Paula deChelly, ladies' woman, creative artist, single parent and musician, was re-born in the Spring of 2013 on Easter Sunday, March 31st.
Paula fancies nature and this re-birth only intensifies her love of going to the mountains, being in nature and soaking up the many high vibrations that are found in the Great outdoors.
She is purported to have brought even more house-plants into her small "nest" of an apartment -- particularly ones with colorful blossoms or color in their leaves. Her coffee table is graced with purple, pink and yellow, and, of course, green, green, green.
Paula has always loved the women in her life. Even though the relationship with her mother (deceased) was complicated and confusing -- Paula attributes the development of many of her passions today to her mother's generosity. Also foundationally significant were her Great Aunts -- Leonie and Marguerite. Her sister, Susanne, has been a beacon of love and life and this, with the re-birth, is bound to shine even brighter.
Paula excels at listening to people, finding treasures in thrift stores, being generous with her time, her family and friends and her resources. Creating and bringing masks into form, playing and writing music, and simply "being" in the moment will all just get better and better.
She loves dogs and has had nine of them in her life. (Mitsy, Marcus Aurelius, Tristum, Happy Dog, Hobbit, Johnie, Arty, Abracadabra and Ladybug). Paula is currently finding ways to nurture and care for Ladybug in her "Golden Years". This is teaching her opening of the heart with deep compassion and love.
Paula loves her son, Shannon, and her granddaughter, Amelia, her daughter-in-law, Kirstyn and soon to be Grandson, Finn. As a single parent she did her best to keep a steady course and now is reaping the rewards. Her re-birth will only enhance these relationships.
Despite the many challenges of many dramatic changes in her life Paula has been an inspiration to many people. Her openness and sincerity has drawn many beautiful friendships that promise to blossom and unfold now even more.
Spirituality has been an ongoing quest for Paula and she has pursued many paths on her journey toward consciousness and wholeness. The re-birth will enhance and magnify the present moment so much -- the vibrational level will get so high -- the future promises to bring many joyful experiences of Spirit.
Taking care of herself has always been secondary to taking care of others. The re-birth will solidify the recent shift of putting herself first. Her many activities: meditating, practicing Tai Chi and NIA to name a few things and quiting smoking (the hardest challenge in her life) are bound to embolden her into a greater life now.
Just what is the re-birth? She doesn't exactly know. It is a renewal. A re-directing. A new perspective. It interjects joy into every aspect of life and aligns you with your highest being and with something greater. It brings you into the moment and allows you to "be". Fully present. Re-newed. Re-born.
Paula asks that to honor her now you support equality for all people: LGBTs, women, the poor, the sick and all people who are depressed and oppressed in any way. As for Paula, she will spread her wings with this re-birth, pray, play, create, give and receive from Spirit and live with joy each moment she is given.
Showing posts with label change. Show all posts
Showing posts with label change. Show all posts
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Friday, March 30, 2012
The Anniversary of Sybil’s Death
The twenty-third of March was the first anniversary of my niece’s death. She was pregnant with her first child, had a stroke and went into a coma because of complications from preeclampsia. Her son, Jack, was delivered by C-section on March seventeenth and Sybil never recovered. It amazes me how the anniversary of a person’s death brings up so much emotion and grief. I knew all year that I was sad and grieving but I was not aware of how much until the first year rolled around.
When I am feeling grief I am not just experiencing the loss of Sybil. I am dropped into the very pit of despair. It is as though I am touching the reservoir of loss itself. I experience long-held fear and doubt and grief that have always been there. I want to push the feelings away because they are so unpleasant. But grief holds me until I begin to soften around it, accept it, and get in touch with things about myself I probably would not have had access to without it.
The tendency I feel with grief is to close in on myself. The only relief seems to be found in the silence of solitude. And yet, what grief demands of me is to open. It does everything in its power to get me to open my heart. Loss puts me right smack in touch with what is important in my life. Even though closing in is an attempt to protect—it doesn’t work for long. My rational mind tries to understand what really happened even though it cannot truly know the meaning of life and death. But my heart, if I can keep it open, seems to find its own intuitive way.
Grief comes from trying to protect anything from being what it is…from trying to stop change. Each one of us experiences our humanness to the degree we can open to our joy and sorrow. It is from this humanness that we come to watch the constant change and changefulness of the mind. We see the whole world reflected there and we notice that everything ends. Every thought ends. Every feeling ends. Each taste, each moment of hearing, each seeing ends. It has never been otherwise. Every experience, every relationship ends. Moment to moment, change unfolds.
Our experience of life is the experience of change. Everything that has a beginning has an end. Nothing stays the same. In this flow of change, there is no real or solid place on which a lasting foothold can be taken. Every moment is precious. Every moment is just as it is and nothing needs to be otherwise.
When we recognize that all we have is this moment, then life becomes important and we open to it just as it is. Our loved ones, our children, our friends become so precious. Life takes on new meaning. Each moment becomes a whole lifetime, a universe unto itself. Our priorities change, our heart opens, our mind begins to clear of the fog of old holdings and pretending. What truly matters becomes very apparent. We are no longer “a victim of life.” Every experience, even the loss of our dearest ones, becomes another opportunity for awakening.
I am deeply saddened by Sybil’s death. The gift is in being reminded that each moment is important. The pain of opening the heart to loss is countered by opening to loving everyone and everything in my life to its fullest. The longing for what was becomes simply a part of this moment and there is nothing more than that. I miss Sybil and am allowing myself to grieve and heal. That is part of the great mystery of life that her death has brought into my awareness. I offer her my blessings for bringing me to these realizations.
When I am feeling grief I am not just experiencing the loss of Sybil. I am dropped into the very pit of despair. It is as though I am touching the reservoir of loss itself. I experience long-held fear and doubt and grief that have always been there. I want to push the feelings away because they are so unpleasant. But grief holds me until I begin to soften around it, accept it, and get in touch with things about myself I probably would not have had access to without it.
The tendency I feel with grief is to close in on myself. The only relief seems to be found in the silence of solitude. And yet, what grief demands of me is to open. It does everything in its power to get me to open my heart. Loss puts me right smack in touch with what is important in my life. Even though closing in is an attempt to protect—it doesn’t work for long. My rational mind tries to understand what really happened even though it cannot truly know the meaning of life and death. But my heart, if I can keep it open, seems to find its own intuitive way.
Grief comes from trying to protect anything from being what it is…from trying to stop change. Each one of us experiences our humanness to the degree we can open to our joy and sorrow. It is from this humanness that we come to watch the constant change and changefulness of the mind. We see the whole world reflected there and we notice that everything ends. Every thought ends. Every feeling ends. Each taste, each moment of hearing, each seeing ends. It has never been otherwise. Every experience, every relationship ends. Moment to moment, change unfolds.
Our experience of life is the experience of change. Everything that has a beginning has an end. Nothing stays the same. In this flow of change, there is no real or solid place on which a lasting foothold can be taken. Every moment is precious. Every moment is just as it is and nothing needs to be otherwise.
When we recognize that all we have is this moment, then life becomes important and we open to it just as it is. Our loved ones, our children, our friends become so precious. Life takes on new meaning. Each moment becomes a whole lifetime, a universe unto itself. Our priorities change, our heart opens, our mind begins to clear of the fog of old holdings and pretending. What truly matters becomes very apparent. We are no longer “a victim of life.” Every experience, even the loss of our dearest ones, becomes another opportunity for awakening.
I am deeply saddened by Sybil’s death. The gift is in being reminded that each moment is important. The pain of opening the heart to loss is countered by opening to loving everyone and everything in my life to its fullest. The longing for what was becomes simply a part of this moment and there is nothing more than that. I miss Sybil and am allowing myself to grieve and heal. That is part of the great mystery of life that her death has brought into my awareness. I offer her my blessings for bringing me to these realizations.
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