My Mother's Daughter

Today would have been Patricia Patrick Wood's 75th birthday. I've been thinking of her a lot lately, feeling her around me. She and I were very close in my younger years, and almost completely estranged for the last 7 years of her life. It's only been recently that I've begun to make my peace with that, and I'm sorry it couldn't have happened sooner. I think eventually we would have found our way back to being friends, we just ran out of time. But I believe she is in a place now where it no longer matters. She knows I love her, and always have, and I know the same about her.

I believe in a higher power, a divine loving Spirit that loves and guides us all. (Call it what you'd like. I stopped using the word "God" because it conjures up childhood images of a stern bearded old man with flowing hair and robes, ready to judge my words and deeds, and to punish accordingly.) I believe this Spirit has created a loving, nurturing universe to be our classroom so that we may learn and grow. I believe that our souls are small sparks of this divine source, and as such are eternal and divine as well. I believe our ultimate mission, through each lifetime (and yes, I believe in reincarnation) is to overcome fear and to learn to manifest ourselves only through love. In doing this we return to our natural state, to one-ness with the divine. I believe that Spirit offers us guidance and assistance in our lessons and journeys. Everything that happens to us is to help us learn and grow. Spirit is like a loving parent, only seeking to help us return to our natural state, pure loving energy. We are provided with everything we need, if we only choose to see it. I believe we can't always get what we want, but we always get what we need. (The Rolling Stones were onto something!) What we choose to do with it is up to us however, and often we squander or waste it.

I believe our higher selves, our eternal, wise souls, know all. Everything that's happened to us, in lifetime after lifetime, since the beginning. On that level we understand the ways and workings of the universe, it all makes sense. This higher self tries to communicate what it knows with us, to help and guide us. This is the little voice we call intuition. It's not mysterious, it's the way we all are built, one of our natural senses. We've gotten out of the habit of using it, so it has atrophied, much in the same way that we no longer need our appendix to process ingested bones. We have become focused on listening to external voices, losing the ability to hear our own in the process. My inner voice has told me some seemingly impossible things, but it has never been wrong. It has led me to wonderful adventures and great loves. I find that when I listen to it and follow where it leads, amazing things happen. Connections are made, doors fly open, red carpets roll out, magic happens! This is how I know I am on my path, doing what I came here to do, in sync with the universe and my purpose for being. At times like that I see how beautiful and perfect life can be.

Sending you light and love.