Healing Winds Alive

This last year has been about growth in many directions, with one particular strong external focus and another equally strong internal focus: 

On the outside: Expanding our Global Community.

On the inside: Integrating my father's life and message as part of my ongoing existence.

At this time, we are working with clients who live around the globe. We are building a winter Home; creating additions, home improvements and drawing plans as we dream up future Forever Homes. I enjoy keeping track of different time zones: France, Germany, Australia, Kenya, and of course, various places in the US and Canada. I appreciate keeping in touch with folks who live around the world and have chosen to make Baja part of their lives.

Out of all the beautiful places in the world, we are here.

Through continuing education in Yoga, Meditation, Celtic Tradition and the early trainings in Thai Massage, I now have people and places to touch base with in Ireland, Greece, the US and more. Online studies open doors to inspiring online Global Communities. A growing Learning Community, near and far. For this, I am grateful and feel it is a necessary part of small town living.

We keep a large world map in our home, on a wall. This map was once my son's headboard, later it became part of my home studio and now, my daughter sleeps below this image and reminder of our "small huge world"; the places we have been; places we dream of returning to; places we may someday visit, those places we have never been.

I listen to the news, read, and observe. I also turn off the electronics and step away. I have strong opinions. And that's all they are: opinions. I also have questions. Lots if them. A recurring question, after listening to some recent world news is: WTF?

One of the biggest questions I live with is:

How can I be a good citizen of the world? 

Which leads me to, how can I contribute in a way that inspires the best of myself, family, the people I have the privilege to work with, play with and know?

I think about my father and his message through how he lived his life; his message to me, his only child. I remember his art, writing, music, laughter and the beauty he expressed. I remember his brilliance. I also remember being my daughter's age, maybe a little older and listening to his views on the world; his take on happenings around the globe; how the world was coming to a catastrophic end. I remember witnessing his darkness and noticing how hopeless he felt. As the son of Holocaust survivors who migrated to the US when he was two, I can only imagine what he absorbed and listened to growing up, leading to his point of view.

So, I continually ask myself, How can I be a good citizen of the world? The words of Gandhi and Mother Theresa echo within me, amongst a group of guiding lights in my own life.

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." Gandhi

"If you want to change the world, go home and love your family." Mother Theresa.

I deeply believe in the power of the ripple effect. I believe that peace begets peace and love begets love, just as aggression begets aggression and hate begets hate. I believe in the power of showing up, slowing down and stepping back. I believe that kindness to self equals kindness to others, or vice versa, just as forgiveness of one leads to forgiveness of the other. I believe in the possibilities of new beginnings and how every day, every breath offers the opportunity to begin again and start anew.

When I see and hear devastating news, I remember my grandmother, leaving Germany after World War II; how she chose the US to live: The American Dream. Those were her words. The only other two survivors in her family were her sisters; one put down roots in France and the other in Australia. They lost their parents and youngest brothers to horror. And yet, my Jewish grandmother chose to keep living, even when her only son, many years later, chose not to. She never gave up, searching for my dad and any trace of answer for the last ten years of her life.

My grandmother passed away in 2012 not knowing what happened to her son. I still wonder if he is alive and keep coming back to the fact that I may never have a concrete answer. His intentions were clear and verbally stated to me, as were his views on what was happening in the world and how he couldn't watch or listen anymore. Still, when I see a homeless man, I stop. Just in case.

My father's message to me or at least the interpretation that I choose --- because I believe I get to choose what I take away from each experience. I get to choose what I learn and how I grow, internally and externally. I get to choose how I apply wisdom gained through personal experience to the life I am privileged to live, today, tomorrow and for as long as I live...

Embrace the mystery. 

While there are questions I may never have answers to,
I do have choices. 

I choose to be here and make the most of this one wild and precious life I get to live.
I choose to do my best and learn from my mistakes.

I am intimate with the dark as that is where 

compassion, understanding and empathy are born for me. 

Share the light.

See beauty and create beauty where there is not. 

Share that which is good within me.

While I cannot control what is happening in anyone else's heart, mind, body or soul,
I can continue to become aware of what is happening inside;
learning from what is happening in my own
heart, body, mind and soul.

I can also continue to deepen my awareness of how my words and actions affect me,
our family, friends, pets, plants, work and community, near and far, as well as,
the earth I walk on and the air I breathe.

I don't have all the answers I sometimes wish I did. 

I live with many questions;
a deepening curiosity.
I am learning to exist with openness,
 living into answers,
 and at the same time,
letting go of a need for so many answers.
Everything changes.
And more questions arise.

Show up, speak up. Step back, slow down.
Enjoy the dance. 

Love silence and all that Quiet embraces, allows and is, within and without.
Listen and observe.
Notice what is really happening.
In this moment, on this day.
Remember that we all have different lenses,
 and what we notice may differ.
Celebrate our differences.
Learn from one another and our shared coexistence.
Enjoy life.

I believe in letting go of old mindsets that no longer serve,
just as I believe in letting be, what is.
I do my best not to project too much on the beautiful canvans
 of an unknown future.
While the past does influence what is ahead,
we do have the power to
change old patterns;
we have the power to evolve.
True and sustainable change takes time, patience and persistence;
Diversity and Diversion!

I believe we are all connected; that in taking care of myself, home, family and
this little piece of earth I call Home, I am in some way caring for those
who came before me, will follow after me and
maybe even another person or group of people living on the other side of the globe.

I believe in the soul of the world, heart intelligence and collective consciousness.

I am Alive. 

I have choices. 

Minute to minute. 

Day by day.

Namaste, Tehroma