Regardless of how cold it is out there and how much snow is still showing up where I live, I notice that the change in the angle of the sun shining is evidence that Spring is on its way. My last name is Winter, so you could think that I’d love the season. It is not that I don’t, it is just that there is so much ‘right’ with spring; with subtle warming, the beginning of longer days and the return of birds that have spent the bulk of the winter deep in the bush. I’ve got to admit, LOL, I have had some days when I wished I could join the Blue Jays away from the ever increasing noise of media and human complaint. Those Jays may be noisy at times, however they arrive with such beauty and solace of being. Their sound is organic. All of that, I think, is what most people are looking for.

I feel so fortunate to really grok just how all of this works in support of living my life according to what I personally hold as essential, meaningful and possible. That others choose differently does not require that I isolate - a counter-intuitive strategy to ‘play’ safe in the absence of truly feeling that way, inside where I live. WOW, how well and how long have I run THAT as a strategy to hide (keep safe) even though I was not being chased by a hungry bear, by way of example? However, I have been masterful at creating the illusion of that as real and true in my world. The invisible traps are everywhere… not to capture the hungry bears (THAT is the illusion)… but, instead, to capture the prey that are our minds that are intended to feed the bears (the illusion).

Truth is, I value my mind… and honouring THAT for me is worth segregating it from all influences that seek to control my thought. So, sometimes, segregation as an awakened decision will look like isolation, when, in truth, there is no isolation about it. Segregation of my mind - the quantum force-field that it is - for me, means fostering clarity and congruence inside, where I live. AND, that can come only from trusting the godForce that I AM. Living in this world and really trusting that I am not of it, takes courage to stand alone, again and again and again… clearly deciding to viscerally trust my KNOWING that I am never alone nor could I ever be.

Years ago, I was invited to officiate at the wedding of an MD, Dr. John Ryan. The spiritual connection I experienced with him and his partner was immediate. Dr. John had written and self-published a book, The Missing Pill, which he gifted me with. No longer in print, the book has been re-printed by a publisher, revised, and also translated into French; the book is now called, Unity Field Healing, Volume One. John began offering these energy medicine programs a few years ago. While two of my clients attended them, it was never the ‘right’ time for me. This past weekend it was.

I have known ‘things’ most of my life. If I had the language to speak it, so often I was reticent to express it. And, as often as I knew that reticence as a truth, it was as if I was being ’saved’ from expression when I had no language for what I have so deeply known.

We like to believe that it is eclipsing the big traumas in our lives that ignites transformation. Yet for me, it is the subtleties of the seemingly smaller life events that so often ignite the greatest change. One such event for me was celebrating my birthday at age 8. My aunt who lived with us arrived home late from work when the birthday dinner was over. I remember sitting on the couch and looking up at her as she entered through the front door to our home and asking her, Hi. Did you get me a present? She did not smile. Instead, irritation appeared on her face. Her response was, ‘NO, I did not.’ In that moment, I knew immediate rejection and felt that I had done something really wrong by asking the question. I curled in on myself and withdrew. A while later, my aunt called me into the kitchen and presented me with a present along with the declaration that I should not , I should never expect to receive. The feeling I had was, How dare I? Expect nothing and you’ll be on your best behaviour. I learned that I was expected to not expect. I also learned the receiving came with expectations (strings) to not expect attached.

This is the moment that you may feel, within you, your own determination percolating to stay awake and aware, for your own sake… for the reverence of fully living and fully dying, We are at a critical point in our lives where we must become buck naked to our own Selves, if we are going to choose joy as THE valid path for living... which also means that it is THE valid path for dying. Living and dying: these are the front and back of the same hand. As a species, we have become so afraid of dying, that we have forgotten how to live…. and that we CAN live.

Choosing joy does not distract from, deny, negate, ignore or avoid the ugly truth of the world that we have created. Instead, it directs our attention of focus toward a resilient force that cherishes our minds… and, ultimately, our hearts. This is when we own the truth that each one of us is whole, unique and essential to our worlds. We can't not be that!