'In the sharing of our experiences,
we are always speaking to and for each other.

 Orion

Tools of Awareness is a conversational page. Topics will change and new sharings and links will appear. We invite your recommendations and comments and look forward to sharing them in this forum.  Enter the conversation by emailing us.

Elisabeth On... 

This seems a simple approach but we often ind it most challenging.  I know I do.  Several years ago,  typical mammogram sent me on a journey through the specter of breast cancer.  I was most fortunate that my experience was of a non-invasive tumor that was managed with surgery and radiation.  A forced-walk through the a ‘what is’ unmitigated by most hopes and desires, intents and attention.  A times I traveled with grace.  At other times fear and gloom were my sidekicks.  Each year I faced the mammogram with trepidation and prepared myself for the possibility once again.  Last year I passed the ‘5 year mark’, which is a good enough indicator of being breast cancer-free that insurance companies will lower your premium. 

But then another routine test, revealed uterine cancer cells.  I was so unprepared for this possibility, that I was overwhelmed by the feeling of the ‘what is’ crashing into me.  Echoes of the clarity I had touched in my previous experience would arise but would fade.  My intentions and attentions could only move toward a limited range of possibilities.  Surgery was the first step in the situation.  Surgery that could be the resolving action or could reveal an even more complex situation, as the biopsy indicated cells of a very invasive type of cancer.  In all this, I tried to find the core place of being in my life, just as it comes.  I tried to not ‘run to the future’ where my fears definitely wanted to travel.  Sometimes fear and sadness was definitely at the wheel of the car.  At other times, strength and clarity and a peace arose from that core place of interconnection with all there is.  I allowed myself to be with all that arose and found that although it was a ever-changing sea, I actually was able to be with it and ride through my life.  My attentions and intentions became paddles I could sometimes use to steer or balance the boat.  In my case, the surgery removed the cells and that chapter came to a most positive close. 

I cannot say that I am now always prepared for whatever life brings me, but I can say that I truly no that, in the end, the only true option we are given is to choose how we will be with our life as it actually occurs.  And this is not a single choice, but choice after choice and some will be to feel afraid or in despair and another will be to sit quietly and appreciate what else is present  And the final option, is to consider that no matter what I am part of all there is, even the most difficult parts and from there can arise a knowingness of ease and strength that comes from what we call grace.

Awakening Reading & Art & Friends 

click on the titles to link to more information 




Being One: Finding Our Self in Relationship   by Steven Harrison
Steven Harrison, author of Doing Nothing, turns our attention toward relationship expressed with Presence and Awareness and what is asked of us to embrace as well as what we are asked to put aside.

From Fixation to Freedom: The Enneagram of Liberation  by Eli Jaxon-Bear
Many people have found the Enneagram a useful framework to understand the movement of personality. Eli Jaxon-Bear brings one's focus to using this perspective as a way to support our capacity to step away from the conditioning of our personality experience. 

 Ingathering: The Complete People Stories of Zenna Henderson  by Zenna Henderson
Many people who feel connected to the idea of Empath Energy, find these stories evocative of the empath experience. Written in the 1950’s they tell the tale of humanoid refugees from another planet who have landed in 19th century America, where their abilities of telepathy and healing help them survive, but mark them as different. The pace is of another time and place, the characters well drawn, the principles of coping with otherness relevant. 

Ten Poems to Change Your Life and Ten Poems to Open Your Heart by Roger Housden
Roger Housden throws open the door to our heart and soul with these wonderful gems of a book. He brings the poems themselves alive with his explorations but more so he shares his exquisitely expressed spiritual perspective as well. You will enjoy journeying with him through this lyrical landscape.

Heron Dance -a journal of art, spirit, nature and poetry
This is a wonderful non-profit journal with original water colors of nature  by Rod  MacIver in every issue exploring our experiences of spirit as we experience nature. They also offer a free weekly email which also includes a lovely image and a quote, comment or poem evoking our awareness of Presence in the natural world.

The Great Illusion-inspiring art and text
This is wonderful site is an absolute visual delight, with thought-provoking insights and ideas. I am sure you will be delighted and inspired as you click through the journey. The amazing images are by Jim Warren. The inspirational text was written by Victor Kahn, who also created the website. I wrote to Victor and he shared this in his reply, 'The road each of us travels toward understanding and awakening is a very personal adventure. Experiencing the essence of life in clear words & surreal images so that you can see your own life unfolding is the crystallization of the ultimate paradox.'  He closed with 'All Paths Lead Inward.'

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'There are very few human beings who receive the truth, complete and staggering,
by instant illumination.  Most of them acquire it fragment by fragment,
on a small scale, by successive developments,
cellularly, like a laborious mosaic.'

Anais Nin

The ONE campaign is a world-wide effort to impact poverty by essentially acting as a lobbying force, encouraging the United States, United Kingdom and other developed nations to commit 1% of their budget to developing nations. Follow the banner to learn more and add your name as support. Although they do not directly solicit contributions, you can buy ONE bracelets to wear as support and the money will fund their efforts.

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We're proud to be a member of the ByRegion network of Healers and Artists.

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