Dearest ones, I ask that you reconnect with the natural world, the stones, rivers, and trees, the grasses and insects of your home, the animals, the soil, the atmosphere.
Grandmother Cottonwood, dappled shade
Know yourself
alternative healing
Curses
GCW speaks of curses
What is a curse, but a blanket of energy that holds you down, originated by angry ugly feelings that become words, and kept alive through belief and repetition.
Know this: Your words have power. The power to harm, the power to heal. You have more power in this world than you can ever imagine!
Do you choose to harm others or heal? If you choose to harm, I ask you before you set anything in motion, to look in the mirror. Look at yourself in the eye and for once, be truthful with yourself. The ugly words that flow from your lips harm you first and most. For you are an integral element of the web in which all things are one.
Cursing others is cursing yourself. Polluting the land is polluting your personal environment. Hurting others physically ends up hurting you. There is no escape from this immutable truth. If you wish to hurt, it is a cry for your own healing, for wholeness, for clearing of your own clouds.
The spark of divine light is within you, only obscured temporarily by clouds, like stormy weather obscures the blue sky. You are not your angry words, you are divine light.
Make this your daily practice: Allow yourself to become the light that you are, and allow your light to illuminate our world.
Do the right thing
Early spring vine
My dears, I want you to know that no matter what mistakes you think you’ve made, no matter what you have left undone, or unsaid, no matter the ugly words that have come from your lips, you can choose differently from now on.
Do not limit yourself to “the way I’ve always been” or “my personality” or “that’s how I was raised.” Why would you choose powerlessness?
I tell you here and now that you have a choice in the kind of person you are. There is the inner part of you that only you know and outer part that you present to the world. Allow those two to become one- the two halves to become a whole.
Do what you know to be the right thing. Say the kind thing. Cease all excuses!
Step up to the shining example of your true inner self that is aligned with the source of all creation.
Getting real
GCW speaks of getting real:
Touch the blood and sinew, the messy heart of life as you reach closer to the center of yourself where you are real – real with no apology or excuse. In this inner place you are completely and 100% you without baggage, without fear, without agenda. Do this, my dear, and your feelings will flow, your inspirations will guide you, your life will unfold as you have dreamed!
Be willing to face the dark, the mess, the shadow inside, for that is you also. Unite the light and dark in yourself and become whole. If you are afraid, find someone to take your hand and guide you on your soul’s journey. Enter the dark cave and find your way to the light. Healing of the spirit is possible for you in this lifetime.
Being whole feels good! It satisfies your soul, it lifts your heart! You think this being whole is for “holy”, pasty, ephemeral, head-in-the-clouds, deity worshipers, and those who wear saffron robes and chant endlessly… those who have no spark in their eye. Wrong! It is for you – the gutsy, powerful, earthy you who bridges spirit and body, and who has come into this life of blood and bone and muscle and messy emotions on this earth at this time. You are meant to be here now!
Focus
GCW speaks of focus:
All of your being- mind, body, spirit, and heart is concentrated in this moment. That is focus. With focus you are doing one thing. ONE THING. You and the one thing become one and form a unified field. Whatever you are doing – writing, playing a new piece on the piano, knitting a sweater, raking leaves, conversing with your beloved grandchild, washing the floor, the entire beingness that is you is doing only that. “Multitasking” as you humans call it, is for those who with to diminish their power and effectiveness.
With focus you become like a column or beam of light. All other thoughts, actions, words leave your mind as you do what you have been created to do; be fully present here and now in this moment. Your full attention is required to do your best work and live your lives fully!
Do you find it difficult or nerve wracking to pull yourself together and let go of those extra thoughts and ideas and sudden feelings that distract you from the very power you came here to express? The oneness of purpose that is required to keep your focus?
Practice! For only you have access to the power of your physical being. Take it slowly, put down the shiny thing in your hand, unplug your ears from the music player, bring your scattered self into your heart center where all is one; where your true power resides
Now, focus on the one thing you’ve chosen. It could be your breath, a new song to learn, enjoying your child’s beauty and perfection, an intricate knitting pattern you want to learn, a round of yoga poses- the list is infinite, as you are.
This is a paradox. Learn to focus your awareness in the here and now and feel your life expand into new dimensions!
Not good enough?
Jack-in-the-pulpit berries
Grandmother Cottonwood speaks of “Not good enough”
My dear, you constantly strive to improve yourself! You think your best effort is not good enough. You think less of yourself when you do not measure up to the standards, weights and measures others have devised to define and control!
When will you realize your precious and delightful energy is better spent on creating your unique life, blazing your trail into the unmeasured un-analyzed territory of the heart, knowing and trusting yourself? The source in you is inspiring and guiding you each step of the way. Tune in! For the growing, expanding, unfolding, exciting, inspiring place is deep within you and nowhere else.
This will allow you to unfold into the rich full human being that you are designed to be, not a clone of someone else, not patterned after an ideal model, praised by the media and your mom.
You are first and foremost here to be and discover your own desires and bring them to fruition, to grow toward the sun in your own way, at your own pace. Let go of “Not good enough” once and for all.
Rushing and resting
Tiny seedlings and concrete
GCW speaks of rushing and resting
You’ve built your human world right over our world. You’ve divided, paved over, fenced off, mown down, and altered our world beyond recognition – so your noisy motors and machines can have access to every bit of space. You leave untouched only those places that flood or where the soil is unsuitable for your mega plans.
You rush here and there, in your cars looking neither right nor left. Missing out on your present moment while speeding toward what is next, and next and next. Do you rush home so you can do it all again tomorrow?
Do you feel your breath as it flows though you like ocean waves? Have you rested your body and soul on the loving earth today? Have you gazed upward through golden leaves at a slate blue sky while crows sail high above? Have you taken just a moment to breathe and slow down, to allow the thoughts in your mind to drain away, so that you may be in tune with your true nature? – the silence and infinite depth at your center.
Do trees heal?
Tree as healer
D of Ames Iowa asks:
Q. Do trees help heal people?
A. Our energy is beneficial to you! Do you not feel better after hugging us, laying in our shade, climbing among our branches, walking nearby, watching the shifting patterns of sun and shade beneath our canopies, and swinging from a tree swing?
Our energy is powerfully aligned with earth and heaven. We stretch toward our sun, the source of nourishment and allow our roots to be pulled deep into the rich dark earth without the holding back, hiding, embarrassment, or fear that hold humans from their true power. When you come near us you are bathed in this delightful life giving, powerful energy. Many of you sensitive enough can feel this energy.
We do not pluck those in need of tree energy from the crowd and force a healing on them. We simply are who we are and whoever is drawn near benefits from the power that emanates from us without effort; simply by trees fulfilling our life purpose- to grow from our seeds and be who we are.
You may purposely align with our roots and trunk and crown. Breathe with us, feel the stretch in your middle as you lift your spine and head toward the sun and allow your roots to be pulled into the earth as if by a magnet. Merge your energies with us for awhile. Feel what we feel and know what we know. We are your friends. Feel it! Feel our love!
Allow the energies of your being to flow joyously, freely, happily! We love you humans and all living things. We delight in you!
Emotions
Flowing stream
E of central Iowa asks:
Q. How do you interpret human emotions from your tree’s perspective?
A. I see colors and light around people. Some are bright, some flowing and sparkling, some are dull and gray, some seem stuck and stagnant. It can appear like a rainbow or dark clouds enveloping the body.
What you call emotions is a flow, an energy that is meant to move and constantly changes and refreshes like a swiftly moving stream. If the stream slows and stops flowing in places, the water becomes unhealthy, smelly, ugly. It is just so with the energies of emotion that move through you.
If you stop the flow of your emotions by swallowing, ignoring, stuffing, denying, hiding, or lying about them, they will eventually cause unease within you and perhaps a stagnation of the body. They are energy and can’t be destroyed. They will not go away even if you don’t like them and don’t want them. Those you hide from yourself will eat you alive unless you learn to accept them all and thereby accept and love yourself – the entire spectrum of who you are from the intense red of anger to the sparkling violet of pure love and joy.
Know and love yourself, for you and all your energies are beloved.
Restoring balance
M of West Des Moines, Iowa writes
Q. What else can I do to help heal the trees and earth and restore balance?
A. Restore balance within your circles of influence.
First restore balance within your beautiful self. Accept the light and dark of you, the anger and joy of you, the push and pull of you, the contradictions in you, the parts of you you suppress. You are all of it and it is all good, it is meant to flow.
Second, restore balance within your home; the spaces you inhabit. Are some spaces heavy with cluttered things and dense energy? Are other clear, light and airy? Bring flowing moving energy in to all of it. Balance empty space with objects, weight with lightness, motion with stillness.
Third, restore balance in your relationships. Do you give too much, and receive less in return? Do you let others trample your boundaries? Do you allow yourself time alone? Balance time together, and time alone, giving and receiving, winning and winning, speech and silence…
Your influence on the web of creation is profound, even though you may feel you are but a speck of dust in the vast and trackless universe. Every movement you make in the direction of balance adjusts the entire web of all that is toward balance and harmony.
Flow your powerful love to all that is and it is reflected back to you magnificently.
Ask Grandmother Cottonwood 