Choosing Happiness

One of my favorite points in personal growth is the moment when I realize I have a choice in how I react to any particular situation. It often feels like there is no choice: an event happens and my feelings arise instantaneously. If someone insults me, what else could I feel but hurt and ticked off? However, there is a nanosecond before my feelings arise in which I can make a choice. I can choose to judge the event differently and thereby react differently. That moment--when I see a choice--is my favorite one. Even if I can't actually make a better choice right then, simply seeing there is a choice opens the door to emotional freedom and more happiness. I no longer feel at the mercy of my emotions.

For example, my grown daughter and I have developed a pattern over the years. She occasionally comes to me for advice when she has a problem. And I, of course, offer the perfect solution. She then tells me why that solution won't work. So I come up with perfect solution number two, and she tells me why that one won't work either. So, I think a moment and come up with solution number three. (I'm pretty good at this.) Then I hear how that won't work either. And so on. We both come away from the conversation feeling frustrated and irritated. I vow never again to give my unappreciative daughter advice--a vow that lasts until the next time she asks. It's a cycle that doesn't create happiness for either of us.

However, suddenly in the middle of yet another of these frustrating conversations I got it! I saw a choice! So, I immediately shut up. I rested a couple of beats, took a deep breath, and said, "You know Sweetie, I don't have an answer. That's really a challenging situation, but I know you're a capable, intelligent young woman and you'll be able to figure out a solution soon. I love you." After a stunned silence she replied, "Thanks, Mom. I needed to hear that. I love you too." End of conversation. Wow. What finally reached through my somewhat thick skull was that she really didn't want advice! She simply wanted to be reminded that she is loved and capable of developing her own solution. And she wanted this reassurance from someone she knows dearly loves her--Mom.

I must confess that to stick by this understanding each time my daughter asks for advice is a challenge for me, the fixer of the world. But when I do, it continues to transform these types of conversations into an exchange of love and happiness.

White Buffalo Woman Speaks 4

I received the following message from White Buffalo Calf Woman on December 21, 2006. It was dire and very startling in contrast to her previous messages. This may explain why the two Marys--Mother Mary and the Magdalene--appeared to me first, infusing my being with their great, flowing love. They reminded me that I had chosen to come into the world at this time to help show the way to reawakening--for women especially. Then WBCW appeared and spoke:

“Great changes are coming. It is time to awaken. You are the ones to make a difference. With each thought, you create peace. With each breath, you birth peace. Start now. Be conscious of your thoughts and feelings and direct them to peace. You are the ones who can heal the Great Mother and all beings upon her. The Mother Earth is a spirit; she is an energy, a being. She has been alternately abused and neglected and is dying.You can change that. You must. You can change the dynamics of the government, the leadership.

Great upheaval is coming: floods, drought, famine, and much time without electricity. Computers will be useless much of the time. People will lose their homes. There will be widespread hunger and starvation. More people will cultivate gardens to grow their own food. This area (Sonoma County, CA) will suffer damage, but not as much as other areas of North America. There will be fighting in this country. You, daughter, will be helping women through this time--giving them shelter in your home, feeding and healing them.”

WBCW then explained that the recent double rainbow and sun dogs visible over Washington DC and the lightening-strike death of the new white buffalo calf (Miracle's Second Chance, d. 11/2006) were dramatic ways of drawing humankind’s attention. The Spirit world is trying to wake us up with a foreshadowing of what’s to come in this time of great transition.

White Buffalo Calf Woman Speaks 1

White Buffalo Calf Woman first appeared to me in 2006 with a series of messages that she instructed me to send out to my sisters--all women of the world. This is the first one; it is intended for your eyes.

"I am the one of the one of the One. You are the daughter of the daughter of the One. You are the one to bring forth the light. Tell this to all your sisters, for you are the ones to bring it forth.

"My energy is returning to this world. Together we will return the Sacred Feminine energy to its fullness. This fullness will be joy, compassion, love, gentleness, wise use of power, and at times, severity (the moons pass quickly now, and you must journey with the fearlessness of mother bear). Be in your power. Be not afraid to be who you are. Speak with others with knowing.

"I am as the buffalo—once strong and covering the plains of the Mother Earth, then weakened and taken, dying away. But now it is time to return to fullness. As the buffalo multiply, so shall my power. As awareness returns to the people, so shall the Sacred Feminine cover the Earth, the Great Mother Earth!"

In this first message White Buffalo Calf Woman tells us that her energy, the Sacred Feminine, is returning to the Earth. She reminds all women that we are the ones who will create peace and balance on the Earth--through gathering together and through living in the Feminine Principle. (To learn more about WBCW, see my previous post titled "White Buffalo Calf Woman.")

Mother Mountain

In the spring of 2007, I received a series of visions of women creating peace and my role in it. I had this vision while meditating at the foot of Hood Mountain, Sonoma County, California. In the photo you can see the sun shining on the Mother's face. She's lying horizontally with eyes open and her mouth a vertical line. She appears to have a rather sad expression.

As I sat in stillness, the mountain began singing to me:

I am Mother, I am the One
I am Mother, I am the One
I am Mother, I am the One
I am Mother, I am the One

I am ancient, I am grand, I am earth
I am grounding, I am renewal, I am song
I am love, I am serenity, I am power
I lift your cares and concerns to a vibration of creation
I am guardian of this sacred place; I hold the place of peace
I feel your presence; I know you are here
I am here for you

The mother mountain enfolded me and held me in the crook of her arm, like a child. She stroked my hair and brushed it away from my face so she could kiss my cheek as a mother would. She gazed deeply into my eyes with her ancient love. Then she tenderly pulled me into her mountain-womb so that I melded with her, with the mountain. I became as her—ancient, huge, grounded, gentle, and powerful. She then transmitted a darshan of ancient mountain love. She said, “I give you my love so that you may give it to others. You are a beautiful child and you are here to serve.” Then I gently transfused back out of the mountain into my own being.

The mother mountain told me next, “The needs of the world are uncomplicated. People need love; they need to be hugged, as I have just hugged you. It's that simple. No matter what form it seems to take, all that people truly desire is love and touch. The world feels to you as if it is speeding up. It is not so much speeding up as intensifying. People are sensing that a great .awakening, a grand change is to come. And they are terrified. They seek any form of frenzied distraction from this knowing—more and more, bigger and bigger, louder and louder, faster and faster.

"You are here to love them through this change. Offer them love; offer them hugs. Simply this. I ask you to follow the example of the Free Hugs Campaign. Join with friends, go to a public place, and offer hugs to anyone who wants one. They need them. For some it may be the only touch, the only love they receive that day. And when you hug, pass on the darshan of love that I have transmitted to you. Send this love throughout your area and it will flow around the world. Be a blessing in this time of great transition.”

I then saw a vision of a grand master with flowing hair, beard, robe, and staff standing on a large boulder on a beach by the sea—a Moses-like figure. He pounded his staff on the boulder three times and water began issuing from it. It poured from the rock, streamed across the sand and flowed into the sea. The scene seemed familiar, like a biblical story. He said, “This water flows as the shadow of the sea. The mother mountain then interjected, “Hearts will break open like this rock and love will pour forth until it joins with the All, with the One, and love will be the guiding force of the world once again.”

I felt immediate resistance. I thought, How can I do that? How can I just stand in public and offer free hugs? There’s too much chance of feeling a fool, of being rejected. But, perhaps, with a group... I must email the young man who started the Free Hugs Campaign (www.freehugscampaign.org).