A Great Fisherman

In my opinion, there are two kinds of fishermen, one actually fishes for food, the other fishes for the thrill of conquering. I respect the first, but do not understand the philosophy of the second. Catching something just to throw it back makes no sense to me.

There are men, and women, who fish for souls, play games with them for awhile and then cut them loose without any warning. I wonder about those people too. I believe men are more likely to do this kind of fishing just so they can tell the story to their friends. In my experience women are more likely to fish for a keeper. I’m sure both species dream about the special one that got away.

A hook in the mouth or anywhere else hurts and can cause irreversible scaring. If you want to be a great fisherman keep your pole in the water and don’t fish for more than you intend to keep.

Lunch With a Friend

I never thought a simple lunch in my favorite Chinese restaurant could open my eyes to see that I really have moved on with my life. On top of that the buffet was absolutely delicious, especially the steamed shrimp, not as yet affected by the gulf oil spill. Living in a desert town has its benefits. Our seafood mostly comes frozen.

My lunch partner was a female friend who detests living here. She is trying to sell her house so she can move to Texas and be near her grown children. The woman has accumulated a major amount of negative energy throughout her life and has never found a way to deal with it. It just keeps building up like a giant pile of Lego blocks.

Over the past few months I have tried to help her by suggesting things she could do to help herself. I have often reminded her “I can’t do it for you”. Noticing that my life had changed dramatically from when we first met a few years ago, she slowly began to listen to me. She asked me how I obtained my knowledge and I told her books, the internet and just plain paying attention to what is going on around me.

I recently loaned her a copy of a book written in such simple language anyone could understand it. Hey it even has large print! At lunch today she returned the book. I asked her if she had learned anything from her reading. Her answer amazed me. She said, “I got a lot out of the book and made copies of most of the pages, but I haven’t applied it to my life yet.” With great restraint I said nothing. I wanted to yell WHAT! It just goes to show you can lead a horse to water but, you can’t make it drink.

The crowning comment came at the end of our meal, when she suggested that if my daughter (age 30) and my grandson ever moved away I should move with them. My reply was why? I am not tied to my daughter. Then it dawned on that the biggest difference between my friend and I is her family totally consists of her grown children and grandchildren. My family consists of the entire universe. That realization was more than worth the price of lunch!

The Old Woman and the Cat

One of my purposes in writing this blog is to share the amazing and not so amazing occurrences along my path from there to here. As I have related before, I began taking photographs which contained spirits from another realm at the beginning of my evolvement journey. While some of the images are very clear some are not.

At first I didn't know what I had. Fortunately I met a young man who had a lot more spiritual knowledge than I possessed at the time. He helped me see that the photos contained much more than the ordinary eye could see. With his help I developed a practiced eye.

One of the fun things about spirit photography is that in their realm there is no up or down or for that matter left or right. Sometimes the photo needs to be turned to take in all that there is to see. My favorite person to share my collection with is my 8 year old grandson. I often find him thumbing through by spirit photo book and it leads to a discussion of who sees what.

The photo I am sharing today is of an old woman, who looks to me to be Native American, and a cat sitting on her right side. I always get a slightly eerie feeling when I look at her. It might be because she appears to be so old. I hope that you will be able to see her too and that you will check your own photographs to see if you have captured spirits in them. It takes an open mind and perhaps a bit of imagination to spot them. Good luck on your search.

A Freelance Soul

The quote “Watch where everyone else is going and walk in the opposite direction” could have been written about me; as well as the song made famous by Frank Sinatra, “My Way.” Being just a bit off step with my peers is a lot more fun than just fitting in. Some people in my age category spend their time at their local Senior Citizen Centers or joining groups like Red Hatters. Boring!! That is not the way I choose to spend my so called “golden years”.

I have fulfilled my obligations of raising my three children, put in more than enough years as a wife and now my life is mine- all mine!! I begin my day by posting my latest blog entry, which I have previously typed on word. It allows time to digest what I have written and make last minute changes. Since I am a very picky writer I often reword sentences right up to the last minute. I have not outlived my desire to be a perfectionist. It has to do with pride. Anything with my name on it is going to be good or it is simply not going to be offered.

After I have exercised my mind I exercise my body by walking for an hour five days a week. Now for the best part, the rest of my day I leave up to the universe to plan. I have found recently that it has much better ideas than I could ever come up with. That’s probably because the universe knows the exact experiences I need to evolve my soul better than I do. It has a cheat sheet- the original script.

I have always been a little bit abnormal. Take for instance the simple question on the facebook info page- hometown? I didn’t know how to answer that, as I was born in Alaska, moved to Washington State at about two, lived in Seattle from age 12 to about 29, moved to California for 10 years and have lived in New Mexico ever since. I tried to make my answer earth, but fb doesn’t have a sense of humor.

Then there is the question about eye color found on most forms. The majority of people have no problem checking a box. My eyes are an unusual grayish color, sometimes with a hint of green. I dare you to find that color listed anywhere.

Lately I am having a problem with married-single-divorced? Gee I don’t know what do I feel like today? I’m definitely not married, but do I check divorced or single? Single doesn’t seem fair to my three legitimate children, but divorced was 11 years ago and doesn’t really apply anymore. Maybe I should just leave it blank- for now.

The only question I don’t have a problem with is nationality. My answer is clearly Anglo, but it doesn’t really seem fair to my French, Scottish, Swedish and English ancestors. After all Spanish, Native American and African American get their own box!

That about sums it up for today. As I said in the beginning being a bit off step with my peers is a lot more fun than just fitting in. Enjoy YOUR life it is the only one you have!

Invisible People

Several years ago I worked as the resource development coordinator for our local nursing home. My job was to create projects which made the community aware that there were people inside the building that needed attention. I ordinarily did not communicate directly with the residents of the home, but worked on their behalf.

One morning, on the way to the copy machine, I learned a very important lesson that stuck in my mind as if it happened yesterday. I walked right past a female resident sitting in her wheelchair in the hall. As I put my hand on the doorknob to the copy room an invisible something or someone stopped me in my tracks. I went back to the woman and said, “good morning”. Her face lit up as if I had given her a million dollars.

In the talks I gave to community groups I often related this story to point out how little effort it takes to make someone happy. I believe honestly taking the time to recognize another person’s existence is the most important gift we can give. The cruelest act is to completely ignore someone as if they did not even exist.

Our local Wal-Mart has been going through a major renovation, leaving customers and employees so confused nobody knows where anything is. I have watched many people display anger at the situation, often taking it out on the checkers. I began intentionally letting employees know that I recognize how hard it is for them to work under these conditions. I get a lot of smiles in return for my effort.

How often do you walk through your day so intent on what you are doing that you don’t even speak to another person? Wives do you really see who your husband is beyond the paycheck he brings home? Husbands do really see who your wife is beyond the dinner plate she puts in front of your face. Parents do you really see your children beyond what you expect them to do to carry out your plans for them?

I believe part of the problem with the world today is nobody communicates. Adults don’t talk because they are just too busy. Kids don’t talk because they are constantly plugged into a mechanical device of some kind. Maybe we should put the whole world in a really big room and not let them out until they learn to recognize their fellow beings and speak to one another again!

How about just for today you let your "invisible person inside" out and make a real effort to notice the people around you?

Trust-a powerful little word

My curiosity as a writer often leads me to the dictionary to find a simple definition of a word. It said trust is “a firm belief in the honesty, reliability, integrity, character or ability of a person or thing.” That’s a lot of power for such a little word.

As children we trust that someone will attend to our basic needs for survival. As we get older our childlike trust can be affected by lessons learned from our life experiences. At first the lessons are simple. For example we learn not to touch fire or we will be burned; we learn not to run into the path of a moving vehicle or we will be run over. As we grow our lessons grow too.

Trust is extended to our relationships, both physical and ethereal. We trust in a Creator defined by our individual experiences. Although there is only one, there are many paths to know and trust that entity. No path is greater than another.

Whatever path we are on we are given a life full of opportunities to trust others. Sometimes our trust, given in the form of loyalty, is misguided and we need to step back and ask is the relationship helping or hurting us? If it is causing negative energy it may be time to disconnect for the benefit of both parties.

I truly believe that everyone deserves a second chance, no matter what the rest of the world thinks of them. We all do things we wish we hadn’t done, so it is only fair to allow a proper amount of time for the person to change their tune and correct the deed.

To continue to accept negative behavior from anyone is beyond all reason. Many have been taught that Jesus always turned the other cheek. Well good for him. We are 100% human and as such, we are allowed to turn our backs when others treat us with disrespect. Trust is a wonderfully powerful little word that should be reserved for those who have demonstrated by their actions that they are worthy of our loyalty.

Forget It

What are you going to do when what you want
doesn’t seem to be coming true?

Forget it? Forget it!

Like chicken soup a little hard work is good for you
for anything worth having is worth the struggle too.

If it came too easy just by holding out your hand
you would worry and wonder and not understand.

Believing and working to always do your best
makes more than the getting the valuable quest.

Barbara Loure’ Gunn