Wednesday, April 7, 2010

A Huge and Powerful Gift We Rarely Acknowledge

I'm going to tell a story today. I had a very dear friend, one of the best friends I've ever known, who taught me something immensely valuable during our friendship, though I didn't realize it until after she had left the planet.

Priscilla was there with me during some very challenging transitions in my life, and I in hers. When I first got to know her I was ending a marriage, moving, and soon thereafter starting a new career and business of my own. Throughout all the changes and much personal growth she was there for me. And she knew she could always count on me to be there for her too. I can say this because she told me so herself. She was really good at being a friend. I valued all she brought into my life. I valued our camaraderie.

Early in my new career, while attending a training session, I met a very impressive and senior person in the field. He was one of the presenters and I had gone up afterward to ask him for clarification on something he'd spoken about. He was very cordial and invited me to call him if I was ever in his city (it was nearby) and we could have lunch. Of course I told Priscilla about that evening and the invitation. And sometime thereafter, I contacted him and we scheduled lunch. Now this was really quite a gutsy thing to do, for someone entering the field to call him about having lunch, given his position and the decorum practiced throughout the field.

The day before the lunch date, Priscilla and I chatted about it. I was nervous. Now Priscilla was a very gifted intuitive, and sometimes she'd come out with some word of guidance that I could tell was through her guides, the White Brotherhood. As we were talking that day she said, "He is going to give you something huge." Despite my repeated pleas for more details, she wouldn't say any more, just, "It's huge." Lunch was very pleasant. Over the next few years we had lunch perhaps two other times. I forgot about what she'd said. On a few occasions I felt comfortable contacting him for guidance on a difficult business situation. He made time for me and was very supportive. This meant a lot to me, especially as it was not an easy field in which to build a business on your own and few people in his position would take the time to offer guidance as he did for me.

Unexpectedly, Priscilla became ill and she passed over within a few days. Her passing was a very difficult adjustment for me. She'd been such a big part of my day to day life and suddenly there was only a big hole and an empty silence.

During the process of grieving, of identifying exactly what I had lost, I came to see the enormous gift Priscilla had given me. My recognition came out of sensing what was no longer there. I saw then that I had also received this same gift from the senior professional in my field. It was something I had not really understood the significance of before. This is the gift. She believed in me.

Feeling the strength of her belief in me, had given me confidence to overcome my doubts. It gave me courage to go for what I wanted, even against great odds. It helped me find strength to do what I believed in.

We came here to experience and to learn from our experiences. What we learn experientially, we really know and understand. We know it in our minds, our hearts, our body. Our culture puts little focus on identifying what we've learned from our experiences, which is sad and unfortunate because that is where such wisdom lies. I'm certain that I could never have comprehended just how powerful a gift believing in someone is, had I simply been told me it was so. Even though I was experiencing something that felt so good and was so important to me, it was only once I really searched through what I'd experienced that I was able to clearly identify what it was.

I share my experience here in this post with the intent that doing so might remind you of an experience you've had where someone believed in you, and it changed your life. And with the hope that in recollecting your experience you might get in touch with your inner knowing of just how huge and powerful a gift believing in someone is. The power of this gift is not one that we give much notice to in our society, yet think about it's magnitude when it's multiplied exponentially.

May the Light be with you!