Peace, Love, Healing and Synchronicity

Anybody looking for some peace, love and healing?

I know I sure am, on a regular basis! And the more of it I get the better I feel, yet somehow, at times, no matter how hard I work for it, it all completely alludes me...Seems to be an ongoing journey, yes?

After months of planning, saving, scheduling and rescheduling, I made recent 10 day trip with my daughters to the UK and the Netherlands for some much needed, and all too rare mother/daughter time, extended family time, as well as for professional purposes.

I am now, even more convinced that the synchronicity with which events and experiences come to us, is often far beyond our human planning.

I left with the excitement of connection with extended family, of rare mother/daughter time, and with the goal of learning about the foster care system in other parts of the world. Laptop in tow, a suitcase full of my work in attachment, bonding, relationships and child welfare, and, a good book...just in case! After all, it was a 10 hour flight to London, and then a week later another hour flight to Amsterdam.

The book??? Peace, Love and Healing, an oldie but goodie by Dr. Bernie Siegel, or just Bernie as he prefers to be called.

Ok, let me step back for a moment....

We all like to think that we are in control of our destiny and that a well planned trip, like this one for me, would pan out just as I planned. Many of us are convinced that we know what is best for us and put massive amounts of energy into planning our lives accordingly. How many of you can honestly say that your plans have panned out as you initially thought?

The random chance of synchronicity teaches us, if we are open to life as it unfolds, that we are certainly not the sole authors of our destiny and that there is a much higher power than us orchestrating much from above, regardless of our well laid plans.

My life is changed after this trip, and not at all due to what I anticipated, nor planned. Without going into details, suffice it to say that I have returned to my life here in the United States with a much deeper and thorough understanding of where I come from, how I became and am becoming who I am, generational patterns of trauma and the transmission of that trauma from parent to child, what peace, love and healing looks like to others and that unexpected, chance encounters can change the very course of our lives in a split second. (thank you, Sasha!)

I learned that time with my children is much more precious to me than any amount of time at work, and that anytime I can choose them over the office, they will win! We talked, laughed, cried, hugged and slept in each others arms for the entire flight-didn't read one page and the laptop stayed in the overhead bin!

I learned that Ann Frank's(the diary of Ann Frank) father was absolutely right in a final interview when he said that he believes that most parents really do not know their teenagers well at all. I learned so much about two of mine during this trip that could not have ever been learned otherwise, ever. I had to drag them out of the Ann Frank Museum, where we spent hours in the attic that Ann lived in. I still get chills....

I learned that no matter how far I have come, becoming the student to others can always provide yet another lesson in peace, love and healing for me-regardless of degree, no degree, education, no education, home or homeless I have something to learn from every single person that I come into contact with. My mother, who died 17 years ago, left me the book, Peace, Love and Healing....little did she know way back then, how she would impact my life today. Thanks, again, mom~

I was reminded of how nice it is to listen more than I talked-and continue to process thoughts after dinner with a psychiatrist from Holland who spoke eloquently about his first experience with regulatory and experiential healing recently! He shared that what they are learning from 'the states' continues to excite him. Little did he know, at the time, how much he was teaching as well! No doubt, I will return to Amsterdam to work with him, learn from him, and maybe even teach him a few things.

OK, so back to synchronicity-what does this have to do with peace, love and healing?

Those chance experiences that have led us to important decisions-the blind date, the intimate encounter, the choice to quit a job randomly, to pick up a book that has been on your shelf for almost two decades, the coincidences that without such your life would not be as it is today-that is synchronicity- and there is some evidence to the fact that many synchronistic events, such as mine over the past 2 weeks just happen to occur at turning points in our lives. At times when we are ready for transition, a big move, a big change but may not be consciously aware of it yet.

Sometimes it takes synchronicity to wake us up to the fact that we are merely existing, not yet truly living to our full potential. That for some reason we have become stuck in a rut and continue to muddle through the days, answering emails, returning messages, trying our hardest to get it all done, and for what? That perhaps we are not even yet aware of our unique gifts and what our gifts may be intended for. That perhaps we have lost the joy of life......be gentle with yourself, take a gentle breath......

As I process over the huge emotions still pouring over and through me, I know that I am in a time of transition, change and desire yet again in my life. I am working to push through struggles in order maximize my potential to leave my legacy of more love, more peace and more healing for all. To uncover what it is that I may still fear and what it is that I may be called to do...I am in awe at the power of meditation and prayer as I rise and come back from all of these thoughts, emotions and feelings.

So, did the trip turn out as planned? No.

It was better! and so am I~

For now,
Peace,
Juli
www.coaching-forlife.com