Category: Spirituality in Action

A Non-Religious Approach to “Pray Without Ceasing”

On By ellenbessoIn meditation, prayer, spirituality, Spirituality in Action, The Earth, Uncategorized3 Comments

Photo by Simon Matzinger

 

“Pray Without Ceasing”     Thessalonians 5:17

When I was studying counselling one of our instructors defined spirituality as anything that gives your life meaning. This idea had broad potential. It could be the trees, helping refugees, visiting an elder, a deep connection with a friend. It could be your children, he told us.

My approach to spirituality is an integrative, holistic one, not religiously oriented, but not exclusive of religion either. Currently I’m moving towards continuous prayer. Not prayer using words, although I do pray regularly  for specific people and situations, but being in union with the Divine continuously.

We cannot pray in a deliberate, analytical way 24/7. Our creative right brain with its holistic design, using intuition and visualization, enables us to create a different type of reality for ourselves. It lets us feel our way into the essence of life. It helps me create a vision for my prayer, one my soul can relate to.

Prayer is joining with whatever represents God to you. In my prayer visuallization I picture Light pouring onto the planet from the Source. This Net of Light, or Cosmic Web, is the spiritual power that heals and protects the planet and all of us. It is pure love. “The Net of Light is a pattern/network/fabric or grid of love. It is love. It anchors, supports and penetrates everyone and everything on earth.”, say the Grandmothers.

During my day, whenever I think of it, I cast the Net of Light and draw down spirit, both to help all beings on our planet, and to heal myself. Breathing in the Light and calling on the Grandmothers, aspects of the Divine, fills me with relaxation. The Grandmothers invite us to do this in many ways throughout the three books channelled through Sharon McErlane. When we call on them, our nerve endings relax, they tell us.

Going to Richard Rohr once more, the Franciscan friar who founded The Centre for Action and Contemplation, I find that Jesus taught prayer beyond words. He joined with God in his predawn prayers, in what many today call contemplation, Rohr says, “…union with God’s presence; resting in God more than actively seeking to fully know or understand.”

My way of prayer embraces a broad and deep spirituality, wordless for the most part. The Grandmothers nudge me towards the giant coniferous tree at the bottom of our garden, where we do our Grandmother empowerments and cast the Net of Light. The more often I remember to cast the Net and call in the Grandmothers, the more comfort I receive.

This visualization is my pathway to the Divine, the route most available to me. It did not happen right away after my “discovery” of the Grandmothers and the Net of Light a couple of years ago. It has been a slow opening, a melding of my various spiritual beliefs, with the Net becoming a powerful co-ordinator, a focus that encompasses my various spiritual beliefs. Our journey to our first Net of Light gathering at Joshua Tree Retreat Centre last spring deepened the process.

I asked three friends for their unique perspective on praying without ceasing. Pastor Jaz of Christian Life Assembly Church, the sponsor of our two Syrian refugee families says:

“To me to pray without ceasing means that we are constantly keeping Jesus on our minds and hearts and bringing not only our needs to him but also our thanks to him through out the day. Praying without ceasing being less about staying in a constant state of prayer, and more about having a constant heart and mindset of communication with Jesus.

Judy, who has been part of the Divine Love prayer group for more than thirty years wrote me:

“Sincere prayer and longing for the Creator’s Love transforms or awakens the soul…then a longing for an ever deepening communion with God grows…we become more trusting and willing to call upon God to help us in our daily lives.

The challenge of the soul to remain in constant receptivity of God’s infinite Love is the mind.  We have a choice whether to allow our mind’s dominance or to grow our soul in the love of God…eventually a tipping point is reached – we move in grace, enveloped in the flow of God’s Love. In this state, our lives become a constant prayer. God’s Love within our soul becomes our inner compass.

My dear friend Rose says: “For me, it’s noticing my breathing, through the day. Because I know, and deeply feel, that I am breathed into life by the loving Creator, consciously attending to my breathing, without trying to change it, puts me in a prayerful state, more feeling than thinking.”

Athough my words differ in certain ways, my friends’ beliefs segue with and enhance mine. Visuallizing and calling on the Net of Light and the Grandmothers allows me to get my mind out of the way, the left brain, dominant part particularly. My hope is that as I grow into this way of being more and more, that it will lead my heart and soul to the Light.

Love & Light

Ellen

Copyright 2019 Ellen Besso

Ellen Besso is a former Life Coach & Counsellor & is an energy worker. She is the author of An Indian Sojourn: One woman’s spiritual experience of travel & volunteering, and Surviving Eldercare: Where their needs end & yours begin, both available through Amazon.

My Divine Love Prayer Group Welcomes Me Back

On By ellenbessoIn meditation, Positivity, prayer, spirituality, Spirituality in Action, Uncategorized4 Comments

“We believe that through the inflowing of God’s Divine Love, the soul is transformed.” 

Divine Love Energy

Since September, with the exception of a weekend prayer party, I have been unable to attend my Divine Love prayer group, five minutes from my home, as my new Inspirito Choir also meets on Monday evenings. The heart felt music, led by a gifted, unusual woman, has enriched and fulfilled me over the past months, but is not a replacement for the deep peace and angelic beings surrounding us during our prayer time, an hour during which Al channels messages from the Celestial Realms.

My presence last Monday evening was fortuitous, but then there are no accidents. I was lovingly welcomed by the nine people present, and told by Al that my presence there added to the positive conditions in the room.

It was a special evening, as Augustine, one of Al’s main guides, offered each of us personal messages. My message affirmed that my eclectic approach to spiritual work, one that differs from the folks who have been following the Divine Love path for many years, is my personal route to God/Goddess. “Although your concepts of the soul may differ…you recognize longings in your soul that draw you [to God]”, said Augustine through Al, “…and you continue to strive to be a channel of light in the world…Your soul is open to God’s blessing.”

Integrating my beliefs, developed in a conscious way over the past 40 years, since the loss of our first child in 1978, has been the task I assigned myself since starting the group in the summer of 2015. “You will find your way to an understanding of truth that does not offend your sensibilities.”, Augustine told me, “…[and] integrate the experience you are having with God with your ideas and spiritual beliefs.”

The message Augustine sent me through Al last week fit with my philosophy – that all roads lead home to spiritual fulfillment, to the Divine.

It’s all Light and Love

My current mantra, “Follow the energy”, one I’ve written about before, means I visit a variety of places and activities that elevate me spiritual, that lift up my soul. They involve meditation, prayer, nature, choir singing, our Net of Light group, the music at CLA Church, as well as the Divine Love prayer group. I feel deeply that all are moving in the same spiritual direction, towards the Light.

Having said that, I recognize that the Celestial energy during the Divine Love meetings, developed over more than 35 years by the core family, and by others before them, is a powerful, healing, high energy. Occasionally now I get glimpses, messages from my soul, that this is truly energy from the Source.

This is not to say that the other energies are not complete and beautiful in themselves, uplifting and healing – conduits to The Light. For example, the energy of the Grandmothers that we invoke during our Net of Light women’s group uplifts, heals and grounds us..

Back to the Divine Feminine, Full Circle

The Grandmothers are aspects of The Divine, of The Great Mother, the feminine aspect of God. She is the Divine Feminine.

Twenty years ago, in my work with Judith Duerk, author of Circle of Stones, Woman’s Journey to Herself, we worked with the Great Mother. Now I’ve come full circle through being led to the Great Council of Grandmothers and Net of Light organization.

This is where my spiritual process is at present.  Sharing it helps me articulate it. Some may resonate with you and spark conversation. Please feel free to comment or write to me.

Next Up…

In the next few months I plan to begin posting draft excerpts from my spiritual book from time to time.

Love & Light

Ellen

Copyright 2018 Ellen Besso

Ellen Besso is a former Life Coach & Counsellor & is an energy worker. She is the author of An Indian Sojourn: One woman’s spiritual experience of travel & volunteering, and Surviving Eldercare: Where their needs end & yours begin, both available through Amazon.

 

Freedom Through Service

On By ellenbessoIn spirituality, Spirituality in Action, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Many years ago in Ontario, I was treated by a Naturopath-Chiropractor, a divorced, middle aged man, father of two. This quirky, opinionated man fell in love with a beautiful young woman and together they had a baby, to the amazement of everyone who knew him.  One day Richard told me that he had found freedom through commitment to his new wife and babe, a  concept foreign to me at the time.

Yesterday morning I opened Sharon McErlane’s newsletter from The Great Council of Grandmothers, entitled What Service Will Do For You. “Service is freedom and service brings freedom,” the Grandmothers said.  “Loving service is powerful.  “Connecting with others in the light”, they go on to say, our limitations begin to melt and our energy shifts. (I will post this newsletter in its entirety on the blog later).

Western volunteers we met in India echoed our sentiments, that we all get back much more than we give to the Tibetans we help in Dharamshala. The same goes for our work with  displaced Tibetans and Syrian refugees here at home, and now my volunteer work with the newly founded Canadian Children’s Sanctuary Namibia Society.

Recently we held our first AGM followed by a General Meeting and were privileged to have Helge, our Namibian Agent, and a member of both the Canadian and Namibian Boards, with us during our discussions. Though my energy was flagging near the end of an intense day, but Helge immediately riveted my attention when she began speaking about her experiences in Drimiopsis, the settlement where the orphaned and at risk San children subsist in neglect and poverty.

I have observed abject poverty on my Indian travels, and have become inured to it to a degree, in order to continue visiting that country. However Helge managed to paint a visceral picture of the lives of the children and teachers in the Drimiopsis settlement, one that penetrated my privileged and safe white Canadian mentality.

Listening to this gentle, spiritual white woman speak lovingly about her work with the children opened my heart and moved me deeply. Helge spoke about how she slowly, over a number of years, encouraged the teachers and other supporters of the San people, re-settled in Drimiopsis, Namibia in 1991, to begin rebuilding their community, starting with food and water security, education for children and employment opportunities for adults. She happily reported that they have now taken ownership of development efforts by starting the brick building project that to date has produced 12,000 bricks, working with a volunteer architect to design the first Sanctuary building and hiring a security guard to safeguard the supplies needed for both the building and the protective fencing for the site.

I am proud to have the opportunity to offer my service and skills to this community as a member of our dedicated CSNS team.

Love & Light

Ellen

Copyright 2018 Ellen Besso

Ellen Besso is a former Life Coach & Counsellor & is an energy worker. She is the author of An Indian Sojourn: One woman’s spiritual experience of travel & volunteering, and Surviving Eldercare: Where their needs end & yours begin, both available through Amazon.

 

Projects, not Work

On By ellenbessoIn change, Positivity, spirituality, Spirituality in Action, Uncategorized4 Comments

I’m a focused person, but I don’t do “work” anymore, I have “projects”. Some of projects have an end goal, like a choir performance, or posting a finished blog article, but I’m moving towards “Everything has its own time, and there is a specific time for every activity under heaven.”  (Ecclesiastes 3:1)

Our time isn’t God/dess’ time. The Universe operates on kairos, or natural time, not kronos, man made linear calendars. The concept of natural rhythms is not on the radar for most people, and those of us who are aware of it still find it hard to live this way in an ongoing way in our functional society.

It’s taken me quite a while to slow down and follow my internal wisdom, to lessen the degree to which I buy into our goal oriented, time dependent culture. Now that I’m internallizing the idea in a heartfelt way, I am beginning to thoroughly enjoy living this way. Feeling into my internal wisdom and my guidance means I do not question or self criticize in the ways of the past.

A theme of energy movement runs through my projects, in keeping with my spiritual motto, or mantra, if you will, of “follow the energy”. The Net of Light Women’s group where we meet to commune with the Grandmothers’ Council to help rebalance the planet, my new Inspirito,  singing from the heart choir, ongoing blog musings and a recommitment to providing a service offering energy balancing sessions to friends and acquaintances, all segue into a more clearly defined spiritual approach to my life.  I am blessed in the life I am living and my awareness of this grows daily.

Love & Light

Ellen

Copyright 2018 Ellen Besso

Ellen Besso is a former Life Coach & Counsellor & is an energy worker. She is the author of An Indian Sojourn: One woman’s spiritual experience of travel & volunteering, and Surviving Eldercare: Where their needs end & yours begin, both available through Amazon.

 

Our Spirits in Synchronicity

On By ellenbessoIn spirituality, Spirituality in Action, The Earth, UncategorizedLeave a comment
Path behind the Dalai Lama’s Temple, Photo Don G. Smith
                          “It is our true nature we are trying to realize.” 
                               Tenzin Palma

We live in both the material and spiritual worlds. The spirit world transcends time and space; it does not function on our time, rather in natural, or Kairos time. There is a Oneness between our two worlds and between all of us and nature. When we are connected with others, whether they are in spirit or presently embodied, we are with them always. I am in British Columbia, but part of me lives on in Dharamshala, my other spiritual home, on the pathway to the Dalai Lama’s temple, in the homes of my dear Tibetan and Indian friends.

Synchronicity plays a role in our lives. Everything and everyone intersects – we are One with each other. The Grandmothers are an excellent example of this. There are two sets of Grandmothers councils that I’m presently aware of, although I’m sure there are many more. One group is in spirit and the other in human body.

I have written about The Great Council of Grandmothers before and the Net of Light that protects our earth, and was privileged to attend the group’s annual California Gathering in April.  The Grandmothers are spirits from all walks of life, they appeared to Sharon McErlane over twenty years ago on a bluff in Southern California. This was the beginning of Sharon’s intense shamanic relationship with these spirits, aspects of the Divine, who appear as women at times, and powerful eagles at other times.

The Grandmothers are here to rectify the severe imbalance of yin and yang energy on our earth, and to help imbue the planet and all of us with the powerful, healing Net of Light. Through empowerments given to women (and a few men), and through casting the Net of Light, the planet and every single aspect of nature and humans will be healed.

Twice recently I’ve come across another council, the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers, who come together from all over the world for the purpose of sharing their ancestral teachings of prayer, peacemaking and healing, to help us at this time of great need. Tsering Dolma Gyaltong, one of the Tibetan Grandmothers, recently deceased, sponsored a conference in 2006 in Dharamshala, one year before my partner and I first visited this home of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, in the Himalayan foothills. The ten minute video is heartwarming, and to my surprise, one of my dear Tibetan friends, formerly a Tibetan nomad, is in the video footage. The video is called For the Next 7 Generations, Scenes from Dharamsala.

This international council had been spoken of in prophecy and seen in visions since time immemorial, and it came together after the 9/11 attacks in the US. “From the get go this council originated from the Spirit World ” says Grandmother Agnes Baker Pilgrim. “The Ancient Ones are speaking through our voices…We can help stop spiritual blindness around the world.”

There are many commonalities in various teachings and spiritual philosophies. For instance, Circles of Stones play a prominent role in spiritual healing. Stones have Spirit to most indigenous people, they are the oldest beings on the planet. “It is believed that the simple act of picking up a stone and holding it in silence changes a person in subtle and profound ways.”, says Carol Schaefer, author of Grandmothers Counsel the World, one of the thirteen Grandmothers’ books.

The Great Council of Grandmothers advised Sharon McErlane to form circles of stones to enhance healings. Judith Duerk, who I was privileged to work with in retreat twenty years ago, was guided to write Circle of Stones, Woman’s Journey to Herself, embracing ancient women’s ways in the time before the patriarchal period when the Goddess was worshipped. Judith describes ancient circles of stones with women sitting around fires.

Spiritual synchronicity is everywhere. As we draw closer to the Divine, we may find our attention to it growing. We ourselves will be filled with Spirit and gradually our lives will shift into a gentle, peaceful, flowing stream.

Love & Light

Ellen

Copyright 2018 Ellen Besso

Ellen Besso is a former Life Coach & Counsellor & is an energy worker. She is the author of An Indian Sojourn: One woman’s spiritual experience of travel & volunteering, and Surviving Eldercare: Where their needs end & yours begin, both available through Amazon.

 

Net of Light Newsletter – Sharon McErlane – Live from THIS Place

On By ellenbessoIn Positivity, spirituality, Spirituality in Action, The Earth, Uncategorized2 Comments

From the Great Council of Grandmothers,

through Sharon McErlane

Live From THIS Place

I went to the Grandmothers, although I wasn’t really sure why. What did I want to ask them? But before I could form a question, they spoke. “Why do you think we come to you as the Grandmothers?” they asked. “Why do we show up as women? Older women? Why as a group?” they asked, peering intently into my eyes. “I don’t know, Grandmothers,” I said. “I mean, I have some ideas about these things but I don’t really know.”

“We are wise women,” they said, referring to themselves, ” … older, experienced in living. We’ve learned how to give away, how to love with no strings attached. We listen and because we do, we’ve accrued great understanding. You don’t gain that except through experience,” they laughed, “and we have experience! We also work together,” they smiled, “always together.

“In the world the older woman is overlooked, dismissed, and ignored,” they said, and I found that I agreed with them. “Most people are in a great hurry. Rushing, pushing, worrying, scrambling,” they said, “but not us. No,” they shook their heads. “We know better. We understand that nothing happens before its time. There’s no rushing life,” they said. “It unfolds on its own. You’ve learned that too, haven’t you?” they asked, looking me over. “Uh, yes, Grandmothers,” I agreed, “well, at least I’m continuing to learn.”

“We know, we know!” they crowed. “And we’re here to teach you!” “Oh!” I exclaimed. “Is that what this is about? Is it time for me to learn more patience?” but the Grandmothers only laughed.

“You are growing impatient,” they said, “impatient with the way things are in the world. Eager for goodness, for kindness and peace to reassert themselves on earth. You’re tired of all the darkness. Tired of the anger and meanness that continue to surface. In fact,” they said, “you can hardly bear any more of it.” “Yes, Grandmothers,” I shook my head, “you’re right.”

“Come here!” they suddenly said, and reached their arms to me. “Step into our circle. Come into alignment with us. Don’t hold yourself separate,” they said. “Don’t hold yourself ‘over there,'” they gestured, “but instead, come ‘over here’!” I did as they said. I stepped forward into their embrace and when I did, they aligned my spine with theirs. Now I was part of a long line of women … part of the formation that is the Grandmothers.

“Take a look at life on earth from THIS position,” they said, and I lifted my head and gazed out over the horizon. Everywhere I looked there was beauty. Above and below, near and far. Beauty. Only beauty. Flowing patterns of color and form. It was a visual symphony, magnificent in every way. “Where’s all the darkness? The ugliness?” I asked, squinting to see where it was hiding. But there was no darkness. There was no ugliness. Only beauty. Beauty and then … more beauty.

“Live from this place,” the Grandmothers said. “Look out at the world from here, from the place of alignment with us. We promise that things will look very different to you,” they said.

The Grandmothers had given me a new way of seeing the world. It wasn’t a new world; this world had always been there, but before they adjusted my vision, I hadn’t been able to see it. But now I could because I had the larger view. I turned to the Grandmothers then, so moved by their generosity, I couldn’t speak. All I could do was mutely nod my head in thanks to them for this great gift they’d given me. This gift of the larger vision is for you too.

from Sharon McErlane

Net of Light Gathering, Joshua Tree, CA, April 2018

On By ellenbessoIn lifestyle change, spirituality, Spirituality in Action, The Earth, travel, Uncategorized2 Comments

In mid April, my partner Don and I travelled to Joshua Tree, Southern California, for the Net of Light gathering. I needed time to process the experience before journalling; here is my attempt to put into words this powerful, ephemeral experience.

We arrived early and settled in at Joshua Tree Retreat Center. The Center is the oldest in North America at 77 years of age and was built by Frank Lloyd Wright and Son, after a unique man named Edwin Dingle, who had studied Eastern philosophy in Tibet, was guided to the land.

I felt honoured to be invited to attend the Beacons, or group leaders’ meeting prior to the gathering, as I planned to start a Net of Light group in my home town after this retreat. Beacons from all over the world attended, several from the Netherlands, some of them group leaders for many years.

The highlight of the meeting was meeting Sharon McErlane in a small group setting. Sharon’s Net of Light organization had grown to 250 groups worldwide over the twenty plus years since the Grandmothers appeared to her on a bluff in Southern California. Sharon told me I had definitely been called to this work.

In the early months of 2017 I had come across the Net of Light website while researching, returning to it repeatedly, not knowing why. I subscribed to Sharon’s newsletter, eventually meeting the Canadian Co-ordinator, Laura in Horseshoe Bay, West Vancouver, our shared ferry terminal.

That afternoon, under the big, old trees in the park by the water, I received my first empowerment, a gentle introduction to the energy of the Grandmothers, meant to connect us to them and to allow us to bring out our unique gifts in a greater way. Things began to change subtly for me after the empowerment, I received nudges and small messages from the Grandmothers that helped me to live more fully and mindfully with an increased level of trust in myself.  I realized the  Grandmothers  had been around me before I knew who they were.

One hundred people attended the Southern California Gathering, ninety women and close to ten men. I had felt the presence of the Grandmothers strongly for two weeks before the gathering, helping me release powerful old held material from deep within myself. At the retreat they filled the room, and indeed the whole property, with a strong, but light energy.

During our four days together we worked both in the larger group and in ten breakout groups. We drummed and sang, calling in the Grandmothers and the Great Mother, casting and strengthening the Net of Light, the great energetic fishnet that holds and heals the planet and us during these difficult times. Sharon and others took us through guided meditations. In the small groups we debriefed and sometimes did exercises.

For four days we lived in a cocoon of delight and heart felt love. Because we were in an altered state and the experiential nature of the Gathering, I could not explain precisely what we did to friends who questioned me later.

One exercise impacted me powerfully, and remains in my memory banks to this day. We took turns expressing to a partner the qualities of the goddess we saw within ourselves.

When the weekend was over we reluctantly left our spiritual cocoon, spreading out in all directions, Don and I in the direction of Sedona, Arizona.

Since that time I feel I have made slow, but steady progress, beginning our Net of Light women’s group in my home, and building trust withing myself by taking more risks, speaking out more, both in person and in my writing. In these ventures I am supported strongly by the Grandmothers, by my dear women friends and by claiming my Tibetan name more fully, Lhakpa, meaning courageous speech, the name that came to me in a dream several years ago.

Love & light to you.

Ellen / Lhakpa

Copyright 2018 Ellen Besso

Ellen Besso is a former Life Coach & Counsellor & an energy worker. She is the author of An Indian Sojourn: One woman’s spiritual experience of travel & volunteering, and Surviving Eldercare: Where their needs end & yours begin, both available through Amazon.

 

Tibetan Resettlement Project Finale

On By ellenbessoIn spirituality, Spirituality in Action, tibetans, travel, Uncategorized4 Comments

It was a humbling experience, standing in front of a a hundred plus Tibetan immigrants in a hall in Burnaby on a Saturday evening not long ago. The Vancouver Cultural Society was officially marking the end of Canada’s Tibetan Resettlement Project, an undertaking that resettled 1000 Tibetan Buddists from Arunachal Pradesh in  remote northeast India.

Officially called stateless or displaced persons, the parents and grandparents of these Tibetan folks became isolated in the northeastern Tribal States of India, a place rife with poverty, when they followed the Dalai Lama out of Tibet many years earlier. So remote were the settlements, that even the Dalai Lama’s Government in Exile did not know they existed for the first while. Canada’s five year private sponsorship program officially ended in December of 2017, with the last people arriving in March of 2018.

All sponsors and volunteers in the province of British Columbia were invited to this appreciation dinner, along with the new Tibetan families and other Tibetans  already living in Vancouver. Sadly, the many sponsors and Tibetans from Victoria,  Vancouver Island were not able to attend, and we met only a handful of folks from Vancouver. Don and I were the sole representatives of our sponsorship group on the Sunshine Coast. Our Coordinator, who sponsored three families, was there with her partner.

Our group sponsored a family of four, the Mom, who arrived with almost no English, with her two teenage children in December of 2013, and the Dad, who followed four months later, unable to get his discharge from the Indian Army until then. Another son remained in India, at age 22 too old to be included in the family application.

The Prime Minister at the time, Stephen Harper, to his credit, had agreed to the Dalai Lama’s request to resettle the displaced Tibetans in Canada. Becoming involved in Canada’s somewhat “under the radar” project, (the Canadian government did not want to offend its Chinese trading partner), was a spiritual calling on our part.

There are no accidents. Our many friendships with Tibetans living in exile in Dharamshala, India, developed during five visits spanning ten years, had led us to join the Canada Tibet Committee, and we were notified of the first sponsorship organizational meeting in early 2012. Our application went in during the summer of 2012.

We hit the ground running when our family arrived, the demands were great in the early days. Gradually the family members became more self sufficient and we were needed less.

Despite the small size of our community and scarcity of good jobs, our family and indeed all the families on the Sunshine Coast have done very well, working hard at whatever jobs were available, then gradually moving into more skilled areas.

The appreciation dinner and entertainment evening went quickly. At 10 pm we were readying ourselves for the dash to the last ferry, when we were called up on the stage. We were introduced to the audience and honoured with a khata scarf by the wise Rinpoche from the Vancouver monastery.

Every action we took on behalf of our Tibetan family, and for our Tibetan friends in India, brought us appreciations tenfold over. Each small gesture has been acknowledged many times more than we ever expected or wanted. Their gratefulness was very humbling. Yes, we have helped our family start a new life in Canada, and helped other Tibetans in small ways in India, but I do not think they realize how they have enriched our lives, and the heart opening we have experienced as a result. In the future, I plan to tell  our Tibetan family that they have changed our lives also, and we are blessed to call them our friends.

Ellen

Tibetan Refugees Paved the way for Syrian Refugees on the Sunshine Coast

On By ellenbessoIn lifestyle change, Spirituality in Action, travel, UncategorizedLeave a comment

The first two Syrian refugee families have completed their first year on the Coast, sponsored by a Gibsons Church. They are doing well and are enjoying being part of this special, supportive community. They have paved the way for the next family, sponsored by the Sechelt Activity Centre, later this year.

Being part of the Syrian folks lives has been an honour and a privilege, and we are happy to call them our friends, as we do the Tibetan family we sponsored several years ago.

The first Tibetan families from remote northeast India, arrived on the Sunshine Coast in December of 2013 and were followed by several more families, for a total of close to 20 here in our community. The private sponsorship project ended at the end of 2016.

All these folks have made a positive difference, enriching our community by their hard work, their deep spirituality and friendly manner. They are willing to help other new refugees, like they were helped. The 1st arrivals  helped the next Tibetans. Now the Tibetans help the Syrians in any way needed, by attending fundraisers and loaning their vehicles.

We get so much back from volunteering, whether in India or at home. As the research has shown, helping releases feel good brain chemicals: dopamine, endorphins and oxytocin.

There’s more, but you can read the article through the link if you’re interested.

I really can’t imagine what my life was like before we began volunteering!

Light or Darkness, Your Choice

On By ellenbessoIn spirituality, Spirituality in Action, The Earth, Uncategorized1 Comment

For me this is a time to step back, to simplify, to clarify my personal truth. To pay attention to the guidance that is always within and around me, whether my awareness is focused on it or not. Trusting that things are unfolding as they are meant to, that chaos is leading us to new clarity is a challenge, but this way of being has been slowly developing for many of us over many years.

We have a choice, to go to the light, or to the dark. To make our life about positivity in all ways…in our thoughts, words and actions. For much good is taking place on this planet, despite, or perhaps because of, the darkness.

The searching for the light, is a good thing, because “…We are the ones we have been waiting for!!” as the words of A Hopi Elder Speaks tell us. The poem has been attributed to many people, including Thomas Banyacya Sr., (1910-1999), an Elder of the Hopi Nation. This widely adopted poem was apparently originally meant for the Hopi, however it has felt meaningful and timely since I first came across it a few years ago.

The Grandmothers and their Net of Light  are sending the same message, although wrapped in a different package. The Grandmothers are a council of ascended souls, who teach about the Net of Light, the healing net that surrounds the planet. Their message is a powerful one: they have come to help rectify the imbalance between yin and yang on this earth. They are here for any and all of us, female or male, whoever is drawn to them, folks want to both help the world and be uplifted themselves.

In 2002 Nasa first saw the Net through the Hubble Telescope, and named it the Cosmic Web. This web of invisible dark matter lights up the galaxies, enabling scientists to see them better than before. Here are beautiful Hubble pics.

Since my introduction to the Grandmothers and the Net a few months ago, on the surface my life has remained the same , but internally I am different…more focused, more in touch with spirit. My work with the Grandmothers and the Net  harmonizes with and enhances other aspects of my life.

In this current time of massive dichotomy and changes, we all have a choice – to go to the Light and create a sacred space wherever we are, or wallow in the negativity of Darkness and hopelessness.

Which do you choose?

Ellen

Copyright Ellen Besso 2017

The Grandmothers picture is from a Net of Light newsletter; painted by one of the members.