Sage Woman Chronicles

Boomerang Effect

“The more you are motivated by love, the more fearless and free your action will be.” ~ The Dalai Lama

“Life is short and we have not too much time for gladdening the hearts of those who travel the way with us. Oh, be swift to love! Make haste to be kind.” ~ Henri-Frederic Amiel, Swiss philosopher

The other day I saw a nasty meme about Nancy Pelosi. I didn’t realize it was about her at first because I was looking at it on my phone. But when I read it, I was offended. It would have been despicable no matter who it was about. I dearly wanted to make a nasty comment to the person who posted it, but then I remembered, “What goes around comes around.” I didn’t want to get hit with the negative energy I was thinking of aiming at the person who posted it.

I know some of you reading this will think I’m crazy when I say that everything is energy and that we get to decide what kind of energy we’re releasing out into the world every moment. So, I was glad I remembered that on that day, and every time I’m tempted to respond in negative ways.

I felt truly liberated when I stopped blaming my pain on outside forces. I’m in charge of the energy I put out and it comes back to me like a boomerang. If I spew hatred, hate is what is going to come back to me.

I understand. Lots of people are frightened. Our way of life is changing and some people don’t have good coping skills to be able to ride the waves of change. What some people do when they’re scared is to lash out and make fun of those they think are against them hoping to gather troops to their side so they’ll feel better. That might work in the short term, but one thing I know from long years of personal and spiritual work, eventually you’ll experience a crash and burn.

Contrary to popular belief, a crash and burn is not a bad thing. Nor is having your life fall apart a punishment. It’s an opportunity to do what I call cosmic closet cleaning. I’m not saying this clearing out process is easy or fun. But there is a great reward on the other side, if you’re willing to do the work. If not, well, be prepared to experience crisis after crisis.

Long ago events in my life made me realize that I had been holding onto a lot of toxic, unresolved emotions. I’d been deeply wounded years earlier, but I’d stuffed down my resentment thinking that I wouldn’t have to deal with it if I didn’t acknowledge it was there. Boy was I wrong! The pain that I thought was buried, was coming out in really odd and destructive ways. I was hurting people because I was hurt. It wasn’t until I actually looked at what had caused my pain that I began to heal. I learned that I had to FEEL the anger and resentment caused by what had happened to me before I could come out of the darkness I’d been living in.

Healing is a long complicated process. At least it is for me. Even now there are times when I want to live in two worlds, the world where 2020 is a sh*t storm and I need to worry every day about what this or that person did, or what will happen with the virus, or the economy, or yada, yada, yada. The other alternative is to have faith that I live in a world where a Divine force is in charge and everything that happens is for our benefit. I, we, can’t have it both ways. We either live in hell, or we’re going through a kind of birthing process which will lead us back to Eden. Each individual gets to decide which world they will live in.

For me it’s a daily practice of surrender. Divine Oneness is in charge and I get to see what S/He wants me to do that day. Now that I think of it, it’s really more like a partnership. Divine Oneness is the CEO and I’m Her/His right hand woman.

For you practical minded people, here’s what I do to stay sane and tuned into the real reality. I watch the news sparingly. Most of it is like watching a train wreck. It’s so sensational it’s hard to look away and it stirs so many negative emotions that I have to talk about the experience to dissipate my distress which only sends more negative energy out into the world. Of course, there are real news items mixed in with the sensational stuff, but if real news happens, I’ll hear about it. The segments I stay away from the most, are the pundits and predictors. What they say is only their opinion and to keep my channel clear, I have to ignore them even if they might be right.

When I’m on social media, I try to scroll past negative posts and memes. Sometimes I hide such posts, or even unfollow people and groups that post them. I have some mantras I say to myself when I’m tempted to get caught up in all the drama. “Only love is real, Everything happens for my highest good, This situation is an opportunity to learn something.”

I wish I could say I don’t get caught up in the illusion of fear and panic. I do sometimes. But then I feel a gentle presence reminding me that I’m not alone. That I have a choice to fall into fear, or love. In the end, I choose love. It’s my desire to spread that as far and wide as I can.

Thanks for following. I hope you gain something from what you read here. Have a blessed beginning to a new season wherever you are in the world.

Lucinda is the author of The Space Between Time, an award finalist in the “Fiction: Fantasy” category of the 2017 Best Book Awards.

Have you ever experienced life shattering events? Yeah, most of us have. In The Space Between Time, Jenna Holden gets slammed by her fiancé walking out, her mother’s untimely death, and losing her job all in one week. But she receives unexpected help when she finds her three-times great-grandmother’s journals and begins the adventure of a lifetime.

The Space Between Time is available in all ebook formats at Smashwords and for Kindle at Amazon, or you can find the ebook at iBooks or Barnes and Noble. If you prefer a physical copy, you can find a print-on-demand version at Amazon. Stay tuned for news when the audiobook version is published.

Just Take A Break

“That might sound boring, but I think the boring stuff is the stuff I remember the most.” ~ The character Russell from the movie Up.

“I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.” ~ Douglas Adams, The Salmon of Doubt

Some projects defy good intentions, or deadlines I set for myself. That’s been happening with my second attempt to record my audiobook. This time I was determined to finish recording and editing before the end of the year. But I started having trouble with GarageBand on the first chapter. I would get into the editing mode, and boom, the sound would go out, for no reason. I’d be playing the selection, but all of sudden I couldn’t hear a thing. Barry is going to help me figure out what’s going on, but even that is not moving forward as fast as I wish it would.

For a day or two I was in the dumps about being at a stand still on this project. I whined about that in my journal. I whine a lot in my journal. I have to get out all my bad feelings and then I can hear the answer Spirit wants to give me to solve my problems. So, of course, I got the message after clearing out the negative emotions. Chill out! Take a break. It’s all going to work out. Whew. I really do need a break I’ve been very tired lately.

But taking a break is hard for me. Every morning I have an agenda for the day in my head. If I don’t accomplish all those tasks, I feel uneasy as if my worth is tied up with all the things I’ve done or not done that day. I guess I need to pay attention to what Neale Donald Walsch said to me 30 or so years ago. “You’re a human being, not a human doing.” Hmm. I haven’t let myself just be for quite some time.

A week or so ago, my husband and I watched the movie, Up on Disney +. I’d forgotten so much of the movie. But one thing stuck out for me. The child character of Russell, who has attached himself to Mr. Fredrickson, tells him about the things he remembers about spending time with his dad. And he says that it’s the boring stuff he remembers the most. And it occurred to me that I don’t allow enough boring stuff into my life. I fill my life with so much work and attempts to be a success that I miss some really important moments. That is sad.

So, life is now presenting me with a chance to slow down. Many spiritual teachers say that everything happens at the proper time. It must not be time to do my audiobook. Okay, that’s fine. I’ll take a break from that and allow myself to recharge instead of pushing myself through as I usually do. Though I know it’s not good to run on empty, I’ve done it most of my life. It’s time to take care of me for a change.

This morning I was thinking about a time shortly after I began teaching public high school. I came back after Christmas break I think it was, and one of my fellow teachers asked me how I was doing. I said, “I feel rested,” which surprised me, because I did. And I can’t really think of many times in my life when I could say, “I feel rested.”

So my goal for the remainder of this year is to learn to rest when I need it. After all, creativity and contributions to the greater good is nearly impossible when our internal batteries are not charged.

I want to acknowledge a great loss of many of us in the U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has died. Many of us are heart broken, but I say, rest in peace. You deserve it. Thanks for all you did for us.

Thanks for reading, liking, and commenting. Take some time to just “be” this weekend.

Lucinda is the author of The Space Between Time, an award finalist in the “Fiction: Fantasy” category of the 2017 Best Book Awards.

Story~Power ep. 05 Myths, Legends, and Complicated Writers pt. 2

Randy and I attended Graceland University, acted in plays together, and eventually both of us got theatre degrees. We haven’t seen each other in many years, but we keep in touch via social media. I was excited to talk with Randy since he’s a fellow writer. This is part two of a long conversation about our passion for stories.

Randy Murray was born in rural Southern Illinois, the 5th generation on the family farm. He attended Graceland College (now university) in Lamoni, Iowa, where he received a BA in Theatre and Speech Communications, followed by a Masters of Fine Arts in Playwrighting at the Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.

After college he began work in the early high tech industry as a training developer and instructor, followed by roles leading marketing departments and product management, and ultimately, business management. He capped his career as a business writing and communications consultant for large businesses and marketing agencies.

His play, Grimaldi: King of the Clowns, was performed after his graduation in the SIU main stage season in 1986 as well as preformed for the American College Theatre Festival. It has subsequently been preformed at Howard Payne University and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

His book, Writing Assignments, is available on Amazon.com.

He remains active as a writer and playwright and is an avid ukulele player and performer. He lives in Westerville, Ohio, outside of Columbus, with his wife, Diane. His two adult daughters, one a musician, the other a painter, both have careers in the arts.

Plays, myths and stories discussed in part 2

Birthright a novel in progress by Randy Murray
The Space Between Time by Lucinda Sage-Midgorden (Title not mentioned in recording.)
Grimm’s Fairytales (in original form)
Myth of Prometheus
Myth of Sisyphus
The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus
The Plague by Albert Camus
The work of James Thurber at The New Yorker
John McNulty at The New Yorker
The Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland
This Place on Third Avenue by John McNulty
The Mists of Avalon and The Forest House by Marion Zimmer Bradley
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Truman Capote
The Ocean at the End of the Lane, American Gods, and Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman
Orpheus and Eurydice on which the Broadway Musical Hadestown Anaïs Mitchell is based
The Brothers Grimm Fairytales, Demon Voices, and His Dark Materials series by Philip Pullman
The Story Telling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human by Jonathan Gotshall
Shogun by James Clavell
The Master and Commander series (The Age of Fighting Sails) by Patrick O’Brian
Jane Austen’s body of work
His Majesty’s Dragon, The Temeraire Series by Naomi Novik
Poldark series by Winston Graham
Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell
Roots by Alex Haley
The Autobiography of Olaudah Equiano by Olaudah Equiano
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Aaron Mahnke podcast, “Lore”

Lucinda is the author of The Space Between Time, an award finalist in the “Fiction: Fantasy” category of the 2017 Best Book Awards.

Have you ever experienced life shattering events? Yeah, most of us have. In The Space Between Time, Jenna Holden gets slammed by her fiancé walking out, her mother’s untimely death, and losing her job all in one week. But she receives unexpected help when she finds her three-times great-grandmother’s journals and begins the adventure of a lifetime.

The Space Between Time is available in all ebook formats at Smashwords and for Kindle at Amazon, or you can find the ebook at iBooks or Barnes and Noble. If you prefer a physical copy, you can find a print-on-demand version at Amazon. Stay tuned for news when the audiobook version is published.

Change of Schedule

I wanted you to know that from now on, my blog posts will be published on Sundays. My class schedule makes it hard to publish on Saturdays. Story~Power will continue to be published every other Wednesday.

We’re still working on improving the look of my website and learning the new method of publishing posts. Thanks for your patience with that.

I hope you’re doing well. After so many months of upheaval in the world, I must admit, I’m having emotional days. But I don’t try to suppress my feelings and that seems to help. Talking to friends and loved ones also helps.

Also, I am adding a donation section to my posts. If you like what you read and want to contribute to my work, I will be most grateful. Thank you in advance to my donors.

Until Sunday September 20, stay safe.

Lucinda is the author of The Space Between Time, an award finalist in the “Fiction: Fantasy” category of the 2017 Best Book Awards.

Oh Yeah, Spread Love

“Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love.” ~ Lao Tzu

“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.” ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

So this weekend I forgot for a few moments to spread love. Sometimes using technology is my kryptonite. If I have to fill out forms, or change my website, I get all flustered because the forms ask questions I don’t know how to answer or the steps to make the necessary changes to whatever it is I’m doing don’t make sense to me.

This past weekend we decided to purchase a new mattress. We’ve needed to buy one for a very long time. And, of course, we had to decided how to pay for it. Use our savings, a credit card, or finance it. Well, financing the purchase seemed the best choice. But there I was filling out financial info, which drives me crazy. And I had questions about what they wanted for some of the sections. I emailed my question, and finally after waiting for what seemed like an hour or two but was probably really only thirty minutes, I made some phone calls. When I finally got the correct person on the line to answer my question, I was frustrated but trying really hard to be kind and reasonable. But, the answer she gave me made me nervous. I didn’t think we’d get the financing, and we’d have to start all over with Barry filling out the forms. I wanted to scream.

I thought I had ended the call. I mean, I’d pressed the red end call button right? I turned to Barry and exploded with some expletives and then I heard this kind voice on the other end of the line say, “Is there anything else I can help you with?” I was mortified. I told her no and thanked her in the kindest voice I could muster and ended the call.

The pit of my stomach was sinking into knots. I’d yelled at the customer service person who didn’t deserve it. I felt terrible as I finished filling out the form, and SURPRISE got approved for the financing. The order was placed and confirmed. Then I left my computer for a while to calm down.

With my stomach still rolling around with self-recrimination, I remembered the Ho’oponopono meditation. So I sat down, thought of that customer service agent and said, “I’m sorry, please forgive me, I love you, thank you,” sending myself and her good energy. I said it several times until my stomach unclenched and I felt that somehow she felt better too.

What that experience taught me is that, I brought all that drama onto myself. I didn’t have to get upset. Perhaps the way forms and websites are set up don’t always work for me because my brain works differently than the people who programed them. That doesn’t mean they’re right and I’m wrong. It means I have to be patient with the process. I have to decide how I’m going to react. One way I have found to deal with these stressful situations is to take breaks to calm down and try to see the procedure from a new perspective instead of insisting the developers configure things to suit me.

The next day when I was waking up, I remembered an entry from the Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu. It happens to be one of my favorite bits of wisdom from that book, but I hadn’t thought of it in a very long time.

This is from a translation by Victor H. Mair, and was reprinted for the 1997 Book-of-the-Month Club offering with permission of Bantam Books. The poem is eerily appropriate for the times in which we live.

Human beings are
soft and supple when alive,
stiff and straight when dead.

The myriad creatures, the grasses and trees are
soft and fragile when alive,
dry and withered when dead.

Therefore, it is said:
The rigid person is a disciple of death;
The soft, supple, and delicate are lovers of life.

An army that is inflexible will not conquer;
A tree that is inflexible will snap.

The unyielding and mighty shall be brought low;
The soft, supple, and delicate will be set above.

Each of us has times when we are inflexible. I’m inflexible when it comes to computer technology. But I have to learn to bend and go with the flow because having a rigid idea of how the apps and websites should work doesn’t make me feel good and the bad energy emanates outside myself. Who knows where it might get stuck?

It’s the same with people. I have to be flexible, listen and accept others as they are instead of who I want them to be, because we each have our place and purpose in the world or we wouldn’t be here.

As I’m writing this, outside my window the wind is blowing the grasses and trees in a beautiful dance. This prompts me to add, I’m sorry, please forgive me for forgetting to spread love, I love you, thank you. I still have a lot of work to do on myself. Maybe one day I’ll automatically remember to spread love in every situation in which I find myself.

Thanks for reading, liking and commenting. I appreciate your support.

I’m adding a place for you to donate to my blog and or podcast if you’d like to support my work. I feel a little strange about that, but I’ve been thinking that I need to support artists so they can continue their work, so I might as well join them in allowing people to support my creative efforts as well. You are under no obligation to contribute. Thank you if you do. I appreciate it.

Lucinda Sage-Midgorden © 2020

Lucinda is the author of The Space Between Time, an award finalist in the “Fiction: Fantasy” category of the 2017 Best Book Awards.

Have you ever experienced life shattering events? Yeah, most of us have. In The Space Between Time, Jenna Holden gets slammed by her fiancé walking out, her mother’s untimely death, and losing her job all in one week. But she receives unexpected help when she finds her three-times great-grandmother’s journals and begins the adventure of a lifetime.

The Space Between Time is available in all ebook formats at Smashwords and for Kindle at Amazon, or you can find the ebook at iBooks or Barnes and Noble. If you prefer a physical copy, you can find a print-on-demand version at Amazon. Stay tuned for news when the audiobook version is published.