Shift

Amazing, the difference a simple shift in perspective can do.  Astonishing, realizing the shift happened almost 14 years ago without my realizing it!

Driving home from what should have been a life-shattering experience, it hit me that the apparent catastrophe was actually an inexplicable gift from a mother who was DETERMINED that the corporate world was not the place for me & who suddenly had a bit more spiritual heft than a month before.  

Looking back, it hits me that on the drive home my psyche realized it was dealing with powers far beyond its ken & turned over the reins of any semblance of control.  "Okay, Life," my heart seemed to have said, "Bring it on."

Right now, I am dealing with arrangements for my sister's earthly remains.  What an honor to be responsible for the energies that surround that final task on her behalf!  One last opportunity to be a good sister.  What a blessing.

Mim's memorial tribute doesn't count as the same thing - it will be a community event, pulling together the talents & tender care of countless different people, from the friends at Laurel who sing the prelude & postlude, to Frank Rose in Arizona delivering the talk, to the friends out with him in Tucson - including a classmate & lifelong friend - who will sing more songs, to the family & friends & even total strangers who help get the final online tribute transmitted & then posted to YouTube.  

But figuring out how to dispose of Mim's remains & doing it in a loving, honoring way - thank you, Universe, for this opportunity.  

Over the past year - since reading Michael Singer's The Untethered Soul - it's been easier & easier to spot how things have become more infused with a rainbow of colors, more diffused - less hard-edged & clearly defined, more yielding & accepting.  It's not that life has shifted, but that I realize more & more how long ago the shift happened, how AWESOME life became once it became clear the glorious places that opened up once I acknowledged not being in the driver's chair.  

 

If you had told me four years ago that I'd be handling these final details with joy & gratitude, I would have thought you flat out nuts.  But here I am & that's how it is.

How much easier all our lives can be when we open up to unexpected shifts in expectations & experience of what's right in front of them.  Joy, gratitude & immense curiosity about what comes next - oh, how easy my life's work would be if I could get all my older friends, their families & care partners to see & experience life in that way!