Archive for May, 2009

As I type, news is breaking around the U.S. Government’s takeover/purchase of General Motors. As I listen and read, all I can think about is how hard it is to get anything accomplished at a State or Federally owned/operated agency. Think about Motor Vehicles, Social Security or City Hall for that matter. Ever been in one of those lines or encapsulated in a time warp by the inefficiency and delays? Now, the manufacturing and selling of automobiles is about to fall into the abyss.

Segue.

I have a 16-year-old daughter who puts just enough energy into everything she does to get by. Even the things she likes doing! She simply isn’t motivated to do more than the bare minimum it takes to get things done. Yesterday, she and I had one more of the many heated discussions that take place around her approach.  Usually, I mention words like “lazy” or “princess” but this time I suggested that her standard is mediocrity.  Now while you may think that was an unkind observation to have (and more so, to share) it was actually the first time I ever saw a light go on in her head around what is usually her dismissal of my complaints that she hasn’t finished what she began, or in the alternative,”finished” with aspects of the task or goal still incomplete.

So what do government and my 16-year-old have in common?  In a word: Mediocrity.

But let’s face it. Such aspirations aren’t limited to my two examples. I could go on. And on. And on.  Blame it on the technology or the pace at which we live, but there is no denying that most people in this country have settled into reduced expectations of themselves and everyone else. 

We don’t anticipate excellence. We accept mediocrity.

So what’s the harm?

Mediocrity, by definition, implies a lack of caring about the end product. It’s about “average-ness” and “second rated-ness.” Its about expediency and profit over quality and value. When you choose not to care about the quality of what you do, when you don’t give it your best, you not only make a statement about what you think of yourself, you also set in motion events that lead to the devaluation of other people, lifeforms and things.

It is definitely a choice you get to make.  In every situation, you have the opportunity to decide how much energy, integrity, and authenticity you will bring to what needs to be accomplished. You get to define and apply the standard that best represents who you are. No one else gets to make that call.

Lowering your standards is the slippery slope that leads to mediocrity, and less. So why do people do it? Because it’s easier and quicker than the effort and time it takes to achieve excellence. So whether it’s about doing the job you’re paid to do, completing your homework, or choosing who you spend you life with, mediocrity gets you something…albeit not something that necessarily enlivens or empassions you… or anyone else for that matter.

Mediocrity doesn’t lead to feeling good about yourself. It leads, ultimately, to not feeling. That’s the slippery slope. Mediocrity is a denial of the Divinity within each of Us.

We exist to awaken and become conscious around Self-Realization. When such awakening occurs, it is to know for certain what remarkably unique creations we are and how the possibilities for our own creations are boundless and endless…constrained only by our vision and an unwavering determination to be the best we can be.

 

Its odd for me to be writing about a “healing” experience I’ve had recently because I think of myself more as a writer and speaker than a healer. But I’ve had an undeniable experience lately and so I have to call it as I see it.

At least it’s undeniable to me.

A friend’s husband underwent a surgical procedure about 30 days ago to alleviate fluid pressure on his brain that was causing rapidly advancing dementia. Although warned of the possible adverse effects of such a procedure, the procedure itself is actually not all that uncommon and both the doctors and my friends were optimistic.  While the procedure went routinely, the husband went rapidly downhill post-op. A few days later, he had an unanticipated and inexplicable seizure and was pretty much unconscious from then on.  The quandary continued until a nurse noticed the accidentally quadrupled dosage on his chart of a medication he had been taking before entering the hospital.  It seems the intake person had put the decimal point in the wrong place and no one…neither the hospital dispensing pharmacy nor treating physicians caught the error until days later when the nurse saw it. The overdose, it turns out, was the cause of his seizure and all the resulting debilitation.

Things went from bad to worse.

Although he was moved to a rehab facility after about two weeks, he went further into decline and was moved to ICU at a nearby hospital two weeks later and, as of last weekend, my friend was told by his doctors (and it was apparent from his condition) that he probably wouldn’t live through the weekend.

This is where it gets interesting.

From the time he entered the rehab facility, I felt drawn to see him. More than that, I felt compelled to “work on him.”  Why I felt that way was and is puzzling to me. How I actually did the “work” even more so. Just prior to his surgery, another friend of mine, a chiropractor, had taken a 4-day training in “Reconnective Healing” with Eric Pearl.(www.thereconnection.com).  Upon her return, she performed the process on me. I had some profound affects as a result.  For some reason, I felt I could do that work on my friend’s husband even without the training. So, I went to the hospital each day, sometimes twice a day, in response to the pull I felt to go there to try and help.  The process, as taught to my friend, involves no physical touching.

Initially I felt I was doing some form of the Reconnective Healing; however, it soon became apparent to me (and my friend who had trained in the proccess) that what was going on was something other (or beyond it). The results were instant and undeniable.  Each time I worked on him, he would have physical reactions while I was doing the work. Those sessions were followed by almost immediate improvements in his condition. Some days, the improvements were slight, Others, they were mind-boggling.

His wife was present during most of the sessions, witnessed the reactions and experienced the daily progress. She was ecstatic with joy. He was moved from ICU back to a regular floor 2 days ago and in two days, they are talking about moving him out of the hospital and back to the rehabilitation facility.

He is conscious, coherent, no longer on many of his medications, no longer in need of suctioning to clear lungs that were diagnosed with pneumonia just a week ago. His kidney function is back and possible sepsis no longer a concern.  Although still having difficulty swallowing and talking, he was singing, with difficulty, the words from “Pennies From Heaven” recently. He is a former professional entertainer.

I am humbled and in awe of what has transpired. I have no idea why me, why him, and why now. But it’s so and I cannot deny what has taken place.

His wife, however, is not in the same place. While deeply grateful days ago for what she witnessed and for “getting him back”….and despite her telling me she “can never repay” me (something I do not and never did  seek)…she none-the-less has begun to back away from her awe and gratitude and to deny the undeniable. She is distancing herself from the “connection” between how he was, how he is…and how he got here.

I have done nothing. The Light, the Universal Healer and Healing Energy of Love, has done it all. But done it, It has.

I am now reminded of that scene in the movie “Oh God” where George Burns as “God” enters the courtroom, takes the witness stand to testify as to his authenticity, and after performing miracles for those present, leaves the courtroom. Subsequently, many of those present deny what they experienced because the Truth makes them uncomfortable by upending the roots of their long held belief system.  John Denver, as the character who must spread the word of God, leaves them to their doubting and moves on knowing the Truth of what occurred and determined to bring it to others.

What happened between the Light, my friend’s husband and me happened. The man is now on his way to better health, I hope. I will no longer go there. I have lived long enough to understand the admonition that you can “set the banquet table but cannot make them eat from it.”

I will move on to others who are open to healing and brave enough to acknowledge direct experience…no matter how outside the mainstream of their reality it is. As I go, I pray that the gift I have been given goes with me. I have never known such peace as when acting as a conduit for that Healing Light of Love or felt so loved in return as when her husband opened his eyes and looked at me.