The alternate title for this blog post is 'Get Rid of the Bullshit'...but on reflection, even though this was the guidance given to me, I made it a little more positive and uplifting. Either way , the focus is on the purification of intent as a soul/spirit having an experience in a human body. We are all both, but today we are going to talk about the Spirit part.
Let us digress for a brief moment.
When I was in medical school, I wanted to continue my dance training. I had taken ballet classes at the Berkeley Conservatory of Ballet on Saturdays for several years. I loved starting my day in the cool studio, with my teacher Patricia Cloud, yes that is her real name! It is a great joy for me to dance.
I went once to the San Diego School of Ballet with my classmate Lisa Montes. I took a lesson with her. But it was twenty dollars a lesson, which I couldn't afford on a more regular basis. (I later came back here to dance in my fellowship year, and my favorite memory from fellowship was being called out of class on a Saturday morning to do an emergency heart case, and I did it with scrubs over my ballet apparel, and only I knew...)
So on Wednesday nights, UCSD had jazz/hip hop classes available for twenty dollars a semester. So that's what I did, I'd skip dinner and run to my jazz/hip hop class.
What I didn't know is that among the medical students were ballroom dance enthusiasts. And for break time in the mornings and afternoons, we would go to the student lounge and practice our steps! Sometimes, even in the aisles of the lecture hall, we would dance.
That's when I got invited to Pechanga, a club in the Gaslamp district, to go to the free salsa lessons at eight and the free merengues lessons at ten. A small group of my friends would go.
Here is an example of what we did:
This music and dancing opened up a fire in my soul. The joy! the passion! the excellence! the fun! It's like people who did ordinary jobs during the day would come here and it would be absolute magic! Actually, there were a lot of people in the circle for the lesson who weren't very good. I had to dance with them for a few minutes until our groups would rotate to the next partner. But the next hour, nine to ten, with practice?
That's where I would really learn.
If you look in the video, the couple in the front have a lot more skills than the ones in the back. You can see it.
So when you are learning, and improving, then the better partners will invite you to dance with them.
And when you are dancing and looking amazing out there on the dance floor? Your partner is showing you tips on how to be better. Those four or five minutes for a song were a total rush. These partners move around all night, they don't just stay with you. But they give you the tips, and the wait is totally worth it.
Do I dance salsa now?
I blew out my right big toe on point doing ballet. I think the joint is ruined and I don't want to fuse it or get a joint replacement. Have I seen a doctor for it? No. I've asked podiatry residents in the hall. It causes me pain just about every minute of every day, especially when I move, but I move anyway.
So in Heaven, that's one thing I'm going to do as much as I can, is enjoy ballet, salsa, and anything else that seems fun to practice and learn.
I was very lucky to go to medical school very close to Mexico. I spent two years learning medical Spanish, both the language and the culture. Mexicans call us who live in the states 'los frios'--the cold ones. So I had to learn how to be meet the expectations of their culture. Warm handshake, talking a little closer proximity than would be comfortable, and being more of a parent in my interactions with my patients because it is the doctor who makes the decisions--not a mutual decision-making like it is here in the states.
But I digress.
In the pool yesterday, I got to enjoy the companionship of a being in Spirit. They wanted to go for a swim with me. I was very happy, my energy was good, I was in the water I love, and thus it is a little easier for Spirit to make the connection. It was one of my guides.
And the guides for me now, are very much like the excellent Salsa dancers back in medical school.
They give me tips.
And the tip was, 'Get rid of the bullshit Carla'. I was shown how there are social expectations and niceties taught to little girls here, how to be a 'good girl', how to be indirect, discreet, polite, and yet, one of the purest expressions of my soul was how when I was so free and living in the moment I just started singing with the song on the radio. Out loud, in front of others, and I didn't even realize I was singing. I was just enjoying myself and the moment and having a good time.
Spirit knows I always have a filter. I got that filter from being abused as a child, and from being raised by a mother who had anger management issues and was deeply unhappy, and also from being taught from day one on the playground 'not to be stuck up'.
What Spirit was saying is that as a Spirit experiencing life in a human body, I need to step up my game. I can always remain friendly and polite. Spirit is never rude. But I need to own up to my own motives, my purity of intention, and focus it to finish my Life Purpose more effectively. To cut the crap I have picked up being socialized here. To respect it, but not to let it slow me down.
This is a very subtle subject to teach.
Be authentic.
So for the rest of the blog post we are going to have the visual aids, the pictures, to help.
Our true Home is the Realm of Spirit.
Sometimes it can be lonely here, to be out of the Realm of Spirit. Being around like-minded others really helps.
But when you stop and think about it, if everyone is created by Divine Creator, and everything is created by Divine Creator of All That Is, then except for the human and animal and plant and mineral 'bodies'--and the illusion of them being all we can see and feel and taste and touch and smell--everything is still Spirit. It just doesn't look that way. But it is.
Those of you who practice Reiki are familiar with the sensations of the energy of Spirit flowing through you and your clients as you facilitate their healing session.
Ross was very big on talking about Spirit, how you can recognize it, and how you can promote it in your everyday life.
I may add it is very easy to see who is lacking in the fruits of the Spirit in your daily interactions, and always, as Ross reminded us back in the day, it is the sick who need the doctor. So, unpleasant as some of those who lack Spirit can be, reach out to them in Spirit from your heart. Send them love and pray for them.
Remember Paul as Saul was killing Christians one day, and then a powerful leader of Christians and disciple the next.
Anything is possible in the realm of Spirit.
Anything!
Some cultures understand the Spiritual world a little better than others. In Mexico (and in Italy when my mom was young), October 31 through November 2, remember their loved ones with the Day of the Dead. My mom described having picnics in the cemetery, and having their best food, things they could barely afford, in honor of those who have passed who they love.
This is metaphysically correct. My teacher Anne Reith, PhD taught us that the Veil is the thinnest between both worlds at that time.
And the Mexicans are correct in honoring the dead with things that they enjoyed in life. Because in the afterlife, cigarettes, alcohol, and certain other things do not exist...
Remember you are made of Spirit. Honor the true essence of your being, of your soul, in everything you do. Life is short. Drop the crazy-making baloney that society teaches you about being YOU and being 'accepted'. Your essence is much stronger, your vibration is much more powerful, when you let yourself BE--as long as you are able to continue the common courtesies, are friendly and polite to everyone. Yes?
If you would like to further the lesson, for a little extra credit, you can remember Divine Creator made us both Masculine and Feminine.
Divine Creator is Divine Father and Divine Mother! The apple doesn't fall far from the tree : ))
Allow your Divine Masculine and Divine Feminine essence to strengthen and be pure and crisp and clear.
There is reason for it, and it is much needed in this world.
The small pleasantries of the interaction of the Divine Masculine and the Divine Feminine--the strength of the male unscrewing a tight lid for the female, for example--create the essence of the Life Force. Even without sex. Sex is a whole other story. But La Difference? The mutual appreciation of the opposite, politely, friendly, and courteous, in social interaction is going to decimate the energy of the control grid put on us by TWDNHOBIAH. Admire her jewelry or her nails. Admire his fine qualities--problem-solving or leadership or being skilled and talented. (you can do that for her too...)
The world is thirsty for it.
Be like Garrison Keillor's Lake Woebegone--where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.
Just for today, this is how my Divine Feminine is going to feel in my soul , and I am going to give thanks for it, and nurture it, in everything I do.
Starting with breakfast for Anthony! I have the day off and he just stopped the shower!
Ross is laughing, smiling, and waving me on to go! go and cook for that boy!
clap! clap!
Aloha and Mahalos,
Namaste,
Peace,
Ross and Carla
The Twins
