As the longest day of the year comes to an end, an opportunity for a new way of being begins . . .

This is a crossroad moment for us, should we choose to take it this way.  The Summer Solstice graces us by providing a portal of opportunity through which we can walk with unusual grace and ease, moving with the flow of Nature’s own rhythm.  No wonder it has been celebrated for countless centuries.

The key to opening wide this portal of potential– this Portal of Possibility–is a deep feeling of gratitude for all the bounty in our life.  (not a bad idea any day!)  This feeling is nothing short of a communion.  It is a quantum communication with the Infinite Universal Field which seems only too willing to provide our heart’s desires when beckoned forth through this medium.  This is my experience, anyway.

Watching the sun setting on this day, I cannot help but be filled with awe at the natural beauty that surrounds me here on this beautiful Island of Maui.    As I photograph, an owl glides silently by.  She is a symbol to me of death and rebirth—another portal, underlining the importance to consider what might be hampering me and needs to be let go of right now, in order to have more space to enjoy what comes next.

To my visitors and companions moving through this passageway, I bid you a very good journey.

We, as well as our dear friend Lisa, put up rain-protected flyers all over the area with his description (extra digits on his paws!), we went door to door all over the neighborhood, put up flyers at vet offices, went to both animal shelters 1-2 times a week looking for him, put ads in the papers, and said lots of prayers that where ever he was, he was happy and at peace (we weren’t sure about the coyote factor).

A day or so later, while on the internet, looking for suggestions on how to find your lost pet, I stumbled upon a professional tracking service.  I called him, almost on a whim, but he said he could drive right up with his two dogs who work all over the world and who have found buried earthquake victims, murder victims (these dogs were on a Discovery channel show about what they do) as well as many lost pets.  How could I say no?  We wanted our beloved pet back.  His tracking dogs traced Buddy’s steps down to the lake (Buddy is attracted to water….coming from Hawaii he’s got instinctive “fishing” genes), along the lake, then across the lawn to the driveway of a just completed new house right on the lake, where the scent abruptly “disappeared”.  But the dogs gave the signal that there was no smell of trauma or death.  The tracker said it could mean the Buddy went into a vehicle that drove off (construction worker’s truck bed that had a lunch in it?? who knows).  That was that.

Meanwhile, Lisa knew of an animal intuitive (very “under the radar-not advertised”) whom I did call and who tuned into Buddy and conveyed many messages from him to me, of a soul level nature.  Buddy “told” me things through Mandy (who didn’t know me previously) that were perfectly attuned to what was going on for Buddy, me, as well as Jenna and regarding other things besides this physical separation.   There was a deep meditative quality to the messages, beyond the animal instinctive-physical plane.  I would consider sharing them with any who are truly interested.  That was an amazing piece.

A month ago I had a call from a young college man, home on a break from Berkeley, staying with his parents just a few houses down from where we formerly lived, saying he thought he saw a cat that looked just like Buddy’s photo on the flyer, twice. He likes cats a lot and he wanted us to get our cat back, his dad said.  I spent time going back and forth, different times of the day, talking with my former neighbors as well as the lovely family who bought my house.  No Buddy.

After that I just kept checking the shelters weekly, checking the “founds” in the paper and Craig’s list, and, even though Jenna or I would just start crying at times, in grief, and profoundly missed his presence in our family,  I was working in an inner way, to “let go”, surrender and accept what was, our cat was gone physically—maybe to coyotes, maybe adopted to a new family, maybe still “out there”—but he was still a strong presence energetically, with us.   Through working with Mandy, the messages were to just Trust.  Trust that whatever and however it played out, the Love, the connection was still there, and that how it unfolded, to have him back physically or not, was ok, had purpose, and that this whole process had meaning and was part of an unfolding.

Then, four days ago or so, I had a call from a lady who lives on a small lane in a house right on Lake Whatcom, about halfway between our old house (where Buddy was sighted) and the house he was lost at.  She had just noticed our flyer TWO days earlier (after two months out, I was even surprised the flyers were still up).  So I drove down there and walked up and down the lane, calling his name, putting out cat food, but no sign, stayed about two hours, then left, after speaking with two other neighbors on the lane who also had seen a cat similar to the photo I carried with me.  I couldn’t get right down by the lake shore where the cat was really seen because it was on private property and at that point I hadn’t been invited.

Also, I’m sure an animal on it’s own, especially a cat, must travel a good range to find adequate food and safe shelter.  The cat could have been half a mile away when I was calling out and offering food.  And a cat on it’s own would wisely be in an extreme state of survival and not come running easily when in that state.
In the next few days I went back and forth, the ten miles between our house and the area, as well as “talking” to Buddy, asking him if he was ready to rejoin us.  Then, two days ago, I was at the Humane Society, doing another “lost cat check”, finished and went out to my car, feeling defeated.  As I just sat there a thought came into my mind, like someone whispered an idea to me, to go back in and ask them how they catch the many cats at the shelter.  I did, and besides the cats that people just bring in, they told me they use live animal traps, and that they were for rent!  So I got one.    Then, awhile later, another idea like a whisper in my ear…… I remembered that Buddy LOVES watermelon and mangoes….what can I say, he’s from Hawaii.

I called the neighbors at the sighting and one of them, Nilah, was so kind and helpful, saying I was welcome to come set up the trap on her deck and she would also help me, having had cats before, and having caught feral cats as well.  We set it up with the mango and fragrant watermelon I brought, then I sat outside, around the corner from the deck.  My goal was just to see the cat, just to determine that it probably wasn’t Buddy, as had happened before.  No sign of an animal for over an hour.  Nilah brought me some delicious homemade tomato soup, to warm me.  The sun set, it became very chill, and I left, driving up the lane, then pulled over to take a call from Jenna.  Right after, my phone rang again, it was Nilah!!   She said, “We have a cat!”.  I went right back to her house, flew out of the car as she was saying, “And he’s got extra toes!!”.  Then I lost it, crying, ran around the corner, and there was Buddy in the cage, totally freaked out by being trapped, all his survival instincts exploding out….but safe and whole and just THERE!

I hugged Nilah over and over, then drove Buddy home, phoning Jenna on the way, and she couldn’t stop crying for joy, and kept phoning me back, then I phoned my son Nate who was waiting to hear— he was so happy and had been so sad that Buddy was missing too…. Then Buddy and I were home.   I sat down on the floor with him until Jenna got home. Talking with him, he calmed down so quickly….he couldn’t get enough cuddling and energy (me too!), the purring was nonstop, and then he would go eat more food (the vet said he lost over 3 pounds, a lot for someone who only weighed 13!), then more cuddles, then another snack, then more and more cuddling.   Jenna came home and held him and held him and Buddy stuck to her like glue.   He follows us everywhere and slept peacefullly on Jenna’s bed, and only woke me at 6:30 this morning. Buddy and I speak to one another from a whole other place.  I call him Sir Buddy Binky, the Lion-Hearted, a brave and true cat.      We are a happy family.

Marlena–Vancouver, B.C.

At the end of Spring this year, my healer moved away. I was in despair because I had come to depend on her for my physical well being. It was difficult for me to look for a replacement because in my experience, no one would be able to do what she does.  I decided that I would purchase a massage chair instead. And it so happened that Costco offered  one on the floor that week and I purchased it.

I must say that I have been able to hold my own since my healer’s departure and I find that my back is getting more supple every day.
With the realization that my back is in good shape now, I have named the massage chair “My seat of Gratitude”, and I sit in it daily thanking God for this Miracle.

Janet–Maui, Hawaii

In 1999 we were in an upward spiral to infinite financial independence due to our investing in a foreign bank which yielded enormous returns. My beloved and I watched this growing abundant horizon with excitement and humble gratitude for the blessing of this fortune.

We embarked upon many life-style changes including a full year of traveling and moving to Maui to create our home. We greeted these opportunities with tremendous  gratefulness, while practicing generosity toward others less fortunate.  Our spending was conscientious and we never over purchased for the sake of material gain.  Rather, we pursued the opportunities of bringing art and beauty into our lives and to others.  We were new at this concept of being millionaires, so approached the territory with restraint.

The tide turned when we were not able to withdraw money.

The explanations from the offshore bank officials were sporadic and perplexing.  However, we placed our trust in the continuity of that financial institution, and did not, in our naivety, heed to any whispering inner voices that might be telling us to pay attention.  We continued to focus our energies upon creating our home, and placed a large sum of money into purchasing a house that we loved.  The foreign bank promised that they were resolving the disruption.

During the next month, we sat on pins and needles until the unthinkable news came our way: the bank has failed, we had incurred serious debt, and we lost the house and a large sum of money involved in that transaction. We had just arrived on Maui, we knew no one, we were in our 60’s, with $5,000.00 left to our name.

Until this financial disaster, I had never known lack in any form.  I always had plenty of money for my needs and desires, and didn’t know the meaning of “survival”.  In the Fall of 2000, in shock, I wrote of my experience.  It was important for me to fully feel the impermanence of life, and I wasn’t very good at accepting it then. The miracles and grace DO happen however.    .  .  Stay with me

Journal Entries–beginning October 2000
Oh God, why me—why us?  Is it because I must learn the abject dismal plight that millions of humans must endure?  Cannot I compassionately embody their condition without having to live through it?
Tonight I am only posing questions and writing about my nightmares. I feel no gratitude for anything in this moment.  I am in the dungeon where trust eludes me.  I am terrified.
Ram Das speaks of karma yoga as the path of knowledge inherent in what’s here now, in my face, as life itself.  It is not about the escape, but rather the full embrace.  Resistance is what creates suffering for me—-the holding back from full participation because I want the circumstances to change.  So many beliefs are being tested and I am wondering who I really am.
I do feel a shift in my energy and perceptions today and am less in the doldrums of despair.  In allowing myself to really feel all the emotions that I skillfully avoided all my life, I have shut myself off from seeing a larger horizon. I cannot stay in this dimension of scarcity, lack, fear, anger, and victimhood to which I have succumbed.
Where is trust now? I have no other choice but to accept grace and love since love is all that really exists.  In this moment, am I grateful?  Do I have love in and around me?  Do I have food, clothing, shelter, friends, family, a car, some money, good health?  Yes, of course I do, and I am far more fortunate than 99% of the world’s people.  My path right now must be devoted to gratitude, knowing that all is well and always will be even through the times of pain and discomfort.

Having our very survival at stake, we met wonderfully generous friends who offered places to live, opportunities for work, and true friendship as we began to draw in our community of like-minded and hearted souls.  The more we were thankful, the more generosity we were offered. We are cared for, supported, held, and nourished. When I touch into fear around lack of money, I know it’s big medicine to really accept that there is no security, and security most certainly doesn’t revolve around money.  I watch when anxiety seizes, how awful it feels, and how it has become  a huge collective, and certainly familiar, wound that is working its way through our global humanity.

Now nine years later we live abundantly and peacefully and dynamically in a world of great upheaval and terror which I do not consider to be my own reality. What I think and believe is my reality, so I try to make choices to experience what is beautiful, sublime, loving, and in integrity.  I am always learning to choose harmony over despair.  Emotional housecleaning is a necessity to my ongoing sense of balance, and attunement to a larger landscape allows more acceptance than simply seeing what’s at the tip of my own nose.

Present time–March 2009

We are in a comfortable, elegant life of simplicity and grace where we want for nothing.  We live on combined social security and the little work that continues to come our way. Our determination has been to afford plenty of spacious time to nurture our relationship, our friendships, to enjoy this lovely island, and to create satisfying projects.  I am seldom anxious about our financial future because life has taught me that I am always provided for. What’s best for me always appears if I don’t try to manipulate the direction I am shown. Nothing is too wonderful to happen and I invite in the magic of unexpected  blessings.  God is my true source of abundance.

Above all, I know the peace inherent in surrender—-a surrender that comes out of acceptance of what life is presenting in this moment and knowing that it is mine to respond to—a constant choice of fear or peace. One is not wrong or right, but I am free in one and imprisoned in the other.

Lotus—Maui, Hawaii

I  know I am Mr. Dreamer but I believe any Miracles and Grace start from a dream.                                                                                                                                                                          I was orphaned in Japan when I was 3 years old.   I was raised by a family friend who was a gambler.   By the time I was 16, he could not support me and I have been on my own ever since.
It took only a week to become homeless from having a normal family.  I had to get two jobs to make $1200 a month to feed by myself. The only way was to work at night clubs or discos.   That is right, I grew up in 70’s.  Disco was super happy music in all of the world at the same time.   I had to work 5 P.M. to 12 A.M. at the disco and 1:00 A.M. to 6 A.M. at night clubs, then went to high school for sleep.

One day,  one of my best high school friends told me he will become a fire fighter.  I knew what firefighters do at a fire scene but I didn’t know how to become fire fighter.    My friend was a very smart guy.   I never had time to study because I was always working.  He called me almost a week before the fire fighter exam. He said he will go find copies of the last five years of the Fire Fighters exam at the Public Library.  Do I want to come?

I went with him. He was copying all the questions by hand, but I had no idea what they were asking about, so I started counting which numbers were the most popular answers in the five years. I found magic number ‘3′ was always a popular answer.   At the day of real exam I marked number ‘3′ more than 90% and I passed!

Second test was the physical exam but I had no problem because I was dancing 6 hours every night and was in great shape.  Third exam was interview but I had no problem communicating with anybody because I was dealing with different customers every day and night and I was very polite to all customers.   It was great way to become a firefighter from King of Night.

I did 2 years of fire fighting, 8 years of rescue squad and 2 years of EMT.  Then, in the 13th year I received an order and I got transferred to a 9 to 5 desk job at HQ dealing with politicians, making up budget meeting scenarios–both questions and answers–and finding the boss’ favorite girls at night clubs. It was a totally different job, compared to working at a fire station.

One night we were watching the movie “Back Draft” at our fire station.  I decided to go to New York to become a firefighter.  I didn’t know Back Draft was filmed in Chicago.   I just believed that story was about fire fighters in New York because most Japanese still have the image that New York is America.   In a month, I quit the fire department and flew to N.Y.

In New York I stayed with an Italian family.  They were a super great, big hearted family and fed me really well with pasta, lasagna and fat pizza with beer and wine every night.   My weight gained from 165 lb. to 200 lb. in 6 months.

I tried to become a fire fighter in New York, but couldn’t because I didn’t have U.S. citizenship.  I only had a green card.

The secretary at NYFD was really nice to me, and she suggested I become an Emergency Medical Technician in Westchester, NY. because there is a big Japanese community there.  So, I became an EMT in NY, and worked in very cold weather and carried very heavy patients day and night. But my wage was only $7 per hour.

After two years, I was watching the Travel Channel having Crazy Horse Beer and baby carrots.  The show was showing the paradise of Waikiki, Hawaii.   Mr. White Shiny Tooth Diving Instructor was showing off his diving skills with his brightest teeth and taking beautiful ladies into crystal clear water.

I was so envious about Mr. Shiny Tooth compared with my life at the moment.  Don’t get me wrong, EMT is a great job but it was not forever for me in N.Y. . .

TO BE CONTINUED. SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FEED TO RECEIVE THE 2nd CHAPTER –OR VISIT US AGAIN

After two years, I was watching the Travel Channel having Crazy Horse Beer and baby carrots.  The show was showing the paradise of Waikiki, Hawaii.   Mr. White Shiny Tooth Diving Instructor was showing off his diving skills with his brightest teeth and taking beautiful ladies into crystal clear water.

I was so envious about Mr. Shiny Tooth compared with my life at the moment.  Don’t get me wrong, EMT is a great job but it was not forever for me in N.Y. . .

The Miracle Oddessy continues. . .

So, a week after the TV show, I arrived in Waikiki.  But it rained heavily.  Dark sky and thunder all day.  I went out to one of the traditional Japanese restaurants for Japanese sake, beer and food.   I asked the waitress at the restaurant “Is the weather always like this in Hawaii?  Where is the sun?”  She said, “Waikiki has lots of rainy days.  You should go to Maui, if you want sunshine”.

Next day, I was on Maui.  It was a Sunday sunshine morning– very quiet and peaceful.   I bought a Sunday newspaper and I was just checking what was happening on Maui.  I almost always start reading from the classified section to find good deals, even if I don’t need anything.  But somehow, I was interested to check out people living life in Paradise.  Then I started calling apartment rentals.

It was Sunday morning and nobody was answering calls.  But one guy answered and said “Super Great Deal!  First come first served, because I have to leave in an hour”.      I told him my situation and asked him if I could just look his unit.  I was still paying rent in NY.  He said, “O.K., just come here and you can stay here for a week just by paying $500”.  I had only $500 cash in my pocket.  When I got to his condo in Ma’alaea, I saw his luggage right next to door.  His name was Steve (he was like a Danny DeVito character).  Steve said, “Pay me $500 and you can stay for a week”.   I thought it was a great deal but I couldn’t spend all of my budget.  I asked him, “How about $200?”.  He said, “Deal!”,  shook hands and left with his luggage.

So, my first day on Maui, I got a new ocean front apartment for a week with only $200 cash.  But it was such a filthy room–every single piece of furniture was smelly– bed, sofa, dishes and two tons of rubbish.  I cleaned from corner to corner.  It took me four days to make that room like a five-star hotel room.

On the fifth day,  a lady knocked at my door.  She told me, “I’m the owner of this unit.  Who are you?  Where is Steve?” I explained everything that happened and then I found out Steve hadn’t paid the rent.  He was 8 months behind.  She asked me to leave right away but I showed my N.Y. EMT I.D. and promised her to leave in a week, but I felt I had already made the place like my home and had been living forever.  So I stayed there after that week.

I found my first job with a diving company.  I worked 7 days a week for two years. Then I started translating English menus, brochures, signs and web pages into Japanese.

Today I live in a condo practically on the beach with my lovely wife and baby dog.  We believe Maui is the miracle island.  We have decided live on Maui forever.
Sunny K– Maui, Hawaii

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This was in the mid 1940′s.  My father felt that this could lead to even more complications, and so I lived with the pain during my freshman through junior years of high school at Punahou in Honolulu.

It was not much fun.  As I was unable to play football, baseball or run in the track meets during my junior year I was the manager of the football team.  My duties consisted of cleaning up the locker room after the football games and watching the hero players get leis and a lot of attention from the lovely ladies in our class after the games.   Then I would catch the bus and go home – all alone.

One day, I got kicked out of class because the pain in my back hurt so I could not sit still.  It caused me to squirm a lot.  This annoyed my teacher so much that after several warnings about sitting still, she finally was so irritated she sent me down to see the school Principal. While in his office, he and I discussed my back pains and he told me that his physiotherapist had helped him a great deal with his back problems and suggested I should go see her.

Well, that afternoon after school, I took his advice and went to her office just down the hall from my father’s office so it was easy to find.  When I got to see her, she took one look at me and said that my posture was awful, my shoulders too broad and my waist too small.  She then told me that I would have to build up the muscles in my back by doing a number of specific exercises she showed me in a booklet she gave me.

I took her advice and did those exercises daily.  Then after a few months, I happened to walk by the baseball team as they were practicing and after watching them perform, I went over to the coach and asked him if I could try to hit the ball during their batting practice.  He laughed and told me to go give it a try and hit the ball.   I did. So well, in fact, he put me on the team -the first team I was able to be on in school.

A short time later, there was a school track meet and as my back pains were no longer bothering me, I signed up to run sprints.  I did that quite well–in my baseball shoes!–and won the 100 yard dash.

Then as I started my senior year, my back no longer caused me much pain.  I wore a strong waist brace and did my exercises regularly.  As a consequence, I decided to try out for the football team.  I made the team and did so well I was offered scholarships from all over the country.

Those scholarships put me through a year at Menlo College where I was the only non-marine on the football starting line-up and we won the California Jr. College Championships.  From there I went to the University of Washington for 3 years before returning home and playing one more year of ball for the University of Hawaii where I set a rushing record of 277 yards and 4 touchdowns in one game against BYU, which has stood for many years.

This was all made possible by my being kicked out of class and being steered to a physiotherapist who cured me without any major surgery.  Moral of the story:  getting kicked out of class can sometimes change life for the better.  Thank you, Miss Annis.

Peter–Hawaii

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Now, I’ve been taught that coincidence is when God chooses to work anonymously.  The next several days brought many coincidences.  I deposited my final check, and smiled as I remembered that I had only two payments left to be made on my automobile.  That was an immediate “raise” in income/outgo ratio of $350.  A wee miracle perhaps?  No more car payments.

Five years ago, at my “home group” in A.A., a newcomer sat down beside me before an early evening meeting and we engaged in conversation.  He was under direction of his employer to attend a Chemical Dependency Program held by a local Kaiser hospital facility.  That program compelled him to attend daily A.A. meetings for the year of its classes. Mark and I became friends as he attended the same meetings I went to each evening.  Upon graduation at Kaiser he moved his A.A. attendance to the part of the city in which he lived and I saw him no more at my home group. Mark and I did engage in an email correspondence simply keeping in touch.

Before leaving my office on the day I was laid off, I sent a general email to all my personal email addresses asking them to stop using my business address due to my end of employment.  The next day, at home I received an email from Mark.  Could he help me to get established with my Unemployment Insurance with the State of California?  It turns out that is his job.  Actually, he is a supervisor in this work.  He quickly cleared my way, answered my questions and shepherded my application through the process.  Another wee miracle perhaps.

A seemingly larger miracle is that there has been no animosity in my heart/mind regarding this lay-off.  I have been able to truthfully reassure my former employer, his superior, and my close co-workers that I am moving through the sudden change without undue emotional trauma.  Upset, of course, but at age 74 I have had many life experiences of sudden shift in the course of my activities, and have learned through much practice that there is a Power that cares for me constantly if I will only open myself to Its guidance.

All of my needs are met, and the big miracle is that I am conscious of the fact.  When fears arise I easily and quickly turn within to my Higher Self and find surcease from anxiety.

I decided many years ago to engage in the final third stage of my Woman adventure, that of being a Crone, with an openness and willingness to taste my life to the fullest until it is time to release this body and enter into that realm of Spirit where there is neither birth nor death, only the I Am!

Thirty-seven years ago I was a drunken, divorced woman, separated from her children, unemployed and unemployable, terrified of each moment of every day, angry at Life Itself.  I was unable to live and also unable to die.  In desperation I followed the instructions of an A.A. member I knew and asked a God I did not trust or love to please help me to be sober and get into A.A.  That gave discipline to a journey of spiritual seeking I had begun as a youth about the same time I first chose to drink alcohol.  My whole life is a series of miracles, when I look through the eyes of Faith instead of Fear!

MSG–California

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When we arrived in Phoenix, it was too late for the bus. We got a hotel, and next door a man named Mr. Saturn had set up his world class telescope to offer star sightings free of charge. He traveled around the country with his telescope, and got great joy out of helping people to see the stars, and to understand our world better. It was magical, looking up into the great wide sky.

The next morning, we were running late for the bus, and left in a hurry. My girlfriend left her backpack in the motel without realizing it. We called the taxi service to ask if she had left the bag in the taxi. The driver we had used heard her request on the taxi radio, and without hesitation, went back to the hotel, found her bag, and met us at the Greyhound station just as the bus was about to take off. She was in tears, and we were all blown away by his kindness and quick thinking.

On the bus, we crossed the Texas panhandle to get home. It was the middle of the night, and there were tornadoes touching down all around us. The driver asked us to look for tornadoes and let him know. No one was asleep, even though it was 2 a.m. The bus passengers were primarily African-Americans. An old man began singing a hymn, and the whole bus picked it up, singing softly through the night as we prayed for safe passage with tornadoes visible in the distance. It was one of the most profoundly beautiful moments of my life. We arrived home, safe and sound, with no tornado touching the bus.

At every turn on that trip, we were protected, loved, and guided. I will never forget how magical or alive I felt as each miracle unfolded, and as each stranger became a friend and helper.
Jennifer—San Rafael, California

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