 Morning Dew on Desert Grasses © 2013 Rev. David Seacord (Celebrating the spring desert in bloom near Phoenix).
Everyman's WEEKLY Journal #18
© 2013 Rev. David Seacord
Easter, March 31, 2013
The Path of Small Wins…
"The Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences…" (from the 3rd Zen Ancestor).
In the course of our passage through the phenomenal, the non-reactive quiet mind is still rare (but happily not as rare, yes?). Still, one of the measures of growth that I trust increasingly is my self-recognition that I am not being upset by situations that once did, or on the other hand, where I am generous where before I was fearful of sharing. I thank my wayshowers for their patience as I have slowly and incrementally learned these lessons….
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Something happened that caused my beautiful grapefruit tree to drop seventy-five percent of it's leaves a couple of weeks ago… Although I could not remember doing it, I assume I must have over-watered it---i.e., not allowed it's roots to dry out between waterings. In the early days of being here in Yuma, I had inadvertently killed a dwarf Valencia orange tree that way. So this time, as soon as I recognized the situation, I stopped watering. And instead of beating up on myself for the mistake, I have been praying for the tree… sometimes standing next to it with my healing-charged hands extended, talking to it, affirming our oneness and my love and appreciation of it. To do this is an interesting thing for my egoic mind to observe, as it's opinion (which I never asked for) is that I was wasting it's time. Yet it did join me when one day--after ten days of limbo--I suddenly saw clear signs of new leaf growth. That made my day! Grapefruit tree chooses to Live! Yes!
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When my now 22 year old son Ambrose was 13 and living with his mother 1500 miles away from me, she called to tell me she had 'lost control of him'… that he was always stoned, he was skipping school much more than attending, that sometimes he'd just be gone for more than a week at a time from home, and she was afraid he was going to 'run away'. She said "I need your help". I changed my plans in New Mexico, headed to Oregon, and with his mother's agreement, we loaded all his needful possessions into my car, enrolled the assistance of the local police in finding him and putting him into my car with me, and with a police escort to make sure he didn't jump and run until I was at freeway speeds, headed back to New Mexico with him. In his words: I 'kidnapped him' out of his known life.
It was a radical action, but it was 'under grace' too. It opened up a new life between us, as I stepped up to being responsible for his parenting (powerfully assisted though that experience by my then partner Sarah B.). He desperately wanted to 'go home and be with his friends', and my message to him was 'only when you choose to upgrade your choices'. He wasn't sure what that meant, but he did understand that I was offering to pay for him to attend 'The (3 day-long) Landmark Forum for Teens', and that I believed he'd be glad he'd done it if he did choose to…. but that I was not going to 'force him'. I remember explaining that that would never work anyway, because at the beginning of the course they ask if anyone has been forced to be there, and if somebody was, they refund the money and un-register them. So Ambrose got that it was his choice. And thus (as I assured him it would help him get home sooner) he chose to do the course.
In the nine years since, that choice shines as completely pivotal to the amazing young man he has become… a passionate musician with a long-term dream and a grounded game plan and a willingness to work hard for it. We were catching up with each other a few days ago and he mentioned that he was interested in doing more of the Landmark courses, which he had been researching online and which he saw would be supportive of his career plans. As if the universe had prepared the script, only the day before while I was in Phoenix I had been a guest in one of those courses myself and had loved re-experiencing the awakeness there. So the moment he spoke his interest, I put my money down to help make it happen. It was like my words came from beyond myself… but I offered no resistance (even though I do have lots of things that I could use the money for myself---don't we always?). Yet what was clear in that moment was that all the money we have is always God's gift to us--- and that the perfect surrender in this moment was to LET IT GO. Let it go open my son's life… Amen to that! (So glad I am that I was/am this week NOT who I was oh, say, 30 years ago (in relation to money, in particular). Slow and steadily… we learn the lessons of love well…. eventually seeing clearly the emptiness of all attachment to possessions (including our money).
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In another similar test: Driving to Phoenix last Sunday I called a friend to suggest we meet for tea at a restaurant where I have had eight giclee reproductions of my art work on consignment for a good while. She told me that she'd gone by there recently and the restaurant wasn't open…and that a legal notice was posted on the door. So I changed my plans and went directly to the restaurant to see what was so… on the way, my mind creating scenarios of looking through the windows at a gutted empty place and finding all my paintings gone. I looked at what my mind was creating, and instead chose peace. If I know there are no accidents, then if I did get ripped off, it would have to somehow be a blessing. And I knew I could survive the loss.
When I got to the place it was locked up, and there was the notice, but the place was not gutted, and all my paintings were still on the walls. I've always felt the gentleman that owns the restaurant was a good man, and (to put myself in his shoes) there have been times when I've struggled financially. Clearly something of that nature was going on. As all my contact numbers for him where no longer working, I eventually was able to contact the property landlord and explain the situation. He let me know that he could not let me into the place to retrieve my work--YET-- as the rent was still current (for a little while longer). But that he was watching the situation closely, and he would be in touch with me as soon as anything changed. So I am in a waiting pattern… BUT Peacefully. It will work out…it always does.
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Part of the reason for my trip to Phoenix was to see my dentist, who has become a good friend. On my last visit with him he had shared that he was having some health issues, and that he expected he'd have to have surgery for them. My readers probably know that as a rawfoodist I am not quick to support the surgical option, but Doc doesn't see things the way I do. He did agree however to look at material I promised to get for him. So I went to Amazon and ordered a book called "Pain Free" by Pete Egoscue, and "How We Heal" by Douglas W. Morrison (I've just listed them so you can do the same, if you're interested.) Pain Free is about how Pete got shot up in Vietnam and was then told he'd never x, x ,x ,x, x, and x, but how that all changed when he put his mind to healing himself. Now his understanding of the body is helping thousands of people have a new life without chronic pain. How We Heal is Doug Morrison's report on his longtime studies with the originator of Body Electronics, the late Dr. John Ray. Body Electronics is a healing modality that I have a good amount of positive experience with, as I studied it for 3 years in Santa Fe in the 1990's (from another of Dr. Ray's direct students). I cannot in a blog do justice to the subject, except as an introduction. The essence of this modality is about the regeneration capacities of the body---about how to create seemingly miraculous healings by understanding the nature of the connection between our thoughts and the condition of our body---and that under certain conditions where negative thoughts are truly released, then bodily healing follows immediately.
In any case, I gave the books to Doc. with a brief soundbite about them. As it happened, I was at his office most of the afternoon waiting for lab work etc, so he had a chance to read a bit from Pain Free. He let me know that as I left… and that he 'liked where the guy was coming from'. That was high praise and I knew it so I didn't push the river. Definitely time for some 'thy will be done' prayers for my dentist though….
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Tonight I''m finishing up this journal sitting in the home of a friend in Los Angeles just like I did a couple of weeks ago. And my art clients here are now the owners of a brand-new beautiful reproduction of 'The Arrival of My True Love', which is one of my all-time most appreciated images. We had another creative teamwork experience again, assembling the frame and stretching the canvas. But in comparison to the ordeal we'd experienced two weeks ago, this was a cake walk. I had another lesson offered about money too. Our original agreement on the transaction was time-based with years of future payments due. Somehow in contemplating that, I realized that I did not wish to place another in my longterm debt, just as I do not wish to be in such a debt myself. So I chose to let go of that substantial future profit in exchange for a much much lower full buyout now. It was good to see that I did not have a big battle with my ego about this… I was at peace inside doing this letting go, as I could feel in my heart was 'the perfect thing to do'. If I know anything, it is that I am/you are 'taken care of' always. Somehow letting go of that money promised in the future liberated me to be more trusting of my 'supply' in the NOW. You get this? Yes?
Blessing to each of you… hope I wasn't 'too long' in my share.... Love you all.
Namaste,
David
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Rev. David Seacord
Fine Art Painter / Sufi Cherag
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