Month: March 2022

Remembering Mom

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My mom, Ethel May Herrling Clark Finch (March 20, 1926- February 28, 2012)

Happy first day of Spring my dear blogging family! For most of my life the first day of spring was synonymous with my mother’s smile and laughter. You see, it was also my mother’s birthday. Our family used to gather together for afternoon tea and cake, or dinner and an evening of music, and celebrate this oh so special person in our lives. For the last ten years this day has been quiet. Our families don’t gather together any longer. My younger children don’t even remember their grandmother. But every March 20th, for the last ten years, I wake up and the first thing I say is, “Happy Birthday,” to my mom. It’s funny that we do that, even though our loved one is no longer here to get one year older.

But we are here to remember.

Mom had bright green eyes that would shine with love and joy. Eyes that sparkled mischievously after telling a joke. I marvelled at her ability to be so happy. I think she must have worked really hard at it as she perfected the art, despite a lifetime scattered with grief and difficulties. You see, she had lived through the depression, the Second World War and was a widow not once but twice in her lifetime. Somehow she survived it all. But that’s life isn’t it? What choice do we have? We either survive or we don’t. My mom was a good teacher. She taught me how to be a survivor too, although so far my life has been so easy compared to her life. Also, whether consciously trying or not, she laid down deep roots of faith and a constant knowing that I am loved.

Now that’s something to celebrate today. Knowing one is loved is HUGE, don’t you think? ‘Cause we can overcome anything and rise to be our best selves if we know that we are loved. It’s a beautiful thing…and it’s a beautiful day here too. A perfect first day of spring day. The sky is blue, the sun is shining and there are buds starting to burst on all the trees. Another season has come. It’s a season to remember to be joyful. And while my mom isn’t here to hold her hands to her heart, her face shining brightly as we sing happy birthday while carrying another cake towards her, she will always be right here in my heart.

Happy Birthday Mom!

My gift to her today is remembering, but also honouring her by smiling at everyone that I meet. My mom had a special gift of making others feel special. She was genuinely interested in them and their problems. She would lift them up with a smile, or a kind word. She would go out of her way and do something kind for them. She made the world a brighter place and I know that she would be proud if I carried her legacy on.

So whatever you are doing today, stop for a moment, take a slow, deep breath, hold your hands palm up and let the residue of my mom’s love for the world find you. You are sooo loved. Let that knowledge sink into your heart and may you be glad today. It’s Spring. It’s a day to celebrate!!!

Below is a video that my sister C’s family filmed during one of mom’s birthday celebrations. I love it as it’s so home movie…ish….and so mom.

Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope

A Must Read; “Five Little Indians” by Michelle Good

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Last fall my winter goal was to start pulling together my memoir. I’ve been writing pieces of it with my writing group for the last six years and I thought I was ready to piece it together but it just didn’t happen. Sometimes I think, like making good soil from compost, a bit more decomposition is required. What I did instead this winter was read. I read a lot. I read a variety of books, everything from my passion for gardening to historical novels. I read many of Bernard Cornwall’s books from the 9th to 10th century when the Vikings were raiding the Saxons in what would become England. I then watched the Netflix series, “The Last Kingdom,” based on Cornwall’s novels. I quickly moved onto watching the complete “Viking,” series too. I can’t believe I was able to read or watch stories from that time period, as the violence was so intense. Often I had to close my eyes while watching the shows but that’s hard to do when you read a book and I’m not one of those people who skips over words. If the author feels those words are important for the story, then I’m going to read them. As hard as they are to take in. I’m funny that way.

A while ago, I was looking at my local library’s website offering suggestions for books to read and I came across, Michelle Good’s book, “Five Little Indians.” I’ve been wanting to learn more about the Indian Residential Schools for a few years now. The interest was heightened more so last year after the discovery of the 200 plus unmarked graves at a nearby Residential School site in Kamloops, just north of us. Since then, sadly more and more unmarked graves have been found all across Canada at former Residential Schools.

Shortly after I saw the library’s recommendation, I was listening to CBC radio and “Canada Reads 2022,” books were announced and once again the title, “Five Little Indians,” was brought up. That was it! The Universe was telling me not once, but twice to pick up this book and I try to follow those intuitive signals as I know there is something I need to learn. I immediately put the book on hold at our local library. I was thrilled when I was finally able to collect it a few weeks ago but it just sat on my “to be read” shelf for the first two and a half weeks. I wanted to read it but Russia had just invaded Ukraine and I didn’t know how much emotional energy I had for taking in more horror. Finally, when my library warned me that I only had a few more days to read the book before it would become overdue, I started reading it.

And I didn’t put it down.

The story is about five adult survivors , Lucy, Kenny, Maisie, Clara, and Howie, from the Mission Indian Residential School, on Vancouver Island and takes place in the “60’s. I worried that the flashbacks of their time living in the Residential School’s would be more than I could take and although what they experienced was horrific to say the least, the author, Michelle Good, wrote their stories developing a clear voice for each character brilliantly, but in such a way that it was emotionally readable. Does that make any sense? After reading her eloquent story I feel shaken in my ability to string even few words together that make any sense. I did cry through most of the book, but I also was lifted by their resilience to survive and even take steps to heal.

Halfway through the book the stories of the survivors started weaving in and out of each other’s lives and that propelled me to read even quicker to the end as I wanted to know how she would wrap it up. I mean, could there be a good ending to such a story? Is there a possible good ending after a childhood had been ripped away from these people? How could anything good come after all the pain and horror for the characters or their families? I won’t tell you more but this book left me crying, and smiling and I’m so glad that I finally had the courage to read it. After I finished the last page I went out into my garden, tears moistening the soil, and I just started pulling apart my dead perennials. I’d been putting off this chore as it’s never fun to clean up all the old dead stuff in the garden but after reading that last page, I felt empowered and hopeful…..but still so incredibly sad too. ‘Cause I know this is still happening all over the world…hatred, racism, hypocrisy…when will humans wake up?

While this is a fiction work, I understand that the experiences of the survivors is an accurate representation of what occurred for the Resident School survivors. I understand that Michelle Good’s own mom was one. For me, it was a deeply informative piece of literature and I now see why Ms. Good won the 2020 Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction and was long listed for the Scotiabank Giller Prize in Canada. And now is on the short list for the Canada Reads list as well.

I’m not going to go any further into critiquing this story but I have to leave you with this one thought, “have you ever read a book where you feel like you want the characters to stay in your life? to become your friends? to become your family?….or for you even to keep reading about how their lives evolve? Those are the BEST books aren’t they? Those books touch our soul and become part of us. I’m so glad I read this book late this winter, as it’s now part of my heart.

If you want to listen to CBC’s Booked VPL with Michelle Good, check out the below;

Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope

Be a Beacon of Light

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This morning I woke in the wee hours pounding my pillow and crying, “no, no, no.” I’m sure I wasn’t alone. All over the world people are pleading for this Russian invasion on Ukraine to stop. As if we haven’t experienced enough heart ache in the world over the past two years dealing the Covid 19 pandemic, this is like another nightmare that we can’t understand or wake from.

In the last three weeks I’ve been travelling “within” a lot. I’ve been meditating and seeking answers to some life questions. I’ve been letting go of many as well and just trying to live in the moment. I thought I was preparing myself to reemerge this spring, like a butterfly from its’ chrysalis, after a long sleep, but I see now that I needed to build my inner reserves as our world has been shaken once again as Russian cruelly invades Ukraine. It’s a war none of us wanted to deal with in the world.

And yet it is here.

What helps me deal with the horrific stories I see in the news as the Ukrainian people stand and fight for their land, is my spiritual belief that we are “all” spirits who have come to earth to live a human experience. After I read Caroline Myss’s book, “Sacred Contracts,” more than ten years ago, I further adopted the belief, which resonates with my soul. I believe that before coming to earth, our spirit chooses an archetype role we will play during our human existence. (the following is a glimpse into Caroline Myss’s teachings regarding Archetype energy) If you want to delve deeper into her teachings and are interested in the Archetypes we choose to be, check out her book. “Scared Contracts.”

Knowing that each of us makes a conscious choice on the role we will take once on earth has helped me see the bigger picture at play. Often it is the roles between good and evil and we learn from each other as we play the roles. Until we evolve as a species these roles will continue to manifest. Thankfully we are starting to wake up and become spiritually conscious, but if you wonder why we are still seeing so much anger, fear and hatred in the world, that is the last gasps of lower energy archetypes acting out. The Russian leader, whom I will not name as I don’t want to give him any more power, is in my opinion playing the evil archetype. His vibration is low, dark and obviously little light gets into his social awareness. It’s hard to believe this is the role he chose and even harder for me to remember that he too is a beloved spirit. Having this awareness helps me to look at him and his actions with the broader picture in mind and remember that his actions are teaching us and helping us move closer towards the light. But even if you can understand him from a spirit connection I think the question everyone in the world is asking is, “how can we overcome someone like this?”After all we are here in the human form and our role is to act. I believe the answer is quite simple.

Shut out the darkness with love.

Become a beacon of light shining brightly in your part of the world. If enough of us fill the world with light and love, how can darkness reside? We will overcome that darkness. How can we do this in practical terms? We can start each day with the intention to be kind and considerate towards others. Those in our own circles. Fill everyone you meet with gratitude for their existence. Sometimes this is simply a thank you….or a smile. This is a good time to up our random acts of kindness towards our neighbours. Take your neighbours garbage can back to their house at the end of the day or drop some muffins off at their doorstep with a note that you appreciate having them as your neighbour. You know even something as little as when you are driving in your car, look for opportunities to be kind on the road; yield to others, recognizing you see them. Let them merge in front of you kindly. Drive consciously.

Another big one is finding something that brings you joy each day and authentic light will fill up around you and you will glow for everyone to see. You may wonder how you can be joy filled when there is so much horror going on in Ukraine and other parts of the world? The thing is, by living in fear and worry, only gives more energy to the darkness. Live in a place of light, love and joy and be like Ukraine’s national flower……

Other practical things you can do right now is to donate money. The Red Cross Ukraine was our first organization to contribute to. Another good organization I found when I heard the actor and philanthropist, Ryan Reynolds was matching up to a million dollars in donations, was to the United Nations Refugee Agency. When I see women, children and the elderly fleeing Ukraine, I can easily get behind this organization. It doesn’t have to be a lot of money but if we all give something it will become a BIG contribution. When I heard that people from all over the world were also booking Airbnb stays in the Ukraine with no intention of travelling but only wanting to put some money in Ukrainian people’s pockets, it made me cry.

There is so much goodness in the world. And if you are coming to my blog I know you are a big piece of that as I attract like minded people. We are limitless in how brilliant we can shine. Take my hand and join me in taking a deep breath now. Let it fill up your heart field. Connect with your soul energy and as you exhale, let it cover the earth with your light.

We can all be the beacon of light the world needs now. What role are you going to choose to take? I loved this video below as this one brave woman brought some light to the world around her….it made me want to shine brighter and sing too! “Lean on Me.”

Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful. Shine On!

Blessings from Hope