What if the world isn’t falling apart...but falling into place? I might have read that someplace. But still feel it is true. What if this current heated chaos is just a way of airing out the debris to make way for a better way of living for all? 

This urgent unrest reminds me of a ‘healing crisis’. If you are familiar with natural healing or the administering of Homeopathy, it isn’t uncommon after choosing the perfect remedy, to sometimes get a reaction of a healing crisis. It’s sort of like the body is prompted to heal so it does it all at once and has all its responses activated that it feels like messy undesired effects or something that is wrong. When actually it is something very right, just a bit sudden. It is when the body is doing what it needs to do only at more of an accelerated pace. 

The results of a healing crisis can sometimes look messy when actually the debris is being dealt with and cleared away. It’s a lot like cleaning out a closet. During the process it looks twice as messy and disorganized. The crap you haven’t used or seen in years gets pulled out and is strewn all over the floor only to have to face the reason why you have it and decide what to do with it. Often there is guilt and emotion gripping you in the process. It is all painful and uncomfortable until you clear out what no longer serves you and you can reorganize, and put back only the things that are necessary to function in your life. 

Maybe this time and messiness of 2020 is a healing crisis while cleaning out our collective closet. It is exactly what we need to face and work through, just at an uncomfortable, accelerated pace. We know that growth can be painful. Think of growing pains or the pain of labor in birth. But healing itself is a natural process. We don’t have to tell a wound how to scab over. Or we don’t have to tell our bodies how to heal a bruise. Our life force knows what to do, we just need to not hinder it or stop the process. 

To use those metaphors, we are in the middle of a healing crisis. It is scary and causes doubt and uncertainty. We are also in the middle of cleaning out our collective closet. If we interrupt that process and leave it; we are in a bigger mess. Our best course is to trust we are finding a new way through this mess and will be better once we work through it. It is hard, emotional work, but if we stay with it, we’ll be better for the process. 

I’m working on it.

I recently had an echocardiogram that reaffirms my awe of the human body. Lying in the dark, watching the images on the screen, I was fascinated to see my own beating heart. It was pumping and working away so hard; amazingly I had the ability to just watch it and be grateful. I said out loud "thank you little heart - keep going - don't stop". The technician must have thought I was a bit crazy. To think my whole existence depends on a muscle to keep going. It gets no rest, no good-days and bad-days, no vacations - just non-stop pumping. I think about how often I get a muscle leg cramp or foot cramp. My heart is just a muscle, too. What if it decides to just cramp up or have a weird glitch?

All our lives hang in the balance of tissues and muscles getting signals to continue on. That is sobering. Our bodies are so wonderfully made. They take so much abuse and just keep on doing what they do - usually without much thought from us. Yet, we often are shocked when something is wrong or a disease infiltrates. But when looking at all the things that can go wrong with the human body, it's a wonder any of us are well at all. We are really just at the mercy of the next heartbeat or the next breath.

So a big shout out to my heart....and yours...for doing such a marvelous job. KEEP ON beating little hearts....we are so grateful.



Note - In case you were wondering, Heart Disease runs in our family, and we have lost a few dear, loved ones because of that condition. I recently had some heart 'rhythm' issues come up, so I am getting that checked out. The best I can do is eat responsibly, keep moving, and be aware of any changes. Please take care of yourself, be kind to your body, and I'll do the same.

In honor and remembrance of upcoming Mother's Day, I am posting a series of drawings from my sketchbook.

This is a drawing done in 1989. I had no eraser at the time, otherwise I would have cleaned it up a bit more. It is special to me because it is of my Grandmother Dorothy Sedlecky. It was done at her apartment. It has a violet plant in the background, and I always think of her when I see them.

Grandma prayed everyday for her family and others, and I'm sure she is praying as fervently, while in Heaven. I love and miss you Grandma. It is nice to remember the time we've spent together.

I had done some drawings from my sister Diane's photographs of Paris. I gave the finished drawings to her as a gift. She loves Paris and visits each year.  I wanted her to have some scenes to keep. I've never shared these preliminary sketches. They have a slightly different feel than the originals. The medium is charcoal on paper. I was just trying to work out the compositions. 

The bottom finished drawing was called TREASURE SEEKERS because my sister loves crows, and both crows AND Diane are known to be treasure hunters. They both search for treasures wherever they go. I was working out how I would have her meet a crow and exchange treasures.