Returned to Orchard of Hawaii for lunch and some fortune cookies. Not quite Quan's, but it was more about inspiration, not great taste. It wasn't too bad. Fried Rice was a bit dry, but the only other place I know is another fifteen minutes down the road. So what was the morsel of inspiration that I received for this effort?

"If we are all worms, try to be a glow worm"

Okay, well many people would have trouble with the idea of being equated to worms, but in the spirit of Mitakuye Oyasin, we are all related, I can accept this. In thinking about this, these days many of us feel like worms. In these days of outsourcing and cutbacks, many of us feel like worms in our jobs. How many of us feel as if the Sword of Damocles was hanging over our heads. We are under constant pressure to work longer hours with no raises, and always with the feeling that if we protest, we will find ourselves on the outs. We put up with long, thankless hours, just to ensure that our families are provided for. In other words, we feel like worms.

I spoke of worms in an earlier blog. I spoke of reconnecting and told of the importance of the worm. While many may deride this brother of the earth, he does perform an important function. Worms help break down decaying material. The worm holes help to aerate the soil and provide pathways for the water to get to the roots. So if someone says you are as low as a worm, you can now tell them thanks, because you are important.

So knowing just how important you are, it doesn't matter what these others think of you, what matters, and take this to heart, what matters most, is what you think of yourself. You are important! All life is important. So knowing this, don't let them get to you, but glow. Glow little glow worm, glow. Let that inner spirit that is the essence of who you are exude the brightest light you can. No matter what slop they throw at you, do your best. The only way you can do this is by remembering that the only critic that is important is you. If you give in to the will of others and allow them to dictate how you feel then you will allow the darkness to envelope you. If you reach into yourself and believe in yourself and who you are then all the external things become mere distractions and your light begins to shine despite the darkness they throw at you. You are the glow worm! Glow, baby, glow!

My heart to your heart, one heart, one spirit.

Okay, went to Orchard of Hawaii Friday night to get take out. Put aside the fortune cookies so that I will have inspiration without having to go back for a while. So let's see what we have. Take off the cellophane wrapping. Grasp cookie in left hand, middle finer in the V, index on the right half, ring on the left, and split. Two perfect halves from which to extrude the nugget of wisdom. You have to keep with rituals no matter what you do. Whether it is a simple thing like opening a fortune cookie, or saying prayers, smudging, or entering the woods. Now let's see what we have:

"A kiss makes the heart young again and wipe out the years."

Interesting. When you think about it, how old does one feel when alone compared to when one is loved or in love? Personally, I can remember trudging through the woods feeling like each step was in mud. Oh, wait, it was, but that is besides the point. When we are alone, we can feel heavy, old, and in extreme times, wishing for the end.

Yet, how much different we feel when we feel loved or are in love? It is those times you can run through the woods, vaulting stone walls like a young buck. There is nothing like that feeling. There is a lightness, an energy that if we could just bottle, would be amazing. The whole world is alive an beautiful. Everything we see takes on such beauty. Roses smell sweeter. Why we might even say hello to a passing skunk rather than running and hiding.

Most of our time, though, is spent in that in between. At times we feel old, tired, and wishing this journey were at en end, and others we feel happy and light, and never wanting it to end. It is like a roller coaster. At the low end, we feel alone and at times, unloved.

In the last writing, I spoke of being the glow worm. This is one of those times when you can reach out to another and yourself glow. Think about it for a moment, if a kiss makes the heart feel young again, then couldn't simply showing someone you care and reaching out to them, at least help raise them up? Now, I am not saying go up and kiss a stranger, that could have some implications. What I am saying is that simply acknowledging someone you see down in the dumps, reaching out to them, maybe just listening, helps them to feel that someone cares. I have written over the years about reconnecting. We have become so distant from each other that it becomes difficult at times to reconnect. If we open our hearts and take the time to see the opportunities and maybe take that minute out of our lives to reach out to someone else, maybe they won't feel so old.

The thing is, that sometimes, that reconnecting, that reaching out, has a marvelous impact on ourselves. We glow. There is nothing like helping someone else get over a hurdle. Sometimes all it takes is taking the ten minutes or so, to listen. A good counselor will not tell you what you should do. They will simply listen and guide you to keep focused so that you, who all ready know the answers, can find your way through the morass to the solution.

So, here is my challenge to you. Help make someone feel younger. Reach out, listen, or simply be there. Help them to unload their burdens and feel young and light again. Oh, and if you feel so inclined to pass out kisses, well I am approaching my 51st year, so I could use all that youth medicine I can get. LOL. Of course, I am only kidding.

My heart, to your heart, one heart, one spirit.

Okay, so daughter is still sleeping, son is off playing a game in his room, quite time for a few as my vacation winds down. So I decided it was time to write another. I go to the cupboard, mind you, not where I stashed the cookies for future columns, but ones I saw that someone else stashed in another cupboard. Part of me was saying, no, these aren't the ones meant to be written about. Not being a superstitious person, knock on wood, I brushed it off.
Well, I went over to the trash so I could tear the cellophane to deposit it directly in the trash. Plop, there went the cookie too. Fortunately, mostly paper that it landed on, so I fished it back out. Still part of me said, leave it there and get another. I didn't want to be wasteful, though, in the end, the cookie does go in the trash. Hey, I wasn't going to eat it after it went in. I took the cookie in my traditional way, and snapped it open. I pull out the slip of paper and it says:

"There are no coincidences"

Dah, dah dummmmm. Boy, how do you take that after what just happened. So why were those cookies apart from the others? Why were they in the cabinet with the dishes where I had to retrieve dishes for the breakfast meal? What diabolical plot was hatching here? Oh, it didn't help that my son left a movie on the kitchen table too, Final Destination 2 or 3 not sure. Interesting, but if I remember the one that my daughter watched, there were no coincidences in that movie either.

But seriously, it is said that everything has a purpose. Things happen in our lives to guide us, give us lessons, or in some cases warn us of danger. We may say that these are coincidences and brush them off, but those who walk a spiritual path, speak of these as signs. Throughout our lives we are given these signs to help us along our path. Many times we simply choose to ignore them or just brush them off as coincidences. In many indigenous cultures, the people were raised to watch for signs. In many cases, it was for the survival of the people. They could look at the sky or smell the air or watch the wildlife and know that some ill was coming.

You hear the saying, all things happen for a reason. Yet, we rarely ever stop to ask why, or what lesson is this bringing, or what message should I take from this? Through the years we have been taught to not believe in the spirit world. Or if we do, to see it as ghosts, goblins and other strange things. But what if there is another world? A parallel world that is beautiful and wondrous and inhabited by spiritual beings that wish to help us? What if they are the ones that are sending these signs in hopes that we are open and can understand the meaning?

Shamans and others who are taught to interact with the spirit world perform a function within their societies. They are well respected in their communities, not so much in the western world, but in other places that still practice traditional ways. They are known for their ability to "journey", to travel to the spirit world to find answers that may help their community. They journey to bring healing. They learn to interact with the spirit world for the betterment of others. While shaman is an Eastern European term, anthropologists have used it as a blanket label for all indigenous healers and holy people. This is offensive to some, who will politely, or sometimes not so politely remind you that they are not shaman, they are Laika, Curandero/as, or simply healers. Yet, all of these healers share a common purpose of helping their community.

Here in the US, we are currently looking to "fix" our health care system. For many, it just doesn't work. I won't get into a debate on that here and now as it could be a whole missive on its own. The thing I want to point out is a stark difference between western medicine and indigenous. Indigenous medicine is holistic. By that, I mean that they treat the whole person. A healer more than likely is quite familiar with the person being treated. They probably have treated the whole family, and in some cases for generations. They will know things that may affect a persons spirit. They know that healing has to take place there also. Modern medicine, looks at symptoms and throws pills at you. Indigenous medicine looks at root causes. In many cases it will be because of an imbalance in the persons life. They will work to not only cure the symptom, but work to heal the spirit and bring the person back in balance so as to prevent a recurrence. Often the "medicine" used is simple herbs, or a mixture of herbs. Many years of training goes into that herbal medicine.

Much of the medicine that we know today started as simple herbal medicine. Taking the healing powers of sage, is not profitable as sage is everywhere. So drug companies isolate that part of the plant that they believe brings the healing powers. They can then manufacture and most importantly patent the medicine to increase profit. Yet, there are many side affects to these medicines. Side effects that are not present when the herb itself is used because there are other properties in the herb or combination of herbs, roots, and flowers, that counter the negative part of the "medicine". Another difference in medicine is that drug companies make medicine for profit. Indigenous healers look at a plant as family. They don't just rip up a bunch of plants and use them. The herbs are approached in a spiritual way. Prayers are said over the plant and usually an offering is made of a pinch of tobacco or corn meal or such. They give thanks to the plant for giving of its life to bring healing. They do not collect all the plants in an area, but rather take only what is needed leaving the rest. As they prepare the medicine, more prayers are said. They honor the spirit of the plant. With modern medicine we are no longer connected to the plants spirit. It is a pill, pop it, and you will feel better we are told. Yet, in the end, we need more and more as we are never truly healed.

Sometimes I wonder if what we really need for a new health system is to throw out western medicine and bring back the healers and holy men. People from within the community who are prayerful and spiritual and know you. In this way they can heal the whole person and get at the root cause of what is making us sick. When you start reading stories of indigenous healers and some of the "miracles" they have performed, you begin to wonder. Maybe there is hope as I have heard that some hospitals are beginning to introduce alternative medicines like Reiki as part of the healing.

If you are interested in Native American healers, I highly recommend two books Fools Crow, Wisdom and Power, and Black Elk Speaks.

Just remember, there are no coincidences, only signs. We must open our hearts and learn to listen from there.

My heart to your heart, one heart, one spirit.