Free to Live Anew

Never look for the birds of this year in the nests of the last. -Miguel de Cervantes

One of the most profound acts of healing I have witnessed was that of a couple whose teenage son had sustained a brain injury. Before his auto accident, Tim had been a vital, popular, and athletic young man. Now he was slow of speech and motion, and although he was making progress with therapy, he still struggled to do simple acts that before he had taken for granted. At a seminar, his parents asked to create a release ceremony. "We need to say good-bye to the son we once knew so we can embrace the person he is now." Amid profuse tears and with tremendous courage, this couple each read a statement of love, appreciation, and release for the son who was no more, and made a declaration of acceptance and commitment to the person he had become. The healing and empowerment that accrued to them was tremendous, in sharp contrast to the pain they experienced in attempting to hold on to someone who no longer was.

Are you freezing yourself or a loved one in a cast from the past? Are you trying to force someone to be who they were rather than honoring who they are now? No one wants to be treated like the person they once were; we want to be appreciated for who we are. Come fully into the present with yourself and others, and you will liberate tremendous energy to love and bless what is, rather than bemoan what was, or what you wish would be.

Help me to see clearly and to honor the beauty before me now.

I accept the gifts before me, and I accept the highest in everyone, including myself