Month: January 2021

An outstanding presentation by Amanda Gorman, the 22-year-old Youth Poet Laureate, was widely heralded as an inspiration gracing President Joe Biden’s Inauguration ceremony. The culminating verse proclaimed a powerful declaration, as follows:

“When day comes, we step out of the shade, Aflame and unafraid,
The new day blooms as we free it. For there is always light,
If only we are brave enough to see it. If only we are brave enough to Be it.”

There have been times in my 69 years when I questioned whether I was brave enough. 

As some of you know — almost 4-1/2 years ago now, I contracted a rare, chronic autoimmune disease that belabored me for several delirious weeks, followed by another prolonged period of time when I was, in no way, cognizant of the everyday life I had been blessed to live before. 

One day (out of the blue), I became newly aware of the Spirit-guided nature of my true Being. It felt as if my obedient, yet stressed body and soul were being nurtured by serene slumbers — While being intrinsically held, actuated, and sustained from above and beyond the dimensions and dynamics of time, space, and any human sense of separation, one from another.

Surrounded by that sublime stillness and deep peace, I could steward an innate knowing that supplants intellectual knowledge, and ease that makes light of “dis-ease” (the absence of ease). 

The essence of Spirit thereof was an apt depiction of Amanda Gorman’s poetic statement: “There is always Light — If we are brave enough to see It, If we are brave enough to Be It”.

Nowadays, here “at home” — Working with the weekly blog these last five months — I have come to know that we have only just begun to “light up” All that can be manifested and expressed!

Parenthetically, I realize that, heretofore, I have been reluctant to present a range of esoteric elements which may well be truly “ineffable” (ie, indescribable beyond words) — All the while, I desired not to come off as sounding theoretical, impractical, or abstractly belief-ridden.

Albeit in the end, the true remedy for all such challenges is two-fold: Outward and Upward:

OUTWARD: To Practice an Abiding Simplicity in All Facets of Daily Living and Serving — And …

UPWARD: To Constantly Let Go into the Ever-Present Spirit, where there is a resistance-free Openness that witnesses One’s highest Self continually affirming the Word expressed:

“I AM Spirit — YOUR Spirit —
One with the Eternal Field of Light.
I AM with You and In You, Brave One —
Above & Beyond any material illusions —

We Are One —
As We Have Always Been — As We Now Are —  & As We Will Forever Be
— I in You, and You in Me —
In the Eternal Present Moment of Light Shining
And the Dawn of the New Day Blooming
SELAH

Among the usual daily dozen of unrequested marketing mailings that I find stuffed in my mailbox, I recently came across a poochy, padded envelope. Upon opening it, I found a general form letter of introduction, a logo-laden “2021” wall calendar; a large sheet of tiny return address stickers with my (often misspelled) name on each, and finally a stack of mass-mailed sales material offering me and many a $1-a-month subscription, titled, “Mind, Mood, & Memory” 

Initially quizzical about its purpose, I soon discovered that — even with it reflecting rather dense marketing approaches aimed to impress — its central content was sourced from Massachusetts General Hospital — rated tops in the field of aging and general health. 

“Mind, Mood, & Memory” aims to emphasize a healthy balance in one’s state of mind. This sustains physical energy and vitality, while reducing (or at least postponing) effects of aging.

Mind — Providing the means by which one centers one’s “world” via conscious, uplifting intent;
Mood — Noting temporary (often momentary) reactions that influence subconscious emotions;
Memory — Honing faculties for rehearsing, processing, then storing experiences from the past.

How opportune this reminder was!: Because, just a day before, I had rediscovered a rationale that I originally developed and taught to college music students years ago. And, for decades since, I have found it to be useful in my own meditations and other personal growth processes.

As an approach to releasing memories of personal challenges in the past, it provides a matrix for using literary sources as present-day templates to help retrain mindset, mood, and memory.

Here’s a good example of a text (song lyrics, in this case) that specifically presents this model: An aria here, from the modern pop opera, “Les Miserables”, begins with warm reminiscences of “times gone by” and then suddenly turns toward forlorn feelings of grief and anger, as follows: 

“I dreamed a dream in times gone by, When hope was high and life worth living.
I dreamed that Love would never die, I dreamed that God would be forgiving.
Then I was young and unafraid; And dreams were made, and used, and wasted.
There was no ransom to be paid — No song unsung, no wine untasted.

“But the tigers come at night, with their voices soft as thunder.
As they tear your hope apart as they turn your dream to shame.
I had a dream my life would be so different from this hell I’m living,
So different now from what it seemed; Life killed the dream I dreamed.”

Now, if this were a narrative of one of my own real-life experiences (albeit poetic), I would address the first four lines only, and change that text from past to future. Doing so would be worded as something like what follows herein below:

“I’ll Dream my Dream as Time goes by, While Hope is Nigh and Life IS Living.
I Know that Love will Never Die, I Know that God Gives Vast Abundance.

“Now I am Sage and Made Aware that We are Here for One Great Purpose,
And our Greatness shows by day, And our Voice Bespeaks Sheer Wonder.  

“There is No Contest to be Won, for there is Only Life Eternal.
And the Dream Here Now is Done. Love Abides Forevermore.” 

So, I ongoingly nurture my own writing style to focus and sustain a pure, positive expression of Love, Truth, and Life. In addition, I give keen attention to ranges of literary and other artistic sources (those from all eras and genres) that provide Inspiration and Life-sustainability for All.   

Your Generous & Gracious Input is Gratefully Received Anytime. as always …
— PenDell 

Listen to I Dreamed a Dream sung by Susan Boyle  — (Skip ads)

There are currently tumultuous days in America — what with 4% of the world’s population in the USA now facing 20% of the global pandemic load — while governance is disenfranchising itself.   

In pensive times like these — when individual, hence collective, sadness and fear may well fester grief and anger — there is a sanguine “Spirit on High” heralding a cardinal Truth for all Mankind: 

“YOU are each a Divine Being with a unique, perfectly suited consciousness that you yourself requested and received at the moment of your own sacred incarnation into the realms of Earth.”

“That gift of your Divine Nature remains absolutely impervious at the core of your soul. And Now is when you can be assured of the true purpose and safe directions where your Journey goes.”

My own responsibility for living on Earth is based in my awareness and resultant attention to the invisible emanations that imbue my visible creative fields of manifestation and expression.

In this phase of my life, I am finely attuned to Currents that move me, speak to and through me, inform me, and care for me. As these Currents shape my expression in this world, I feel the emanation and the resonance which is me. It is Emanation-Actuated Resonance (E.A.R.). 

As the Currents come to me, I discern pristine sonic elements from the invisible Source of Life Energy that emanates fully in all of Creation — including our reality of tangible forms on Earth.

In a previous phase of my life, I studied music and sound in depth. A key element of the study was ear training that helped me precisely fine-tune to the accurate pitch, melody, harmonies, and timbres of a wide range of varied sounds.

I currently find that this honed skill from my earlier development of years ago now serves to assist my renewed ability to attune with different, yet kindred ranges of vibratory Current. Albeit these present currents are not “sonic” per se, they are “currents of the Heart” that fluidly blend with me in my current E.A.R. experience.

Blessings are poured into and through me in this process. The flow of Current through me generates a “sacred” (silently fertile) creative field for currents of Emanation that Actuate amidst the peaceful, still Resonance of a sanguine setting for Being.

This is my sacred wish today: Peace Be Unto Us, Each & All …
— PenDell