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Aloha SuperForest!
I recently found myself believing that I had to make a Decision that had potential to create discomfort for myself and two other women staying on the land. I was told by a third party that these women had acquired… dun dun dun! LICE! This information was presented to me in a package that at first glance, appeared judgmental, but upon closer investigation, discovered the judgment was the cloak worn by the underlying fear. (This of course perceived by me through my own lenses of life’s conditioning.) During the communication of this new piece of the Life Pie, I began thinking, nearly believing the same negative things being communicated to me. Not just through the meanings of the words chosen, but through the tone in which the words were spoken, body language, and the general vibe of the communication. I mostly listened and asked questions, but I walked away feeling like I’d been the witness and a minimal participant in an old fashioned middle school slam session. I didn’t like the way it felt.
Sometimes I don’t always recognize that I’ve been administered a fear injection til later in the day or week when I find myself up in my head, making up stories and getting down on myself and life. I realize that I’ve participated in someone else’s version of reality and have taken a hit off the old fear pipe that they themselves were smoking in the moment we interacted. (Contact fear!) And it isn’t until my awareness of this comes into focus that I’m able to unwind the swirling thoughts in my head, look at what just happened, remind and re-center.
Jackson and I have been reading to each other
A Course in Miracles: A Foundation for Inner Peace. This book – a text, student’s workbook, and teacher’s manual - contains key lessons for me (and you, if you’re interested) in thought-reversal, so we may remember to always choose love.
Although Christian in statement, the Course deals with universal spiritual themes. It is said that a psychologist at Columbia University in the 1960s unintentionally channelled Jesus Christ, and this book is the result. Initially, I was skeptical. I’ve got my own programming surrounding religion, but this was an opportunity to take a look at that particular piece of software. And besides, what can it hurt? Jesus didn’t lead the crusades or touch all the little boys. That was the people who claimed to represent him. So let’s see what the old JC has to say to some psychologist in the 60s.
It makes a fundamental distinction between the real and the unreal; between knowledge and perception. Knowledge is truth, under one law, the law of love or God. … It merely is.
The world of perception, on the other hand, is the world of time, of change, of beginnings and endings. It’s based on interpretation, not on facts. It is the world of birth and death, founded on the belief in scarcity, loss, separation and death. It is learned rather than given, selective in its perceptual emphases, unstable in its functioning, and inaccurate in its interpretations.”
I have been incredibly surprised by how much sense this book has been making. Coupled with my education in psychology, I now see the difference between knowledge and perception. By applying these teachings, I was able to regain my center following the lice fear bomb. I was able to see that what had been communicated was this person’s interpretation of a situation in my reality. The neutral facts were: two women living on our land discovered they had lice, and lice needs dealing with. The negative spin on that information was the communicator’s fear speaking. Another’s perception. After being sprayed with fear, my interpretation heard, “Lice is gross and bad. You don’t want to get lice. Protect yourself. Tell them to leave the land. Separate. Be afraid.”
Referencing some of the Course teachings, I asked The Universe, Holy Spirit, God, Love, Mama Kauai, whatever you want to call it, for Inner Peace. I sat with myself, focused on my breath, and asked for peace. That’s all I did. Within seconds I knew how I needed to respond.
You see, last year, I had lice. My head was itching for a couple of days and I asked Jackson to check it out. My scalp was red, a little dandruffy, and had sand all up ins! But he didn’t see anything alive. A good washing and a coco oiling was our prescription for my itch. Still itchy. One night in bed, I was going crazy with the itch and asked him to check again in a specific spot. He immediately found a lovely little pair of critters. We Googled it on my phone. The image that popped up was as if we’d taken the photo ourselves, they matched so closely. One little lady and her sweet sweet lover. Oh man, I thought, What. A. Bummer. Accepting my lice diagnosis was certainly humbling. I had to tell all my friends they couldn’t hug me and why; there were bugs living on my head, and you could get them. I have no idea how I got lice. No one that I knew had it. But I live in the tropics. And apparently, lice happens here. There’s even a Hawaiian word for them: ukus. They’d somehow found their way to my lil ole noggin, loved the taste of my sweet scalp juice, set out to survive. And I had to deal.
I should say, We had to deal. Jackson had them too. Remember
Jackson’s head shave back in Movember??? That was his solution. I admittedly am a bit more attached to my hair. So after the initial
Cetaphil comb through, daily vinegar rinse, and coco oilings, Jackson sat with me every day and picked the nits (eggs) out of my hair. He found that the easiest way to do it was to hand pick each one, and rather than very carefully placing each precarious little egg into a bowl of vinegar as to not lose sight of it, he just ate them. What! You’re thinking, Gross!, right? It was the surest way to keeping them contained. Pick tiny dust-sized egg from hair follicle, travel shortest possible distance, place in mouth. Simple, easy and a bit of extra protein! What glorious little monkeys we are! This process continued daily for the first ten days, then every other, and then every couple of days for an entire month.
Jackson and the lovely family we belonged to at Zero One Jesse’s House continued to treat me with love and aloha the entire time I had lice. No one judged or harshed on me. No one told me to leave. We just dealt with it. We told the people who needed telling, didn’t get too close to anyone, washed the sheets and towels regularly, and picked and picked. I needed Jackson through this process, and he never once complained. It was so lovely to have him sit with me and give me his undivided attention for that period of time each day. He loved me through it.
Once I was able to find peace from the fear perception, I knew that my only option was to choose love in this new situation. I spent an hour this morning looking for and eating the nits out of my new friend’s hair. I say new friend because this was the first time we have actually taken the time to hang. She just arrived on the land, is only staying for a short time, and she needed some help. Her having lice and the lice definitely having to be dealt with led to a new connection with a new person, a morning shared drinking tea and talking story and getting to pamper a friend in need. We were able to share our lice experiences (and treatments!) and some love and compassion.
Lice is not a big deal at all. If anything, Lice is actually kinda nice! I’m choosing the interpretation that the Universe was telling me to slow down and take some time to pamper myself and allow myself to be pampered. And being on the other side of it allowed me to slow down and pass along the pampering that was so selflessly given to me.
I feel like I passed at test. I chose love in the face of fear, and that choice feels so good.
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