Vacation

I am in Hilton Head, South Carolina right now. I am at a conference. It is hosted by the National Institute for the Clinical Application of Behavioral Medicine. It's titled the Psychology of Health, Immunity, and Disease. I am surrounded by experts in the field of mind, body, and spirit medicine. If you know me, my mind right now is both at peace as well as swirling with ideas. I have been lucky enough to both enjoy the talks as well as the outside environment. With my attraction to all elements- air, fire, water- I am lucky to be by the ocean and hear the splashing of the waves against the shoreline. I was especially thrilled to walk tonight as the sun was setting with the moon dancing over the water on the opposite side.
One of the sessions I attended today was by a man Norm Shealy, MD, PhD. His workshop was on Synchronicity and Simultaneity of Thought. He started out talking about how he has "someone" (he calls a guider) that he talks to and talks back to him. Now call me a Midwesterner or a skeptic but i said "a quack". I love, however, when I am proven wrong. So then he talks about when things just disappear before his eyes...I remembered by cell phone being gone last week...he said that was God's reminder that things are not our reality. He took us through some acupressure points and followed this with a mediation following those same points. I struggled...my mind was racing...suddenly, peace...and I so badly wanted the pain in my back right around my scapula to go away...it did...but now it was in my arm...so after another series of meditations, that was gone too. And it still is not back- it's been there for 6 months.
Lastly, he talked about intuition. I've known this fact for a long time...we all have it. I know mine comes through...or should I say, I acknowledge it so much more when I am relaxed.
It reminded me of this one time, and I know some of you have heard this before but here goes...I woke up one morning just like any other, maybe about a year ago. There was a slight chill in the air so I headed to the closet to get my slippers. As I entered the closet, I thought to myself "I hope that if Jeff and/or Jacci (neighbor's of ours) ever have a medical emergency, that they know to call on me..and, of course, call 911. I thought it was weird that i had that thought and dismissed it as "morbid". A short time later, I was walking through our living room. I remember the front door being open though the screen door was closed. It was getting warmer outside. I heard sirens...that's pretty weird out by us in the secluded country side we live in. They got closer and as they did, my husband went outside to investigate. He said, " The ambulance is right there and it is turning into Jeff and Jacci's driveway."

I freaked.

Now I have had several episodes of "hmmmm, that's ironic. I just thought that." But never did it seem so obvious to me.

I ran to my closet to get my shoes when my husband said " oh, they are parked there but they went across the road to the neighbors. it looks like they have a silo fire."
And sure enough, that is what it was.
Now, that being said, I was still freaked. And what do most girls do when they are freaked like this? Call their sister. So I did. Shelly confirmed it was intuition and said I should go to church that day.
Luckily, it was Sunday and i left for church. I desperately listened to Pastor Matt expecting that through his words God would tell me why this happened...why it was so obvious. But, though his words were wonderful as always, nothing I heard explained this.
So I askedin prayer... And I heard a response. I am telling you. ..I have went to Catholic school for at least 5 years. I have been at church more times than I can count. I have prayed. I have heard other people say God has spoken to them. Not me...until then. And so clearly I heard this after I asked why...

"Because I want you to believe in what you are doing and who you are."

I can't tell you what the voice sounded like. I know it wasn't like a Sidney Poitier voice over, though that would have been nice. It was just there. As simple as that.

And why did that happen? I don't know. I've tried to talk to Him again. I'm sure He responds but I haven't heard it again. I'm just happy I had it happen once.

And I know maybe what some of you are thinking right now...she's a quack cause I have thought it myself but I am telling you, I'm not. Just like Norm Shealy is not (though I have to say, I don't have a "guide" that I talk to on a regualr basis besides God).

I guess maybe that is what a vacation can do. It can help with reflection, relaxation, and releasing energy. Or maybe it was the glass of wine Jeremy from Jamaica poured me while I devoured a crab cake at the local hotel bar.

If any of you have intuitions about next year's Shoe party...thoughts, suggestions, premonitions about the weather, please let me know. I would love to tap into your insight!

Namaste,
Paula