Shine a light on your shadows

Meet Cynthia Paulsen. 

Last year Cynthia Paulsen, a new resident to Brookings, Oregon, a New Thought minister, and a delightful person enrolled in my seminar series at the Brookings Southwestern Community College titled, What Makes A Good Story?  She is also an author. Be sure to check out her latest book, Undoing The Knots.

 A couple months ago I mentioned to Cynthia that I was in agony from a severe case of shingles.

 “You should let me do a spiritual treatment for you,” Cynthia said. “You know that’s what I do?”

I   smiled but shrugged at her offer. Not that I don’t believe in that sort of thing – because I do. But trying something new? We all struggle with that don’t we?  And really, what is a spiritual treatment anyway? Is it just a bunch of woo woo?

A week later when the misery from my shingles became relentless, I surrendered. I didn’t know what to expect, or what was involved in a spiritual treatment, but I was ready to try anything.

 

So, Cynthia Paulsen to my rescue.  Her Spiritual treatment Involved first a consultation and questions.  No touching. No needles or massages.  

“How do you feel about your Shingles?

“It has beaten me down until I don’t have the strength to even hate it anymore.” I whined.

“Do you think you’re experiencing any stress in your life?" I proudly said no. But with more questions I was surprised to admit that I probably did.

I had applied to teach writing at Pelican Bay Prison which housed the worst of the worst. Although I was not worried about the prisoners themselves, I worried about the stories I would hear and my ability to handle the emotional content. I also had several people in my life who annoyed me even though I pretended they didn’t.

After more questions she told me to just relax in a chair. I choose to lie down on my couch. 

“If it’s comfortable you can close your eyes,” she said.

I did and then began to listen to Cynthia do an affirmation that was personal to my feelings about my shingles and my stress.

That was it. I felt relaxed. My pain of the shingles seemed to have lessened but was not gone. But every day, after slowly my health improved. Nay sayers might argue I was on the other side of my recovery and the treatment had nothing to do with it. But the awareness she awakened within me absolutely blew me away. From her treatment and again that night when I listened to a guided meditation, I discovered shadows from my past that I didn't know were haunting me

Thank you, Cynthia Paulsen! I am forever grateful!

I cannot survive, if you don’t thrive.

We are all connected.

Click on the link below to find out more about Judy's books.

Go to Judy Howard's Author Page on Amazon

To find out more about Cynthia click below on the link to her webpage.

Cynthia Paulsen

.

What Are The Odds?

 

Those  of you who have followed me over the last 12 years….12 YEARS!  WOW! A milestone for sure! …. I  am a Positive Thinker.  Out loud anyway.  I’m  a Seeker.  Always seeking something more. And I’m  a Reacher. Always reaching out to make a difference.

The last two years have been a  struggle for me to be a Positive Thinker,  inward or out loud.  I’ve fought every minute of every day  to be  a Seeker of something more, and a Reacher to make a difference. I was  not alone in my struggle. Because you  struggled, I  struggled. No one is an island. Staying alive  has been A Global Challenge. 

 And yet still we are all still  here. Do you know what the statics are of you, me, and each and every one of us even being here, right now, in this moment? That’s 8 BILLION  of us as of December 2022. 

  WHAT ARE THE ODDS that  each of us … you, me … being here, right now? 

  WHAT ARE THE ODDS that each of us, with our own individual uniqueness in which  no one,     anywhere,  OUT OF 8 BILLION PEOPLE,  is like you  or like me?

  WHAT ARE THE ODDS that from the beginning of man living on this earth, over hundreds of thousands of years  that  my ancestors and your ancestors   survived to   pass down their genes, generation after endless generations?  

  WHAT ARE THE ODDS your ancestors and mine lived to  create our particular and unique gene pool?

  WHAT ARE THE ODDS that they all lived through hundreds of thousands of years of  disasters such as  droughts, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes? Through illnesses such as pneumonia, the flu, heart disease,  as well as all the injuries of  wars?

WHAT ARE THE ODDS that we have survived at all to be alive right now?

70 MILLION TO ONE!

So, what’s the point you say? Why am I wasting my time talking about this?

If the odds are 70 million to one that I am alive and writing this. I owe a multitude of awe and gratitude to the courageous spirit of my ancestors, the  loving energy of my God,   the all-knowing of my Creator, and selective power of  Nature herself  …  for the miracle that is me. 

It is a miracle to me that I  have survived what are truely impossible odds,  

It is a miracle to me that I  have truly survived  impossible odds,

I must ask why?

Why are any of us miracles  here?

 It is my belief that my ancestors, the  loving energy of my God,   the all-knowing  of my Creator, and selective power of  Nature herself  have  endowed me with a gift  --their miraculous will to not only  survive, but to thrive. 

Like my ancestors, my  positive thinking (some call it faith) has gotten me this far.  

As one miracle to another miracle, I want you to thrive. I you want to seek   better ways for us to connect. I want you  to reach out,   lift up others who are struggling to thrive. Because just surviving didn’t get us here. 

What have I  learned these past two years?

I cannot survive,  if you don’t thrive.

We are  all connected.

Happy New Year  2023!

Together, 

 let’s find out how to  thrive!

Will It Make Our World Better?

 

Will It Make Our World Better?

 

Two months in  my new home. It is wonderful. It is a refuge, an inspiring place, it is my closet from my childhood.   When I was  a child, I had the luxury of a large closet with a low shelf that served as  a table large enough for a lamp and my diary.  It was my world. When I shut the door, I was not alone.  The closet was crammed not only with clothes  but Something which fed my mind and my spirit  with hope, love,  and dreams.

 My new “closet”  is filled with that Something. I am reminded that I have been blessed  by the loved of two good men and for that my heart swells and my tears flow as I overcome with gratitude.  One man was my better half and he completed me. The other man inspired me to do great things, to realize the love really is all there is.  Close or far way, love is the fuel that makes the spirit soar.

Today I need reminders of how blessed I am, how far I have come in my understanding of the world and its goings on.  I am grateful for my  experiences, the painful ones and the ones that knocked my little red socks off my feet.  – for all the encounters  have prepared me  for what is occurring in my beloved county today.

Some call it the Armageddon. Others  say it is an Awakening. I say it is what I, as an individual have
created  when I did not take responsibility  for the bad in my own little world. Some blame the Devil, another culture, or race, or a government. I am guilty too. Like the others, I saw the cause as something outside myself.

We are like  the raindrop who does not want to take responsibility for the flood.

Today,  I see I am left with only my ,words which will be most likely censored by those  who believe they can harness  what is not their domain – our souls.

But I have lived long enough to know that although I cannot see the big picture, like electricity  and the sun, the big picture  still exists even though I cannot  see it , there is a bigger picture.  I also  know  that I cannot ride into my future by  harnessing the will of others, nor by acquiring all the money in the world.

 Today and tomorrow are mine to embrace, but only  if I become responsible  and seek  what I believe is true for me. And what is that? For me it is invisible. I seek only guidance, not from the news  or socail media  but guidance through my  connection to a higher power whom  I choose to call God. He   lives in the closet of my soul.

Whatever I do or say  today. Will it make the world better?

 

Everyone Is Talking About It

 

 Once upon a time most  everyone was happy. There were no potholes in the road and a  Starbucks at every corner or the way home from work, and a game or a good movie waited for us on tv after a plentiful dinner with family.

 And then....

 Everyone was  talking about  IT. 

The whole country and soon the world was a-buzz. I would find  the trend amusing, I am sorry to say.  if it were not so scarey.  It is as if NO ONE  knew of  IT  before. But no matter. If we had ignored it before we could not now.  Because everyone was talking about IT and we became very afraid.

Our fear drove us  to blame and hate. Everything was wrong. 

Only yesterday, before IT, was  no one  being murdered in our inner cities? Were our children not being neglected in foster homes? Were they not being kidnapped by traffickers? 

Could it be that no one was dying prematurely and at increasing and  alarming rates  from  stress related illnesses such as  heart disease, diabetes, obesity, or suicide?   

Before IT, we were not concerned that our children did not play outside any more, or that they  did not know   the history of their own family or town. 

But of course, not only had  all these issues and conditions  existed, but these conditions  had been growing globally and at unprecedented  rates.  

 And then IT arrived. And overnight we became an enlightened population to everything  that was wrong. We were enraged and wanted change. We were now  wishing and hoping  and waiting  for someone and  something,  outside ourselves to fix all that is wrong with us, our country and the world. 

Everyone is still  talking about IT. 
….  as if there is nothing else.

What if....?

You didn't mentioned IT  for 24 hours?  for 48 hours? 

How long can you go without talking about IT? 

 We  began talking about  A NEW  IT!? 

   A PERSONAL  VISION? A NEW PERSPECTIVE?

Click on the link below to find out more about Judy's books.

Go to Judy Howard's Author Page on Amazon

Oh, and don’t forget!! Readers’ reviews  keep writers motivated.

USEFUL LINKS 

Other books by Judy Howard: JUDY’S AMAZON  AUTHOR  PAGE

Judy's Blog: The Adventures Of An RV Widow 

JUDY'S WEBSITE

Sportster's Blog: The Cat's Perspective Of Reading, Writing And Life

Click on the link below to find out more about Judy's books.

Go to Judy Howard's Author Page on Amazon

Safe travels!