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God’s Creation: The Grand Canyon

As mentioned in my posting Traveling-  Las Vegas & Sedona on 22 August, Rich and I took a day trip to visit the south rim of the Grand Canyon.  I was very excited to make this trip because when I was a young girl growing up in England, many of my friends wanted to go America.  There were those who were enthralled at the thought of visiting New York City, others who wanted to see the White House and the nation’s capital, and yet others who were attracted to the bright lights of Las Vegas or Hollywood.

But my only desire re-the USA was to see the Grand Canyon.  I had seen it in a couple of movies, read about it here and there, and I believe I saw it featured in a National Geographic article at least 40 years ago.  (I know, I’m dating myself here!!).  From those experiences I knew it was something hugely majestic, but I had not retained much descriptive detail about it from them.  So this trip was almost like visiting it with no pre-information about it at all.

As we approached the area of the Grand Canyon, I remember being somewhat puzzled, or maybe perplexed would be a better word.  I think I expected the landscape to begin to change dramatically to prepare me for what I was about to see.  But everything was amazingly “normal”, fairly flat country with quite a few trees.  We entered the visitors center, acquired our tickets, and watched a great informative documentary. 

Even as I watched the movie I wasn’t particularly struck by anything special, and we headed out afterward on the road that led into the National Park in Arizona where the south rim is located.  Again, I was puzzled/perplexed because the countryside did not change.  I’m not quite sure what I was expecting and I was quite surprised when we eventually saw the sign for the first “viewing zone”.  We parked and I got out of the car and looked around.   Nothing, just the road we had been travelling and a line of trees. But the arrows pointed toward the trees, so off we went. 

I don’t think it would have mattered if I had seen a thousand photographs or hundreds of movies, nothing would have prepared me for my first view of the Canyon.  As I passed through the trees and stepped out the other side, my jaw dropped, my mouth gaped. I was absolutely speechless.  My eyes tried to come to grips with what I was seeing and I was somewhat aware that my mind was scrambling for words to describe it.  Some of the words that came to mind were: spectacular, majestic, awesome, awe-inspiring, amazing, stunning.

But even as I tried to put the words together in my head, I realized that none of them would do justice to the landscape unfolding in front of my eyes.  I was aware of tears welling up inside me.  I felt completely choked up with emotion, my heart was racing and my breathing had definitely quickened.  It felt like my soul was seeing a touch of home, and in that moment I knew that one word, and only one word, could describe the view that lay before me – God.  I could imagine Him during the days of creation, eyeing this particular piece of the earth and, feeling the inspiration, reaching His hand down and slicing a two hundred and eighty mile long wavy line through the State of Arizona.

Just as words do not do justice to the majesty, the size, the total “stunningness” of the Grand Canyon, so too pictures cannot capture it’s breathtaking awesomeness. But I am including a couple that my husband took as we went from viewing point to viewing point along the south rim.  The picture of the raven is included for a couple of reasons.  My adopted Native American name is Raven Woman.  When we first got out of our car at the condo we stayed at in Sedona, a raven flew onto the roof, and every viewing spot in the Grand Canyon had several ravens hopping around.  I felt especially welcomed in both placesSmile

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As I stared at this miracle of God and nature, once again I found myself thinking of the first pioneers, those courageous men and women who set out from the eastern settlements of America to explore what lay beyond their known territories.  I tried to imagine a lonely cowboy riding across new and unexplored country, galloping along on his horse and coming through the tree line to approach the edge of the canyon.  I’m sure he must have experienced feelings similar to those I described above.

For those of you who are interested, here are a few facts about the Grand Canyon.  Even as I write them I find them hard to digest and fully take in.  The Canyon is nearly two hundred and eighty miles long, reaching from Marble Canyon near the Utah-Arizona border to Grand Wash Cliffs in Mojave County near the Nevada-Arizona border.  In some places it is eighteen miles wide – yes, eighteen miles!! And it reaches depths of up to one mile.  At the south rim the width of the chasm is about ten miles.

All I can say is, if there is nothing else that you do, no specific location that you have a desire to see in the USA, plan to go to the Grand Canyon.  I do not think you will be disappointed and I am sure you will be at least a little bit changed afterward.  Happy trails!

Self Nurturing: Sedona Massage

I received my first massage many years ago.  I was living in the UK at the time.  I believe it was sometime in the sixties and I discovered a small massage and facial salon had opened above a shop near my parents home.  I very tentatively booked an appointment and remember how my heart sang and I knew that I was hooked from the very first touch.  There is nothing quite like a massage for relaxation, de-stressing, pleasure, and coming home to yourself.  Massage does for the body what a deep relationship with God does for the soul.

I probably received one or two more massages during the next few years because I really couldn’t afford more than that.  Then, about five years later, I moved to Sardinia, Italy with my first husband and our two boys.  In 1970, we helped to open a large holiday village called Forte Village in the southern part of the island not far from the capital, Cagliari. 

There were many holiday agency reps working in the village and the two girls from the Swedish company, Vingresor, were extremely grateful for the “extra mile” that I went in order to help smooth difficulties for their customers.  They came to me one day and said they would like to show their appreciation in some tangible way and asked me what I would most like.  I knew they had their own massage therapist on call in the village, so I requested a massage.  They were gracious enough to gift me with a series of four massages, and my love affair with receiving massage was rekindled. Since then I have received many massages and eventually, when I was fifty three years young, I trained to become a massage therapist myself.  I feel as much joy giving massage as I do in receiving them.

Fast forward to April 2011.  As I mentioned in my previous posting Traveling-  Las Vegas & Sedona Rich and I enjoyed a wonderful visit to Sedona, AZ.  I knew that I wanted to receive a massage in Sedona because it is a place of natural healing and there are many alternative therapy healers in the town.  As Rich and I were settling into our condo, he checked out a file of information about various activities and points of interest in the area, and called my attention to an advertisement. The wording in the ad from Sue really spoke to my heart and soul, and I knew that this was who I would book my massage with.

A few days later found me in Sue’s studio.  Little did I know that I was about to have a very significant and life-changing experience.  For the next two hours Sue worked intuitively with my body.  I have never received a massage quite like it.  She used many different modalities during the course of the massage and I knew that something very special was going on, especially when she started chanting as she worked my heart chakra.  I remember thinking, “I hope she is going to tell me what that was about”, as I felt a kind of a “whooshing out” feeling from my chest.  Then shortly afterwards, as Sue worked on my lower abdomen, I could feel “something” going on and a great deal of heat.

At the end of the massage, when Sue gave me some water to drink,  she asked me if I wanted to hear her perceptions.  My heart lifted and I said I wanted to hear everything.  She checked first of all if I believed in past lives and also asked me if I was familiar with any of the ancient civilizations such as the Mayans or the people of Atlantis.  When I assented, she shared that while she had been working on my heart chakra she was drawn into a vision where she saw me as a tall, regal person, dripping with golden jewelry, and knew that I was one of the ancient wise ones.  She felt that I was royalty of some sort and told me that whenever I walked into a room people were enveloped in a sense of tranquility and felt healed.  I told her that many people told me this today also. 

She then went on to tell me that it was no longer enough to just “walk into the room”, that I was “being called to more”.  She said that I needed to be ready for more work and not to be afraid.  I remembered Kevin’s words just a few weeks earlier at the Lenten Healing Mission.  Sue then explained that while she had worked on my lower abdomen she had felt “something birthing”, and she encouraged me to be ready, to prepare myself for some new work that I was going to be called to undertake.

As I left Sue’s studio, I felt very blessed.  I was filled with a sense of peace and yet was also aware of a very heightened sense of energy.  I felt like I could have run for ten miles.  I was very grateful for this because later that afternoon Rich and I went to experience the energy vortex at Bell Rock and I was able to climb about three quarters of the way up the rock formation without feeling tired. 

I will always remember my massage experience with Sue with much gratitude.  My main personal work since that time has been to quietly prepare myself for whatever work Spirit wants me to do.  Just two weeks after this experience, I attended a Qigong event in Orlando and a complete stranger there repeated the message: “Margo, you are being called to more.  Do not hold back.”  I will share more about this experience in another posting.   

Musings: Dealing With My Frustration

I know that talking things through with someone helps to diminish the hold that anything that is frustrating me or causing me anger or resentment has on me.  Writing also helps in the same way.  So here goes.  Whether I’ll be able to post is another matter, and that’s where my present frustration is coming from.

I haven’t written in a while.  I’ve given up trying to understand why this happens.  It’s not that I have nothing to write about.  I have been keeping, and adding to, a small list of topics that I want to express my feelings about. But something is getting in the way.  The weather has been gorgeous lately.  We have been enjoying the best Florida spring weather – no grey, no de-pressing stuff going on outside, so that’s not the issue.

Now that I think about it, maybe there is still an issue connected to the weather that’s been keeping me from writing, but it’s the reverse of dealing with the de-pressing grey.  It’s been so perfectly beautiful outside of late that I have been called into the garden and have struggled to balance my time outside with all the other things that I want/am committed to do.

It has been really amazing to watch the garden come to life after the long cold winter.  It seems as though with each passing year I become more aware of the transformation that takes place as plants come back to life, buds appear, then full foliage and flowers blossom out.  The Confederate Jasmine, that I planted as two very small 20-inch tall plants at the base of the front supporting columns of my old gazebo two years ago, has now grown into thick, lush greenery that covers both 8-foot tall columns and trails upwards onto two of the roof supports and is also quite thick as it meets across the front horizontal bar.  It is also full of flowers which I hope will last so that I can see them and enjoy them when I return from this trip.

And therein lies another source of frustration.  I have been travelling on and off since 28 March.  Being out of my normal habitat and routine is always somewhat disconcerting and disruptive, and I haven’t yet learned to handle that with total grace and acceptanceSad smile.  I drove up to Newport News, VA back then to spend a few days with my son who was there from Italy to attend a work related conference.  It was a gift that I had no intention of passing up.  We had a great three days hanging out together.  On the way home from there, I was then able to stop in Fayetteville, NC to spend an afternoon and night-over with my dear sister-friend LeeAnn.  She and I never waste time on pleasantries, diving deep into our sharing from the heart and soul which allows us to broaden, deepen, and strengthen our relationship on all levels, especially the spiritual levelSmile.  Another enormous gift for which I am truly grateful.

Arriving back in Florida after that trip, I had three days to catch-up (I always say that with tongue in cheek because, how on earth do you catch up with time that has already passed??).  So it was a flurry of unpacking and keeping up with some commitments that were on my calendar, before I then had to pack for the trip that I am presently “enjoying” ( barring bad internet connections – grrrrrr!) with my husband.

And therein lies the ultimate frustration.  Yesterday evening I had the first real longing, desire, to do some creative writing.  I sat down eagerly in front of my computer and – nothing.  I don’t mean nothing would come out on the page.  I mean nothing would come up on the computer.  No worries, I have my resident computer technician travelling with me, no?  But after checking things out he told me that there was nothing he could do.  There simply was no internet connection and he had no control over that.  Talk abut frustration!!!

As well as the creative writing I felt called to do, I also had a bunch of emails I wanted to send out, and there were several things that I wanted to check out on Google.  I was stuck.  Couldn’t do a thing.  So I called it a day and picked up a book and decided to read.  But the frustration was there, bubbling under the surface and even though I checked in with God and asked for inner peace, I guess I was wanting to hang onto the frustration and wallow in it for a bit because it was still there this morning, and so was the lack of connectivity!!!!!!!Sad smile.

Rich has struggled all morning to give me some connection, but it has been been frustrating for him too.  Right now I have no idea if I have connection or not, but I did learn (thank God I can always learn something), that I can at least access my Live Writer programme and get the words out and down, and in doing so I have released some of the frustration.  Whether I will be able to post my writing is another matter, but at least it’s ready to go if and when we get a connection.           

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