What Would You Tell a Third Grader?

This month, September, 2022, is also “Senior Month,” I am told. We just celebrated “GrandParents Day” this past Sunday, which was wildly ignored by my children and their children. It is not a big commercial event so our culture seems to downplay its importance and celebration. So what? This year “GrandParents Day” came out on the second Sunday of September and coincided with the celebration (???) or recognition of 9-11… Anyhow, our local Senior Center wants to begin a “Wisdom Sharing” between Seniors and elementary school aged kids. The director has found a third grade class to participate. The Senior Center will videotape Seniors offering a message in the form of answering a simple question to be recorded and played for this third grade class. The young students will then be video recorded offering their response to be played for the Seniors. A cross-generational wisdom sharing experience. I LOVE this idea.

But, if I were to consider what message I would want to record for a third grade class my thoughts run far afield. My first consideration is to what a third grader would benefit from hearing and what level can these wisdoms should/could take… Next, I question how serious or how fun I should make my presentation as a senior in my 8th decade for students in their first decade of existence.
What would YOU like to convey???

Maybe:
1. Be Present…
2. “Know thyself”
3. Be of service or at least a Blessing in every interaction
4. Travel more so to expand your perspective on Life and to visit other cultures
5. Stay connected to the Divine and Remember where you have come from and to where you will return (Maybe a bit much)
6. You are a “Miracle” and “Perfect” just the way you are…
7. And, YOU are Loved…
8. Find “Joy” in Every experience and then share your wisdom freely
9. Follow your path and not the path others have suggested for you…
10. Never Miss an opportunity to share your Love and hug your family and friends…
11. Love Mother Earth and All Life on Our Planet… Enjoy Nature and visit natural settings regularly
12. Turn off your media… Learn to Meditate… Learn to Really Listen… Respect other people’s attempts at communication without interrupting…
13. Respect Knowledge and Wisdoms by being “open” and available to new perspectives. Question your Sources of Information!!!
14. Laugh Freely… Smile at the people you meet along your path. And, Say Thank You!

There are so many thoughts which flood my consciousness. I am just getting started. BUT, which of these thoughts would YOU find in agreement or what might you add to this list???

YOUR story and YOUR Wisdom are important and should be shared… This is a service YOU can provide. Especially, if you keep your witness’s learning in mind and not using this interaction to just spew your ego driven thoughts…

And, if you think this has value, where will you find the audience to share your wisdom with???

YOU are Amazing!

Thanksgiving in the PNW

November 25th, 2021 falls on the last Thursday of November in the Pacific Northwest (PNW.) Actually, everywhere in our world that uses the same calendar finds the same date on the same Thursday. But, that is NOT what this blog posting is all about.

I am thankful! I love Thanksgiving! It is my favorite religious holiday because there is no religion and fewer expectations of “gift giving.” The “gift” is that you can sometimes find yourself sitting at a table or, perhaps, in a room with people you love or care about and maybe share time, maybe some food, and LOVE. There has been a long history which allows this date and celebration to be special, for me (and possibly for you too.)

My Mother celebrated her birthday on November 25th and it was usually celebrated at our Thanksgiving family table. My younger son was born on November 30th (not December 7th, “Pearl Harbor Day,” as suggested during my wife’s prenatal care.) So, we double celebrated birthdays. My family had a long tradition of inviting people to join us for the celebration of Thanksgiving. Often these were family or close friends but also included people who did not have family nearby to celebrate this holiday with. (My very best Thanksgivings have been when friends circled the table and everyone “wanted” to be there. No family “expectations.”) The holiday was based around a turkey dinner which is a weird American tradition which I love. I love roast turkey and stuffing and mashed potatoes, and I knew these were going to be available at our family’s meal. In fact, I learned how to prepare this meal and taught my boys how to create these dinner foods, which has made all of us very popular in a low confidence cook’s opinion (my wife loved when I cooked and suffer from cooking anxiety for larger events.) There are many great family stories built around cooking for the family for this celebration. (Yes, even shrunken, micro-waved birds and getting stuck in elevators, and more…)

Then there is the gift, to me, of sharing Gratitude in the lives of the people gathered. The time of reflection on the Gifts of our lives is time well spent. Sharing these gratitudes is a full contact sport that nicely massages the mind, the emotions, and the Spirit. This can take 2-5 hours at 350 degrees of sharing to fully cook, if you use traditional recipes. Again, time well spent. The creation of the meal, the gathering of your loved ones, the sharing of the contributed foods and stories are parts of what makes this celebration so special and beautiful for me. Not everyone gets to get their “expectations” fully met but if we can find our way in to the present moment and dive deep into appreciation, hearts can be warmed and souls can be sustained.

AND, there are leftovers. Not just food but awesome memories. We can all find and create moments of Gratitude, Appreciation, and shared Love that do not just fit around a Thanksgiving table or end when we travel home. So, consider the gifts and the service YOU can provide to make this a loving and most memorable holiday. And, sure there can be grief from the losses we have experienced but these can make a sweetness in full appreciation of what we do have, what we have had, and what we have learned from the difficult challenges encountered in life.

If she had lived, my mom would be roughly 114 years old this Thursday, give or take the years she lied about her age and actual birthdate. Where possible, reach out and hold hands with your loving memories, your beloved family, and most wonderful friends. Even if you do this only in your mind AND then, Go Out and Do Good in our World.

You are a Miracle! You are a Blessing! Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for Being You!
With My Love…

Wisdom Sharing: Let’s Get Started!

Let’s Get Started!

Do You have a story to tell? More importantly, do YOU have Wisdom to share?
Of course you do…

We all have a story. We were born. We grew and lived our lives. AND, we survived until Now!
95% of us do NOT think we are amazing and special or that we have lived the “Heroes Journey.” But, we have! If anyone heard your full story the witness would ask, “How did YOU survive all those challenges?” Most people would NOT want to have gone through what YOU had to go through to get here… The fun exciting things and your successes would be fun to try on… The painful challenges, failures, difficult lessons, and the dramas you have survived would be too difficult for most mortals. Now, you learned more from your failures and painful experiences than you did from being successful, IF you are honest and like most other people. Even if you would not wish these difficult experiences on anyone you loved, and most other people who may mean less to you, YOU survived and there is knowledge and some Wisdom to share.

For me it was the ending of my marriage. My wife and I were 19+ years into our marriage when she was diagnosed with terminal cancer. She was given less than 5 years to live with stage 3 C ovarian cancer. The surgeries and chemotherapies were horrible. We worked together and with her resolve, and all the alternative therapies she could find, my bride lived 8 and 1/2 more years. This experience made us closer! We shared love and experiences that each became an adventure. I would NOT wish this on anyone! But, I would not trade this experience, if I could. I learned so much! And, the great vacuum in my life when she finally “transitioned” was so much greater than I could have imagined. Even though I had 8.5 years to prepare, I was not prepared for the hole in my life AND this was one of the greatest learnings from my grief that I hold so dear. I do NOT want sympathy! I am not a victim! I was blessed with a love and a learning that taught me so much. AND, this learning is supposed to be shared!

Your wisdom born out of the difficult challenges has happened for a reason. You learned some important lessons. You are now here to share your wisdom AND somewhere there is a person who NEEDS to hear your story. You may not know that person or why they need to hear your story but they do need to witness you as a survivor and fellow pilgrim on the path through this life.

We want to overlook ourselves as the Miracles we are! We are a composite that is unique, born out of the challenges which no one else has lived through. No one else can do YOU like you do YOU! Your life adds to all consciousness as a unique contribution. If you can take responsibility for your Greatness, drop the role of “victim,” and find the importance and the Joy in the lessons you have learned, YOU can be the Beacon of Light to people you bump into in this life!

It would help greatly for you to start telling your stories. Practice telling these stories. AND, then find the people who would learn best by witnessing your stories. You can be a hero! You can lead the way! You can be of service to humanities’ consciousness by sharing of yourself! You may never know how impactful you have been or be able to take credit for a life changed by hearing your story. But, if you do not tell your story it will die with you and your full legacy may not be fully fulfilled.

Live fully and Serve by sharing of yourself. YOU benefit from retelling your “story” from the new perspective of who you are Now! You are a Miracle and Your story has value! Please share your wisdom!

Thanks for your time and consideration. Your insights and experiences are unique and a blessing, so please share these…

If you are READY and looking for a supportive community where you can share your story, your wisdom, and grow spiritually in a non-religious environment, consider Masters of the Journey.
You are a Blessing! You are a Master! Your wisdom from your life experience can have great value to other pilgrims on the path toward awakening and enlightenment.

The Masters of the Journey has events which are updated on our Facebook page which is found at: www.facebook.com/mastersofthejourney Please comment on this blog and share, if appropriate. More of our blogs are based on spiritual consciousness and can be found at www.dstress.com/blog

Ingredients of a Legacy Sharing Story

Tell Your Story:
Ingredients of a Legacy Sharing Story

We have all lived long enough to have those major learning moments or events in our lives which created dramatic new perspectives on how we live or conduct ourselves. These are the experiences which make our lives interesting, and often, challenging. We learn from these abrupt life changing encounters.

What was or were the major moment(s) in your life which seemed to change you? What did it feel like? How did you integrate this new awareness or learning into your life?
Examples:
Birth of a Child
Death of a Close Family member or Friend
STE: a Spiritually Transformative Experience
NDE: Near Death Experience
A major “Awakening” about Nature/life/death
A major travel adventure – which “Opened Doors”
A traumatic event that taught you… (Severe diagnosis, accident, fight, Injury…)
An event like a wedding/Graduation/Career change

2. When You share your story of these life altering events:
A.) Does it benefit the person you are speaking with?
B.) Does it benefit YOU to retell your story?

3. Are You reliving your story and triggering real Feelings when you re-tell your story?
(Is your response genuine and real?)

4. Has Your “Story” changed over time?
Have you continued to learn from your past experience?

5. Is it a mental process or a heartfelt sharing?
Do you “Feel” this past experience?

6. Why would this learning experience be a benefit to some, if not all, the witnesses?
What did you learn?
How has this changed your perspective or “Life”?

What makes this a Legacy Story?
A story of an experience that changed you (or your perspective) which will be a benefit for other people to experience/hear. The experience created a “change” which altered the pattern of life enough to send you off seeking in a different direction. An “Awakening” which led to a “Knowing” or a deep “Remembering” regarding your connection to the Divine Spirit. (This often makes you know that you are so much bigger than your 3 dimensional life allows you to mentally know or understand…)

Practice sharing your story. Get feedback. Answer questions which are raised. Become as clear as your thoughts and words will allow. (Add color, and depth, and sound, and feeling to your attempt at sharing your story.) You can not do FULL justice to recounting your Feelings, but you offer yourself as you retell this story and subconsciously communicate a more complete scope of your awareness awakening experience.

Thank you in advance for your efforts of sharing your wisdom!

PLEASE Consider, sharing your story and getting it recorded for our library so it will be available for other people and perhaps, especially, for the younger generations. (Some of our interviews can be found on YouTube in the Masters of the Journey channel…)
Or, contact me through email at mason@dstress.com if you have a compelling story to share.

Thanks for your time and consideration. Your insights and experiences are unique and a blessing, so please share these…

If you are READY and looking for a supportive community where you can share your story, your wisdom, and grow spiritually in a non-religious environment, consider Masters of the Journey.
You are a Blessing! You are a Master! Your wisdom from your life experience can have great value to other pilgrims on the path toward awakening and enlightenment.

The Masters of the Journey has events which are updated on our Facebook page which is found at: www.facebook.com/mastersofthejourney Please comment on this blog and share, if appropriate. More of our blogs are based on spiritual consciousness and can be found at www.dstress.com/blog

Wisdom Sharing Project

Is there an interest in connecting generations to share wisdom experienced from a lifetime of learning? There is no doubt that there is a need for wisdom sharing! Do the Elders in our culture want to leave a legacy of wisdom to assist broadening the perspectives of younger generations? Do the culturally admired youth in our society want to hear from Elders and gain wisdom from learned experience? Is anyone interested in an honest sharing of the struggles and the insights coming out of the pursuit for higher consciousness and spiritual development?

If I had the answers or found the model of these queries being answered, I would not have to write this blog post. My relatively recent new role as a Grandparent has me considering how I can best serve my grandson, Mr Milo. I am creating resources for him including: a list of books I have read, blogs and articles I have written, videos I have recorded, and even specific writing on subjects “Guidance” has asked me to share with him. Storytelling and holding him in love is also part of this process. But, I am not the only Baby Boomer who has a legacy of chasing after consciousness to share. So, I ask again, Is it worth the effort to attempt to create resources of wisdom to offer to younger generations? Or, should the coming generations be left to find their own way without any possible shortcuts or support from their elders? For thousands of years, old and young would sit in circles around the campfire and share stories. Has our new worship of technology made this inter-generational activity unnecessary?

Sharing your story is not simply for the witness/listener. It is a blessing for the storyteller. The wisdom sharing elder can revisit, even relive, their transformative experience and from the new perspective of distance and growth, can learn new, vital elements of past revelations. 40 years after I had compelling information from meditations in my 20’s, I recently learned new things from recent retelling of these stories. Stuff I did not know, or was willing to know, from those experiences of 40 years ago. (Or, perhaps I was not ready to “know” back then…)

What experiences in your life created massive change for you? Chances are you had a major life challenge and somehow you survived. Perhaps, you were able to adapt and integrate this new perspective into your life. It may have even sent you off into a different direction than you might have expected. This wisdom can have value to other people, especially, the younger generations who will be confronted in similar ways at some point in their lives. If nothing else, it is great to know that someone else survived these similar challenges and can feel supported by a parallel story.

Can the younger generations put down their technologies and look into the eyes of a wise, caring storyteller? This is not in vogue or discussed much in social media. (At least not in a positive, open to listening, kind of way.) Valuable insights can be lost with this separation of generations. Our culture looks to divide older people from the youth. Fear drives this reduced interaction. Impatience and Judgement get in the way. Attention spans are shortening and not for the better of considering consciousness and mindfulness. The “present” is being lost to upsets from the “past” and fears/anxieties of the “future.”

What needs to happen (for your consideration):
TRAINING what questions to ask… yourself and your children regarding what details AND EXPERIENCES to share.
Building your Legacy of Wisdom from the challenges you have survived. Look into your feelings and not the projection of dogma which may have been imposed upon you. (Be authentic, and real, and genuine in expressing your struggle and how you found your way through very real and very common interactions.)
Preparing the storyteller to share their story most effectively can be helpful.
Preparing the witness/listener to focus, to ask open ended questions, and avoid distracting interruptions can be helpful.
Inter-generational communication and interactions serve both sides of this experience.

Share Your Wisdom to assist the future generations. It is Your Legacy.
Share Your Wisdom to assist YOU! By retelling your story you gain perspective of the person you are NOW as you share your story from past experience. You get to see it and know it from a different angle.

YOU are a Blessing!

Thanks for your time and consideration. Your insights and experiences are unique and a blessing, so please share these…

If you are READY and looking for a supportive community where you can share your story, your wisdom, and grow spiritually in a non-religious environment, consider Masters of the Journey.
You are a Blessing! You are a Master! Your wisdom from your life experience can have great value to other pilgrims on the path toward awakening and enlightenment.

The Masters of the Journey has events which are updated on our Facebook page which is found at: www.facebook.com/mastersofthejourney Please comment on this blog and share, if appropriate. More of our blogs are based on spiritual consciousness and can be found at www.dstress.com/blog

Count Your Blessings!

Have you ever heard that expression, “Count Your Blessings?” Why would someone say this to you? What is the purpose for looking for the “Positives” in the life you are here to live? For many people, it is easier to look for the problems and the negative interactions and perhaps even play a “Victim” to these challenges. But does looking for and living within the “negative” give you the joy that can be found in this world?

What do YOU give thanks for in the world? Even the most brutal lessons can be honored as important opportunities to learn from, even if the learning is what NOT to do. Personally, I have learned more from my mistakes and my painful relationships than I have learned from when my life was most easy and successful. The 8 years I lived with my wife’s terminal cancer I would not wish upon anyone and yet these were some of the most important years for learning in my life. The lessons of empathy and compassion were so valuable. The fear and the sharing within our many crisis’ was such a powerful tool for learning about the human dilemma. The closeness that we grew into, with the love at a level tested by trauma, was an amazing and important experience for me. AND, from all of this learning, I find that I have wisdom and gifts to share.

So, look for the difficult experiences as well as the joys when you look for the many blessings that YOU have been granted. Do not keep these a secret. Share them! Challenge others to appreciate being more fully “Present.” Bask in the drama that is your lessons of this life. Do not hesitate to reach out for other people. Allow them to support you AND reach out to share your love and support with them. Find compassion and caring. Find the perfection of the divine spirit within every soul you encounter, even the ones who trigger your fear, anger/frustration, and your defenses. Each encounter is there for a reason. Each encounter is there for your learning.

Blessings to you! Love and appreciate each moment and share your love and wisdom whenever you can.

If you are looking for support and resources to focus upon your spiritual growth and development, consider the Masters of the Journey community. YOU are a Blessing! You have a Purpose! The Universe would have a huge hole in it if you did not exist… With Love – Namaste!