My UFO - You Be the Judge

I don't know what this was, but I've been looking out my sun room window a lot the last while because I've been watching all the wildlife (elk, deer, coyotes) wandering through our south field.  I first saw this a little over a week ago, but that morning there were two.  One in the spot where this one was and the other dead south.  I recorded it on my cell phone but the video is far from good. 

This morning only one was back!  It was in a southeast direction about 30 degrees off the horizon.  I sent my husband a text message.  He was about 30 minutes away working in town and he saw it too.   The sun was just coming up and you could see it change from white to blue to red.  It very well might be a satellite as it doesn't really seem to move.

 

 

Our weather has been very overcast here and the sky has been blocked by thick clouds for nearly a week.  It very well could have been showing up every morning for the last week.  I have no way of knowing.  This morning was the first clear morning in a very long time.

I shot the video with my regular camera.  There are a couple of dead pixels in it so if you see a dot or two of white, that's what you're looking at.  The flashing light is what I'm talking about.  And the two still photos, they are from the video.

 

As a quick final note, when I came back after 20 minutes it was gone.  My thoughts are if it's a satellite maybe the sun came up more and the angle was wrong for the reflection.  And also so you know,  I have SkyView and Sputnik apps on my iPhone.  None of them showed this as being a planet or a satellite.

 

I've included the video I shot.  I removed all of the sounds but other than that the video is unedited and is exactly as I shot it.

 

Let me know what you think!

The final photo is of the same spot in the sky only 20 minutes later.  There is absolutely no sign of it at all.  As bright as it was, one would think it could still be seen.

Ego and Humility - The Elusive Twins

I've given a lot of thought about this topic over the last week.  I was inspired by Black Feather's blog article Coyote Medicine: Self-Sabotage Made Easy.  I debated whether to write about it but on Monday when I saw the two coyotes out in the field I was pretty sure I was going to explore this issue further.  When I was watching television on Wednesday night and caught the episode of Lisa Ling's - Our America doing interviews with the faith healer, Todd Bentley, I knew I had to write this. 

 

The part that stuck in my mind and got this rolling was Black Feather's quote pertaining to how he self sabotages himself with what I would call ego.  As he so aptly put:

I often find myself chasing recognition as a way of boosting my self-esteem, rather than just standing in my medicine, following my soul’s mission, and allowing opportunities for healing to come.

The battle of the ego doesn't just apply to healing.  It can apply to anything that you do well.  How many times have I felt the exact same way about my skills and talents?  How many times have I seen the quest for recognition (AKA bragging) in others and been disgusted by it?  My personal feeling is that any skill or talent that you have that sets you apart from others is a gift from a greater power be it God, the Great Spirit, the Universe, whatever name you are comfortable giving it.  To hold your gifts hostage by seeking the recognition limits your skills and dishonours the who (or what) that granted them to you in the first place.  By bragging about yourself, you are also dishonouring others who skill set is different than yours.  Their's is just as valuable and worthwhile as yours. It's just that, different.  Nothing more and nothing less.  I find if I keep that in mind it helps to keep me grounded.  But oh boy, when you meet a bragger!  It's hard not to put them in their place!

The issue of ego and humility was really brought to a head for me on Wednesday night.  Todd Bentley is a faith healer originally from Canada and sports many tattoos and piercings and has lead a less than exemplary life before getting into this line of work.  None of this is what I have concern about.  He had an affair and was divorced and remarried.  Also not an issue for me.  Temptation is out there for everyone and we all make mistakes at sometime or another.  It's what you take from the lesson that matters.  And for those who want to know where I am getting this information about him, I found it on Wikipedia.  Do a search of his name on any search engine and your sure to see all you would want to about him

What bothered me the most was his attitude towards his healing.  I saw a decided lack of humility.  The truck he drove, and was extremely proud of, was very tricked out with flames just for a start.  He lived in a very nice house with his new wife.  I can't help but think where is all the money coming from to buy all this.  What about living as a simple man and not seeking out the "recognition...to boost [his] self-esteem"?  When you live large like this isn't that what is going on?

Contrast this with John of God in Brazil.   He is also a faith healer but his attitude is what sets him apart to me.  There is a fantastic article here that you may want to read.  Some of the quotes he said are the epitome of what I would hold as essential in healing. 

One thing that I commented on while watching Todd Bentley was that it wasn't him that was healing and he seemed to fail to recognise that.  No healer is responsible for the healing.  A healer is no more responsible for a cure than a bottle is for getting you drunk.  The bottle only holds the alcohol, and only for a time, that is responsible for an inebriated state.  It's the same for healing. 

One of the quotes from John of God in the article has him saying, "No, it's not me. It's God. It's God using me as an instrument." and "I'm just a simple farmer who when I look at a person and somebody is ailing, the spirits come to me and incorporate my body. They're the ones that instruct my hands to do whatever they need to do to cure someone."  He even makes sure to tell those that come to see him that not everyone can be cured.  Now that's got to be a tough dose of ego to swallow.  Both as a pride thing and also as a guilt thing.  How would you not ask yourself how come you couldn't heal someone?  Did you do something wrong?  Did you offend in some way?  Those would be tough questions to not have answered.

The issue that I hold with Todd Bentley is the over abundance material wealth in his life.  Yes, I know that we all have to eat, pay bills, send the  kids to college, and would like some luxuries in our lives.  I know this and trust me, I like the little luxuries too, but when is enough enough? 

This is a concern that I have with lots of healers out there.  I've met a number of Native Americans (actually they were mostly Canadians) over the years, and one of the most important points they want to get across was about money.  Don't get me wrong, this ego and humility issue is also a huge concern and one of the most fundamental lessons to learn.

My understanding of  "payment" for healing is that it should neverbe for a set amount.  There should never be a demand for payment of any sort.  It should be what the person feels they would like to give you.  That may be something as simple as a handmade gift, a meal, a cup of coffee.  It may be money or it may be nothing at all.  You are supposed to use your gifts of healing for everyone and NOT expect anything in return.  Payment may happen or payment may not, but everyone deserves and should receive the same care and attention.

I found another quote from the article about John of God that I think sums this point up quite well.

He doesn't charge people for what he does. So one couldn't accuse him of trying to milk these people who are easy targets. But the fact is, the clinic does pull in something like $400,000 a year from the sale of herbs. I asked him about it. He said, people who can't afford it, he gives it to them.

And to me that's exactly how it should be.  If someone wants to take advantage of that view held by those in the healing world, and they never give back for what they have been given, that's their choice to make.  I can't judge that.

The irony of this blog post and what kept me from writing it for a week is this simple question: Am I sharing a view point or am I just as bad?  Am I trying to get my ego stroked by having the recognition? Probably.  But that's an excellent question to ask.  Where is the line between sharing with others and doing for selfish reasons?  In writing this blog post I would like to believe that I'm doing it to have other healer's think about how they "run their business of healing" so to speak.  I want the feedback and expect I'll have to defend my point of view.  But is feeling the need to defend myself, is that ego raising it's ugly head again?  Or do I let my point stand for itself and leave it be?

Ahhhhh!  This is a tricky world.  Darn coyotes!

Time to Start!

I recently had a birthday.  Like many people, it was a time of inner reflection for myself and I was thinking about what I had done with my life up to this point.  Not so much what have I accomplished or asking myself if I was a good person.  It had everything to do with waiting.  I've been waiting for some momentous "thing" to happen to me for years now.  I don't really know what this "thing" is but the closest I can come to describing it is some sort of sign or event that changes my life so unequivocally that there is no way to deny what's happened and follow a completely new life path.

So here I am on the same path as all the years before.  But one things has changed.  I've finally decided that screw the waiting.  It hasn't worked and it's time to just go ahead and do some"thing".  It doesn't really matter what but something that will at least make me feel like I'm going in the right direction.  Granted, starting another blog isn't a huge deal but the first step has to start somewhere.

The purpose of this blog is to share my experience of just diving in.  This blog is going to be much more of a personal blog.  I decided to keep this somewhat separate from my KweenBee and Me blog.  That one has more to do with my crafts, selling patterns and has more of what I feel comfortable with the general public knowing about me.  This blog has to do with me on a very personal and spiritual basis.

I would love to say that this is going to be a thrilling ride full of all sorts of life changing experiences and ground shaking epiphanies.  Who knows, maybe it will be.  But what I've come to realise is that personal growth isn't a lightening strike but more of a wave washing over you.  It can come in fast but it will always pull back before a wave rolls over you again.  You learn a lesson and you remember and change for a while.  Then you slowly forget until you remember the lesson or relearn it again.  Sometimes it takes a lot of waves.  By the time you're done you can barely catch your breath and you're soaked to the bone.  What I would like to do is share my waves with others.  I don't have control over the waves anymore than anyone else so I will share them as they come.

The biggest goal I would like to achieve with this blog is what most would call spiritual development.  I group it as the corner post to physical and emotional well-being so there will probably be a bit of that on here too.  I would love to get into some herbal and traditional healing at a later date.  But more on that later. 

The first portion that I would like to share is my idea of going beyond yourself to acknowledge what's around you and be grateful for it.  That's why I've come up with the idea of gratitude stones.  No, I can't take credit for the idea but I think it's fantastic.  More on that here:  gratitude stones.

I would like to take that a step further with two things:  I'm Grateful for...  and Acts of Kindness (given or received).  They are both on the right hand side and I would love for people to share what they are grateful for in their lives.  It could be something that just happened today or a long time ago.  It really doesn't matter.

The Acts of Kindness are postings about what nice thing you've done for some other living thing, person, plant, or animal.  They could also be what someone (or something) has done for you.  Sharing your good feelings and experiences can make someone else feel better, and is an act of kindness in itself!

The purpose of both of these areas is to demonstrate how interconnected we are with one another (kind acts) and to bring it into our awareness (gratitude).  It's very easy to think of ourselves as individuals and go no further than that.  I feel that especially in our technological age, it's easy to forget that the person on the other end of an email, text message or phone call, the person driving next to us or the person behind us in a line at the checkout counter is a person too.  A person who has all of his or her problems and worries just like you do.  This is the beginning of building compassion.  It's the start to feeling better about others and ourselves.