…Well, back from a wonderful weekend up in NY with my family.  I hope you enjoyed your holiday time as much as I did!  I had an interesting, yet educational, thing happen to me yesterday.  And as soon as I went through it I just knew I wanted to write about it for you all!…

…The doggies just love being up in NY… away from all of the traffic and noise and able to sit outside sunning themselves all afternoon!  Saturday we all lounged around, sitting in the sun, relaxing and reading and being together.  Sunday was a bit different since my uncle and great uncle were up for the day.  I also was making a lot of the vegetable dishes for the meal…

…So the dogs were outside, but outside alone… watching us from the window!  Reggie, my older one, was fine and just lounged, laid, and sunned himself.  Rusty was another story.  He was intrigued by every single noise.  He was interested in leaves rustling, chipmunks running, and birds chirping.  He could not relax!  He was just so excited about all of nature surrounding him…

…He kept getting himself tangled on the deck (we have to keep him tied up because he would run and chase things and get away!).  He kept needing to be assisted by unraveling and letting slack on his leash.  Well, one time I was out there doing this and by accident I put my hand quickly down on the deck!  Yowsers!!  I got a terrible splinter underneath (yes, underneath) my finger nail…

…Now I won’t go into all of the gorey details about this, but I did learn a lot from this experience.  First, Drew was trying to help me get it out.  Well, he was helpful, but it just was not working.  Finally… after the meal, after a lot of time, and after much pain… I got it out!  I did it!  I was beaming from ear to ear.  Well, here though is where the lessons come in…

…I have recently read a book on Shamanism called Urban Shaman by Serge Kahili King.  It was a wonderful book… in fact, even thought I just finished reading it I need to keep it with me as I must continue to practice with a lot of the exercises provided in the book.  Anyway, one of the lessons I have learned is: everything is receptive.  So how does this fit with my story?…

…Well, Drew and I were struggling and fighting and having a hard time getting the splinter out.  It was hurting so badly.  I finally said to Drew, “Let me just do this.”  He took a break and I looked over at him and his eyes were closed and he was resting.  During my whole experience I was using my mind to get through the pain, but now I had another idea!  If everything is receptive… then this splinter is receptive…

…So, I started talking to the splinter within my mind.  I was like “Come on little guy, I know you want to get out of there.  Just work with me.  Let’s get you out of there together”… or something along those lines.  The point is: I was talking to him.  I was approaching this splinter as if it was a being that was able to receive the information.  And as soon as I did that… that was when I get a hold of it and we had success!!!…

…The other lesson I learned was the belief that I have which is: we really must, can, and are able to heal ourselves.  While the help from Drew definitely got me a long way… while I needed the bandaid, cleaning supplies, and first aid kits from my Mom… while I needed the support from everyone… I had to do it.  I wasn’t successful until I knew I had to heal myself…

…With any illness or disease, I believe, that we can get and receive help from others.  But in addition to that, we must also help and heal ourselves.  We have that power within us.  We have to tap into it, trust it, and accept it.  Wow… what lessons!  I am so glad to have had these wonderful experiences to teach me and affirm for me what I am learning, growing through, and changing towards!…

What have you learned lately? How are you day-to-day experiences playing out life lessons? What might you be working on and where can you apply situations to the new learning materials?