Sunrise from Crown Point in the Columbia Gorge. Just a touch of light making its way through to reflect on the Columbia River below.

Life is not always what I expect.  Sometimes that is a great relief, sometimes a frustration, and sometimes pure joy.  Since I returned from my trip to Japan in April, life has been rich, full, frustrating, and mostly unexpected.

The first unexpected moment unfolded as I was getting off the plane and finally taking in what a physical challenge being in Japan had been.  Totally unrelated to any bigger events, it was a challenge that was personal and entirely physical.  Coming to terms with the reality that I wasn’t healed from the car wreck back in September, I was finally facing the utter fear surfacing that I might not be able to return to the physical activity I was used to.  I realized I was really afraid.  And angry.  And quickly moving towards a despondent response.  The solution?  Lots of physical therapy, warm water exercise, and easing off myself.  Which meant devoting time and attention in a direction that I hadn’t expected in that moment.  But the payoff for several months of hard work has been worth it.  I am walking without pain for several miles rather than just several minutes.  I don’t feel so weak and I feel my body settling into a point of balance that is both familiar and new.  Most importantly, I am finally back to dancing lessons with my husband.  We have been doing a foxtrot class this month and though there are still some concerns, I am getting through the hour and enjoying the experience as the hard work that I invested over a year ago seems to be returning in my body’s memory of slow, quick, quick.

Horse Thief Butte, Washington: This butte is a wonderful place for hiking both around and to the top. I just wish the name were different.

The next moment was my daughter’s graduation from high school.  Not that this was unexpected.  No, but it was the kind of moment that we all dream of for ourselves and our loved ones.  A milestone.  A claiming.  A turning point.  It’s also one of those moments that tend to have lots of planning proceeding, so much hoopla, so much anticipation, that it is hard to be in the moment.  But as my daughter walked across the stage with her head held high, walking in the most amazing red high heels, I saw who she had been in the years proceeding.  I saw all of who she had become from newborn baby to toddler to teenager to young woman.  I saw a radiating being of light claiming for herself her path, her future, her finish and her new beginning.  To be so lifted in that moment unexpectedly took my breath away.  You go girl, you go!

June also saw me taking a new step in the way I teach in the Akashic Records.  It has always been a dream of mine to take the learning process into the world around us.  That’s exactly what we did.  One day a new group of students learned how to open the Akashic Records for Other.  The next day we turned this process towards specific locations in the Columbia Gorge and particular experiences of the Gorge such as earth, wind, and water.  The last day we all got up before the crack of dawn to witness the sunrise from a high point within the Gorge, then spent the rest of the day visiting various places in the Gorge, both in Oregon and Washington.  A powerful journey as participants matched the previous day’s experience in the Records with the actual place.  The entire experience was wonderful and so successful that I’ve decided to do it again next year — read below for details.  And pictures here in this post are from some of the places we visited.

On top of the butte, looking east up the Columbia River.

The last moment that I’ll mention comes from thinking about my trip to Japan for the last couple of months.  In particular, I have been thinking about what makes it easier or more difficult to develop a strong connection with the Akashic Records.  While I think that the single most difficult issue is trust, I think that what is called point of view or frame of reference and how tightly one holds her frame is the biggest obstacle.  I’d never taught in Japan and while I had no reason not to believe that I would be able to help students in Japan learn how to open the Akashic Records, there are just things you don’t know for sure until you have had the experience of them.  And not surprisingly, students there had the same issues as US students.

When you hold on to what you think is true so tightly that you can’t allow yourself to include a new idea or possibility into your point of view, you limit your experience, not only in life, but also in your experience with the Akashic Records.  When we think we know what we will see, that’s what we see.  But when we begin working in the Akashic Records, the opportunity and the challenge is to receive the flow of energy that you do not know.  It’s a paradox for sure.  You want to know, and to know, you need to find a way to see what you don’t know.  If your frame is rigid, solid, and clutched tightly, nothing you don’t know will make it through.  But if you can allow in flexibility and permeability, then the unknown flow has a way of making its way to you and you have a way to receive and stand witness to that which you don’t know.

On the Washington side of the Columbia River, looking north towards Mount Adams. It was a stop on our journey we called the NoName Place.

This isn’t a new understanding for me, but it is something that I have been pondering the last couple of months.   Lots of people think they need all kinds of spiritual experience to be able to learn to work in the Akashic Records.  While experience can be helpful, sometimes it can make your frame too rigid.  What’s needed is the flexibility of Beginner’s Mind where you approach with the attitude of I Learn, rather than the defensive reflex of I Know!  No matter your native language or the ambiance of your culture and society, it’s about your point of view, your frame of reference and whether or not you are open to learn.

Finally — in several senses of that word!  I have actually found the time to work on my next book.  I put it away after September’s wreck and just retrieved it in May.  I am really excited at how it is coming together.  All about the spiritual journey and spiritual practice, both in general and within the Akashic Records.  It’s also morphing beyond my expectations as a living, breathing flow of energy.  Just like the last book, I have these moments where I read what I wrote the day before and wonder, “Where did that come from?”  Which brings me (once again) to my final epiphanette: when you get out of your own way, the unexpected joyfully, wonderfully, magically happens!

In Joy!
Cheryl

Announcements:

1.         Sage Path Level II in the Columbia Gorge, April 20-22, 2012.  Learn how to open the Akashic Records for Other.  Prerequisite:  Sage Path Level I, Opening Your Own Akashic Records.  For more details, give me a call or send me some email.  Detailed information will be available in September.

2.         Sage Path Level III and Higher:  Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, May 17-22, 2012.  This is an advanced experience for those who can sleep under the stars literally for two nights — no showers except maybe the meteor kind.  Detailed information will be coming out in September.

3.         July Reading Week:  Now through Saturday.  A few appointments times are available.  Make your appointment or give me a holler.

4.         August will not find me in my office except for a sporadic check of email and voice mail.  Got a daughter to send off to college.

5.         September Reading Week:  September 12-17.  Make your appointment or give me a holler.

6.         October:  Japan.  Here’s the Japanese version.  Check out the videos.  Or wait, maybe not.  Cheryl as video star was never a possibility that I contemplated.

7.         January: Los Angeles.  An emerging possibility.  Details available when the creative motion has fully bloomed.

Part of the group standing at the Stonehenge replica situated just at the edge of the Columbia Gorge.