Remember the strategy!

First, let me say that I got an email from Andrena yesterday, and she is okay. Her house is intact, but at the time she wrote, they still did not have power, which means no A/C, and it is like a steambath there. Of course, they are SO lucky compared to so many people. They do have water and gas, so they can cook. She is housing a few extra folks there. She works at LSU, which is where she emailed from. LSU is a major refugee center. Andrena said the grocery stores are out of food and it is very hard to get gasoline. She said she’d call as soon as phone service is restored. I’m just so glad she’s alright.

I met Andrena during the “Increasing Your Tolerance for Joy” weekend in St. Francisville in May. She was in the workshop. She was so wonderful—the night after the first workshop, she made jewelry for all the participants out of appreciation for her experience. It was really remarkable—she just intuited what to make for each of us, and ended up making something perfectly appropriate for every person. She makes gorgeous jewelry from tumbled stones and beads. We looked up the metaphysical meaning of each stone and it was almost eerie how accurately she selected them to fit what we would need or resonate with. And they really looked great, too.

She and Ellen and I had dinner the Tuesday night before I left on Wednesday, and Andrena spoke of her strong and distressing premonition that something really catastrophic was about to befall New Orleans. Such a psychic lady!

I’m having mixed success with keeping my frequency high with all that’s going on. I find that taking breaks out in the garden and breathing deeply and feeling the sunshine on my skin is helpful to keep me from going to the place of despair. Also, finding ways to contribute has been helpful in staying out of that place of helplessness. (Speaking of contributing, I have added links to the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank and the Humane Society U.S. to the recreating-eden.com homepage.)

It would appear that we’re coming to the hardest part of the “game.” I have come to see this existence—this dip down into the duality matrix we’re living—as a game of sorts, and the key to winning is not to be sucked into the vortex of energy in reverse polarity, and, indeed, to rise out of duality altogether. It’s extra challenging because it’s as if we came to Earth with the handicap of not remembering the rules of the game, thus making it extra challenging to win. And when things like the Hurricane Katrina aftermath and 9/11 come along, we are tested to see if we will be able to remember that the winning strategy is to maintain a focus on the Light instead of adding to the shadow with our focus. Every time I begin to fall into that feeling of entitlement—that sense that I deserve to wallow in the horror and curl up in a little ball and never come out again—I remember that there is a part of me that knows the game and is on the sidelines yelling, “HEY! You’re forgetting the game! FOCUS ON THE LIGHT!!!”

I got a few emails today from someone—somebody I don’t even know—who is just inside-out with fury and outrage over what’s going on, and seems to be frustrated with me because I’m not willing to join her in that. I told her it’s not that I’m not horrified, or experiencing righteous indignation aplenty, it’s just that I’m not willing to jeopardize things further by being sucked down in the vortex where I’m no longer able to shine my Light. I don’t think she comprehends frequency and that her frequency contributes to the lowering of the frequency of all Creation—or that by keeping herself centered and peaceful that she can lift things up. I’m quite sure she doesn’t understand that we have the choice of what to empower—the Light or the shadow, and that focusing on the horror and getting sucked in is not a help to anyone. Truly—unless we are going to use the information we gain from watching the horror of what is going on to do something constructive to help, there really is no reason other than feeding the serpent within us to watch hour after hour of coverage of the disaster. God bless her and grant her the peace that passes understanding.

And may all those still stranded in unbearable conditions and struggling and in shock and grieving and trying to survive, experience the peace that passes understanding as well. To facilitate that, I say let’s do as Gandhi suggested and “be the peace we want to see in the world.”