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It was the Best of Times…It was the Worst of Times

It was the Best of Times…It was the Worst of Times

Last updated on: February 5, 2015 at 6:40 pm by Anita Brown

It was the Best of Times…It was the Worst of Times 2015-02-05T18:40:31-06:00 Anita Brown

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An ordinary Tuesday that began and ended in tears. But what happened in between is where the magic happens.

It’s 6:30 a.m.

Making breakfasts and packing lunches for the teens. Telling myself to bring joy & gratitude to the activity– totally faking it.

Before I descend the basement steps for my daily meditation, I take a peek at the twitter feed and read “90 year old sisters still making each other laugh”. The thing about awareness-raising is that almost anything can trigger a memory or emotion and then if you allow time and space, deep healing can occur.

I try and sit still and follow my breath and hold my spine upright. Really I do.

But after a few minutes it feels impossible and even a bit painful. I surrender and take child’s pose. I’m clasping my hands behind my head and willing the earth to absorb my tears and fill my heart with calm. I am saying “I’m sorry for all the times I EFFED up! I am doing the BEST I can!”

The day you break your own heart and call bullsh*t on yourself for playing small, for believing the lies, for not knowing any better: you step into your power.

You NEVER look back.

I was ASLEEP at the wheel.

I am awake now.

What do you think the bible means in 1 thessalonians 5:17 when it says to pray continually?
I used to wonder what the heck that could look like? Now that I have a daily mindfulness practice I pay attention!! To what I am thinking and feeling..I am fully alive and no longer on auto-pilot.

Right now I am feeling like a lonely, little girl desiring more time with my Oma to laugh with. My grandmother and I were more like sisters, sharing a room for 18 years.

I decide to try to “sit” once again. I am still crying and imagining I am at the foot of the cross, pleading to my deceased Oma and Jesus to give me comfort. Now I am saying, “I just want someone to laugh with. All I’ve ever wanted all those desperate times I forced relationships — boyfriends and girlfriends. God made me so serious. I just want someone to laugh with.”

I begin praying– show me new ways to serve. How do you want me to serve and self-empty? Kenosis: I love that word.

More kenosis…yes…more of YOU, less of me.

Then I am transported to utter emptiness, connection to ALL and a stillness beyond understanding. The crown of my head feels open and as if the contents are being drawn upward. Then there are bands of energy-like chords connecting me to something above. I sit in awe to the Presence. In my Spirit I hear

That which you are seeking is seeking YOU
I am you and you are me
Stay….Rest
Yours are His hands, feet and heart
You will continue to be used well…Trust

Once in this place of deep, abiding grace I feel complete. There is nothing I need. I can barely sense where I end and everything else begins.

Inhaling I expand. Exhaling I am ready.

I return to my laptop and check email and Facebook. Here is an opportunity to serve: Trans4m network event in DC this April. I sign-up as a volunteer and can attend for a very reasonable price. Within minutes I hear from the administrator, ‘How would you like to serve? Would you enjoy teaching yoga?’

Am I on Candid Camera??
I am laughing at the beauty of this opportunity. My Oma and I used to watch that show and laugh till we cried. My mind is blown open for the second time in an hour—- this is yet another occasion to come my way in 2 days to teach yoga in our Capital City. Less than a week before I had put out into our benevolent universe my desire to teach healing mindfulness practices specifically to Congress after praying to be a part of the solution and not the problem. Here are two steps in that direction.

Later in the day I am reading Jim Palmer’s daily blog, “Imagine yourself walking in that Garden, an atmosphere where there is only harmony, wholeness, and oneness. Feel it deep within you. Know it to be real in your deepest awareness and gut feelings. That reality runs through us all. That reality within us will save us and this world forever if we will turn toward it and lift it up.”

If this anawim (divine nobody) can have these profound experiences of bliss and one-ness with our creator, ANYBODY can!!! Palmer is challenging us to lift it up out into the world.

I was sent this platform to share how one ordinary mom in New Jersey experiences daily challenges raising two teens, feeling loneliness and grief and then finds meaning, connection, love and opportunities for service. Yes, I have tools to share that bring reconciliation to the broken parts and I do believe my Oma is helping send me to DC to share them. Happy tears.

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