Month: September 2021

The Universal Language of Grief

The brokenness and vulnerability of grief forces me out of myself. It opens me to a new way of seeing, to a new breadth and depth of empathy and love. It connects me to others in a way that nothing else does. It is the one language that everyone eventually speaks and understands.

Goddess Inspired

September 24, 2021

Tagged Common Language, connection, container, Grief, Universal

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The Universal Language of Grief

I have been writing a lot about grief and loss, mostly because grief is so present in our lives right now. Everywhere we look, there is death – obviously, death from Covid, but also a myriad of other deaths and losses both large and small. Not only is there tangible and physical death, but also the death of civility, respectful discourse, empathy, and connection. Our world, more than ever, seems to have lost the capacity for coming together. Instead of uniting for the common good, we seem to be retreating into our own, “What’s in it for me?” stances. We act as if we have nothing in common with anyone else. We act as if our actions affect only ourselves, when in fact, everything we do separately affects the whole world collectively.

Yesterday I learned of the death of another friend and colleague. It is one more loss in a year that has been a rollercoaster of loss. So many old friends have passed, not from Covid, but from other causes. Each loss fills me with grief and the anticipation of my own demise.

Of course, I am not the only one who has experienced grief. There is a deep, collective grief that everyone seems to be feeling right now. Grief is the one thing that we all have in common. It is a universal emotion that, sooner or later, everyone experiences. It is not something that we can avoid or pass through unscathed. It is not something that can be smoothed over. It is not something that we can buy our way out of. When grief arrives, it cracks us open and brings us all to our knees. It changes us irrevocably.

I believe that those of us on a spiritual path are called upon to hold the container for grief. We are called to be still and to allow the grief to flow through us, and in that flow, to allow that grief to be transmuted into love.

And that just sucks! I don’t want to feel all this grief! I don’t want to carry this burden! I want to go back to the days when I didn’t know grief, when the heaviness didn’t fill my soul. And yet, if not me, who?

Grief is also a catalyst to action. While I hold the container for grief in one hand, I am compelled to act with the other hand. As I open space for my grief and the grief of my friends, I am compelled to respond with empathy and love. If I am grieving over something like racism or climate change or women’s issues, I hold the grief, while at the same time, I march in protest to make changes.

So then, I accept the challenge of holding the container for grief. I accept the challenge of opening my eyes and heart to a grieving world. I accept the challenge of speaking the common language of grief with people with whom I deeply disagree. The language of grief may just be the language that can heal a broken world.

Barbara Garland
September, 2021

When Does the Spiritual Become Political?

Connections and Catalysts

Rather than deny what I am feeling, I will use my feelings as a catalyst to action, as a catalyst to create more love, to raise my vibrations to higher levels of love and gratitude.

Goddess Inspired

September 17, 2021

Tagged Catalyst, Connections, Feelings, love, Vibrations

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Connections and Catalysts

Yesterday I went to see a massage therapist, a highly recommended nerve specialist. I have been having trouble with my right hand. My thumb is swollen and sore, and one finger doesn’t bend completely because of an old sprain. I am no longer able to grip things well and have broken a few dishes because I can’t grip them. Neither my chiropractor nor my acupuncturist have been able to help. So when my acupuncturist recommended Tammy, I was more than willing to see her.

My expectation was that Tammy would spend the entire session working on my hand. Imagine my surprise when she began to scan my body for other blockages. She began working on my hips, my neck, and my sternum, explaining that the lymph system was sluggish, and the sciatic nerve was blocked. “But what does that have to do with my hand?” I asked. She explained, “Everything in your body is connected. If something is blocked, then what I do with your hand won’t hold.”

Everything began to click as I lay on that massage table. Of course, everything in our bodies is connected, but most of the time I think that each thing going on inside of me is a separate and distinct ailment.

And so it is with the world. We are all connected. Our actions, our attitudes, our very existence are connected to everyone else. The diminishment of one contributes to the diminishment of us all. The loss of one is a loss to all. Conversely, if we raise our own vibrations, we raise the vibrations of all.

These last months have been hard on everyone. There is so much unnecessary loss, so much grief, so much anger, so much isolation and frustration. In the last couple of weeks, as a woman living in Texas, I have been equally saddened and enraged by the actions of our leaders. I weep for women who have lost control over their own bodies. I am fearful that many people will lose the ability to vote. As I see what is happening politically in my state and others, I am deeply afraid that our way of life will be destroyed by gaslighting and lies about what we have seen with our own eyes.

Spiritual teachers around the world are telling us that in these times the best we can do is send out love into our own corners of the world. We must keep our own vibrations high. We must heal our own wounds, and make sure that we continue to do our own Soul work. We must radiate Love – Love with a capital L.

That all sounds a bit Pollyannish. It doesn’t seem enough to send out Love, and it feels like I must deny my negative feelings in order to be that loving presence in the world. However, if I think about the idea that everything is connected, I am realizing that I don’t have to deny the emotions that come up when I see the harm that is being perpetrated in the world. Rather, it is my obligation to let those feelings flow through me, to use those feelings of grief, sadness, and even anger to push me into loving actions, to cause me to love more deeply and more strongly. These negative emotions are just as much a part of me as the love. They are all connected, and they make a difference in how I show up in the world. It is how I use these emotions that can either make a positive or negative difference in the world.

Rather than deny what I am feeling, I will use my feelings as a catalyst to action, as a catalyst to create more love, to raise my vibrations to higher levels of love and gratitude. I will channel my negative feelings into calls for change. And because we are all connected, my vibrations can make a difference. I believe that this is what I am called to do in these tumultuous times.

Barbara Garland
September, 2021

Deep Soul Healing

Healing, if looked at through a spiritual lens, is not of the body. Healing is for the soul. While our bodies may have an incurable disease, our life’s purpose is to be at peace with our own souls.

Goddess Inspired

September 1, 2021

Tagged Cure, Healing, Opportunity, Reincarnation, Soul Healing

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Deep Soul Healing

There is an old saying that none of us will get out of this world alive. That is the absolute truth, but none of us wants to face that stark reality. We know it is true, but we deny it until it we take our last breath.

I live in a retirement community, and I face the truth of that statement every day. I face my future in the aging bodies and difficult health problems that I see in my neighbors. I know and love many people who have only a short time left in this life. For me and for everyone else, it is not a matter of if, but when and how.

Several years ago, my women’s group discussed the difference between healing and cure. There is not much difference in the dictionary meanings. Healing means to become sound or healthy again. Cure means to restore to health.

However, the group began to think of cure as a physical process and healing as a spiritual one. When looked at in that light there is a profound difference between the two. If a disease is cured, it is gone. It is no longer a part of one’s life. There are many ailments which can be cured, and there are many which cannot be cured. There are chronic ailments such as Parkinson’s or MS. You can live for a long time with these diseases. You can compensate for the growing debilitation, but ultimately, there is no physical cure.

Healing, if looked at through a spiritual lens, is not of the body. Healing is for the soul. While our bodies may have an incurable disease, our life’s purpose is to be at peace with our own souls. We have incarnated in this body to learn lessons of love and forgiveness. While we live, we have the opportunity to heal our spirits, to come to terms with who we are and who we have been. We have the opportunity to understand that God/dess loves us infinitely and eternally just as we are. We have the opportunity to be at peace with ourselves and with God/dess. We have the opportunity to do the deep Soul work that helps us evolve. By being conscious of our Soul’s work, our Souls can be healed even though our bodies die.

As I wrote last week, we must walk through the storms of life in order to become spiritually awakened and strong. And the ultimate storm is facing our own demise with equanimity, knowing that we are upheld and supported by a power greater than ourselves, having done the best we knew how to do.

I believe that we don’t have to get it right in this one lifetime. I believe that we have lived multiple lifetimes. When this body of mine leaves this plane, I will have the opportunity to incarnate into another body and to learn new Soul lessons. I don’t believe that this one lifetime is all there is. I find a great deal of hope in this idea. I am held in the arms of Spirit, no matter what happens to my body. I may not be cured, but my Soul is healed, and I am free to pass into the next life with no regrets.

Barbara Garland
September, 2021

About

New blogs will be added to this post every Friday.

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About Me

I am a seeker of truth, a truth teller, a lover of the Divine Feminine, an aspiring writer, a mystery, an open book, a work in progress. I have lived a long and varied life, and now in my seventies, I am being called to share some of what I have learned over the years. I hope to share the wisdom of the deep Feminine that is being channeled through me.

If the Goddess has ever whispered to you, I invite you to join me on an incredible journey of love and discovery. May you hear Her wisdom through these words.

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