Papa, Can You Hear Me?

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Papa, Can You Hear Me?

 
“O God, Our Heavenly Father,
O God, and my father Who is also in heaven.
May the light of this flickering candle illuminate the night the way Your Spirit illuminates my soul...”
— Yentl
 

There is nothing quite like the liquid voice of Barbra Streisand to touch emotions and our hearts. Here in the movie Yentl, she sings to her God in the heavens and to her own father who recently died and who is also in heaven.

A Father And A Daughter

For a daughter whose papa has passed on, this song is perfumed with the father-daughter love they shared and her longing to still be connected with him. If only he could hear her and offer his advice.

Yentl prays in the forest with nature surrounding her, and reaches out to the stars twinkling above her. A good reminder for us to turn to nature in our difficult moments.

Be still and listen to the heavens.

 
“Papa, how I love you,
Papa, how I need you,
Papa, how I miss you kissing me good night...”
 

The Radiance Technique® Supports Your Grief

All of our emotions, not just the happy ones, are part of the kaleidoscope colors of our lives – exploding colors that are always changing as they vary in shape and hue.

With The Radiance Technique® (TRT®), we are full participants in the colorful dance. With our use of TRT® hands-on, we are able to bring increased light to both the joys and the sorrows of our lives.

Even when life remains broken around us, we can support ourselves as we walk through the jagged parts.

Apply TRT® hands-on whenever you find yourself in times of grief or loss.

Does it make the loss go away? No.

Rather, you have a tool that helps you with love and healing. Deep from within, you bring the vibration of comfort and wholeness to yourself and to the situation.

Tears will flow and your tears can be filled with shimmering, healing light.

 

 

Forever Morning Of Awakening

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I Wish It Could Be Forever Morning

Is it truly possible that in all these years of my life, I have really not done anything?

Isn't it strange that after achieving three university degrees, publishing two articles in medical journals, singing with the San Francisco International Opera, working in the legal field, living abroad, and providing medical care for thousands of patients, that you could feel like, well... haven't done that much.

It's as if that was then, and this is now.

No One Described This Part

No one tells you about this getting older part when everything turns inside out. When all the accomplishing, the achieving, the goals obtained, start to fade into dust-like particles.

Don't get me wrong, I'm really glad I did all those things, it's just that now...

What Will Be Of These Last Years Of My Life?

Assuming all goes well, knock on wood, I'll only have about another 20 to get things done. And even considering that, who cares what a 70-year-old says or does?

No one.

I'm already experiencing that in my 50s, it can only go down from here. Yikes. I feel like I've only got a day left to do everything.

Hence, why I want it to remain forever morning.

Early Morning Is Mystical

A forever morning evokes a precious jewel box, tucked inside is the sparkling promise of an entire day. The jewel held inside has awakening, coffee, projects, and plans. Everything can still be accomplished.

Heralded by those first rays of a dawning sun, an early morning is rich with secrets of all that is fresh and new. Yesterday's heavy energies are muted by the softness of a healing night that has passed.

This magical prelude to the day is brief. I drink it in with my coffee and savor the fleeting sparkles of the day's promises.

Wishing for it to linger, I attempt to persuade these ephemeral moments to tarry, but the steadfast sun pays me no heed and moves ever upward in its determined climb.

Full morning bursts upon the scene accompanied by a din of noise pouring forth from the flurry of activities.

Gratitude In Each Morning

Each morning graciously presents another opportunity to use The Radiance Technique® (TRT®) to enhance the journey of your day. You can travel from sunrise to sunset with TRT® hands-on, accessing universal light as you go.

Students of TRT® have the benefit of being able to use this technique any time, any place – not limited only to specific meditation times. You are able to bring more light not only to your mornings, but to the entire day and night. It's easy with ongoing use of TRT®.

A Forever Morning Of Awakening

Awakening.

In hazy dreams of awakening, we awaken to the morning. We awaken to the meaning of our lives.

We are striding into a forever morning of awakening. Sometimes, we're stumbling. It's okay. Keep going.

 
“Only that day dawns to which we are awake.”
— Henry David Thoreau
 

I have no idea, in all honesty, what that quote really means, but I have always liked it.

I'll catch myself quoting it in my head fairly often. Each time I do, I shake my head and wonder, "But what, in heaven's name, does that mean?"

No matter. Just keep awakening.

 

When There Is Only Love

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When Nothing Is Left

It seems like nothing is left when those you love are gone.

After a death of a loved one, you're particularly clumsy and awkward as if you've acquired a unique ability to trip over any and everything.

When my father died, I would often hear a mantra echoing in my mind, telling me to "just hold on..." as I stumbled through my life. But I didn't know what I was supposed to be holding on to.

And Then I Remembered

There really is nothing to hold on to.

In the end, there is only Love.

And even that, you don't hold on to it. You just "be."

 

iconic image by Robert Indiana, 1960s

 

A Good Day To Be Dying

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A Good Day To Be Dying In

 
“Today is a good day to be living in;
Today is a good day to be dying in.”
— Copyright © Dr. Babara Ray, The Awakening Journey®
 

Bold and profound, even courageous, this quote about living and dying challenges us. Everyone is happy to agree with the first line, but resistance and anger loom up for the second part. “No,” we cry out, “No! It is not a good day to be dying! No to death!”

Believe me, I understand. You can count me amongst the crowd insisting on “no.”

At the cellular level of our bodies, of all organic matter, we are programmed to survive. Programmed to fight death with all we’ve got.

However.

A Final Performance Awaits

Each one of us has been issued a ticket to a last performance.

The very moment we are born, a death sentence is also handed out. It's as if a personal engraved invitation to the event is created, but we can't find the date and time on it.

No matter.

The date and time will find us.

Steve Jobs offered this quote:

 
“If you live each day as if it were your last,
someday you’ll most certainly be right.”
 

Facing Death At The Hospital

It's one thing to say these words and quite another to live them.

The hospital called when my father was admitted. I figured it was just another "tune-up" admission. He'll be admitted for a few days and then sent back home.

This time, however, the doctor insisted I should come. I asked if my father were dying. She skirted around those words and would only say that it was serious. "You should come."

I hastily booked a plane ticket. “Today is a good day to be living in. Today is a good day to be dying in," I whispered to myself 30,000 feet in the air.

Seeking inner strength and wisdom, I repeated these words like a mantra. I chanted them each morning as I drove to the hospital where my father spent his final days in the intensive care unit.

Get Back, Death

As much as I tried to defy and force back the hovering clouds of Death waiting to lift our dad away from us, I had no personal power to alter the upcoming event.

My father's heart and kidneys were failing. He was, without question, in a dying process; no other options remained.

My failed attempts to battle and then to bargain with Death brought home the realization of just how small I really was.

The only thing left for me to do was to hold my father with TRT® hands-on of The Radiance Technique® (TRT®) and to offer all the love I could muster.

So that's what I did.

Hours Of TRT® Hands-On

I spent hours every day sitting on the hospital bed doing TRT® hands-on with my dad, mostly in his heart center. People would come to visit. While everyone talked, I would keep my hands in his heart and all the while he was receiving universal, healing energy.

With TRT® hands-on, I had a way to hold us, deeply from within. The healing energy of TRT® was not going to "heal" him to stop him from dying. The healing is a balancing of energy that supports many levels – body, mind, emotions, Soul and Spirit.

My dad didn't really have anything to do with TRT®, but he happily accepted TRT® hands-on without further discussion. Without words, he intuitively knew this supported him.

I couldn't beat back Death, but I could hold my dad with universal energy as he walked through that invisible door.

To say I am thankful for the bridge of radiant support that The Radiance Technique® provides doesn't begin to describe my gratitude for this technique.

TRT® gave me a real way to help my father. I wasn't relegated to only words or gestures. Real light that connected to his soul and spirit supported him.

Holding A Vigil

We talked.

As family and friends came to visit him, we recounted stories about the "good old days" and our many adventures together. He was completely past-oriented. When I mentioned something I was going to do in the future, he scarcely heard me. He would pause with a far off look in his eye and immediately return to past events.

Although he didn't eat much, we ordered a few special food requests.

We were blessed to have him for one more week; many people were able to say goodbye.

In the time we still had, it was, indeed, a good day to be living in.

Only Love Remains

My father remained entirely lucid to his last moments. He knew he was dying and accepted this fact with unbelievable equanimity. His calm ability to face the upcoming event took my breath away. His steadiness inspired awe in all who came to see him.

Fully aware his death was coming, he simply asked to not be “hurried along,” then he would add that he didn't want to be a burden either. I did everything in my power to honor his request to not rush the process.

In those last days, with heart-aching wonder, my dad spoke of love like he never had before; how important it is and how essential to tell others that you love them. He worried he had not said it enough.

"Don't worry," we told him, "we knew."

We always knew.

Will It Be Today?

Each day I drove to the hospital to see him, I wondered if that very day would be *the* day of his last breath. "But," I constantly reminded myself, "if this is his day to die, then it will be a good day to be dying in." I told myself it had to be, because it would be his day.

No Matter The Day

Thus it will be for all of us. I wonder if I'll manage to be even half as brave when that final, dying moment comes.

Still, no matter which day I die in, no matter which day any of us die in, it will be a good day to be dying in.

It shall be, it will have to be, because it will be our day.

 

 

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My dad's favorite dog, German Shorthaired Pointer
The Dying Lion of Lucerne, Switzerland
Quote by Dr. Barbara Ray used with permission