "Look over by that wall" I said quietly, motioning in the direction the woman had gone.

My sister's eyes widened in surprise, "It's Celia!".

Relief flooded over me, it wasn't my imagination, or a hallucination, someone else could see her too.

"No, not Celia", I replied, "but a message from Celia".

Then I crushed my cigarette and with quiet deliberation, opened the hospital door and walked INTO the wind.