Month: November 2024

A Daily Practice

by 8hummingbirdway

A new client recently expressed interest in establishing a daily practice. She and I will talk more about it, and I wanted to share some thoughts here as well.

My daily practice has the role of renewing my focus each morning. It is usually the first thing I do. If I had a rough start or am encountering challenges, it brings me to gratitude and to connection with God/Creator/Spirit and to humility. I walk away with the resources I need to be my best self.

My daily practice evolves. There are times when it felt important to be outside every morning and dance on the earth and sing out loud. I miss that. I would like to do more of that. But I live in a neighborhood now and I don’t have a desire to perform for humans – only bees and the groundhog and flowers and the wind.

Today my practice is to go to an altar in my loft over the garage. My altar is a small low table. On it I have the basics – the 4 elements represented by stone, feathers, a candle and water .

I have photos above my altar of those I look to for inspiration – those I admire.

I have small photos of beloved people too .

I light the candle, and my practice begins. “I light the flame of connection to Spirit, to Creator, to my helping spirits ….”

I speak a lot of words. It feels right to me to express myself verbally, to offer gratitude in this way and to reaffirm my connection and gratitude to and for my ancestors, to ask for protection for myself (and for others who have given me permission to do so).

I sing too. I sing in gratitude …and to express my willingness to be a tool for helpful transformation.

If only one or two sentences of this description resonate with you, that could be your daily practice. It might change …and grow …it might be perfect for you for a lifetime. Or at some point you may feel you no longer need it.

A daily practice could be as simple as touching a special stone on your way to the kitchen with the words “Thank you for my life and for this day.” or a chant or a simple song.

My altar practice is not a rule or an obligation; it’s just a help along the way.

It helps me drop my anger or annoyance toward others.

It helps me remember my blessings.

It reminds me of the support I have.

It reminds me of who I want to be in each day.

Would you like to get blog posts sent directly to your email inbox? Subscribe below.

A Stand in the Park

by 8hummingbirdway

About a month ago I heard about a global movement called “A Stand in the Park.” It began in Australia, and now people in 40 countries stand in the park on Sunday mornings (10-11 local time) for personal truth and freedom. There are 44 Stands in the USA. and thousands worldwide.

(It’s a Stand, not a protest.)

This news moved me greatly. I looked for a nearby Stand. There are only 2 others in NY, both downstate. And so I asked Lei Lei for guidance, and here is the response:

This is a blessed aspect of your work here at this time, and so we gratefully and enthusiastically bless your vision and your desire to act. We will be supporting you in this mission and in your ability to be present for this beginning and to assist moving forward in whatever capacity is the best for you, whatever you choose, however things unfold. It will be a blessed group and action and movement forward.

2 days later, after some thought and doubts about the timing of this action …

Yes, the time is now. And you may say to others that the time is now, that you have concerns about where we are going as a being of humanity, and so you feel it is time to stand for personal truth and for freedom.

And so I started a Stand here in the village of Middleburgh, NY. I put up some flyers and began to spend an hour in a village park every Sunday.

I have enjoyed my time. So far I have communed with the nearby trees, the hills, the sky, the sun, been visited by the wind, enjoyed the creek bordering the park, found a dime, been observed by a cat, and met 2 humans and a dog on a walk. Many birds have been around as well. I’m grateful for all of them. I feel closest to the trees and the wind.

I was prepared for a long time on my own. The person who started the movement stood alone in his park for 3 months before another joined him.

I will probably eventually write up something for the local newspaper about it.

This week a friend asked abut the Stand. I had told her I was doing it and she wanted to come. She looked it up on the international website and I hadn’t reported it. But I’m standing for a while and I should put it on …and now I have.

I wrote these words:

Let us stand for personal truth and for freedom. Each person’s truth, whether they agree with me, or another or anyone else. We must be able to speak our truth, be heard …never silenced. This BRINGS freedom.
Let us also stand for community. For knowing each other and sharing ourselves and maybe even helping each other when there is a need and the desire to help.
Simply standing for personal truth and freedom is an excellent start.

Thank you, my supportive friend!

Also, here are the contents of the local flyer:

We Stand for Personal Truth and Freedom

A STAND IN THE PARK

A Stand In The Park unites people in parks all over the world every Sunday Morning

We Stand In The Park for personal truth and freedom

  • 10 – 11am local time
  • It’s a Stand, not a protest
  • We stand for personal truth and freedom
  • Rain, Hail or Holiday…..  we stand

Our local stand is on Baker Ave in Middleburgh at

William Morton Creekside Park 

To learn more: www.astandinthepark.org

There are 44 Stands in the USA.

There are Stands in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Costa Rica, Croatia, Denmark, Europe, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Ireland, Malta, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Portugal, Romania, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom                               

A session of energy work; Blessing and Change

by 8hummingbirdway

Last week I had a session with a trusted healer and friend, G.

Energy work is something I don’t fully understand. I know it includes balancing chakras, the intuition of the healer, and the trust of the client. In my experience with the person I work with, it includes the guidance of spiritual beings.

I also know it has brought me significant healing – physical, emotional, spiritual, + mental.

I don’t always have a specific reason for making an appointment for energy work. It had been a few months, and I felt it was time.

This time I started by letting G know that I had fallen and hurt my knee the day before, so it might be sensitive. She asked about the incident and I told her I had been walking in the dark around my neighborhood and that when took a step with my right foot, I suddenly felt there was no ground under my foot, and I tumbled. I also mentioned that this experience felt very similar to an experience I had in Uganda in February on my trip to Africa. The new wound was within an inch of the scar from that injury.

G asked me about the feeling of the ground not being beneath me. Was there anything that tied the 2 events together?

Thinking back to February, I remembered that this was a day when my son and I had had a falling out. I had flown a very long way to meet him, was exhausted, and that first afternoon he felt I said the something unsupportive. I felt disconnected and didn’t know what to do or say to make things ok between us.

Interestingly, I had had a falling out with my younger daughter on a visit north – about a week before my recent fall, which resulted in her not speaking to me for a few days.

My connection with my 3 children are definitely part of the ground I stand on. Being a mom and being in harmony with them, supportive, present when called upon – these are deeply important to me.

I shared a lot of thoughts and feelings about all this with G verbally, and after a while she encouraged me to leave the realm of words …and be more present for myself, to connect with my heart as she worked.

After a bit I came back to talking as she worked – about the blessing of having children and how it was one of the richest times in my life, being in that time of bringing forth life and being engaged with love and being the center of my children’s world …and just all the blessing! And now having adult children who no longer look at me at that way (naturally), and don’t really have a significant need for me in their lives (or so it seems to me).

G told me then that her guides had a message for me – that when a person agrees to give birth to a child they also agree to have their heart broken. 

This felt profoundly true to me. I closed my eyes, and saw an ocean of loss before me. Just gentle shaded waves of loss.

The tears came for a while.

Later in our session, G passed on the message that when your heart is fully broken, the door is open for things to come back into balance with your child.

I wept the next day as well and then absorbed myself in tasks. The next morning my daughter, nearby again, reached out to me and asked if I’d like to take a walk. We did walk, and had a harmonious connection. I kept in mind the fact that she is having a hard time right now and she does not need my needs or concerns or judgment regarding how she is handling things.

I find myself hoping my heart has been fully broken …I can find a new balance with her.

I wonder the same in relation to my son. Things have shifted with him; have I arrived?

I know I have crossed that bridge with my oldest daughter. Once my greatest challenge, she is now one of my closest allies in this life.

I am grateful for this new understanding and for moving forward toward being supportive, toward increased blessing, balance, and love.

Would you like to get blog posts sent directly to your email inbox? Subscribe below.

Recent Changes

by 8hummingbirdway

I have shared previously that I have been engaged with a healing process called Soul Convergence. I am nearing the end of the process, for which I am grateful. It has been deeply demanding.

It has been a powerful healing which has brought much to me – wisdom, comfort, ease, trust, self-love, harmony. I have been deeply engaged with this process and it has changed my life and my pathway forward, bringing me into closer alignment with my soul.

I have learned a couple of important things through dream analysis, which is provided 8 times over the 5 months of engagement with this work.

I have learned that our souls communicate to us by way of dreams.

One of the most significant things I learned from my dream analysis is that I arrived in this life with a soul agreement to become a channeler. This means that I promised to make myself available to disembodied being(s) – to bring forth information, messages, healing – much as my friend Norlen does.

The difference is that Norlen always wanted to channel, and I had a good deal of resistance to this. However, after repeated messages over the months, I opened my mind and heart and began to accept this mission and learn more about it.

For the past 4 or 5 weeks I have been channeling on my own (asking questions and receiving answers). Many of the answers have been extremely helpful to me – in understanding others around me, in making choices of how to respond to challenges, and so on.

Twice I have channeled for friends. (It’s interesting and challenging to get my own personality out of the way!)

The being I am channeling is named Lei Lei. They are a being that contains Quan Yin, my guardian angel Paula (feminine aspect of Paulo), the Spirit of Love and Generosity and other loving beings that have not (yet) been identified to me.

I have had a longtime (30 years) connection with Quan Yin (which can be spelled in various ways). She is a goddess of love, compassion and mercy. I am obviously closely aligned with my guardian angel as well, although I have only recently become aware of her. I am told that all the beings that make up Lei Lei are closely aligned with me, and for this I am grateful – and feel deeply honored.

It’s uncomfortable to share this information, but it is my work to do so.

It’s also exciting!

My children and my husband and a few trusted others know.

Now I am sharing this information here.

I hope to follow with some channeled information in the future.

Thank you for receiving this information in the highest and best way possible.

Would you like to get blog posts sent directly to your email inbox? Subscribe below.