Amazing synchronicity

This weekend was full of amazing moments.

I had scheduled a ceremony for a day that I thought would work well. I had figured that Gavin would have home already for at least a week, Cassi would have been settled in, etc. I didn't happen that way... I didn't have the energy resource to spend on trying to research an appropriate ceremony, etc... then I realized I really
didn't care, and neither did it matter.

I played a game with the kids, then talked about how "being accountable" is seen far too often in a negative light, and how I feel that accepting accountability for things we do that are Good is just as important.
To me, accepting accountability for growth and positives doesn't happen as often as it should. Often times we can accept recognition when other people tell us we've accomplished things... when they give us belts, cords, medals, certificates, diplomas, etc... but how often do we recognize accomplishment without someone else telling us we can claim it? Well, I claimed it for myself... and then thanked everyone for being there to help me with my accomplishments.

Then... this morning... an old friend called out of the blue... to tell me how his life is going... how wonderful his life has turned out... and he called to tell me that he appreciates me. He called to tell me that I accomplished something I had no idea I even did. He feels that I saved his life. After his first wife passed, he went off the deep end. He says I saved his life... by doing nothing more than just by being me. The talks we had were great and opened doors for him... but what gets him through the hard times he's experiencing now are the memories of being accepted, welcomed, and loved when so very many others had given up on him. His current wife needs a liver transplant... he has three children now, one that needs constant focused attention, and another that has to be fed through a tube... and yet, he's spiritually and emotionally ok. And he chose this morning to call to thank me for giving him a model to emulate.

I am so incredibly blessed and grateful. To know that I had an impact like that on one life, that extends to the many lives around him, his family, his friends, and the soldiers he's in charge of... I am so grateful that I was given such an amazing opportunity...

If I had one wish I could grant this moment, it would be that everyone could feel what I experienced this morning.

Feeling and Doing

How you feel emotionally about things is recorded in every cell of the body, in your personality, your mind, in your Core.
When we talk of giving charitably... of feeding the hungry, giving water to the thirsty, giving shelter to the homeless... what is being given and to whom it goes, are not essential to the wholeness of the giver. It is the feeling you experience when you openly, lovingly Give that registers within the giver.
When Love is the motivation, giving water to a dying plant or giving food to a hungry person gains as much Enlightenment and Knowing of Life and Creation as any meditation or religious practice.
Action is only a channel in which the feeling, the intent, is allowed to be expressed, experienced, and fills the eternal part of us.

Unpredictable Behavior

A couple years ago, when the economy started to tank heavily, several people in my life began making predictions regarding what they considered to be the imminent behavior of humans.
These predictions were rather dark & gloomy, boasting that the selfish and violent side of human behavior would prevail and degrade urban civilization into mobs of "me first" gangs by the summer of 2010.
People who made these predictions believe that human compassion is a concept that is implied by society, not an innate urge, and would be drastically reduced (or completely gone) by this point in the economic downturn.

Really?

I wonder how they're going to explain the actual urban trends... at least here in Reno, Nevada...
Violent crime (per thousand): Down.
Burglary: Down.
Contributions to local charities (not including world-wide relief efforts): Up.

It certainly doesn't show their predicted fall of society... I wonder how they will explain it.