Live in the light

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Do you feel there is a weakness, a stigma in asking for and receiving help when you are down? Do you feel that others will judge you unworthy?

When you are grieving or sad, when anger and resentment get the better of you, when you are overwhelmed by your feelings, do you feel that you must go it alone, tough it out, grit your teeth and be tough, keep your emotions in check, put on a happy face?

Winter day, heavy clouds

You are not meant to live isolated from each other, separate, apart, trying to move mountains of grief, sadness, depression alone.

My dears, I fear this strategy will keep you stuck and unhappy, that your life will be so much smaller, duller, and grayer than it could be otherwise.

No it is not easy! But you did not come to earth in a body for a life of constant ease. You came with a purpose.

When your old baggage interferes with your true life’s purpose, when you find yourself stuck and unable to move forward, can you allow yourself to receive love and compassion?

Can you find a loving friend, caring therapist or healer to help you lighten your emotional burdens and free yourself from the weight you carry?

Allowing yourself to be vulnerable, to admit you are human, will help you get back on your true path of life lived in the light.

Monarch Butterfly and prairie flowers

When you ask for and receive help, your life can begin to shine in full color once again.

Reconnect to Source

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You are beings of light and energy, meant to connect your light with that of source, to form a column of clear pure light in which you are connected to the earth, centered in your body, and aligned with source.

Take me, the mighty cottonwood tree as a model. My deep roots anchor me to the earth. I am centered in my truck and lower branches. My leaves and buds and uppermost branches reach toward the sun and align themselves with the light.

GCW, winter afternoon

When your light becomes clouded and you feel disconnected from source, you may suffer, you may become addicted to something or someone to distract from your feelings of separation.

The light of source is always there for you, shining brightly! When you feel disconnected, it is for you to find a way to plug into the light, current and power of source.

Humans have devised many ways over centuries to reconnect with source. Perhaps singing from your heart will do it for you, or creating visual art or making music or writing.

You might find your connection to source as you follow the guidance and wisdom of your heart, spend time with a beloved friend, work at a task you love with focus and dedication, pour your heart out in prayer, do yoga, spend time with a beloved child, work with plants… doing what you love…

Dear ones, please know that Source is not “out there”. Source is easily accessible to each and every living creature on this planet and that includes you! Source is within you all! Think of source as a feeling of expansion, of joy, timeless flow…of grace…of trust in life…

When you find a way to reconnect with the light within you that is source, you heal yourselves and know your oneness with all that is. Your energy, health and intuition will improve. You will become who you are meant to be.

Connection with source is your birthright!

GCW speaks, continued

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These words of Grandmother Cottonwood’s are continued from the previous post…

This Earth, this home is so very dear to me… Words cannot capture all I know, all I feel…

I know, too the flow of the stream, the flood in spring, the ice in winter, breaking and grinding during a thaw… I know the rocks and sandbars of the creek, the elegant s curves of it’s southward course, the downed trees, uprooted by the current, changing the flow of the water .

I am familiar with the creatures of the water, the tiny silver fishes, the earth hugging turtles, the insects that skate and float…those that come to drink.

Spider web

I know the worms of the soil, the fungus that consumes rot, the spiders patiently weaving their silver webs, the bright butterflies and nodding wildflowers full of nectar, the sharp trilling call of the red winged blackbird in early spring.

My world is made beautiful by the deep shade of my companion trees in summer, the bark of the sycamore, dark and rough near the roots, creamy white and peeling near the crown…I know the cushiony moss, growing in the cool damp places, a green to remember.

GCW and sycamore

From my home, I feel and know the heartbeat of the city, the town, the homes and all those creatures inhabiting this place. I feel the rushing and impatience of some, the peace and contentment of others.

I experience the students who hurry past me on their way to school, their thoughts and attention elsewhere, forgetting the lesson that life is lived in the moment, one breath at a time; that hugging a tree will help them feel better.

Come to school with GCW and you will learn an age-old yet always fresh curriculum – Observe without judgment. Breathe. Notice what you are feeling. Notice what happens in your body.

Be present to what you see, hear, taste, touch feel, smell – be present and allow yourself to know what you know, to be who you are. Become friends with your own self. Listen to your heart – the dreams of your heart.

Now, put the shiny blinking thing down, for if you let it, it will block out everything but itself. Turn it off for a little while and just be.

Know that you too are a part of this magnificent tapestry! Above all, hug a tree.

Grandmother Cottonwood speaks

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Because of my rooted nature, I am by necessity a homebody. I observe and experience my world…and I am never bored!

I am exquisitely tuned to the shifting air currents and breezes, the temperatures that rise and fall, that are different at my crown and my roots.

I know minutely the angle of the sun as it moves through the yearly cycle of seasons, I know patterns of bird migration, seasons of nesting, hatching, fledging, the first flight; the burrowing habits of the fur bearers, the call of the owl, the secret places they drop their feathers, the movements of the deer at dawn and dusk…

I am witness to the patient gliding and flicking tongues of snakes in warm weather as they embrace mother earth with their bodies; the buzz or quiet wing beat of insects as they go about their business of crawling all over me… or nesting in the soil nearby.

I know the prairie grasses, from their first show of green in early spring to the late summer when they’ve grown taller than a man, seed heads heavy and nodding, swaying in the wind.

Prairie grasses

I know the exquisite blue of the sky, sometimes perfectly clear and fathomless, sometimes holding storm clouds that move swiftly to the south, sometimes holding clouds slow and heavy, blotting out the sun, stalling over our valley for days.

From my height, I feel the sunlight gilding my upper branches on clear mornings. I know the gentle swelling and unrolling of my leaf buds in spring, the effortless growth of my bead-like seed pods from tiny and tender to dry and brown and bursting with tiny seeds.

Cottonwood seeds

I know the flight of my cottony seeds on spring winds. I fill the valley with my white fluff. I know them all. I know every leaf on the crowns of my offspring.

From my chosen place on this great planet, I observe the beauty, the variety, the oneness of all things and I am richly blessed!

GCW’s speech is to be continued in the next post…

Get to know your spirit

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Dear ones, no matter what happened to you in the past, what occurs in the present or future, your spirit is indestructible.

Your body may decline, your life may crumble around you, your possessions may be lost, your accounts drained of value, but at your core, the very heart of you, the deepest part of you, you are so more than all this. You are powerful, resilient, everlasting. You are spirit, living in a body!

Can you get in touch with your spirit, the foundation of your life? Your spirit predates your conception, your body, your life in this place and time. It is the part of you that came to this Earth with a purpose, a mission.

Robin in winter

Discovering who you are on a deep soul level is not a secret process. It is not difficult; it takes commitment, curiosity and perseverance.

(Logical thought won’t help you, for the spirit transcends linear thought. Using logic to prove or disprove the existence of God? You humans are too funny!)

Open your heart and mind to your deepest experience of oneness. Remember those times you felt transcendence and joy, for this is how spirit makes itself known to you. Suspend judgment and allow yourself to be without an agenda, without expectations. Ask for your spirit to become known to you.

Set a firm intention to get to know your spirit. Be open to the hints, dreams, visions, signs, intuitions, and wisdom that come your way. Pay attention, let your creative mind bring all these threads together and weave a beautiful tapestry that shows you who you really are at the deepest level.

Getting to know your spirit is a life-long process and, I hope, one that will bring you great joy and wisdom.

Always remember that you are spirit and body. You will endure and thrive!

Cycles rhythms and seasons

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I sleep in the dark winter months after letting go of my cloak of golden autumn leaves, waking as my sap rises in spring and my buds unroll to soak in the sunlight…. It is my yearly cycle of life, death and life again. This is who I am! I am at peace.

Observe the age-old cycles of the moon, from full brilliant light to complete darkness, then back gradually to full light again. Each phase of the moon is necessary to the next, an integral part of the whole pattern.

She teaches patience, timing, renewal, shining brightly, allowing herself to rest in darkness, then rising and shining again.

Almost full moon

Do you as a woman resist the time of blood each month, call it a curse? Do you fear the change of life, fear that you will be finished, washed up, that you will be invisible, a dried up husk?

Do you as a man fear the time of life when your physical strength diminishes, when you slow down?

We are all creatures of Earth’s rhythms and cosmic cycles, each species with its own patterns and timing. You too have your seasons of growth, death of the old, rebirth, and regeneration.

Your ever present breath, like waves on a beach; your constant heartbeat, your rhythmic footsteps; your patterns of waking and sleeping accompany you all your days and nights on this earth.

Let your rhythms soothe you, let the breath and heartbeat carry you to sleep at night. Let them calm you when you are anxious.

Let your footfalls and the easy swing of your arms grace your day as you move about your business. Can you slow down and pay attention to these subtle movements within you?

Dear one, this season you find yourself in is your reality now! You are precious as you are! You are as you are meant to be!

When you know this, you will learn to live in harmony with the cycles and seasons of your life, large and small.

Waves of emotion

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My dear beloved ones, do you flow with the rhythms, cycles and seasons of your lives, or do you resist them and run your life by the clock, the work schedule, the calendar, or the convenience of others? Life is so much easier when you allow yourself to be as nature in her ageless wisdom created you.

It feels wonderful to ride the wave of your life as it rises, crests and peaks in periods of well-being, happiness and maybe even joy…

The wave you are riding may at times dip downward into the shadows, into a place you may not have been before. Perhaps the wave takes you to a place of darkness, of strong emotions, grief, or illness.

Can you remain steadfast as you pay attention to the energy that wants and needs to move through you? Can you be still and allow yourself to feel what you feel? Can you focus on your breath and heartbeat as you feel?

(Ask for help from a healer, therapist or friend if you are feeling overwhelmed…)

In time you will rise back up into the light, renewing and recharging yourself, rediscovering your passions, reinventing your life – like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly!

It is in the nature of waves to rise and fall, then rise again.

The cycle of life comes around once more as day follows night. It can assist you in letting go of the old tired ways of being, washing through you, clearing you of the unhealthy patterns and feelings you’ve held onto. Know that, like the moon, you will move into the light once again and shine brightly!

All this is life, dear one. Hang on for the ride!

GCW as healer: A Shamanic Practice

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Dear friends, rest here awhile in the shelter of roots at my base. Can you imagine yourself laying among my roots, on the cool Earth? What do you feel? What do you see, smell and hear as you take shelter with me?

Grandmother Cottonwood – winter afternoon

Feel the Earth energy permeate your body as my roots draw it upward from deep in the earth. My roots are deeper and wider than you can imagine!

Let yourself feel her energy, anchoring, filling, healing, and energizing you. Know the feeling of belonging, of home.

Gifts from Grandmother Cottonwood

Now as you soak in the energy of home, letting your mind rest and your body be one with the earth, let yourself feel the energy of sky and stars fill and permeate your being as I gather it in from my leaves, buds, twigs and branches, channeling it down through my trunk to fill you with light and life force.

Let the light that fills you be in the color most needed for you at this time. It may be any color of the rainbow, bright, clear, jewel-like. Become one with the gorgeous color. Allow yourself to dissolve into it. It might be a deep electric blue, the rosy pink of sunsets, or whatever color your spirit has chosen for you.

Now let the energies, the colors and vibrations of earth energy and heavenly energy fill every cell of your being, bless you, energize you, and heal you.

Rest here in this peaceful place as long as you wish, experiencing and bathing in the peaceful healing energy of earth and sky.

You can revisit my sheltering roots whenever you need peace and renewal.

Climate change

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The earth and her weather reflect her creatures; what is going on in the human heart and mind, the clouds of unexpressed emotion, the storms of toxic anger and fear, the build up of heat with no release valve, no outlet. The explosions of wars and genocide, the burden of thousand of centuries of violence, injustice, inequality, terror…

The earth reflects human pain in her own language; weather, natural disasters, tsunamis, mega storms, extremes of drought, flood and fire.  

Are you feeling weighted down by the emotional burdens of your ancestors, and your own life, anxious, nervous, depressed, unable to move forward?

What are you weather conditions? Anger storm ahead, drought, no growth, too much rain, wildfire destroying everything in its path…

Please face the truth of your life! Learn to feel your emotions, clear yourself and continue to clear as you go forward.

As more and more humans regain clarity, heal emotional burdens, let go of fear and resentments, the Earth will begin to reflect this new energy, the web of all life will be rewoven and restored.

This is what you can do to help! Heal yourself, heal the earth.

More about emotional healing

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Do you get caught up in the small things, the psychic debris, the junk drawers of life that claim your focus and direct you down blind alleys, backwaters and dead ends of overthinking, worry, numbing and time wasting?

Millions of videos at your fingertips? Sugary treats? Just one more beer? Endless TV?

Dear ones, what is beneath all this? What do you send to the backroom of your heart and mind? What are you avoiding? Does your body provide clues with pain, stiffness, illness, loss of function, decreasing mental clarity? Do you find yourself stumbling, falling, breaking bones?

Feeling your feelings won’t kill you, cripple you, make you sick or weaken you. Stuffing and ignoring them will hurt you! Your feelings are meant to move and flow through you.

Find help if this seems overwhelming! You are meant to be clear and live fully!

Letting your feelings flow with empathy, understanding and self compassion will set you free!