"Blessingham, WA"

**Side Note: It felt a little funny for me to post my "Low Tide" blog yesterday considering how contrasting those lows had felt to the highs I was presently experiencing.  For the most part, I have been trying to post my blogs in chronological order, but I’ve decided that I’m going to throw that notion out the window.  I’ve realized that sometimes I am ready to write and share, and others it takes me a little longer to verbalize, catch up, or whatever the writer's block may be; life isn't really linear anyways, but hopefully this isn't too confusing!  I'm still considering dating each blog with the actual dates it is documenting, to help make sense of what may appear to be wildly erratic locations and stories, but that is yet to be decided (I'm open to input).  In the meantime, here’s a post about yesterday, June 27th…**

From beginning to end, today was one of those perfect kind of travel days.  It started out beautifully, and by the time it was finished, I felt truly blessed, connected, and in love with life.  As I drove home after watching the most resplendent sunset, listening to Sloom by Of Monsters and Men (which was lyrically, synchronistically ideal for the day I'd had), I felt as though my fourth chakra (aka heart chakra) was actually exploding with love, and it seemed to be at everything and nothing...

Though I considered waking up early and going for a hike prior to the breakfast I had planned, I woke up to another gray and raining morning and decided that if my body needed sleep, I would let it.  I easily fell back to sleep, and when I woke up naturally, I found myself gently drifting out of a most pleasant dream and into a very welcoming morning.  I had slept wonderfully and felt deliciously rested, smiling as the remnants of my happy dreams slowly slipped away. 

Shortly after rising, I received a text from a powerful and beautiful woman from my clairvoyant program, responding to my previous day's text about exchanging long-distance aura healings.  We agreed, and after I readied myself for the day, I commenced to do hers.  When I followed up after finishing, I shared with her the information I had seen and she responded with encouraging validation that I had been right on.  Energized from the mutual gratification of doing energy work, I headed out for my much anticipated breakfast.

While I was in Kauai with my mom, we encountered, and she engaged with, a gentleman on the beach; they first discussed where they were from and general information, and quickly unveiled that he was a shaman and would be in Bellingham while I was here.  He gave her his information to pass along to me, and after exchanging some emails and calls we planned to meet for breakfast at a wonderful little place called Old Town Café.  When I arrived, I was immediately charmed by the couple quietly playing folk music and the couple who I had come to meet. 

Meeting him and his wife was a beyond enjoyable experience!  We spoke about where they were living (or were going to be), shared personal stories, and dove into a more in-depth conversation about spirituality and the type of bodywork that they do; all along the way, discovering similarities and “coincidences” that bonded us in our journeys.  It was inspiring to share this time with them, and though we can never be certain, there is much potential for our connection to continue to develop, with many possibilities ahead.  You can find their Shamanic Bodywork website here, where you can read about what they do, be added to their newsletter, and find out about the book that will be published soon, which I am very eager to read! (I also borrowed his term for the name of this blog, because being in the beautiful Bellingham seems to have boundless blessings; boom! I love alliteration!)

When I left breakfast, I had received texts from my fellow energy worker who had done my healing and was following up with information.  It was incredible that despite be hundreds of miles apart, and not knowing much about what specifically was going on in each other's lives, she was able to share information that was poignant, impactful, and exactly what I had been undefinably sensing, and help me work through some energies I had been getting stuck on.  Our exchanges were both validating and healing, and I look forward to doing more.

I decided to explore the Sehome area of Bellingham, which included the campus of Western Washington University, and the Sehome Arboretum.  Walking around the arboretum made me burst with happiness as I wandered the nature trails and climbed the tower for a vista view of Bellingham.  At one point I mused that I was that “crazy” person who walks around the woods alone, laughing seemingly at nothing; it’s never nothing though, whether I’m laughing at a thought, a memory, a new perspective, or letting go of an old one, or just the simple pleasures of absorbing the little details of life, there’s always something to laugh about, and I’m pretty sure the trees were laughing with me.  

I eventually returned to the house I’ve been staying to get some work done, and though I seemed to be having a little trouble sitting still to catalogue records (I was just so buoyant with energy!), I managed to get several hours in before it was time to move onto my next excursion.

On one of my first days in Bellingham, I had been talking to a local who told me about a really great funk band playing at a bar; their name was Snug Harbor, which just happened to be the name of the place I had stayed at about two weeks prior – a place I had never known existed in the Sacramento River Delta (full story here).  Though it sounded like fun, and I was delighted by the ‘coincidence,’ I haven’t really been feeling the bar scene and couldn’t quite convince myself it’d be worth it.  Fortunately, I discovered that this band would also be playing a free outdoor concert in the park a few days later. 

I arrived just as they were starting to play and instantly loved their beats!  During the first half of the show, I watched and let their jazzy tunes run through me until I was just moving with the music, almost involuntarily dancing, like most of the people there.  I’ve been feeling a desire to play the tambourine, and one of the drummers was really rocking it with one, inspiring me to dance more, and only further fueling my tambourine desires; I couldn’t help but think “man, that ginger’s got soul!”  Due to the rain of the morning and the on/off drizzles throughout the afternoon, the grass was pretty wet, so I found a spot under a tree with a thick blanket of relatively dry bark to sit on, leaning my back against the strong, comforting trunk. 

This was definitely a family affair, in addition to the so-called “downtown crowd” they normally draw, so it was as much of a people-watching paradise as it was a musical marvel.  Somewhere towards the end of the show, I noticed an adorable little two year old girl who had a bandage covering up her right ear.  She noticed me, smiled, and bee-lined her way right over.  When she reached me, she simply looked at me, put her hands in mine, and sat down next to me; it was the most precious wordless act, and I couldn’t help but to love her.  Her parents seemed a little nervous, but I told them it was okay, so she sat with me a while, her tiny little hands placed gently in mine, and her sweet little body leaning against my side.  When her parents told her it was time to go, she almost started crying, so I got to my knees to lift her up, looked at her, and told her we would hug and then she would be okay to go; after embracing her with all the love I could, she smiled and went with her parents, glancing back as they walked away.  I don’t know what was wrong with her ear, or what her situation was like, but I hope that for at least the time she sat with me, she felt at ease and surrounded by love. 

When the show ended, I decided this amazing band was worth buying at least one of their $5 cds, and the design of one that I bought was reminiscent of an antique vinyl record, with an outline of Washington state on the cover - how perfect!  I started to meander my way back to the house, when I realized that it was about to be a magnificent sunset, so I wandered until I found a place where I could watch.  I discovered a park a little beyond the territory of areas I'd already explored, and was elated to witness the stunning show put on by mother nature, drawing another blessed day to a close.  In between getting a little snap-happy, I also meditated, integrating the lessons and interactions of the day with the energy of the vibrant, dynamic horizon.

Many of the concepts discussed at my breakfast have been great fodder for my mind and soul to gnaw on throughout the day, and as I finish this up one of them is reverberating very strongly.   Understanding the definition of a miracle as “a shift in perception,” from the book A Course in Miracles, this concept states, as summed up by the author of a great article found on www.thehappymindbook.com:
“A miracle is a change in your mind from being closed off to the presence of love, to being open to experience it. It is a shift from distortion to clarity, from the illusion of separation, sin and suffering to seeing the truth of love. The real change is in the perceiver—essentially a change from fear to love, from unpeace to peace, from unhappiness to perfect happiness.”

In the realms of this definition, I feel safe in saying that today has been miraculous; one of those sublime days that assures me that I am on the right path, that affirms my ability to work with energy and love, and that emphasizes that we're all connected.    

Namaste Ÿ “The divine in me bows to the divine in you”