New Life

I have spent a life studying wisdom and healing
and using both to help others find their way.
This month marks three years since I began
my own journey of recovery from caregiving.

 I seem to have made
a good start for a new life,
living and working once again
in the beautiful Ojai area.

This past year I have been very busy
teaching classes, leading groups
and giving talks about
meditation, peace, change and happiness,
as well as coaching clients about
recovery, caregiving,
relationships and actualization.

This transition appears
a bit miraculous to me,
but it is based upon
a set of proven ideas and skills,
and these are what I strive to bring
to my clients and my classes –

Mindfulness and serenity,
wisdom and kindness
can help us persevere beyond losses
and create a new life
of greater light, love, hope, joy,
purpose, meaning and service.

The definite miracle is that I am
presenting meditation for agencies!
For much of my career as a psychologist
I had to remain hidden and secret about
the spiritual consciousness that drives my work.
I doubt if I ever really fooled anybody,
but it is wondrous to be able to speak openly
about the greater depths of human beings,
and amazing to be able to do so professionally
for clinics, rehabs, hospices, etc.

Yesterday I served as the keynote speaker
for Ventura County’s 5th Annual
Conference on Brain Injury.
My message was that we are more than
our brain and its traumas  –
we are beings, we are souls.

A diverse group of survivors,
caregivers and professionals
made it very clear to me
that they found this lesson inspiring.
The world is changing!
I believe this signals the potential emergence
of a non-sectarian spiritual profession.

I need to say thanks to
Nick Haner, Kathi Whalen,
Devaki Berg and Anne Bowen
for helping me through
the transition from bereavement,
and also to Sue Tatangelo
of Camarillo Healthcare District
for believing that spirituality
is just what is needed
to help all kinds of people find their way
through the changes life takes us through.

The artwork for this blog is
by the 20th Century Russian
Painter Nicholas Roerich.
This painting is entitled
“The Star of the Hero.”
I take it to be about the act
of faithfully keeping watch
for signs of ever greater things to come.