Big Shoes To Fill

Lately, a lot of beautiful beings have exited this world. I know I’ve had a lot in my circles! Beloved animal friends, family members and gurus have left their Earthly bodies to continue the journey of their soul. This year, here are some of the major exits in my life:

My favorite sheep, Bosco passed away at the ripe old age of 15. He was a funny, vocal, friendly Icelandic Sheep. He was fine one morning and by the next day, he was gone. The farm is silent without him calling to us for his apple treat every time we step outside. We miss his funny antics nudging at us with his under bite. Here is a video I took of him eating a pumpkin and you’ll see the nudging! What a goofy guy.

 

Earlier this year, my older brother suffered a sudden heart attack and died. This has left a void in my life that I’ll be dealing with for the rest of my life. Kenneth was 4 years older than me and has ALWAYS been a part of my life. He was so instrumental in shaping my early life (he even named me) and the lives of all he touched in his 53 years.

 

 

Then our beloved turkey Lucille left her Earthly body. What a story Lucille had. We have a Facebook page of for her adventures and you can “like” it by clicking http://www.facebook.com/adventuresoflucille Lucille has been sorely missed every day and it has taken us a long time to just come to terms with her death. It has left such a big hole. Who knew that when wild turkey walked up our driveway in 2009 our lives would forever be changed.

 

 

The most recent shift has been that my father-in-law made his transition after several months of trying to conquer cancer. Don Sr.’s death is still very new, we are all just starting to navigate life without his lively energy. While he lived a very full 80 years, it still seems short.

 

 

In the last couple of days, a beloved guru Wayne Dyer and the influential neurologist and writer Oliver Sacks have both very recently exited their Earthly bodies. (I sent my followers a link to a recent article he wrote. Here is that link for you.) We have had them guiding us for a long time. While searching for answers, I find that Ram Dass’ site offers some insightful and lovely posts about death in general and about Wayne Dyer specifically. You can find his posts here.

In addition to of all of these deaths, there have been lots of other changes and things falling apart in other areas of my life. Several of my personal circles have dissolved, local healing centers have closed or have been challenged to re-purpose, and some old, hard-wired ways of thinking have been pushed to evolve.

By monitoring posts on social media, I see that I am not alone.

But what does all this mean? What is my take?

With this falling apart, it leaves a foundation where new things can be built. We are being asked to step out of the shadow of the past and stand on our own. Our gurus have taken us as far as they can; they have laid their burdens down and moved on.

In our lifetime, these influential beings have lead the way, and now it is time for us to step up and live our Dharma, our life’s purpose. We’ve been students for a long time and have learned a lot from them. It has been comfortable to let them take charge and lead us. The teachings given to us have been profound, the inspiration from their lives impressive and the charge given to us intense. As any good student knows, there will come a time when it is our turn to become the teacher and guide our own students. That time is now and we have some big shoes to fill.

We are being asked to truly invent ourselves. “Who will you become now?” seems to be the current question. No more copying or safely just following someone else’s path, those days are over. We must create our own unique future. But in order to do that, the past has to totally be torn down to the ground to give us a clean slate for re-building. That is what is happening to us this year.

Take time to reflect on your life.  Are you happy with what you are doing?  What would it take to make a change? As all the beings who have exited would likely tell you, “Don’t wait. Make the changes now!” You’ll be happier for it.

As a starting point to that new creation, it has helped me to reflect on those who have passed and to “bring forward” their teachings in my life. To organize those thoughts, I have created a worksheet and I am sharing that with you right now. I invite you to print it out, maybe several copies and carve out time to reflect. Then post these where you will see them often. Read them every day to start. Live into the memories, the teachings and find your own place of power as you start to invent the next part of your life. Doing this can cause a huge, positive shift in your life.

In the mean time, take good care of yourself. Eat well, get enough rest and focus on things that really make you happy. The main thing that has helped me stay grounded and present through all of these events in my life is my Ayurveda Dinacharya (daily practices.) Upon reflection, I would be totally lost without these practices. (I’ll have more on Dinacharya in future posts.) It helps to have daily habits that supports, grounds, nourishes and strengthens as we work through the challenges of our daily life.

Shared with love, sadness and renewed interest,

Tresa