Category: Healing Journey

The following text is a transcription of excerpts from a speech I delivered three days ago (29 June) to Toastmasters club members in Fort Collins, Colorado:

“I will begin by speaking about embracing Newness in the world of my own making, where I especially relish developments that are actively in motion now.

“While I seek, as always, to connect with you, my audience today, I’ll bet that there are many ‘newnesses’ in your experience that are similar to mine. One mutual newness for us Toastmasters is in this wise:

“I have been at home, ‘sheltered in place’, like millions of others avoiding the worldwide COVID pandemic. Amidst the quietness of our home, I have taken time to revisit my years-old personal reference library. There, I have unearthed numerous volumes of my Daily Journals and various other writings that remind me of my former days as a so-called ‘Distinguished Toastmaster’.

“I can still recall those golden Glory Days from 2012 to 2016 — years preceding an intense health challenge amidst which I functioned and felt like extinguished toast — anything but ‘distinguished’!

“Well, Hallelujah! Nowadays, I experience robust health, resilient fitness, a finer outlook on Life, as well as a creative urge to connect anew with audiences — via writing, speaking, singing, and acting. 

“In that latter vein, I will begin rehearsing next week for a 2-man Reader’s Theatre rendering of Chekhov’s classic one-act play, Swan Song. I will be on stage opposite Jonathan Farwell, a seasoned professional film, television, and Broadway actor — and a good friend of mine. Live performances are now set for August 7-8 in Fort Collins.

“Well now, from under my countless archives in storage, I pulled together some still-useful “Notes to Self when Speaking in Public“. These were some of my field notes with ten (10) crucial keys to success: 

“Be a Problem Solver — Look people in the eye and declare, “I have a solution for you.” Although your audience may not know if any solutions are needed or not, your tactical solution, O Speaker, is to …

“Keep Sight of the Basics — Don’t digress. Doing so will soak up your time and defuse the attention span of your audience.

“Speak in Simple Language — Lengthy thoughts can overwhelm, so shorten your sentences. Try words with fewer syllables. Two simple examples are: ‘Use’, instead of ‘utilize’; and ‘detailed’, instead of ‘comprehensive’.

“Visual Elements can be a huge help; but only if they don’t distract.

“Hand Gestures are your friends! Spread your arms, open your palms, group your fingers together; And treat every gesture as being in perfect tandem with your assertive public speaking voice.

“Ask Questions of Your Audience — For instance, inquire of them, ‘What never changes?’ Then answer your own rhetorical question: ‘One thing that never changes is Change itself!’

“Be a Storyteller — Issue a compelling invitation: “Join me — I want to take you on a journey!” And when the impulse arises, tell an honest story with heartfelt vulnerability: Something like, ‘It was only five years ago when I hit rock-bottom.’

“Let the Narrative Reflect the Truth in You — Exercising humility is good therapy for you and your audience. Keep in mind that wise adage of old, “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.’

“Tell Your Audience about a Time when You ‘Got It Wrong’ — Let your thoughtful listeners learn from your mistakes. Here is a true narrative from my own audacious past:

“As I strode onto the darkened stage of the theatre, I announced myself in a smug, orotund voice, ‘Unaccustomed as I am to public speaking …’

What I saw as a forestage was a 10-foot drop into the orchestra pit! WOAH! Crumpled were a dozen music stands, a kettle drum — and my pride.”

An indelible lesson was learned that day:
“While you reach for the heights, maintain a depth of humility.
Then, the reality of true Greatness will evermore inspire You.”

And One Final, Most Important Note to Self:
Have FUN Out There …!

In last week’s blog post, I shared with you my intent to work for 44 days with 22 proven processes that actualize a one-of-a-kind textbook of sorts, “Ask and It Is Given”. This is my third time practicing with the complete set of processes; And as I proceed anew, I may say more about my own uniquely evolving experience.

Albeit now, I would offer to you a first-time option: Simply scan the book’s chapters; then (when unhurried) pick out those processes that call to you.

Source Energy 

In the book’s ‘Forward’, best-selling author Dr. Wayne W. Dyer asserts:

“At this moment, it contains some of the most powerful teachings available to you on our planet today. 

“The teachings of Abraham, essentially, are focused on helping you to return, in all respects, to that Source from which all things originate and all return to, as well. You’re in direct, conscious contact with a cadre of honest, no-nonsense beings who have only your well-being in mind.

“The message here is quite startling, and yet oh-so-simple. I encourage you to read these words carefully and apply them instantly.”   

Then Esther, with (now-nonphysical) Jerry, have lots to say – with rich stories from “both sides now”. Moreover, a multitude of heavenly hosts known as Abraham, expressing to us in one voice channeled through Esther Hicks, makes us aware of that which we knew before time began, yet was forgotten until now. 

There are several essential principles to be elaborated upon. However, the first, “Truths You Now Remember”, is offered to us from Abraham here: 

“You have been reminded of many things that you have always known.

“You now remember that you are an extension of SourceEnergy, and that you have come into your physical body, into this leading edge time-space reality, for the purpose of joyously taking thought beyond that which has been before.

“You now remember that you have a guidance system within you that helps you to know, in every moment, how much of your connection to that which is your Source you are allowing right now.

“You now remember that the better you feel, the more you are in alignment with who you really are; and the worse you feel, the more you are disallowing that important connection.

“You now remember that there is nothing you cannot be, do, or have. If your dominant intention is to feel good and you make the best of where you are, you will reach your natural state of joy.

“You now remember that you are free (in fact, you are so free that you could choose bondage), and that everything that comes to you is in response to the thoughts you are thinking. Whether you are thinking about your past, present, or future, you are offering a vibration that equals your point of attraction.

“You now remember that the Law of Attraction is always fair, and there is no injustice — for whatever is coming to you is doing so in response to the vibrations that you are offering due to the thoughts you are thinking. 

“You now remember that there is no dark switch; there is no source of ‘evil’, sickness, or lack … Everything that happens to you is all your doing.

“And, most importantly, you now remember that Well-Being is the basis of your world, and that unless you are doing something that is disallowing it, then Well-Being is your experience. You may allow it or resist it, but only a Stream of wellness, abundance, clarity, and all good things that you desire … flows.”

More is to come from Abraham; from various other expressions of Source; And from the deeply flowing Remembrances within our own highest Selves.

The Journaling of Life’s Sojourns Continues Onward and Apace…!
— PenDell

Meet Abraham, Esther, and Jerry…

Abraham was a highly significant character in The Old Testament of the Bible. So was Esther — although Esther was a significant character in the time of Moses, not Abraham. (It was Sarah who was significant in the time of Abraham.) And Jerry was not an Old Testament character at all — significant or otherwise!

Actually, Esther and Jerry are highly significant people in this modern day’s Earth. Abraham is also, yet in quite a different way. Now, please meet Esther and Jerry Hicks — two people with amazing stories to tell! 

I want you to know about them (albeit you may well have heard of them already) because certain aspects of my own experience are akin to theirs. (More on my part in this will follow later.) Firstly, though …   

Here’s a statement from Jerry, amidst his search for words to describe a vast range of Knowing. It can be found in his Preface to the book titled Ask and It is Given — co-authored by both Esther and Jerry: 

“Decades ago, when searching for plausible answers to my never-ending quest to know what ‘It’ was all about, I discovered the word ‘Ineffable’ (meaning ‘incapable of being expressed in words’). Ineffable coincided with a conclusion I had formed relative to it.

“I had decided that the closer we get to knowing the ‘Non-Physical,’ the fewer words we have for clearly expressing it. And so, any state of complete knowing would also be a state of ineffability. In other words, at this point in our time-space reality, the Non-Physical cannot be clearly expressed with physical words.

“My wife, Esther, is one of those rare persons who can, at will, relax her conscious mind enough to allow the reception of Non-Physical answers to whatever is asked. At the heart of those insights is the most powerful Law of the Universe — the Law of Attraction.” (More detail on that topic to be presented soon.)

“Our book, Ask and It is Given, offers you a hands-on course in spiritual practicality. It is a how-to book in the broadest sense of the term — that is how to be, do, or have anything that pleases you. This book also teaches you how not to be, do, or have anything that displeases you.”

In the Forward of the book, Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, best-selling author of The Power of Intention, offers this: 

“I encourage you to read these words carefully and apply them instantly. They summarize an observation I’ve offered for many years now: When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.

“You are about to see and experience a whole new world changing right before your eyes. This is the world created by SourceEnergy that wants you to reconnect to it and live a life of joyful well-being.”  

For a third time, I (PenDell) am about to treat myself to an in-depth consideration of the 22 Processes that fill out the reality found in Ask and It Is Given”. The process will take me 44 days to complete — One day with reading and absorbing each process, then one following day for practicing each process in turn.

And as I do, I’ll share with you my experience in succinct portions of my ensuing blog posts, amidst all other themes — some still ongoing, and some that may be brand new. Something for all of us is my aim.

Onward We Sojourn Invariably … With You …
— PenDell 

At present, eight months away from my becoming a septuagenarian (a 70-year old), I have seen my name on many a mailing list from which profuse influxes of researched material abound — much of it with nurturing narratives and associated advice imparted to “mature” (i.e. older) men like me.

Highly promoted publications from medical experts (such as the “Harvard Heart Letter”, and the Massachusetts General Hospital’s “Mind, Mood & Memory”) point to facts and identify fictions as regards the state of health and habits of wellness (for better or worse) in men 60 and over.

The texts — which address common questions from patients, relatives, and the public — serve as clarifying (and profitable) adjuncts to basic hospital services. A few common questions submitted by “seasoned” men are these: 

— Can controlling my blood pressure improve my memory?
— Why should I ask my doctor to check my blood pressure in both arms?
— For older men, can sex bring on a heart attack?
— What if my heart flutters, flip-flops, or skips a beat?
— Is there such a thing as a broken heart?

In that vain — and in my personal experience as a healthy and generally informed reader — I see such publications earnestly attempting to accurately communicate to men the vital and urgent need to ongoingly establish and sustain their own personal self care, specifically aimed toward maximum health and wellness.

The large-print lead line in the most recent “Harvard Health Letter” proclaims:
FALSE — “What you don’t know can’t hurt you”
TRUE — “What you DO know can SAVE you.”

Then, an elaboration on that salient point states …
“Take ‘silent’ heart attacks, for example: They account for a shocking 45-50% of all heart attacks. They’re called ‘silent’ because their signs and symptoms are commonly brief or minor — typically with very mild chest pain (if any). That’s why those attacks are often ignored or attributed to seemingly routine symptoms like heartburn or muscle pain.

“Fact is, silent heart attacks can create scar tissue in the heart, thus raising the risk of a second, even more dangerous heart attack.”

I see this (potentially lethal) malady as one among a plethora of physical disruptions that millions of people on earth are experiencing at present. And — if a fraction of those (quite a large fraction, I sense) are facing what I have met in times past, it involves far more than physical factors: Moods of mind and memory are also actuated in full. 

Firstly, let’s be clear as to what a “mood” actually is …
A Mood, in the most general sense, is seen as a “temporary state of mind or feeling” — as in “People seem to be in a very good mood today”.
Yet the adjective “moody” often bears a more specific and conditional connotation, as depicts one “given to unpredictable changes of mood, especially sudden bouts of gloominess or sullenness.”

On one hand, with the phrasing “moods of mind and memory”, one attempts to differentiate the mind’s (emotionally charged) assessments of present-moment dynamics now in play, from the memory’s tendency toward fictional reconstructions (hence, inevitable misperceptions) of the already proven past.

Then, on the other hand — in light of unique opportunities destined for each of us — we may indeed elect to live Life anew in each moment, amidst preferences we choose on our own unique terms. Meanwhile, we just might entertain, in childlike wonderment, vivid revelations with intrinsic incentives that move us along apace.

Yet how, when, and with what degree of ease will all of this come about? Perhaps this is prime time when a mentor may well be a Godsend — IF, of course, one’s chosen mentor is an experienced and trusted advisor who encourages and supports one to manage one’s own continual learning, in order to maximize one’s own limitless potential, still latent skills, & Life’s “finest wine” yet to be tasted.

In addition, a perceptive mentor can provide a setting where one’s moods help one discern how to best usher a catharsis of repressed emotions into a finely patterned state of inner peace.  

Also, “now” is always prime time for realization — when the highest aspects of our moods are what awaken us to ever present, yet momentarily momentous expressions of Divine Mind that re-sound residual overtones ever divined from the Ancient of Days.

And as such, there abides an accord (well beyond outward habits of thought) in the depths of Soul Knowing, where Reality, Legacy & the Heritage of Ages are wholly respected and safely protected. 

For some time now, I myself have gained, step by step, a privileged awareness of vibratory elements that precede all earthly actions and manifest achievements.

In other words, visible results (present & future) are the precise effects of Invisible Cause (“SourceEnergy”) — Emanations that balance and attune the qualities and quantities of the soul’s real-time experiences of resonance and resistance.

That SourceEnergy is Itself the causal Power that creates Worlds throughout the Universe. Naturally of course, that includes dear Mother Earth — where, in Her Enfoldment, we incarnate ones — each and all — live, move, and have our Being.

And the perfect Mentor, attuned in the Ways of SourceEnergy, inherently Sees and Knows the Wonderment of You & Your World as Whole & in One Accord. 

This is the “Now” when the Mentor Answers Your Call.
And the Divine in You Sees and Knows that
YOU — in Unison with your Mindfulness, Moods, and Memory — Are The Answer.

As some of you know, I have worked for many years with Energy Healing. Energy healing is a general term for holistic practices, some of them ancient, that activate the body’s subtle energy fields to remove insufficiencies in a person’s innate ability to heal oneself. 

Recently, when I attended each of the three on-line “Zoom” gatherings of which I am a member, there was a common theme that, with every story told, showed itself to be universal. I call it the “Healing Journey”. 

If you will indulge me — Here follows a retrospective view of a healing journey upon which I and my wife Melanie embarked, and which I journaled for review. Here is a portion of the first chapter:

The initial two months of my own Healing Journey (which began with a rapid ride to the local hospital’s emergency room on August 19, 2016) found me with steadily diminishing energy, draining cognizance, in a nine-week marathon amid a mantle of semi-conscious mindlessness.

A long, constant sleep was prompted by enough of a disconnect between my central and peripheral nervous systems that it brought a temporary pause in several of my bodily functions. Albeit my “Higher Mind” in control of my autonomic and endocrine systems was still intact and mercifully available to the currents emanating from the source of Life Energy.

Nevertheless, further mysterious downturns in the overall wellness of my physical capacities led our doctors to surgically perform a brain biopsy in search of the cause of any sorts of unfamiliar autoimmune maladies.

Their conventional tests were varied and elaborate. Yet, in the end, they led to the treatment of symptoms only – helpful as far as it could go, yet nothing that yielded a conclusive determination as to what the real cause was.

That health-focused adventure culminated with me and Melanie (my angel-incarnate wife and suddenly made caregiver responsible) facing what I call a “near-Ascension (i.e. a ‘near-death’) experience”.

Although sufficiently intense to require full, rapt attention, that particular crisis nevertheless afforded me essential psychic space for sublime glimpses of the non-physical realm (some would call it “Heaven”)– a cosmic perspective that made for an unimpeded witnessing of my own page in the “Book of Life”.

Moreover, it bestowed on me a renewed commission: To forge a fresh soul agreement with Currents of Spirit (ineffable currents that I will translate in words, as best I can at present) in vital service to Mankind. The core question of intent then, from the higher consciousness present with me, was this:

“Does your soul choose to hold steady for now in your Life Substance of Ascension amid this ‘third density’ of the ‘Here and Now’ (governed by the time and space of the earthly realms)? Or choose Ye for its release to ascend from here-now, for to abide in wait for the New Day?”

My answer was simply this: ‘I still have unfinished work to do on Earth. Hence, according to the pledge expressed in the ‘Shaman’s Prayer’, I choose to shelter my Soul in place on Earth now, while I hold safe my Ascension in You amidst the heavenly aspects of Earth, for the sake of others in Human Being. All for (the) One, and One for (the) All”.

Then, in the moment I had spoken that answer, the ceremonial proceedings of Soul Agreement with Spirit ensued, as a celestial chorus in Oneness resounded.

And it was then that I saw my Melanie’s face trained on me at close physical range and with earnest intent, helping me return from Inner Realms to Earth’s here & now. Quite a unique warmest of reunions for two lovingly kindred Souls.

I give deep thanks for every moment granted as this Healing Journey continues.