Generosity is Transformational
We truly are blessed to belong to such a generous community. On Sunday, June 13th residents of Grand Forks held a very successful “Borshch and Pie” fundraiser to help Misha Zibin, who recently flew to New York for an experimental “liberation” treatment for Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Many wonderful volunteers (60 over a four day period) helped to prepare 10 canners of Borshch and bake 80 pies to feed over 400 members of our community who came out in support. [Our prayers are with you, Misha]. The buzz of positive energy that was palpable in the basement of the Grand Forks Community Centre from the outpouring of generosity and support is the “ magical stuff” of transformation.
We are the sum of our experiences… Throughout our lives many of us, our family and friends will face struggles and challenges, whether it’s multiple sclerosis, cancer, fatal accidents, depression, stress, etc. Some things we have control over and some, we do not. We cannot know what the future holds; our lives as we know them can slowly slip through our fingers or quickly change direction at a moments notice. The only thing we know for certain is that time does eventually heal all wounds; it changes things. What now feels bad can feel good again. One thing we do share is that we all ride the roller coaster of life. The way we handle our obstacles and respond to changes is entirely up to each of us.
I think that we are very fortunate that this is a time of healing… individually and globally, a time to learn how to release the unhealthy patterns, suppressed emotions, and negative energies that cause suffering. We will continue to grow and evolve if we can maintain our non judgmental, gentleness, kindness, compassion, nurturing and loving ways with one another and ourselves. I believe that we all have our own hurdles to cross and our own lessons to learn whether we are dealing with illness or loss ourselves, or we are helping to support loved ones.
It is a natural process that as we move through emotional upset or personal change we progress through various changes. Healer and teacher, Barbara Ann Brennan explains it well in her book “Light Emerging – The journey of personal healing”. She includes two more empowering stages to the healing process: “rebirth” and “creating a new life", building on Elisabeth Kubler-Ross’ five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Psychologist and author Ted Kuntz, who spoke at the Selkirk College Mir Centre for Peace on April 8th, also shares his story of life-transforming experiences in his book “Peace Begins with Me - An inspirational journey to end suffering and restore joy”.
Healing means changing our minds, our emotions, and our spirit… Our ability to transform our lives automatically helps to transform our world. It seems that our Mother Earth feels and mirrors our collective internal changes taking place. I’ve been woken in the middle of the night during one of the spectacular storms we’ve recently had in Grand Forks and then lay awake feeling like I was on the set of the movie “2012”. Unlike this movie, I don’t actually believe for a moment that our future is anything to fear. I find optimism in movies such as “Infinity” by Jay Weidner, which shares a message of hope, joy and light as it explains our infinite nature and in books by Gregg Braden, a visionary author, who says that this time will mark a major shift in our awareness and our perceptions. But, perhaps those of us who have had to overcome painful challenges have already had a glimpse at what a change in our view of a “normal life” feels like.
I think the best we can do is pray – Let go... Let God!