Category: Uncategorized

Harvey 1

Harvey- 1
Excerpt from the new book-

You will see in previous chapters I have written about the Zen of business and carving a creative life. I have experienced the Zen and the incredible aspects about the subconscious and the tools of which I have written. I know the blessings of the universe as some would call it, though in my personal life’s journey I refer to it as God. I know that the principles in this book work. I have seen people have success by using these tools. It has happened time and time again, but today my heart is heavy. I can’t think of business. My acknowledgments and affirmations feel like long ago whisper instead of firm resolve. My meditation is not a planned event like it usually is, but instead, because I know how much meditation helps and breathing helps, I simply take a moment when I feel the stress or frustration and say, “This is a good time to take three deep breaths.”

Sometimes you find you are in the midst of something so much bigger than yourself that just putting one foot in front of the other is all you can do. I know there will be times, in the lives of the readers of this book, that they will suffer devastation in one shape or another. It may be a business loss; it may be the death of a loved one, it may be a traumatic world event or an individual assault. It may be a natural disaster, or it may be something that you are responsible for, and you find yourself stuck in a mode of unforgiveness.

“There is a saying in Tibetan, ‘Tragedy should be utilized as a source of strength.”

 No matter what sort of difficulties, how painful experience is, if we lose our hope, that’s our real disaster.” Dali llama

When you are in the midst of tragedy you often feel anything but strong. I don’t feel this tragedy alone. 13 million people who try to recover from the devastation of a tropical storm Harvey that the news describes as the “Biggest rainstorm in the continental United States also feel it. “ Meteorologist Jeff Lindner with the Harris County Flood control district. On August, 29th tweeted “one trillion gallons of rainfall has fallen in Harris County over four days which would run Niagara Falls for 15 days. “Houston’s average rainfall is 49.7 inches of rain a year. Harvey brought 51.8 inches in a few days. The news reports that the measurement of rain was over 4 feet, in gauges around the city. I write from the center of Houston. I’d like to tell you how many days it is after the storm but as a meme on Facebook states “People in Houston don’t know what day it is.” This meme is right. I don’t know what day it is.

The frantic prep of a hurricane is enough to set one on edge. Knowing we would not get the winds since Hurricane Harvey was coming in the southwest of Houston I did not need to do the tedious and exhausting task of boarding up windows. I did prep by securing clean water, getting a generator out and working, and buckled down to what I thought would be a productive writing stint. Wrong.

For those who don’t know about hurricanes let me enlighten you. Each hurricane has what meteorologists refer to as a “dirty side.” The dirty side is usually the right side. What happened to Houston during Harvey is that there was high pressure from the north and high pressure from the west that acted like two big hands holding it in place. Though Harvey came into Houston’s left, we sat on the dirty side for a very long time before Harvey then went back out into the Gulf of Mexico and came back in again closer to Houston.

It was an anxious anticipation of what might happen. Having a hot spot on my phone, thank you AT&T, and an HD antenna in my attic, combined with electricity and a prepped generator kept me connected. Instead of working on this book I spent my writing time posting on my Facebook page about the news I was watching, the evacuation notices, and tornado warnings. I posted about the rising waters, and my feed turned from pictures of my art and writing to a feed of information that people told me was especially helpful. Many people had no television or electricity and only their phones. I kept in touch with friends who were on their roofs waiting for evacuation. I posted websites where people could list their evacuation need and where others who had boats could assist. My job turned into sitting in a chair and “sharing, ” and I had no idea how important that simple task in social media was, until this disaster. If you are in a disaster or know someone who is, simply hitting the button titled “share” and sharing the posts of needs on your feed, and making them public is a great way to spread the word and help others. There is great power in this resource.

Meanwhile, I watched the water rise in my yard, thankful for a two story studio and that my x husband asked me to store his canoe. I thought about purchasing a dry bag, a type of bag that you take canoeing or kayaking. I would save copies of all my important documents and then take it, should I need to bug out. I, as writers do, thought about the many books I had in the process. Where they all backed up? Was this book that I nearly finished backed up, and would that back up be safe in flood should I have to bug out? For an author, their books are their babies.

To be continued
Breathing between raindrops and sorrow
Pusche

Bringing down the walls- seven times in prayer.

Sometimes the work of changing our thinking is challenging. At one point I was having a tough time with a group of people in businesses. I could not believe how they were treating me, and what was transpiring. I wanted to call each person, and scream that this was not fair, they were asses, and needed to come to my way of thinking, but I legally could not, and that is probably a good thing.

It was a vortex, or stagnation, either way. I felt stuck taking time with the voices and feeling is always best. It helps to respond and not react. I and all of those who were on my support team were beside ourselves in how to break down the walls that were put up. It was really strange how our words were being misinterpreted, and I felt hopeless and frustrated. So, I examined those feelings, and the feelings I had for everyone. You know they were so intense, I’m not sure I could not have gotten out of that bad space on my own. I felt like there were these huge walls that were put up and there was no way around them. But, remember, I do have a faith, and I do believe that I have what it takes to change the perception of the problem.

If I held on to what I was thinking and feeling it would have done me in. So, I began positive affirmations and acknowledgments about the entire situation and repeated it to myself daily. Any time, anything came up in my mind that was negative I would ward it off with positive thoughts. That should have worked alone, but I struggled. So, I thought, if the walls  of Jericho could come down by walking around that city seven times, then I could get these walls to come down by committing to pray for seven days. I decided to make it symbolic by praying in an area that was a representation of the change I wanted. I know I didn’t have to go to this place, but for me it was symbolic, it held emotion and was a commitment, and I have found that tricking the subconscious often has a lot to do with emotions. You must visualize your outcome in all of your senses and get emotional about it. I walked around this area seven times and prayed and thought positive affirmations and acknowledgments. I did not pray curses upon them; I did the opposite. I took every person from this opposition and prayed for them individually. At one point I knew that one man’s wife had cancer and his entire family was laid heavy on my heart. I prayed diligently for him, his wife, and his kids. I prayed for truth. I visualized the outcome I desired. I prayed the walls would come down. When I felt weak, I prayed angels would walk with me. These were tall dudes, with swords and not something you wanted to mess with. I gave them the battle. I prayed my heart would be healed from this.

On day three of this seven days of prayer, it poured. I stopped and got a raincoat from the store and was prepared to walk and pray. Then as I drove up, my car broke down. I simply called triple AA walked in the rain as I waited and prayed. Then I realized that I could not make my commitment because of not having a car. I could have stopped there, but my commitment was more about convincing my subconscious and the universe for me it was a big spiritual thing. I found a friend who knew what I was trying to do and she was kind enough to drive me for the next couple of days while my car was in the shop.

A couple of things happened during this process. The first thing that happened took place before my car broke down. I was driving to a place before this designate prayer. I had decided to continue on with my endeavors to assist with the project in a positive manner that would support the oppositions outcome and that I felt comfortable doing because it supported my core values and beliefs and was something that was in line with my own goals. At one point one person from the opposition questioned it. And appeared angry over it, but I knew my heart and kept going. It was not hurting anyone; it was helping others. On the way that 3rd day I heard a voice in my head that said, “Good job, act like there are no walls.” I thought about that. If you think there are walls, you act in a certain way. On a football team, they have both offense and defense, the players and strategy changes depending on where they are in the game. If you are defense, then you act like defense. This began to make sense to me. I walked through my time of prayer with this new enlightenment.

After the seven days, there was a noticeable change. I would love to say that miracles happened and all was resolved. As I write this, I do believe that things did happen outside of me, and that the prayer and the positive affirmations did make a difference. I have to say I also got others to join me. I walked alone, but I developed my own team who were also praying and believing for positive outcomes. The noticeable change that happened took place inside of me. I had changed my heart toward these people. I felt better-80% better, and confident.

What walls can you pray over. God can work on the outcome and can heal your heart while doing so.

Marching and Praying,
Pusche