Healing & Comfort

This month’s issue is about healing and comforting our spirit during troubled times.

Many of us find this to be the most difficult time to remain spiritual.

We grasp for earthly, physical things to comfort ourselves like food or possessions and often these items don’t give us the comfort we need.

Deep down inside our souls are aching and in those times, we need something deeper and more profound to assist us in our healing.

It is in the times, when life is the most difficult to keep on living, that our spiritual beliefs need to be the strongest.

During the tragedy of September 11th, 2001 and the weeks that followed, I found it almost impossible to do anything. Breathing became a difficult task and continuing to function at my day to day tasks became overwhelming. I found myself numb, without any feeling at all, except grief. I was filled up completely with my grief and horror at the images that I had seen.

Time was a great healer for me. As the days passed I began to feel better, but during those days of despair I found great comfort in my spiritual beliefs. I knew, with every fiber of my being that these people and their souls did not just cease to exist. I knew that they have moved into a different realm, one of spiritual existence rather than physical existence. Knowing that they were not lost, but truly found, gave me great solace.

Knowing that my children and loved ones were safe and near me also gave me comfort. Having contact with them allowed me to go within and begin to heal my own soul that was so badly bruised.

I began feeling the love of the Goddess, gently wrapping Herself around my life. She brought people close to me and their listening ears helped me to get the grief out of my body. Each day my breathing became easier and less forced. I started to feel like myself again, the healed and whole me.

I allowed myself to smile. I felt no guilt over finding a smile gently touching my lips. I even found myself laughing and remembering how often I had done this before Sept. 11th. As I connected more with the pleasures in life and talked about my feelings, I found myself healing.

The anger that caused the towers to fall has created an opportunity for us all. We have found a new warmth and comfort in who we are as people. We were successful in coming together and becoming who we needed to be and we found that this role fit well.

We showed ourselves how much love we have in our hearts for each other. This is personal, this is growth! It was so amazing how all of us, all ages, all races came together and raised our arms to support each other. Hate and distrust of our neighbors was gone. Love took hold. Compassion became our foundation.

Before the terrorist attack we were a country of numb robots. Doing our thing, trying to get ahead, or just stay afloat and all of a sudden, in a matter of a few moments, we discovered a part of ourselves, that we had ceased to use. A part that focused on love, a part that found out how much we, as single individuals are capable of doing. We truly discovered how valuable each individual human being on this planet is and their potential for love and support.

Many of us realized that we are the lamp. The Goddess and Her guidance is the oil and the information, ideas and ideals are the flame that burns. We are not all so different after all. Whether we are a fireman, a school teacher, a movie star or a mother waiting to hear from her loved one .... we had a common goal and a common wish.

So let’s not allow any ‘negative’ people, (because that’s what they are - terrorists are people too) to change our focus. Instead, let’s take this opportunity to see what else, as individuals we can accomplish - in the name of love.

We need to focus on peace and love in a global way. Fear and hate only beget more fear and hate. Where does the cycle of negativity stop? Will it stop with you? As Mahatma Gandhi so aptly put it - "We must be the change we wish to see in the world" We all need to focus on love and serenity because it has the ability to not only create more but to remove the fears and hatred of others.

I tell my children all the time, when you find yourself in a situation of negativity, send love. Stop the cycle. Don’t feed the negative situation. It takes two sides to continue and if we all choose to stop then there’s no more negative fuel to feed the flame.

Love is light and light removes darkness. In light, shadows do not exist. So if you are angry because of this tragedy or any other tragedy in your life, stop and send them love - lots of love and watch what effect it has.

By Aleesha Stephesion