Irma
For those of you who have been living under a rock in recent days, Irma is a hurricane. And not just any hurricane. She is packing a wallop the strength of which is seldom seen in the U.S. She is making millions homeless and causing IDP's (internally displaced persons) of so many.
There are a couple of thoughts and feelings rambling 'round this ol' noggin. I am worried for those who have to leave their homes. I am disheartened by those who choose to stay. Perhaps the age-old delusion of indestructibility is permeating the heads of those who think they will be amongst the 'safe' ones.
And those IDP's? They will have many stories to tell. Maybe even a newfound kinship and empathy for refugees coming to America for a safe haven. Maybe, in sharing their stories of being violently usurped from their homes into unfamiliar territory, they can affect some change in the way immigrants are received. And, no, 'natural' disaster does not rate equally with wars and hunger and displacement by man-made disaster. But it offers an inkling of how it feels to be given the choice of being killed or leaving home to seek refuge in a foreign place.
Irma herself is chaos. Do you wonder where the chaos originates? I believe she is a physical manifestation of all the pain the earth is suffering because of people who continue to hate, to push away and to desecrate, not only the earth but her billions of souls.
When the energy of the people so full of anger and fear accumulates and gathers power, a storm - one might say 'the perfect storm' - is nature's own response. It is her seeking to protect herself. And this gathering of energies has made a tangible and powerful entity of hate.
Irma has materialized the state of being in which we find ourselves in 2017. She has made a clear and powerful statement of the fact that we must change. Our country's fear driven citizenry must realize and change behaviors.
No! I am not saying that the hurricane is washing clean the surface of our land: of wiping out the hate-mongers. There will be too many innocent and benevolent souls lost to say that. I am simply stating the fact that energy causes change. And this time the change is violent.
On a personal level, I have experienced this manifestation of power and pain in recent weeks. For several days in a row, an intense pain in the center of my crown has awakened me. This is the chakra that connects us to spirit/universal good/at-one-ment. This is the place where energy flows up and out. And mine has been severely impaired because the chaotic energies all around me are out of kilter and are disrupting the flow.
I have also seen it in people around me. Some very dear and near and some far away and known only peripherally. I have felt the pain in their minds and in their emotions.
I have a page on FB called "Let's Talk About Suicide and Mental Health". From time to time I get messages from folks who need some help. My response is to send the suicide hotline number to them and to question them about support groups they may not have thought of contacting. I stay online with them as long as they want and this has yielded some positive results.
Not three weeks ago though. This time I got a private message from a young man in Canada. Far, far from me. He was not only contemplating suicide but seemed to be planning to kill someone else before that. He asked if I thought there was a judgment after death and what would happen if he escaped the human retribution for murder. A little out of my pay grade (so to speak).
So I went back and forth with him for several days straight and when he would not respond to my questions as to whom it was he wanted to kill, I called the Canadian Police and reported as many facts as I could.
I did not want to do that. I did not want to 'rat' on a kid who needed help and who was asking me for it. Yet I could not let someone die if there was a chance he was serious and I could at least report it. Therefore, I did.
I had even tracked down a relative in the same province as him and asked her to check up on him. She said she does not associate with him and gave me the number of the police. Duh!
I don't know what happened as far as the police. There has been no follow up from them. I doubt they had enough to go on to locate the kid. I did, however, receive a message just last week from the young man saying he really appreciated all the help I had given him. I am still wondering what he feels I did. Nevertheless, something changed his mind. I am grateful for that.
Next, a very close friend confided that she was having a breakdown and felt suicidal. This is a strong, independent woman who prides herself on controlling her own fate. But she was at a loss. I listened to her. I offered to take her to a professional. I did energy work on her. She told me later that when I did that she could actually breathe for the first time in ages.
She was pulling out of this 'slump' when her husband was diagnosed with a serious disease and withheld the info causing a huge rift in their marriage. He almost moved out because he was in such pain and did not know how to share it. When he did open up about it, they became much closer and they are now recommitted to each other.
Last Saturday a good friend texted me that she needed help. She has a history of attempts at suicide. So, when I could not get her on the phone, I hurried to her place. She had initially called to find someone to take her dog so she could kill herself. What we did instead was to go to the behavioral health clinic she had been admitted to before. We got her re-admitted.
She is doing better and ready to go home soon. It was scary. I puppy sat for a few days while she recouped and, while it was fun having the little critter around, it was sad because of the reason she was staying with us.
I had dinner the other night with another friend who confided that she too had thought about ending her life. She is not now actively thinking that, but it was hard to hear her so despondent.
I truly feel that the chaos in our world is causing people to literally 'freak-out'. It is taking away hope and security. People feel at a loss as to how to respond to that chaos. I am working on it myself.
A dear friend says that the people are being drawn to me because I am a "soul-catcher", a shaman of sorts. It is apparently my job, at least right now, to be a safe and sacred place for those lost souls to anchor and keep afloat until the storm abates.
I am glad to be that. Yet I am sorry that it is needed. I am heartsick about our world.
Everyone can be a part of saving us though.
Every candle - both figurative and literal - that is lighted in the hearts and homes of compassionate people everywhere will lead the way to healing. Call me naive or gullible or Pollyanna (as I have so often been): I do see the light. And I am willing to hold it up for others.
Just remember that I may need relighting now and again. Moreover, if I wander away for a little while, it is to replenish my own larder of strength and well-being.
Peace.
Linda
