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This week I pray for FAITH.
I just returned from Northern California.
It was not part of my planned trips for these last few months of 2014. However, an email about studying with the elders, a retreat with the Sequoia Trees, showed up in my inbox. I sent a Thank you email for the inspiration and please keep me posted for upcoming trips in 2015.
It was not part of my planned trips for these last few months of 2014. However, an email about studying with the elders, a retreat with the Sequoia Trees, showed up in my inbox. I sent a Thank you email for the inspiration and please keep me posted for upcoming trips in 2015.
I get a phone call Wednesday night telling me that there is space and what would it take to make this trip hahahappen and be in California on Friday. I was going to say No. I already had plans for the weekend (visions of pink and SisterGoddesses and South Beach). And a flight less than 48 hours away? Hahaha.
To tell you the truth, thinking of the trees brought me great pleasure - a warmth in my heart and a tingling of excitement in my body. I took a deep breath and had a good laugh. I said YES let me see what I can find. I got on the internet to check itineraries and prices.
For those of us who have booked last minute travel - especially from Florida to California - price of airfare can be pretty hefty. Direct flights from Fort Lauderdale to San Francisco were $1,200 pre tax. I was about to give up a when a little pop-up for USAir showed up on my screen. A non-direct flight through Charlotte with minimal layover time would have me arriving on time to San Francisco to meet the designated shuttle. The flight price was a more reasonable $460.00 tax included. Trying to book the flight online proved futile. I picked up the phone and had a pleasant conversation with a young man named Josh. He pushed some buttons and typed in code and all of a sudden for $400.00 and points, I was traveling first class to California and back. My NO turned into an emphatic YES YES YES.
Once I had my tickets, I called to find out where exactly in California this retreat would occur. Ben Lomond, the voice at the other end of the phone said. Ben Lomond? Of all the cities in California, this is one I know quite well. My cousins - Auntie Sylvia's niece and great niece and great great nephew hahahappen to live in Ben Lomond. I've been blessed to be in Ben Lomond twice for weddings.
I could see Auntie Sylvia's hand, RIP, all over this trip.
To tell you the truth, thinking of the trees brought me great pleasure - a warmth in my heart and a tingling of excitement in my body. I took a deep breath and had a good laugh. I said YES let me see what I can find. I got on the internet to check itineraries and prices.
For those of us who have booked last minute travel - especially from Florida to California - price of airfare can be pretty hefty. Direct flights from Fort Lauderdale to San Francisco were $1,200 pre tax. I was about to give up a when a little pop-up for USAir showed up on my screen. A non-direct flight through Charlotte with minimal layover time would have me arriving on time to San Francisco to meet the designated shuttle. The flight price was a more reasonable $460.00 tax included. Trying to book the flight online proved futile. I picked up the phone and had a pleasant conversation with a young man named Josh. He pushed some buttons and typed in code and all of a sudden for $400.00 and points, I was traveling first class to California and back. My NO turned into an emphatic YES YES YES.
Once I had my tickets, I called to find out where exactly in California this retreat would occur. Ben Lomond, the voice at the other end of the phone said. Ben Lomond? Of all the cities in California, this is one I know quite well. My cousins - Auntie Sylvia's niece and great niece and great great nephew hahahappen to live in Ben Lomond. I've been blessed to be in Ben Lomond twice for weddings.
I could see Auntie Sylvia's hand, RIP, all over this trip.
Friday morning at 5:00 a.m., less than 24 hours after purchasing my ticket, I boarded my flight. I was beyond exhahahahausted. Besides getting up at 3:00 a.m. to catch my flight, we had Auntie Sylvia's funeral the day before. My emotions were a mess as was I.
I surrendered my fears and concerns and not knowing to the Universe and started my adventure.
The privilege of first class, it is quite nice. You are the first to board the airplane, one of the first to deplane. There is always space overhead for a carry on and there is no fee to check in a baggage. The seats are big enough to sit crisscross applesauce (once you take off your shoes). Blankets are provided to ward off the chill and you are only a few rows from the bathroom up front. You also get as much water, as often, as you want.
Leaving Florida's warm and balmy 77 degrees - I encountered Charlotte's freezing and blistering winds and 34 degrees and then transitioned to the sunny and frigid skies of San Francisco registering at 54 degrees. However, the landscape totally shifted as did my state of mind. The 1 1/2 hour drive in the shuttle helped me loosen my layers. I was finally able to release all the pressure and stress and tension that had been accumulating in my body. As we climbed into the mountains and were surrounded by trees, I took a deep breath of the crisp air.
I had the pleasure of meeting a tribe of bee Goddesses - women who identify with bees as a busyness model - women who had heard the calling of the Trees and gathered in Ben Lomond at the Sequoia Retreat Center to be nestled in the Redwoods. These Elders, Sequoias or California Redwoods are the tallest trees on earth. They grow in a very narrow strip along the coast of California.
I came here to learn about being grounded and rooted into the Earth. I found my way here to find my balance. I was led here to remember my purpose. I am here to release my stress and hahahand it to the Trees. I am here now to be One with the Elders and uncover my bliss.
It has now been confirmed by science that hugging trees can beneficially affect human health by altering vibrational frequency. Read More: HERE
I was under a lot of stress this past month. Trying to cope with family illness and helping parents adjust to a new way of living and being an aunt and a domestic Goddess that maintains and runs my household - it's been a little overwhelming. I kept on thinking I had to do it all. I was taking life way too seriously and not having as much fun on this Heaven on Earth as I am entitled to enjoy.
I needed to return to the trees to gain perspective and patience. I had to sit under the trees' shade and do some deep breathing and being.
Trees give me a reality check - they dwarf me until I remember that I am but a speck in this Universe. They reMIND me that all is well and this too shall pass.
I am humbled by my experience with these trees. Their size - their beauty - the energy of peace I feel when amongst these giants - it helps me laugh at my life. It helps me laugh at the things I take so seriously and focus on what I take for granted in my life. My faith is restored when walking amongst the Elders and kissing their sacred skin.
Mike Dooley, at www.tut.com, shahahares this story about Faith:
Yesterday I watched a small bird, flying very fast, disappear into the canopy of an oak tree. So dense were its leaves that it was impossible to see what happened next, though I can tell you it remained inside.
I wondered how the little bird found its opening through the leaves at such a speed, and then managed to gently align its fragile body on the branch it chose to land upon, all within a fraction of a second. Not to mention the impossible to imagine flying maneuvers required: the banking, the curling, the vertical and horizontal stabilizations, the deceleration and landing.
Memory? Calculation? Not in that tiny brain. Instinct? Maybe, but how does instinct know which way the branches of a tree have grown when no two are the same?
That little bird just knew. It had faith, in spite of not being able to see how things would work out, that if (and only if) it stayed the course the details would be taken care of; that an opening would appear and a twig would be found. In fact, had she slowed down enough to carefully and logically inspect the tree first, the prudent thing to do, she would have lost her lift and fallen to the ground.
Kind of like reaching for your dreams. Neither memory, nor calculating, nor instincts are the deciding factors, but faith coupled with action.
Tallyho,
The Universe
I wondered how the little bird found its opening through the leaves at such a speed, and then managed to gently align its fragile body on the branch it chose to land upon, all within a fraction of a second. Not to mention the impossible to imagine flying maneuvers required: the banking, the curling, the vertical and horizontal stabilizations, the deceleration and landing.
Memory? Calculation? Not in that tiny brain. Instinct? Maybe, but how does instinct know which way the branches of a tree have grown when no two are the same?
That little bird just knew. It had faith, in spite of not being able to see how things would work out, that if (and only if) it stayed the course the details would be taken care of; that an opening would appear and a twig would be found. In fact, had she slowed down enough to carefully and logically inspect the tree first, the prudent thing to do, she would have lost her lift and fallen to the ground.
Kind of like reaching for your dreams. Neither memory, nor calculating, nor instincts are the deciding factors, but faith coupled with action.
Tallyho,
The Universe
Here's a little bit more about Sequoia Trees and climbing them. This is Richard Preston's Ted Talk on Climbing the World's Biggest Trees
P.S. I did get to hahahang with my cousins in Ben Lomond and meet a whole new generation of cousins. Auntie Sylvia and her sisters are laughing up there in heaven seeing that our family keeps on growing so beautifully, like these trees.
