LifeSkills Conference 2024

 

Miracle

The reality that we are alive is a miracle. How many near-death experiences have we survived?

Your life has a unique and special purpose. There is a reason you are alive, here and now. Every breath you take, every step you take, is miraculous.

So give your life to service. Be grateful. Love, and share the miracle of life with every other miracle you meet.

This beautiful life

Our universe is intimately interconnected. When we grow and improve as individuals, so does the larger world improve and grow. We are all part of an infinite, unconditional loving universe. We add to the greater good with our acts of kindness, caring, and love. When we serve and lift up each other, everyone benefits. We are all a part of this beautiful life.

I remember everything

I have awakened every day before 6am since she left. I remember her with love. I remember how her hair curled when wet. I remember her perfect little nose. I remember her tiny little fingers. I remember her deep brown eyes.

I remember the seizures, the oxygen, the percussion, the tube feeding, the medications, the emergencies, and her wheelchair that now sits empty in her room.

I remember everything.

She is my little girl, and she will always be my little girl. This bittersweet love is a privilege. The tears that find their way to my eyes are a blessing. This is love. This is unconditional love that Ashley brought to our world.

She was my silent companion, my trusted confidant. Her silent answer to my every concern was, "love", "find a way to love, explore every aspect of the challenge through the eyes of love."

I rest in her spiritual presence.

If not you, who? If not now, when?

Since surviving open heart surgery and the death of our beloved daughter Ashley, there is an inspiring truth I live with everyday. 

There is no tomorrow, only now. Now needs you. Now needs your love. Now needs your compassion, empathy, kindness, caring, and integrity. 

Now is the time to speak your truth, share your values, and be fully who God intended you to be. 

Now we must unplug from our devices and sit together in companionship and lift each other up. 

Now listen for truth. Listen for love. If you don’t hear love, there is a chance there is no truth. 

Love and truth

Listen

and choose

If not you, who? If not now, when?

Healing together

"At this point in history, it seems that we will either destroy ourselves or find a way to build a sustainable life together." - Miriam Greenspan

Learning to be fully authentic and sharing our mutual vulnerability will be our salvation. Awareness of our common pain moves us to seek ways to heal ourselves and our those around us.

We must be willing to share the truth of who we are; shadow and light. Through this honest sharing, healing is made possible. The greatest healing process is through relationships. In relationships, we learn about ourselves, each other, nature, and the universe. In this learning together, we heal. In this healing, we create community and sacred connection.

Sacred Moments

My life has been interrupted by God.

I was not ready. I had plans, things I still wanted to do. Although sometimes very challenging, our life was predictable. Medicine, seizures, breathing treatment, percussion, diaper change, oxygen, tube feed, repeat.

Then the pattern stops. It could be surgery, or an accident. For us, it was the death of our angelic special needs daughter Ashley. Everything is changed.

For those of us who have lost loved ones, we have learned that the simple gifts of life are sacred moments. Each day is a gift. Saying I love you in the morning, in the evening, often throughout the day. Appreciating every act of kindness, every kind word.

These sacred moments are the miracles of life.

You are always with us

Nothing could stop you dying, even though you had stopped the process so many times before. Even now, months later, I still have moments when I think you will return.

In your final moments here on earth, you knew we were with you. Through the painful changes your body was going through, your spirit still shined brightly. I looked deeply into your brown eyes and knew you were in another world.

I feel your love surround me. Yesterday we were in one of your favorite parks. The one with the two and half mile boardwalk where I used to push your wheelchair.

This time I had nothing to push. I was a bit lost, not being able to hold onto you. I had to find another way of walking, a new way of making my way through the world.

As I find a new way to walk without you, Mom and I see it. Pink flowers, throughout every curve and bend in the boardwalk we saw pink flowers, and we knew you were with us.

You are always with us.

She speaks to me

Our daughter's unconditional love is everywhere. It speaks to me with every heartbeat. 

I feel her love as I pass by her bedroom and see the memorial of pictures on the wall. 
I see her love in the memorial tree we planted in the front yard. 
I smell her love in the blooming lilac on the back deck. 
I hear her love in the children's laughter from our next-door neighbors. 

I feel a strange gratitude, not happiness, but a warmth that Ashley is not with me physically, she is in me spiritually.

When I Pray...

"True prayer brings us to the edge of a great mystery, where we become inarticulate,

where our knowledge fails." – Parker Palmer

When I am deeply in prayer and meditation, I know that my beloved, angelic daughter, Ashley, is in a state of enhanced consciousness. I speak with her, and sometimes I feel her answer. She comforts me. She assures me of unconditional loving acceptance.

When I pray, I welcome God's presence. I am grateful that God and Ashley are always with me.

Feel gratitude

“The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays.” Søren Kieregaard

All faiths remind us that God is infinite, unconditional love. God is everywhere, in and through all things, the creator of all. God is in us. We are an aspect of infinite, unconditional love. 

Allow yourself to feel at one with this love. 

Feel gratitude for this great blessing, and let go. 

God is with me

When I pray, I am often very quiet. I breathe in unconditional love. Unconditional love is my understanding of what many referred to as God. There are times each day, when I am alone in contemplation and reflection, and I know God is with me. I also know God is with me when I walk my favorite nature trail, swim at the YMCA, and doing my daily yoga. God is also with me when I plan my masters classes, when I talk with my workmates, and when I greet strangers with a clear hello. God is in my thoughts, in my feelings, and in my actions. My prayer and contemplation with God is unceasing.

God is with me when I see beauty and when I see ugly. God is with me when I hear pleasant and when I hear static. God is with me when I think loving thoughts and when I think fearful thoughts. God is with me in sorrow and in joy.

God is with me.

God is.

Our World

Our world is facing significant challenges; war, hatred, climate change, and the lack of basic respect and dialogue skills. Our worldwide challenges ask us for worldwide solutions. Our interconnected humanity must become aware of how we think and act. Do we treat everyone, yes, everyone, with dignity and respect?

Education has always been the primary tool of transformation. We must see beyond the 3R's of reading, writing, and arithmetic. We must focus on the 3R's of respect, responsibility, and healthy relationships. We must share and celebrate our common core values.

We can begin with kindness, caring, and compassion. If you can't do that, at least do no harm.

Unconditional Love is in Everything

The wholeness of kindness, compassion, and empathy is everywhere. We can never exhaust the infinite power of unconditional love.

Unity helps us understand the only divisions that exist are those that we have created. Let us continue to evolve, grow, and change. Wherever we are in our growth process is perfect. The pulse of Divine unconditional love rises like the tides to embrace our current efforts.

Every breath

Spirituality is an awareness of the sacredness of all life and an intimate relationship with an unconditional loving Higher Power.

When we experience the loss of a loved one, we are invited to be intensely engaged in the experience of the spiritual. Our relationship with our loved one and with the spiritual moves to a new, unique, and mystical experience. There is a daily communion that is transformational.

Our awareness of an unconditional loving Higher Power brings a sense of peace and connection with our loved one and with our higher self. We can bear the excruciatingly bittersweet pain of loss, knowing our loved one is transmitting unconditional love to us with every breath we take.

There is unconditional love in every breath.