My Dear Lovelies!
Well December’s newsletter is going to be a bit different from my usual format as I’d like to share with you a very personal happening in my life …
My mother was at my sister’s house in Indianapolis visiting over the Thanksgiving holiday. She was going to be leaving her house on December 12 and coming to live with me until April. However, on December 10, after my sister had left for work, mom decided to make cookies. The flour was in an overhead cabinet, so my dear 76-year-old mother pulled over a chair, proceeded to climb up on it to reach for the flour, and fell off the chair directly onto her back. As a result of the fall, she broke her neck. In the 48 hours following the fall, she underwent two major surgeries to repair her spine (the break was between C-5 and C-7). She was on a ventilator for 4 days and classified as a quadriplegic.
I arrived 4 days after she fell and was able to spend a full week with her. I helped her make the transition from the hospital where she had surgery to the rehabilitation hospital where she will spend the next 4 to 6 weeks – depending upon her progress. The first day in rehab her arms and legs were useless. I brushed her teeth, feed her her meals and held a straw to her lips so she could sip coffee. Even though she’s only 100 pounds, it took two nurses to move her from her bed into a wheelchair because she was just dead weight and her limbs were non-functioning. Through all of this my mother would smile kindly at the nurses who gently (and some not-so-gently) moved her and helped her with the functions her body could no longer perform on their own. She thanked each one for any little thing they did to assist her. She never complained even though she was in terrific discomfort. She tried her hardest at every task she was asked to attempt to perform – even when she couldn’t come close. AND, she determinedly decided she would LIVE the very best LIFE she could LIVE. I always knew my mother was a strong lady, but I saw a side of her that left me in awe, sufficiently humbled and 100% completely inspired.
It’s been a mere 10 days since I left my mom at the rehab hospital and here is the report now – she fed herself an entire bowl of oatmeal for breakfast two days ago. She walked the full length of the parallel bars – granted, it was with lots of help – but she did it. She can actually press the button to call the nurse on her own. She can brush her own teeth! My Momma is a walking, talking, living, breathing miracle!
As soon as she’s released from rehab, she will be coming to live with us – now permanently, not just until April. We are so excited to have her join us. As I reflect back on what she’s been through, and look forward at what she has ahead of her, I see so much to be grateful and hopeful for. And I realized that’s how it is with all of us –especially this time of year. When we look back and then forward – there’s always so much to be grateful and hopeful for. It’s like mom’s journey has been a year in miniature in the last 2 weeks – from tragedy to triumph in such a short span of time. It’s been a strong lesson for me as I look back on 2013 and ahead to 2014.
I always love this time of year because it is the PERFECT time to look back and look ahead. So as this year draws to a close, I encourage you to take some time to reflect back on 2013. Acknowledge your successes – revel in delight at all the amazing things you accomplished and were able to do and be and have. And then DREAM BIG for 2014 – knowing there are no limits to what you can achieve. I have a routine I follow every New Year’s Day – I call it my CREATING DAY Ritual and I want to share it with you. I hope you’ll try it, or take the pieces that fit for you and tweak the rest to make it your own.
My New Year’s CREATING DAY Ritual
Because it’s Universal law that we can’t bring in something new until there is room for it, I always start my CREATING DAY with a Letting Go ritual. I take a piece of paper and I write down everything I want to release from 2013. These are any disappointments, sorrow, self-doubt, regrets, perceived failures. I get those all out of my system, acknowledge them for what they are and then let them go. Once they’re written down, I burn that piece of paper. (I must admit I am a bit of a pyro and I love fire. Agni is the Sanskrit word for fire – and it’s in the Agni that the old is burned up and transmuted so new growth and regeneration can happen!) And in the physical burning of that paper, I also feel the energetic and emotional release of letting all that go and seeing it transmuted from physical form and experience into the beauty of something that just simply was – a part of my growing journey.
Once I’ve let go of those things that no longer serve me, I celebrate all the successes from the past year. It’s really fun to acknowledge and look back at so many of the good things that took place. From finally getting that new vacuum to speaking to over 10,000 people, from mastering Windows 8 (well kind-of anyway) to learning to cook vegetarian, every victory is celebrated and acknowledged. After I write all these down, I love to put on loud music and dance and fling my arms in the air and just go slightly wild with the delight of all the good things that happened!
Then my favorite part. The dreaming. The visioning. The goal setting. The pure unlimited potentiality of all the coming year will hold! I’m a huge goal setter and so I start with this part. I explain the whole process in my book, so if you’ve got a copy, grab it and go to pages 40 – 44 – it’s all laid out there for you. If you don’t have a copy, click here to access it. {link to just that chapter}
Once I have my 27 Ginormous, Amazing, Fabulous GRAND Goals in front of me – I make a dream board. A collage. A visual masterpiece to remind me throughout the year of all the things I’m manifesting. Some years it’s an 8.5 by 11 sheet. Some years it’s posterboard size. Some years it’s 9 pages with a page for each category. I never know what is going to emerge – I just let the creative juices flow. I cut and paste. I search for specific images online. I go through old photos so I can put into the collage the faces of the actual people I want in the experience with me! I use paint and markers and colored pencils. I just have a ball. Let yourself go wild with imagination.
And then I close my CREATING DAY with a visualization. I visualize each of those 9 areas looking just the way I want them to look. I go through each category and I see what I want to see and I FEEL how I want to FEEL around or about that area of my life. (The FEELING part is the most important – so be sure to put the FEELINGS in the process.) By the end of the day – and it will take most of the day – you’ll be vibrating a totally different energy. You’ll be excited and hopeful and ready to bring into your reality all the beauty you’ve seen in your mind!
We often don’t allow ourselves the time and space for rituals such as this. But for centuries, especially for women, rituals have been part of the fabric of our lives. So give yourself your first gift of 2014 – the gift of letting go and then drawing in!
So here’s to the best 2014 EVER!
Big love,
PS – I know the journey with my mom is just starting, but as I reflect, even this early in the process, here are just a few of the powerful lessons I’ve learned:
Life is short, live it up. You never know when things will change, so hugely enjoy each day you’re given.
Kindness and pain can go hand-in-hand and it’s much more effective, albeit far less common, than bitterness and pain.
Miracles can happen – and they do! Be on the lookout for yours.
Peeing and pooping are not to be taken for granted. They’re a really big deal when you can’t do them on your own!!
Healing prayers work. Reiki works. Intention works. Determination works. Medicine works. Use them all.
Nurses are truly just angels in uniform – especially the ones named Mary.
Being helpless isn’t being hopeless. Being hopeless is however, being helpless.
Don’t climb on chairs – ever – at any age. That’s what step stools and ladders are for!
A strong spirit and a strong family go a long way in the healing process – cultivate both when you don’t need them so they’re there when you do.