I have just returned from visiting my daughter and new grandson in the USA. I lived there for 7 years but returning this time to Indiana was quite a different experience from living in Colorado in the 1980’s. The situation I found myself in evoked alot of thinking in me about FEAR. My own and that of others. I went to Barnes and Noble bookstore a couple of times and the second time, the day before I flew back to the UK, I came across Marianne Williamson’s book: “A Return to Love”. I have resisted reading anything by her till now and am not sure why. Perhaps I was afraid of the language she uses which is heavily Christian based, I’m not sure. I certainly didn’t want to get pulled back into a world which I left many years ago. There was a fear there about this…. I was closed in my mind and in my heart.
I bought this book and as it happens, I have nearly finished reading it. I have been quite warmed by the content as it has given me even more to think about in my relationships with fear and love. I bought it because I wanted to spend more time thinking about my personal relationships, how I “re”-act to others, what triggers there are for me and perhaps find a way forward to do things differently.
I noticed before and during my trip that my own voice of fear could hold me back from my AUTHENTIC LIFE. It has indeed held me back from my authentic life in the past and had it not been for my friends and therapist encouraging me to go, I perhaps would have backed out and not gone to the USA at all this past week.
Whilst there, I met varying types of people; some I was afraid of and some who clearly seemed afraid of me – and of life, in many ways. Others, I seemed to embrace with my whole heart from the word go and didn’t look back and I felt similar responses towards me from them. What intrigued me, as I sat with certain situations, was how I could and did stifle my VOICE. Not my audible voice necessarily but my inner voice of self emowerment and authenticity.
The levels of LIFE in the USA are many. I saw affluence and I saw deprivation. I witnessed sadness, depression and lack, and a huge need for love. Body language, eye contact, voices all gave away what was really going on with some folk I met. I was touched by a country and a people who on the face of things have much and yet there is such a need for a balance and real spiritual context in which to grow. Many are of course involved in these things already as we can see from the vast amount of wonderful Spiritual and Psychospiritual work that comes out of the US but for the people I met this particular visit, they didn’t know how to find it in themelves to even begin to look.
I also had the great pleasure of seeking out and visiting several times a wonderful Natural Food store and Cafe. Three Rivers Co-op: www.3riversfood.coop If you ever go to Fort Wayne Indiana they do the best decaf coffee and their own mix of Granola! Here I met some lovely people working towards happiness and wholeness on our planet. It was a real joy for me to go there and I thank them for it.
FEAR could have stopped me from going to the USA and the result would have been contraction in my body, mind and soul. I faced it and did it anyway…. I am glad. The result for me is a stronger more centred state, a more Authentic Voice. A Healing. All I can hope for is, that in some small way, by me being present with my authenticity, others will have been touched a little by this.
” Where LOVE is, FEAR cannot dwell”
Thanks for your perceptive insights on U.S. society aspects of which mirror our own – I don’t know how you sustained your spiritual focus without being too overwhelmed, to then come back and share it with us. I read “Return to Love” in the early ’90s, and it is one of the few books that my husband has read in that genre. He practises Judaism and I practise Universalism, and somehow Marianne’s teachings can unite us both, which is why we are going to see her in September. I have lost count over the years of how many times I have seen her words misquoted, attributed to Nelson Mandela because he quoted her in his Inauguration speech. A fascinating read is “Journey without Distance” by Robert Skutch, which tells the story of how a sceptical and unwilling Jewish woman came to channel “A Course in Miracles” Keep on blogging from the heart, Flick!
Lana! Thanks so much for your rich and encouraging comment!
First visit on your blog. I missed you sharing so it is particularly warm to read . Visiting your daughter and grand son is a celebration, just that IS intense! Powerful woman who shares an authentic voice. Thank you
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I’m Out!