So I did a few podcasts last year but then I took an extended hiatus from both the internet and writing. When I came back to the cyber world I had a lot of catching up to do. So now, one of the last things I am catching up to is podcasting. It has been over five months since I’ve done a podcast. I can’t put it off any longer.

So to start off my new year of podcasting I have decided to tell a story that I really love. I am a grandpa and that is one of the reasons I love this story. So I will now tell my story, Singing For Grandpa. You can just listen or you can read along with me from the text below. And please feel free to comment below. Go ahead and tell me if I should give up podcasting or keep going with it in hopes I will get better. If you can relate to any part of the story please feel free to share. I hope you will enjoy it…

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Singing For Grandpa

Singing it forward

By White Feather

Julie was fifteen years old when her grandpa died. As they were very close, Julie took the death rather hard. Everyone that knew her said that something changed that year, but it was hard to put one’s finger on just what changed.

It was Julie’s grandpa who got her interested in music and it was he who paid for her lessons, and it was he who never missed her recitals. He was her biggest fan. He played the piano for Julie for countless hours so that she could practice her songs. Julie was a masterful singer, and that is what her grandpa kept telling her over and over until she believed it. He kept telling her that someday she would stand before a crowd of thousands and make every one of them cry with her voice. That is what he told her the purpose of singing was; to melt people’s hearts.

After her grandpa died, Julie became obsessed with her music and the desire to make her grandpa’s prediction come true. Everyone was amazed by the progress she made in the years immediately following her grandpa’s death. She worked every day for hours both before and after school. She entered and won contests, and finally, at age 19 she was invited to sing before a large crowd of several thousand people at the State Fair. The song she picked was a real tearjerker and she sang it so well there was not a dry eye in the house.

Julie was so taken by the rousing ovation that she almost fainted. The joy she felt at having done the one thing her grandpa wanted was overwhelming. She did not think she could possibly be happier.

It was the very next week that Julie lost her voice. It was not a temporary thing, though. Her voice seemed to be reduced to a whisper for good. The doctors could not tell what was wrong and the only advice they could give was for her to rest her voice… indefinitely. But Julie was not entirely disappointed. She felt she had missed out on a lot of life while devoting herself exclusively to her singing, and now she wanted to do normal things. She finished her studies and began dating the doctor who had told her that she may not ever sing again.

After a couple of years, Julie married the doctor, and then proceeded to have four children; three girls and a boy. She now devoted herself completely to her family. She reveled in being an ordinary housewife and mother. Her voice slowly came back in strength, but she never pushed it by trying to sing. She was happy enough just be able to talk and be heard.

Things changed, though, when the youngest child was still small. This was the boy and he had been named after the grandpa. The only way Julie could get the boy to sleep in those days was to sing softly to him. Before long, the boy was always trying to get his mama to sing. Slowly, Julie pushed her voice a little more with each new month. Before long, she had her singing voice back, but still, she sang only for her little boy — and for some reason, she was strongly compelled to sing for him. It was like her singing was breathing life into the boy. But it was also breathing life into her — and to see him smiling as she sang was all the joy she needed.

One evening before bed, Julie was singing one of her boy’s favorite songs and she became completely immersed in the song. She felt herself singing like she had not sung in many years. The song itself seemed to be coming through her and she was merely adding her own joy and passion to it. And that is when Julie realized that she not only had her full voice back but she also had her passion back. She was so happy she was about to cry.

Then she looked over at her little boy. He was crying tears of joy. And that is when she suddenly knew who he was.

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Copyright by White Feather. All Rights Reserved. Thanks for reading and subscribing…

This story is excerpted with permission from my book, Alimaka Stories, a collection of spirituality-based short stories…

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Don’t miss my story, The Fruit Weirdo

By White Feather

There once was a beautiful valley in which a small group of people had been living for a couple of hundred years. They were farmers and the fertile soils of the valley allowed them to grow large healthy vegetables which not only sustained them but allowed them to trade with peoples of neighboring valleys. The people lived in peace and harmony for several generations but one day a new people moved into the valley and everything changed.

The new people brought with them different seeds for plants that had never grown in that valley before. And they brought with them strange chemicals and farming techniques that were alien to the valley’s people. Soon, the original people found that their crops were struggling from the nearby planting and spraying of the new people’s crops. The people became angry.

A meeting was held in the center of the village to which everyone attended except for the valley’s oldest citizen, a man named Yulka. Yulka sat in meditation near his small parcel of crops close by the meeting. He could hear his people angrily discuss the circumstances.

“These newcomers are ruining our crops,” yelled one man. “They are destroying our livelihood,” said another. “How can we feed our children when our crops suffer from their seeds and poisons which disperse throughout the valley?” asked a woman. “We must fight them and drive them out of our valley,” yelled a young man who was a popular leader of the valley’s youth.

Yulka heard the tirades of his fellow people but seemed unaffected as he meditated upon his little garden. Their emotions spent, the people approached Yulka and asked him how he could ignore their plight and not join them in their indignation.

Yulka opened his eyes and said to them, “What you resist, persists.”

“Stupid old man!” someone yelled. “How can we not resist? They are destroying us!” said another.

Yulka closed his eyes and resumed meditating.

The next day the people of the valley went to war with the newcomers. It proved to be an intense struggle and the newcomers were not easily defeated. They had weapons the people were not aware of and had no defense against. But the people fought tirelessly, as did the newcomers. There were many casualties on both sides. The peaceful valley turned into a battlefield.

After weeks of battle the people came back to their village to regroup. They noticed that Yulka was once again sitting in meditation by his small garden. They noticed that his garden was growing quite well then they looked at their own gardens which barely held any crops because they were untended as all the people were too busy fighting.

“Why do you ignore us and not fight with us?” asked one of the wounded villagers.

Opening his eyes, Yulka responded, “Because I am giving my energy to my garden while all of you are giving your energy to your perceived enemy.

“But we must fight them for our survival,” said someone in the crowd.

Yulka stood up and faced the crowd, “That which you give your energy and love to grows. My garden is giving me food to last until the next season while your gardens are barren and empty. Instead of giving your energy to your gardens you give your energy to an enemy who will eventually overcome you because you will go hungry. I surrender with love to that which nurtures my garden while you resist that which you perceive to be a threat and therefore you fuel that threat. What you resist, persists. I resist nothing and love everything. And my love is rewarded.” Yulka pointed at his garden.

“Stupid old man!” someone yelled.

The villagers walked away from Yulka and prepared for their next battle with the newcomers. They vowed to fight with ever more determination.

The next day the villagers went into battle yet again with the newcomers and they were soundly defeated. The newcomers seemed to somehow have gotten stronger. Meanwhile Yulka harvested his garden and stored the harvest. But he left part of the crops in the garden.

When the victorious newcomers came to Yulka’s garden they were famished. Yulka offered them the remaining crops in his field.

After gorging themselves, the newcomers asked Yulka what his secret was; why he still had food to eat and why he did not fight. Yulka smiled and said, “What you resist, persists.”

The newcomers looked at each other in confusion. “Stupid old man!” someone in the crowd yelled. Sated, the newcomers moved on to the next valley to continue their conquests.

Yulka said a prayer of gratitude then went into his hut to dine on a delicious feast from his harvest. When finished he threw his scraps out onto the ground for the birds and squirrels and other animals to eat. While everything seemed to have changed, the abundance of the valley had not.

Copyright by White Feather. All Rights Reserved. Royalty-free photo from Pixabay. Thanks for reading and subscribing.

Heart Connection is a free subscription publication. You can support Heart Connection and the writings of White Feather HERE

Anyone who has spent much time on a beach knows about ebb and flow. The ocean is a great teacher of the cyclical nature of all life on this glorious planet. The tides come in and they go out. All the animal life and plant life living in this ecological zone is aware of these cycles and their lives are structured to follow these natural cycles. It is all about energy.

Energy is cyclical and nature responds and reacts to these cycles in a natural and harmonious way. Humans, however, have lost touch with these natural cycles of ebb and flow. They have lost touch with nature.

In today’s modern culture humans are conditioned to ignore these natural cycles of energy. They are taught to constantly strive for societal notions of success. They are taught to never stop working towards these concepts of success. We must be constantly working towards this illusory fulfillment and any “slacking off” is considered as “bad” and “lazy” and “weak” and “anti-social” and “defeating.” Everything we do must be a means to an illusory concept of “success.” We are conditioned to believe that all the energy we put forward is a means to an end.

In the natural world there is no calendar of success. Time, like energy, is cyclical. The present moment is all that there is and that present moment is always either in a state of ebb or flow. The present moment is never a means to an end. It simply is.

The birds and the animals and the fish and the trees are not constantly working towards some illusory distant goal of success. They are living in the present moment; in the ebb and flow of life. During the ebb they rest and rejuvenate and during the flow they grow. This is how life sustains itself on this incredible paradise of a planet.

Humans, however, have stepped out of this natural rhythm. They have replaced living with achieving. They have replaced harmony and balance with notions of success and wealth and accomplishment and productivity. To achieve these illusory goals they must step out of natural energy rhythms and constantly strive and struggle. Instead of going with the natural flow they have been conditioned to fight against it. Never give up! Never rest! Push, push, push for success and accomplishment and productivity.

In modern Western society humans have been taught to never rest, to never allow their energies to ebb and rejuvenate. But our bodies are still connected to the natural ebb and flow of life. Being made up of Earth elements, our bodies are naturally tied into the energies of the planet which are in a constant state of ebb and flow. Our bodies are following natural cycles but our minds are following the dictates of society.

This creates a significant energy disturbance. The energies of our bodies and the energies of our mind/egos are not in sync. When you have opposing energy forces there is friction, imbalance and disharmony.

We have been led to believe that our minds are more important than our bodies; that we can somehow override those natural energy cycles which our bodies adhere to. We have been taught to keep our focus on success and achievement and not give in to the natural ebb and flow of energy and then we can overcome those natural energy cycles and succeed in the society-imposed measures of fulfillment and happiness and success.

So what would you do if you were a human body living within the natural cycles of the ebb and flow of nature and you had to live with a human mind that was living in direct opposition to those natural forces of ebb and flow? How could you get that darn human mind to stop long enough to slip back into natural cycles? How could you get it to slow down and allow the natural cycles of ebb to rejuvenate and energize the body and mind? It can seem like an impossible task to get the conditioned Western human mind to step out of its relentless quest for achievement long enough to recognize and slip back into natural cyclical rhythms.

But it really is not that hard. All the body has to do is create disease. There is nothing like disease to pull the mind out of its frenzied quest for success and bring it back to the natural state of the world. Nothing will get the mind’s attention faster than a full-blown illness.

So much illness and disease comes about because we are out of touch with natural cycles and it is the only way our bodies can bring us back into those cycles. And even then many of us still do not listen.

Listen to your body. It knows.

Copyright by White Feather. All Rights Reserved. Thanks for reading and listening and subscribing…

More audio excitement! Actress Kris Keppeler chose my story, Rabbits, Children, and an Old Man to read on her radio show Does This Happen To You? You can listen to it here. Kris is very talented and I think you will enjoy it.

All photos from Pixabay.

Heart Connection is a free subscription publication supported mostly by donations.

You can support Heart Connection and the writings of White Feather here,

Recommendation:

Sometimes you read a story that you enjoy so much that you want everyone to read it. Such was the case yesterday when I read Mark Starlin’s story Pierre Finds Fame. Seriously, it was one of the most delightful stories I’ve read in a while and I’m sure it will be enjoyed by all.

Every single time we think a thought, that thought flows over the neurons in our noggin and it is electrically zapped and in this process, it is given life. Every single thought we think is like a child we create, birth, and give life to. Just like the physical human children we create, every thought has free will. As soon as we give life to a thought by thinking it, it no longer belongs to us. It is an independent creation with free will that we no longer have any control over. Having been given life, that thought then goes out into the infinite field of infinite possibilities in hopes of magnetizing the possibilities that will allow that thought/creation to manifest and express itself fully.

Think about that. We can say that we, each of us, are thoughts that our Creator once thought. Our Creator’s thought went into the infinite field of infinite possibilities inside this womb universe. Those thoughts magnetized just the right possibilities for us to be born into these human bodies. We have free will and are an independent creation of the Creator who “thought us.” We have manifested in order to fully express the thought that we were created from. That thought was a thought of unconditional love and it was zapped with the energy and consciousness of that unconditional love as it was being created.

We are creations resulting from the thoughts of our Creator and likewise, every single one of our thoughts is our creations. The big question is whether or not we put as much unconditional love into our thoughts as our Creator did. The simple act of thinking a thought gives it life and therefore that thought must eventually manifest. But a thought that is thought without any intensity and without unconditional love will be very weak and have a hard time magnetizing to it the possibilities it needs to manifest. A thought thought with unconditional love and backed up with unpolluted unconditional love of the strongest magnitude will be birthed with so much energy that it will be able to magnetize any and all possibilities quickly in order to manifest and express that unconditional love it was birthed/created with.

This is how we were created and it is how we are learning to create. Humans are generally and blissfully unaware of their creative powers. Our Creator created us to become Creators who can manifest and create and express the unconditional love that we were birthed from. It is through our very long journey through the infinite field of infinite possibilities that we have very slowly been gaining awareness of our divine creative abilities (as we slowly magnetize to us the events and knowledge that shows us that). To become the Creators that our Creator thought/created us to be, it is essential that we become aware of our creative abilities and to also become aware of true, pure unconditional love. These are the two ingredients we are magnetizing to our selves in order to fully realize and fully become that thought that our Creator had. When that thought fully manifests through us then we become the fully aware Creator that thought created who can then create in the same way our Creator created us.

How cool is that? Right now we are divine Creators who are creating with our every thought but we are not even aware of that. We are also unaware of the unconditional love from which we came. Our evolution is the process of expanding our awareness of what we are and embracing the unconditional love we were created from. Our journey is a process of realizing how infinitely powerful we are. We are Creators who are constantly creating. The only thing that will change is our awareness of that and the amount of unconditional love we put into our creations.

Copyright by White Feather. All Rights Reserved. Thanks for listening/reading and thanks for subscribing to Heart Connections…

Heart Connection is a free subscription publication.

You can support Heart Connection and the writings of White Feather here.

It’s important to laughIt’s important to cryIt’s important to feelto soar through the sky

To be heavy as a featheror light as a boulderTo blanket in the heator strip when it is colder

To greet words with a smileeven if we don’t agreeTo greet silence with silenceAllowing it to be

There is always moreto what we see and hearThere is always some lovebeneath all the fear

Life can be so cruelbut only if we fightIt is when we surrenderthat we finally see the light

A child does not judgeA child does not hateA child has curiosityand finds it hard to wait

It wants to see and feelthe world that it is inIt also wants to experiencethat treasure that is within

Growing up we lose itWe lose our zest for lifeWe trade away adventurefor struggle and strife

When did you last giggle?When did you last cry?When did you last let it bewithout asking why?

Copyright by White Feather. All Rights Reserved. Thanks for listening and/or reading. And thanks for subscribing to Heart Connection…

Heart Connection is a free subscription publication supported mostly by donations.

You can support Heart Connection and the writings of White Feather here.