Archives:

Self-Discovery

Life Coaching

Singing from the Heart:
Mother and Son Fulfill a Lifelong Dream

Mother Praying

A Continuing Series on Natural Laws Part Four: The Laws of Creative Thought, Perception, Illusion and Mental Attraction

The Box of Fear, the Room of Possibilities

Singing from the Heart:
Mother and Son Fulfill a Lifelong Dream
by Patricia Wade

 

Upon turning 40, my firstborn son Greg shared with me his long-time secret wish: to sing and professionally record music. I was surprised and excited because for many years that had also been a secret wish of mine.

I still remember purchasing my first baritone ukulele from Sears and Roebuck when I was 12 years old. I used to sit alone in my bedroom for hours, singing and strumming. Back then, we had lots of sing-alongs at my parents’ house. People would come from miles around to eat and sing and play music. Out of tune or in, it didn’t matter. My favorite times were when I got to sing with my older brother, Larry. We had a few favorite songs such as Love of the Common People and Get Together. These were some of the songs that Greg learned to sing along with as a little boy.  

As Greg and I talked more about music and recording, my heart began to soar at the possibility that maybe—just maybe—we could make our shared secret wish come true.

To this end, we began practicing weekly. The first few times we got together it was hard work and we both felt exhausted afterwards. I had been so used to strumming a certain way and singing harmony through entire songs that I had to revise my style to accommodate Greg’s creativity. For example, Greg wanted me to use different styles of strumming and picking, rather than my usual “plunk-plunk-plunk” method. It was lots of fun learning from each other, but definitely challenging.

After a couple weeks, some of our songs started sounding the way we wanted them to—that was a wonderful feeling of accomplishment! When we finally got up the courage to sing in public during open mikes at places like the Golden Lion and Organic Oasis in Anchorage, we were asked if we had any original songs.

Greg had written several songs many years before. Colorful Rainbow was inspired by the natural beauty of an incredible rainbow he saw while driving up Moose Creek Hill: “It just poured rain like crazy. We had the biggest downpour in days. I got in my car went for a drive and much to my eyes' surprise I see a colorful rainbow, like a bridge across the river...”

Another song was about Greg’s beloved dog, George. George was just a small furry pup that Greg chose at the animal shelter when he was ten years old. They were together for 17 years until George’s old body could no longer stay alive. It was one of the lowest points in Greg’s life. Driving 50 miles to the vet’s office in Anchorage, Greg’s hand rested gently on George’s little body the entire way. Greg had a kinship with a wonderful animal doctor, and they sat in the room together for a long while talking as Greg held his best friend for the very last time. The hardest part was watching the vet carry George out of the room and hearing the door shut. Greg always said that in that moment it was as if a part of his life had ended. “He's getting so frail and old. It scares me to death. Who's going to be my comfort when it's his time to go? I knew he was the puppy for me the moment I saw him in that little cage. A puppy that I named George…”

One evening alone in my car while driving home, I listened to the cassette recording we had just made of that song. I wept because of the immense grief I felt coming through Greg’s voice. In fact, we can only sing about George if Greg feels the time is right. Even in the recording studio, it was basically a one-take song.

The feeling of being so affected by voice and words through a song reminds me of once having lunch with one of our favorite female vocalists, Sylvia, hours before her concert. I mentioned how some of her music touched me so deeply that I couldn’t help but weep. She explained that was because I was hearing her real human voice—whereas so much of today’s musical vocals are filtered through machinery. I’ve always loved Greg’s voice, maybe partly because he sings so genuinely from his heart.

Greg is one of the most sensitive people I know. He is also one of the most courageous. You do not know him like I do, but I can tell you that he is incredibly shy. For him to pour his heart onto a CD through songs for other people to hear was a huge act of bravery.

Greg and I named our group “Little Blue Suitcase.” How did we decide on that? When I was a senior at Palmer High School, I sent away to Sears and Roebuck for a set of three blue suitcases that fit one inside the other. Years later the two larger suitcases were long gone, but the smallest one had been given the special job of holding my music. In fact, for 45 years I have toted my music everywhere in that little blue suitcase! For Greg and me it holds many cherished memories.

During one of our practice sessions, Greg suggested that I write a song about the Little Blue Suitcase and that it could even become our title cut. At first I thought he was joking, but it sounded like fun. And so one afternoon, I let my memory take me back. The words started pouring out…  “Clutched in my hand a brand new sign of liberty. I’d sent away to Sears and Roebuck for my shopping spree. It was a little blue suitcase. It was 1963.  And finally I was free.”

We settled on ten songs for our CD: four originals and six old favorites. We recorded at Mirror Studios in Anchorage with Ken Sease’s production and engineering expertise. He also added acoustic guitar, bass and slide guitar to some of the songs. It took five months of several 6-hour blocks of time in the studio. Afterwards we’d take the CD home and listen to the recording, wishing we would have sung better, going back into the studio to revise, redo, etc. Ken said we accomplished our goal pretty fast, even though it didn’t seem like it to me.

Ken suggested we use Disc Makers in Pennsauken, New Jersey, for the final product. They did everything in-house and were very helpful and friendly to us. We also signed up with the Harry Fox Agency to buy license to use songs that weren’t ours.

In addition to this CD being a mother-son collaboration, we invited other members of our family to be involved in the project too. My son, graphic artist Dimi Macheras, produced the artwork for the CD cover, and my sister, Rain Wade built the website: www.littlebluesuitcase.com.

I feel this truly wonderful experience just goes to show us all that dreams can come true—no matter how old we are. Sometimes an opportunity presents itself in the most subtle way and we have a choice to either ignore it or embrace it. I encourage you to reach out for the chance of doing something outside of your comfort zone. What’s your greatest dream? At a time when I could be retiring and settling into my rocking chair, my heart sings with joy to embrace a new stage of my life.

Patricia Wade enjoys sharing ancient Ahtna legends in schools and with the public. She and Greg are available to sing at gatherings of nice people. Call 745-3191 or email littlebluesuitcase44@yahoo.com

Mother Praying
by Stephanie McMillian

 

I often marvel at the transformative power of prayer in my life. There must be a reason for the persistent existence of prayer. It is certainly the case for me, as others have attested, that the most fervent praying is done when caught up in the most intense angst, worry, and grief. I’ve discovered that this can be accompanied by the most dramatic results!

Mother Teresa, recognized worldwide for her varied thoughts on prayer had this to say on the subject: “Prayer, to be fruitful, must come from the heart and must be able to touch the heart of God.” I don’t know when it started, but I began praying at a very young age. We were not a family that even talked about praying, but it became part of my practice. When I was younger I’d pray for help with medical issues, mostly in fearful anticipation of pain, such as in the dentist chair. I’d also pray for the safety of others in my life. Later on I included concerns about the world in general.

You won’t find me praying with the discipline of Mother Teresa. I’m perfectly imperfect. But I do my share of praying from the heart in earnest petition. Once I had children, the intensity of my prayer turned a corner into the gut wrenching, frenetic variety. It developed into what I call “mother praying.” Mother praying is praying-until-you’re-inside-out. But it’s really praying-until-you’re-outside-in! What I mean is that the prayer comes from the heart so sincerely that faith becomes a non-issue. In my experience, it works because my prayer and I are one, and I “fall asleep” with the absolute knowledge that it will be answered. I take it to the other side, beyond the edges of ego consciousness. Still praying, I become lucid in a dream-like state. The subject of my prayer becomes the focus of the dream, where my troubles are addressed and clearly answered.

I have found that intense mother-praying has cut my misery in half and delivered me and those involved to a much happier place. When praying this way, my every breath contains my pain and my plea for assistance. I pray unceasingly because I am filled with total resolve to continue praying until I get the response that faith tells me is mine. It usually happens at night when I turn in. And then something happens. There have been instances in which I felt that I actually touched the heart of God.

You can do it, too, and reap the benefits. It works hand-in-hand with respect for the dream process. If you are a believer in the power of dreams and acknowledge to your inner self that you are “all eyes and ears,” demonstrate your eagerness by giving yourself the suggestion that you will remember your dreams. And then pray with the ferocity of a mother bear protecting her cubs, in earnest petition. Hang on to this prayer with your intent being the highest good for all concerned, fueled by the utmost sincerity in your quest for solution, as long as it takes you to fall asleep.

See if you can perceive a response. Be patient in this process. You may receive a response quickly during the night or it may take further effort in your demonstration of unquestioning belief that there is Someone or Something in which your welfare is rooted that exists beyond the realm of conscious limiting thought. On occasion I have prayed for help with the same issue for three months on end before there was a perceivable response in what I call the Meeting Place, the inner stage upon which spirit and pure consciousness deliver their messages to my awareness. It’s where guidance, instruction, clarification, insight, and meaning communicate through symbology. Your answer may be couched in a dream, or furthered while you gain lucidity in a dream, or more directly in an “out-of-body” experience, to name a few vehicles of this form of communication.

By the way, mother-praying is a tool idiosyncratic to all humans regardless of gender! Earnest prayer is one of our inborn tools, always available to help us cope with the inevitable challenge that comprises life. I have discovered that we possess a myriad of inner mechanisms to enhance our journey when we take the time to uncover them and then apply them in our daily lives.

Stephanie McMillian is a Licensed Professional Counselor in private practice who assists her clients in accessing their inner tools. You can reach her at 229-9926.

A Continuing Series on Natural Laws
Part Four: The Laws of Creative Thought, Perception, Illusion and Mental Attraction
by Jackie Kosednar

 

This is the last article in this series on Laws. Last issue we explored the Law of Good, the Law of Supply, the Law of Forgiveness, and the Law of Cause and Effect. (If you missed this, you can find it online at www.alaskwellness.com). If you have struggles and conflicts that cause you to feel powerless in life, see if working with the natural laws instead of against them makes your life easier while releasing unwanted drama. 

The Law of Creative Thought

Thoughts are energetic causes that create effects. Effects can be as wide ranged as a new theory in technology to the happiness or unhappiness we feel inside. Thoughts are things: energetic blueprints that are propelled into the world to gather or organize life. Every man-made object started as an idea. Thought is not only creative, however; it also attracts and repels. Through thinking we attract things to us, or repel them away. However, we may also attract those things that we may not want or repel the very things that would be helpful to us. This is where the game of life gets personal and interesting.

What it really comes down to is belief. Our beliefs are the basis of our reality.  It is natural to believe that our beliefs are true, for we prove them to ourselves by manifesting them in the world or getting someone else to agree with our views. Then we feel right and safe.

Because our actions and state of being are the result of habitual thinking, this is also the place where we affect our life path in creative ways. Think of it as a personal coloring book. When we begin, all we see are faint lines and patterns. But then we begin to color the pages our own way, with our own unique style. This is how we do life, with life. We color our books and add to them as we go along.

The Law of Perception

Because our perception creates reality, reality is always an interpretation. And, because of this, no two people actually share the same reality. Our point of view is a combination of mechanical universe and the type of conditioning we have received. Thus, our perceptions can be slightly different from another’s—or vastly different. 

Communication happens when we believe we share the same point of view with another. Missed communication can always happen because perceptions never, really, totally match. Trying to convince others that your perception is right is useless. Everyone believes his or her perception is the ‘true’ one. This is necessary to maintain individuality. Perception is the window through which we see our individual life and world. Conflict is created when two points of view oppose.

The Law of Illusion

Truth based on perception is not really truth. Nor is truth that is solely based on logic. Rather, truth is the subtle energy behind the human movie. All human perception involves shades of logic and abstract thinking. Imagination and story are also woven into our thinking. None of our thinking is really true—nor is it designed to be. 

Our right brain is always operating. We make things up; this is our magic. In fact, we cannot not make things up. We love to exaggerate and minimize and otherwise distort reality to fit our whims. The truths we live and die for are really only beliefs or agreed upon theories that we have made up. We all live in our own illusion or, as the ancients called it, in maya. And not only do we live in our own private illusion, we also live in collective and tribal illusions. We love illusion so much that we create it all around ourselves—in the movies, on television, in the books we read, or how we gossip with each other. The only trouble with illusion is that it can blind us to what really is. The good news is that when you see an illusion as an illusion it dissolves. Awake, you can enjoy illusions or dissolve them instead of taking them personally or mistaking them for truth.

The Law of Mental Attention/Intention

Since thought contains creative, organizing energy, what you focus on and think about will get bigger. When you make a decision, you send energy in a specific direction. When you move your attention or ignore something, it loses power. When you keep your attention on the negative aspects, it creates more negativity. When you move your attention to the positive, a different energy is produced. In short, whatever you habitually put your focus on, believe in, or have decided about life, yourself and others, will show up in your life somehow, someway, whether it is good for you or not. 

We all have to deal with the negative or more unpleasant aspects of life in order to maintain our balance. To deny the negative is both unhealthy and unsafe. If your brain feels insecure, it can obsess with the negative. On the other hand, total denial will keep you blind while the negative continues to brew. A better way is to acknowledge the negative and determine if there is anything you can do right now to solve it. If there is nothing you can do at the moment, withdraw your attention so it doesn’t get bigger. The goal is to give it as little attention as possible until it is time to solve the problem. Then give it your full attention.

Waiting is a great skill in life. Knowing when to move and when to wait is very valuable. The way to work with this law is to keep your attention on the positive. Put your life in a continuously positive frame and train yourself to count your blessings.

Who does your life really belong to?

Much of our life actually originates behind the scenes. My hope is that through this series you will begin to understand your life better. Why? Because your life doesn’t just belong to you; it belongs to everyone and everything you touch—physically, mentally or emotionally—in your life.  There is so much more of you than you know because there are hidden aspects of yourself designed to come out only in certain circumstances, sparked by certain people or life experiences. Growth is a process that continues from birth to death. You honor your own process when you go with the flow.

Jackie Kosednar is a hypnotherapist, energy medicine practitioner, human design analyst, and the publisher of Alaska Wellness Magazine. She teaches workshops on weight loss, mastering depression and Human Design. Contact: 272-2469 or jackie@alaskawellness.com