Healing Rites of Passage

Yesterday I had the immense privilege to co-facilitate a memorial service at a retirement village. Three beloved residents died within the past few months. Two, very unexpectedly and there was no time for good-byes.

My co-worker and I designed a simple but powerful service to allow them to do just that. We provided the framework and they put in the pictures.

It didn’t go perfectly, but it was perfect.

During the service a lady with Down’s Syndrome came up to say a few words. No one’s ears could understand the words she was saying, but our hearts understood her clearly. Grief is a wound that needs no words to explain it. We all understand.

Holding space for people to explore their wounds is when I’m at my best. I know I am in service then.

I set daily reminders on my phone. The first one reminds me that my devotion attracts resources and support. What devotion? Devotion is another word for attention. What is attention? The direction of my energy. So, the direction of my energy attracts the resources and support that I need to fulfill my destiny. Check.

The second one reminds me that everything I need and more is on its way to me. The Universe is always conspiring on my behalf (yours too, btw) and it provides me everything that I need and so much more I didn’t even realize I could need. Check.

The third one is the one I want to talk about today, so I’ll come back to that.

The fourth one is to remind me to surrender to Divine Grace. This is a reminder that there is more working through me than from me and I need to surrender each day to the Divine. Divine Grace is my word for the year. To feel it. To live it. To BE it. Check.

These three reminders are vital to my daily practice. But the most important one is the third one. This one is a question.

Am I in service to the Light within me?

I could ask myself this question 30 times a day. Before each meal, before I utter the words on my tongue, before I react to a thoughtless deed…

Am I in service to the Light within me?

There are some days the answer is ‘kinda’. And there are other days that it is a ‘maybe’. But yesterday that answer was ‘YES’.

When I am in service to the Light within me I am in a zone. It is where I was when that beautiful woman came up to speak, with one tear running down her cheek, uttering intelligible words that my Soul understood. It is where I was when I stumbled through the closing. It is where I was when the music we planned didn’t cooperate. It is where I was when one resident announced her desire to share the stories of the loss of all her pets.

The feeling of being in service to the Light within is undeniable. It is incomparable. It is where I want to live all the time.

It has been a challenging week at my ‘day job’ as my coworker and I struggled to be Divine Grace in the face of incongruence, displaced anger and dishonesty.

But the Universe conspired to have us end on this powerfully transformative moment that elevated us. This is what we are meant to do. To be of service…

…of service to the Light within others as well as to the Light within ourselves.

You don’t have to wait until you are working at your dream job to be of service to the Light within you. To get to work at your dream job, it pays to bring your Light to whatever job you are at now. Your Light will draw the resources and support you need to find that dream job.

In fact, it pays to bring your Light to whatever you are doing now…grocery shopping, gardening, talking to the neighbors.

The world is filled with darkness because so many are afraid to show their Light…afraid that they will be judged, laughed at, ridiculed, ostracized. Ok, you might be, but your Light can handle it. Your Light is not dependent upon the acceptance of strangers.

When you learn to stand with your Light shining, you serve as an example and inspiration to others to stand with their Light shining. With all this Light there will be less and less room for darkness. No corners for it to hide in.

When more people stand with their Light shining there will be less crime, less war, less bullying, less suicide, less anxiety, less depression and less cancer. There will be more peace, more sharing, more prosperity, more laughter, more health and more joy.

Are you in service to the Light within you?

Can you make a practice of asking yourself that every day? Are you in service to the Light within you in the car on the way to work? Greeting your co-workers? Completing your tasks? Answering the call from a friend? Running errands? Eating a meal? Thinking a thought? Holding a belief?

Is this (thought, word or action) in service to the Light within me? Is this who I want to be? If its not, then you have a choice.

Changing your life is not ONE decision, it is a million decisions. It is every decision you make.

The only way to have a fulfilling life is to be in service to the Light within you. It has nothing to do with your house, your cars, your job, your bank account, your looks…

It has everything to do with your attitude, your heart, your beliefs, your acceptance, your allowance, your kindness…

Your life is not happening TO you, it is happening because of you. You are of your own making.

Stop chasing quick highs to escape your pain. Examine your pain. Understand it. Embrace it. Then you can heal it and let it go. Holding on to pain is not noble, it is in direct conflict of being in service to the Light within you. It is the darkness. It is the dis-ease. It is the addiction.

I promise there is no greater high than being of service to the Light within you. It cannot be duplicated by any synthetic means and if you are being courted by addictive behaviors then it is a clear sign your Soul is longing to share its Light.

I love you.

~Jade