joy

Angels sure do come in many shapes and sizes. I recently got a puppy. She is so full of unconditional love. Her antics bring a smile to my face and joy to my heart. When she runs her ears flap like angel’s wings. How can you resist those eyes?

My dad has Alzheimer’s and recently his step daughters took him to Vermont to live. He can be very difficult and impatient at the best of times and with this disease ravaging his brain he gets paranoid and afraid very easily.

Long story short, after a month and a half in Vermont they are trying to ship him off to live with me in Hawaii. I go to Lithuania for the month of September so I can’t take him until I get home. I talked to him today and he is afraid and angry. There is a sweet young girl working in the nursing home they placed him in. I asked her to circle the date on the calendar when I will meet him and print out an e mail I wrote explaining everything. That way he can read it when he gets scared or forgets what’s happening.

Today she is my angel. Angels come in so many shapes and sizes. They are always there, right at the edge of our reality, waiting to help us, all we have to do is be willing to ask. I remember one of my mentors telling me that asking others to help was a gift for both them and me. People often enjoy feeling cherished and useful.

I used to have a bumper sticker on my car that said commit “random acts of kindness and senseless beauty.” What would happen to the world if a whole bunch of us decided to make that our mission for a month or two? It might be a very different world!

Some of the things I love to do:

Put flowers on people’s windshield
Pay for other people’s parking meters
Buy coffee for the person behind me
Throw extra coins in the toll booth
Stop and let people in line
Smile a lot
Say kind things to strangers
Pick up liter
Plant flowers
Cut someone else’s lawn
Listen, really listen to someone else

Who can you be an angel for today? How can you make this world a better place right here and right now?

With love and aloha,
Susan

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Angels around my home. . .

With love and aloha,
Susan

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Angel in the waves

Angels in the sky

With love and aloha,
Susan

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What I love most about working with celestial beings is the surprising way things show up in my life. I’ll try to make a long story short. Through a series of coincidences the idea of YouTube kept coming up, over and over again. I’ve learned over the years to pay attention to that sort of thing. Then Thursday I was talking to my web magician Zack and he e mailed me a link for the Flip video recorder.

I took the afternoon off and went to the warm ponds with Mahealani, my best buddy, teacher and friend. She teaches ancient Hawaiian spirituality and communicates a lot with her ancestors. They had been talking to her about something and she just didn’t quite get what they were talking about. After a few minutes we both realized it was You Tube, putting her teachings out there with YouTube.

So yesterday was a big day for me. I signed up for Twitter. I can really see how that can be like potato chips. If you’d like to follow me on twitter just go here:

http://twitter.com/susangregg

I also got a Flip camera and a new puppy. She has yet to be named but she is very cute. Here is my first YouTube, of course it is of her:

In a few weeks I will be doing a class on listening to your angels. I know when I listen, magic happens.

Have a great weekend!

With love and aloha,
Susan

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Yesterday I got 24 three day old baby chicks. They are little balls of fluffy down that peep a lot. They are so cute. As I sat watching them I thought of all those sparks of spirit animating their little bodies. Angels having the incredible opportunity to have a physical experience inside a chickens body.

As I sat quietly watching the chicks I could understand St. Joseph and his flights of ecstasy. When I was writing about him for The Encyclopedia of Angels, Spirit Guides and Ascended Masters I really enjoyed getting to know St. Joseph. Almost any type of spiritual experience would trigger St. Joseph’s religious ecstasy and his ability to levitate. He would fly high over the heads of other people and float for long periods of time over the altar.

While I was writing about him I had an amusing thought. I imagined of the brothers praying and meditating in the chapel at 4 o’clock in the morning. They were cold and tired when Joseph goes floating by. One brother would look up and say, “There goes Joseph. Hope the candles aren’t too high.” The Saints were amazing people. I learned so much from them about what is possible in my own life.

As I watched the baby chicks flutter and flit about I thought of Joseph. I was amazed by the miracle of life. A few days before these little fluffy chicks were inside an egg, they had to fight their way out, they were put in a box and flown all the way to Hawaii. And now 24 of them are starting their lives as my companions. They will have a pretty good life here on Green Acres.

Within a day they have already grown small feathers on their wing tips and on their tails. The universe is so amazing and so absolutely perfect. Of course Boots the cat thinks I got them just for her. I keep reminding her they are the same birds that chase her when she is out in the yard. I am not too sure if that is helping.

My dog Ginger thinks it is her job to take care of the chickens and she takes her job very seriously. If the hens out in the yard make unusual noise she immediately bolts for the door. Now she is on chick duty and I think she loves it!

The baby chicks and the saints reminded me that miracles are possible. When we live life from a place of a profound and active connection to the divine anything is possible. Saints are merely people who lived their lives from that place of connection. They were no different from you or I. They just focused the majority of their attention on their love of God however they defined that being.

May your day be full of magic and miracles,
Susan

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I have received this as an email several times. Each time it touches my heart. I have no idea who the author is but it is beautiful.

I talk a lot about dominion and the perfection of everything. In the Hawaiian tradition my kumu (teacher) talks about everything being pono - a word that roughly means perfect. Her grandfather used to say, "Everything is pono until you tell yourselves otherwise."

Puppies For Sale

A store owner was tacking a sign above his door that read "Puppies For Sale." Signs like that have a way of attracting small children, and sure enough, a little boy appeared under the store owner’s sign.

"How much are you going to sell the puppies for?" he asked.

The store owner replied, "Anywhere from $30 to $50."

The little boy reached in his pocket and pulled out some change. "I have $2.37," he said. "Can I please look at them?" The store owner smiled and whistled and out of the kennel came Lady, who ran down the aisle of his store followed by five teeny, tiny balls of fur.

One puppy was lagging considerably behind. Immediately the little boy singled out the lagging, limping puppy and said, "What’s wrong with that little dog?"

The store owner explained that the veterinarian had examined the little puppy and had discovered it didn’t have a hip socket. It would always limp. It would always be lame. The little boy became excited. "That is the puppy that I want to buy."

The store owner said, "No, you don’t want to buy that little dog. If

you really want him, I’ll just give him to you." The little boy got quite upset. He looked straight into the store owner’ s eyes, pointing his finger, and said, "I don’t want you to give him to me. That little dog is worth every bit as much as all the other dogs and I’ll pay full price. In fact, I’ll give you $2.37 now, and 50 cents a month until I have him paid for."

The store owner countered, "You really don’t want to buy this little dog. He is never going to be able to run and jump and play with you like the other puppies."

To his surprise, the little boy reached down and rolled up his pant leg to reveal a badly twisted, crippled left leg supported by a big metal brace.

He looked up at the store owner and softly replied, "Well, I don’t run so well myself, and the little puppy will need someone who understands!"

We ALL need someone who Understands!!

Imagine a world in which we all had that kind of love and compassion for everyone including people we think are evil or wrong!

With love and aloha,
Susan

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Aloha everyone,

In my writings I talk a great deal about the paradigm of dominion. It is a way of looking at the world that is very freeing and expansive. Symbolically it is represented as a sphere. Society is generally based on the paradigm of domination which is symbolically represented as a line. Osho speaks about peace from that place of dominion.

A man of peace is not a pacifist; a man of peace is simply a pool of silence.

He pulsates a new kind of energy into the world, he sings a new song.

He lives in a totally new way his very way of live is that of grace, that of prayer, that of compassion. Whomsoever he touches, he creates more love-energy.

The man of peace is creative. He is not against war, because to be against anything is to be at war. He is not against war, he simply understands why war exists.

And out of that understanding he becomes peaceful.

Only when there are many people who are pools of peace, silence, understanding, will the war disappear.

OSHO, from: ‘Zen: The Path of Paradox

How can you create more of peace of mind, happiness, joy and ease in your life?

With love and aloha,
Susan

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Aloha everyone,

A friend of mine sent me this story when one of my dogs died. I found the idea of meeting my four legged friends when I die very comforting. I hope you enjoy the story too.

Just this side of heaven is a place called the Rainbow Bridge. When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to the Rainbow Bridge.

There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor. Those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.

They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent; his eager body begins to quiver. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster. You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again.

The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross the Rainbow Bridge together…..

With love and aloha,
Susan

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A friend of mine sent me this article a number of years ago. I did some research and Father John Powell did write this story. So I give thanks to him and to Tommy. It is a wonderful reminder that seekers seldom find, it is by opening our heart and allowing love to be our guide that the magic of life happens.

This photo is of a heart rattle given to me by Georgia, who also took the picture.

Raw Elements Photography

John Powell, a retired professor at Loyola University writes about a student in his Theology of Faith class named Tommy.

Some twelve years ago, I stood watching my students file into the classroom for our first session in the Theology of Faith. That was the first day I first saw Tommy. My eyes and my mind both blinked. He was combing his long flaxen hair, which hung six inches below his shoulders.

It was the first time I had ever seen a boy with hair that long. I guess it was just coming into fashion then. I know in my mind it isn’t what’s on your head but what’s in it that counts; but on that day I was unprepared and my emotions flipped. I immediately filed Tommy under “S” for strange—very strange.

Tommy turned out to be the atheist in residence in my Theology of Faith class. He constantly objected to, smirked at or whined about the possibility of an unconditionally loving Father/God. We lived with each other in relative peace for one semester, although I admit he was for me at times a serious pain in the back pew.

When he came up at the end of the course to turn in his final exam, he asked in a slightly cynical tone, “Do you think I’ll ever find God?”

I decided instantly on a little shock therapy. “No!” I said very emphatically.

“Oh,” he responded, “I thought that was the product you were pushing.”

I let him get five steps from the classroom door and then called out, “Tommy! I don’t think you’ll ever find Him, but I am absolutely certain that He will find you!” He shrugged a little and left my class and my life.

I felt slightly disappointed at the thought that he had missed my clever line, “He will find you!” At least I thought it was clever.

Later I heard that Tommy had graduated and I was duly grateful. Then a sad report. I heard Tommy had terminal cancer. Before I could search him out, he came to see me.

When he walked into my office, his body was very badly wasted, and the long hair had fallen out as a result of chemotherapy. But his eyes were bright and his voice firm for the first time, I believe. “Tommy, I’ve thought about you so often. I hear you are sick,” I blurted out.

“Oh, yes, very sick. I have cancer in both lungs. It’s a matter of weeks.”

“Can you talk about it, Tom?” I asked.

“Sure, what would you like to know?” “What’s it like to be twenty-four and dying?”

“Well, it could be worse” he replied.

“Like what?”

“Well, like being fifty and having no values or ideals, like being fifty and thinking that booze, seducing women and making money are the real ‘biggies’ in life.”

I began to look through my mental file cabinet under “S” where I had filed Tommy as strange. (It seems as though everybody I try to reject by classification, God sends back into my life to educate me.)

“But what I really came to see you about,” Tom said, “is something you said to me on the last day of class.” (He remembered!) He continued, “I asked you if you thought I would ever find God and you said, ‘No!’ which surprised me. Then you said, ‘But He will find you.’ I thought about that a lot, even though my search for God was hardly intense at that time.” (My clever line. He thought about that a lot!)

“But when the doctors removed a lump from my groin and told me it was malignant, that’s when I got serious about locating God. When the malignancy spread into vital organs, I really began banging bloody fists against the bronze doors of heaven. But God did not come out. In fact, nothing happened. Did you ever try anything for a long time with great effort and with no success? You get psychologically glutted, fed up with trying. Then you quit. Well, one day I woke up, and instead of throwing a few more futile appeals over that high brick wall to a God who may or may not be there, I just quit. I decided I didn’t really care about God, about an after life, or anything like that. I decided to spend what time I had left doing something more profitable.

“I thought about you and your class and remembered something else you said: ‘The essential sadness is to go through life without loving. But it would be almost equally sad to go through life and leave this world without ever telling those you loved that you had loved them.’

“So, I began with the hardest one, my Dad. He was reading the newspaper at the time when I approached him. ‘Dad. “Yes, what?” he asked without lowering the newspaper. ‘Dad, I would like to talk with you.’ “Well, talk.” ‘I mean it’s really important.’ The newspaper came down three slow inches. “What is it?” ‘Dad, I love you. I just wanted you to know that.’

“Tom smiled at me and said it with obvious satisfaction, as though he felt a warm and secret joy flowing inside.

“The newspaper fluttered to the floor. Then my father did two things I could never remember him ever doing before. He cried and he hugged me. We talked all night, even though he had to go to work the next morning. It felt so good to be close to my father, to see his tears, to feel his hug, to hear him say that he loved me.

“It was easier with my mother and little brother. They cried with me and we hugged each other and started saying real nice things to each other. We shared things we had been keeping secret for so many years. I was only sorry about one thing; that I waited so long. Here I was, just beginning to open up to the people I had actually been close to.

“Then, one day I turned around and God was there. He didn’t come to me when I pleaded with Him. I guess I was like an animal trainer holding out a hoop, ‘C’mon, jump through. C’mon, I’ll give you three days, three weeks.’

“Apparently God does things in his own way and at his own hour. But the important thing is that he was there. He found me. You were right. He found me even after I stopped looking for him.”

“Tommy,” I practically gasped, “I think you are saying something very important and much more universal than you realize. To me, at least, you are saying the surest way to find God is not to make him a private possession, a problem solver, or an instant consolation in time of need, but rather by opening to love. You know, the Apostle John said that. He said, ‘God is love, and anyone who lives in love is living with God and God is living in him.’ Tom, could I ask you a favor? You know, when I had you in class you were a real pain. But (laughingly) you can make it up to me now. Would you come to my Theology of Faith course and tell them what you have just told me? If I told them the same thing it wouldn’t be half as effective as if you were to tell them.”

“Ooh, I was ready for you, but I don’t know if I’m ready for your class.”

“Tom, think about it. If and when you are ready, give me a call.”

In a few days Tom called, said he was ready for the class, that he wanted to do that for God and for me. So we scheduled a date. However, he never made it.

He had another appointment, far more important than the one with me and my class.

Of course, his life was not really ended by his death, only changed. He made the great step from faith into vision. He found a life far more beautiful than the eye of man has ever seen or the ear of man has ever heard or the mind of man has ever imagined.

Before he died, we talked one last time. “I’m not going to make it to your class,” he said.

“I know, Tom.”

“Will you tell them for me? Will you tell the whole world for me?”

“I will, Tom. I’ll tell them. I’ll do my very best.”

So, to all of you who have been kind enough to read this simple statement about love, thank you. And to you, Tommy, somewhere in the sunlit, verdant hills of heaven, I told them, Tommy, as best I could.

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Someone sent me this story years ago. I think it is a wonderful reminder about the magic of life, that the thoughts we water most often bear fruit and that at times I have no idea what is going on behind the scenes. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

The Cracked Pot

A water-bearer carries two large pots on a yoke across his shoulders up the hill from the river to his master’s house each day. One has a crack and leaks half its water out each day before arriving at the house. The other pot is perfect and always delivered a full portion of water after the long walk from the river.

Finally, after years of arriving half-empty and feeling guilty, the cracked pot apologized to the water-bearer. It was miserable. “I’m sorry that I couldn’t accomplish what the perfect pot did.”

The water-bearer says, “What do you have to apologize for?”

“After all this time, I still only deliver half my load of water. I make more work for you because of my flaw.”

The man smiled and told the pot. “Take note of all the lovely flowers growing on the side of the path where I carried you. The flowers grew so lovely because of the water you leaked. There are no flowers on the perfect pot’s side.”

With love and aloha,
Susan

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