The Better and Better Series with Elizabeth Hepburn

Serious Illness - A Blessing in Disguise

2009-11-24T11:28:00.000-08:00

“Matter is Energy. Energy is Light. We are all Light Beings."
Albert Einstein

Thank you for that profound statement, Albert Einstein. And thank you, Helen Keller, for: “The best and the most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.”

I had a stimulating discussion with a very wise friend recently. He had just read many of the writings from my blog, and though he appreciated them, he also felt that I wasn’t being specific enough. He opined that at times I glided over serious issues a bit too nonchalantly. I must admit that in re-reading some of the material I’ve noticed a glibness of sorts and, of course, that was never my intention. Perhaps in my enthusiasm to share information that had been life saving for me, in which I’ve been immersed for years, and which ever thrills and inspires me, I stated my case too perfunctorily.

Mainly what I write about is my own experience of the energy that we all share – that we all are – and the acknowledgement and embracing of that energy in its myriad guises. And I can hear my wise friend saying right now: “What do you mean by that? Most people won’t understand what you’re talking about. What energy?" Let me explain.

What brought me to my life focus on ‘energy’ was a challenging battle with cancer I had about thirty years ago, which entailed multiple surgeries and three years of chemotherapy. I spent the first four years of this seven-year journey in bewilderment, asking my doctors what I was doing wrong. “I take very good care of myself, why am I in the hospital every twenty minutes?” They didn’t have an answer to that one but were wonderfully skilled and kind and helped me immeasurably. Finally, around the time I was beginning chemotherapy, a deep insight awakened in me. I had to take responsibility for myself in this situation – something in me needed to shift into another gear. Out of the blue, wondrous guidance showed up. In retrospect, I see that I was led to all manner of healing modalities. We’re talking the 70’s here so a lot of this was really foreign to me – acupuncture, acupressure, shiatsu, rolfing, rebirthing. I was guided to health care professionals, seminars, books, and ultimately to my spiritual teacher, Hilda Charlton, who taught me and thousands of others about ‘energy’.

Our scientific community has been telling us for years that the Universe and everything in it – including every cell and atom of our bodies – is energy. Before Quantum Physics became part of our vernacular, Hilda was a living, breathing expression of the Universal Energy that has been the foundation of sacred teachings for all of recorded history. God, The Light, The Source, The Force, Divine Presence, Higher Power – however we wish to label It – that’s what she was sharing. She had us feeling with our hearts. She had us experiencing The Light. She was the catalyst through which many of us were healed. Though Hilda is no longer in her body, she's very much alive through her recordings and books (http://www.hildacharlton.com/) and through the many she inspired to go forth and share their own work in our world. I'm honored to be part of this list which includes Alan Cohen, Rick Jarow, Ron Young, Rita Heap, Lionel Fernandez, Garnette Arledge, Larry Heisler, Linda Cali, Jed Schwartz, Lois Slade, Allen Levy, David Pomerantz, Richard Shulman, Kathleen Donovan, and many more too numerous to mention. We're all so grateful to her.

Becoming attuned to this energy and how profoundly it is affected by our thoughts and feelings ultimately brought health back to my body and changed my life forever. I really ‘got’ that life is lived from within out, and that it's all about being ever-conscious of this connection – a connection to energy that we can’t see or touch or taste or smell – only feel. It has become my deep conviction, and the core of my work, that every arduous experience we attract to our lives is to serve that purpose – to usher us in to our own hearts and souls where this energy, despite any current physical disability, is alive and well and beckoning us to feel.

I realize that when we’re in the throes of critical illness, our natural reactions are to be angry, sad, depressed, and hopeless. And I don’t ever want to negate the value of those reactions. It's vital that we allow ourselves to experience these emotions. We can’t move to the other side of any situation until we accept what’s there. But I’m also encouraging acknowledgment of not only what’s there, but rising to the invaluable challenge that this scenario has presented to us. We are not simply these bodies. We are body/mind/spirit beings.

Rahm Emanuel very aptly states that “a crisis is a terrible thing to waste”. Whether we like it or not, illness provides a time-out from life as usual which strikes most of us as really bad news. However, the good news is that, if we rise to the challenge, there's a hidden agenda here that can open us up to a part of ourselves that, I promise you, longs to be embraced. This difficult, painful, intrusive dis-ease is grist for our life mill. It’s not an accident. It’s meaningful and purposeful. It has the potential to bring us to unfathomable riches within that will enhance every aspect of our lives.

Ok, so how do we get to the riches? First, it helps a lot to accept, and have the experience of, our bodies being energy systems. This can be accomplished by just getting still for a few moments and noticing the beating of our hearts. Our amazing hearts start beating about twenty-two days after conception and continue unceasingly until our physical bodies die. Their service to us is priceless, and I suggest that right this moment, we all feel great appreciation for our beating hearts. Notice energy pulsing all through your body as the result of this beating heart. Feel such appreciation. Next, acknowledging our breathing – take another few moments and slowly notice the inhale – the exhale – so natural, so automatic. Feel appreciation for this breath of life that breathes us every moment, day and night. Allow yourself to feel - really allow yourself to feel love for your very own body. I'm very big on tenderness these days. Feeding ourselves tenderness. What elicits tenderness for us? Holding a baby, a puppy or kitten – just thinking about the vulnerability of a baby bird? Feel the tenderness that lives within you and then offer yourself this tender love and compassion. Just let tenderness flow through you like a soothing river. This is oh so healing for us. This is one of the riches.

Then there’s the continuous flow of energy pulsing through all the vital organs and systems that are working relentlessly to sustain our lives. Even when they’re compromised, our bodies are magnificent and functioning tirelessly to re-balance and heal themselves. I refer to our bodies as healing machines. And for this I say “Thank you”. Thank you every organ – heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, gall bladder, spleen…. every system – digestive, respiratory, reproductive.... Thank you, my body. Thank your body every day. Thank it for being your vehicle throughout this life adventure. Gratitude and appreciation are enormous contributors to our overall well-being. Even when our road has become outrageously bumpy, consciously being grateful for as many things as we can think of each day is immensely salubrious. Feel gratitude.

Having started to feel the precious energy of our bodies, and the gratitude inherent in that experience, the next step is taking responsibility and totally committing ourselves to our own well-being. Commitment is essential for our success in any endeavor, particularly in regaining our good health. As soon as we're truly committed, guidance kicks in and it can open us to the vast array of healing modalities available. I'm not talking about eschewing traditional medicine. I'm suggesting that when critical illness has arrived at our doorstep, it behooves us to pull all the bunnies out of the hat – to try anything and everything that has the potential to make us well again. Modern medicine is astounding, surgical procedures, stunning. But, from my viewpoint, to make our recovery lasting and this whole process as transformative as it is meant to be, this is the moment to take to heart Hippocrates' wise words spoken over 2000 years ago: "Natural forces within us are the true healers of disease." This is the moment to claim the healing energy that resides within us all, always. This is the moment to realize that there's a wellspring of power within our bodies that would have gone unnoticed if this crisis hadn't crashed into our lives. This is the moment to embrace a new philosophy and thought process regarding our bodies and the way we've been living our lives. Commitment and taking responsibility mean rising to the challenge and using all the tools available – traditional and alternative – to set the stage for our own healing. Reading/listening to any inspiring information to which we’re guided is most important, as is enlisting the assistance of someone well versed in the mind/body/spirit connection. These few things are a fine start on the road to our inner riches.

In the midst of my own health crisis I was drawn to, and immensely nourished by, reading Ralph Waldo Emerson. The veracity in his quote “The first wealth is health” is undeniable. He assures us also that: “We lie in the lap of immense intelligence, which makes us organs of its activity and receivers of its truth.” Lying in the lap of immense intelligence and receiving truth there is always available to us. All we need to do is get still enough to feel – to quiet our breathing – to listen and marvel at our beating hearts and the Life Force moving through our bodies – to open to the heart and soul food ever-present in this stillness. Relax – Release – Receive.

I know that my illness drew me into a place of great blessing. It was a gift of inestimable value – a gift that truly does keep on giving. For anyone hosting serious disease, it is my ongoing prayer that this "illness opportunity" be grasped and inhaled and imbibed as the gift that it is. May it usher you in to finally feeling and relaxing into your precious connection with the Immense Intelligence – Universal Energy – Love – Light – God. "We are all Light Beings."

"True happiness is in the love-stream that springs from one’s soul; and he who will allow this stream to run continually in all conditions of life, in all situations, however difficult, will have a happiness which truly belongs to him, whose source is not without, but within."
Hazrat Inayat Khan
Sufi Teacher 1882-1927

Meditation - Delicious

2009-07-03T12:42:00.000-07:00

As I've mentioned here before, I occasionally have the opportunity to lead Raven Keyes' Healing Light Meditation class at Equinox Fitness Centers. Recently there was a NY Times reporter in attendance. She was investigating unusual classes offered at health clubs. She was not a meditator but was looking forward to the experience. Afterward she spoke to a few of the class members and me. She had apparently enjoyed the hour, regretting only that she'd had to interrupt the flow to take notes. I thought it was interesting when she asked one of the women if she was ill in any way and needed healing. The woman responded that she wasn't – meditation just made her feel so good. I suggested the word delicious (how it feels for me) and she said: "oh yes, delicious". Another woman shared that she loved the feeling she got in the closing minutes when we were sharing all the Love and Light we'd gathered into our bodies with our world. She felt empowered (I think that was the word) to be doing that. Also there was a woman way in the corner of the room who beckoned me over after the class to ask: "Can we do it again?" Meditation is wonderful!

I woke up the next morning saying 'hello' to Spirit as usual (Wayne Dyer says in the morning to be sure to say "Good morning, God" not "Good God, morning!"), and I realized that all the people that come into meditation classes all over the world, or just sit quietly in their own practice, are taking the time to connect with Spirit, the most helpful and healthful thing they can do for their body/mind/Spirit system. They're also contributing to the health of the planet. Just by being willing to relax deeply into the Life Force, God, Spirit, the Divine Presence – whatever we wish to call It – we're uplifting the vibration of the world. We're connecting to this Energy that permeates all space and pulses unceasingly within every cell of our bodies. As I say in my previous blog – we're being Peace-breathers. It truly is delicious.

Peace

2009-06-18T08:51:00.000-07:00

I closed my last blog with Paul Trueblood's lyrics from And Peace Begins: "An open heart, an open mind, just being kind and Peace begins". (I notice I'm always capitalizing Love and Peace these days - they're such sacred words to me.) And musings about Peace have been popping ever since. I'm reminded of Dr. Gerald Jampolsky, author of many books including Love Is Letting Go of Fear and Teach Only Love, being queried on a talk show about what really makes us happy. He replied very simply, Peace. I remember thinking at the time, what an interesting response that was. I'm reminded of Michael Beckwith on Oprah's Spirituality 101 show last week, responding to a women suffering in despair over the havoc in her life caused by her current financial losses. He asked her what quality she would have to birth to bring herself Peace of mind.

Then there was the Embrace Life group. Years ago I co-hosted a group for cancer and AIDS patients with a lovely and wise woman psychologist. It was a very intense and fulfilling experience for all concerned. We called it Embrace Life because we both agreed that, though critical illness is an important chapter in our lives and we have to take responsibility for doing whatever is required to assist ourselves through the process, we also need to be heartily involved with our lives, our loves, our interests above and beyond our disease. The men and women attending were all in treatment and a few of them did die during the course of our gatherings. It was always sad, and we would sit with such gratitude at how undeniably blessed we were by the meaningfulness of this person's life to ours. One evening, a group member arrived and shared that she had gotten results from her latest tests and that the cancer had metastasized. She was a thirtysomething woman and as we silently sat and received the blow, she went on to say that all was fine. She was so grateful to have been with us and had learned so much from the group, that she felt totally at Peace. It was perfectly OK - It was fine. She was fine.

Then there was the woman who approached me to make a personalized tape for a friend of hers who was dying. Embedded in his favorite music, I think it was Mozart, I lead this older gentleman in a guided meditation taking him deeply within to the place of profound Peace that we all share. He feebly reported to his friend before he died that he finally knew what life was all about. Peace.

In the light of the stunning outbursts of violence recently causing the deaths of Dr. George Tiller and the security guard at the Holocaust Museum, Stephen T. Johns, I'm reminded about being a 'Peace-breather'. Shortly after 9/11, Ryan Kelly of the NYC Ballet wrote: "I'm trying to breathe peace more than ever this year - like rain forests that oxygenate the earth, peace-breathers might pacify the planet ..." I feel that the healing balm of Peace is mandatory to defuse the very prevelant upset in our world's energy field at this time. And surely, committing to being a Peace-breather is a great way to birth and anchor within ourselves - Peace.

What to do?

2009-06-06T07:51:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning feeling a little queasy and when I questioned that within myself, I flashed on President Obama, Chancellor Angela Merkel, and Elie Wiesel speaking at Buchenwald yesterday. Clearly they had all been profoundly moved by their tour of this place of unspeakable horror. And we were all reminded of the potential within we humans to perpetrate such despicable acts upon each other. Moreover, we became sickeningly aware that such brutal behavior still holds sway in many pockets of our world. When will this cease? What can we do? I'm reminded of my musician friend Paul Trueblood's song "And Peace Begins" which opens with the lyric: "An open heart, an open mind, just being kind and peace begins". So simple, so obvious, so needed from all of us.

Run The Light

2009-01-05T10:25:00.000-08:00

This phrase has taken on new meaning for me recently. To many of us it's always referred to zooming through a traffic signal that's morphing from yellow to red. Now, to me, Run the Light means something totally positive and invaluable. I Run the Light while meditating, while walking down the street, actually whenever it occurs to me to do it.

Running the Light is a precious tool because when we're upset, depressed, worried, anxious or just plain exhausted, the energy in our bodies contracts, and things are not easefully pulsing away in there with the harmony and balance that is native to our systems. If we're out of this orientation for long enough, we usually get sick. I'm sure this is coming up for me right now because during the holiday season I usually succumb to overwhelm and get laid low by some form of 'not feeling well'. The upside of this is it reminds me that I need to Run the Light. This year I've been fine and think it's because I'm automatically doing just that.

First and foremost, running the Light requires us to acknowledge that our bodies are energy systems. Just stop reading for a moment and notice your beating heart - notice your breathing - take an energetic deep breath and then exhale it slowly as if you were ever so gently blowing on a big candle to watch the flame flicker - begin to notice pulsations all through your body. As Deepak Chopra says: "Our bodies are rivers of energy." See if you can feel that. All the cells of our bodies are alive with energy. Feel a flow within you.

OK - so what is running the Light? I'm a heart person so my inclination is to go straight to the heart. In metaphysical terms, the chest cavity is referred to as the heart center. It makes sense because that's where our physical hearts are housed and where we feel love, joy, peace and gratitude and conversely, at times, profound sadness and grief. It is considered the gateway to our spirit. So I ask you right now to come with me - come home to your heart. Obviously, closing your eyes wouldn't be appropriate, but as you're reading, see if you can imagine taking your awareness gently down into your chest cavity. When I say gently I mean as if your awareness were a leaf wafting to the ground in autumn - that kind of float and ease. Allow yourself to come to rest in the center of your chest cavity in what seems to be a vast expanse of Light. This Light is dazzling bright, shimmering and glistening and there's a surprising calm in Its luminescence - you are enveloped in It and soothed by It. It's a very welcoming feeling. Stop reading for a moment and imagine that. Feel It. It really is home.

Now assign healing properties to this Light - that It is tender, compassionate Love (It is.) and then imagine that this wondrous Light is liquid Light and that It is easefully starting to run through your entire body. We've all seen enough graphics on film to imagine this for ourselves - healing Light bathing our lungs and rib cage, all our vital organs being embraced and suffused, liquid Light flowing easefully though our intestines, our sexual organs, our pelvic girdle, down our legs and into our feet. You're glowing with Light from within from your chest cavity to your feet.

Now bring your awareness, again gently, back to your heart center - and notice that the liquid Light is flowing up into your shoulders and down your arms into your hands. Then see and feel It in your throat and up your neck into your head - Light/Love compassionately easing and releasing the tensions, fears, doubts, worries - any dis-ease. Know that this Light can spread throughout the body in moments. As you become more attuned to It, you can see and feel It branching out from your heart center in every direction at once. This wondrous tree of Life/Light is streaming healing Light to every nook and cranny of you. This process can become the most natural thing in the world for us to do.

For millennia sacred teachings have told us of God being omnipresent - there is no place that God/Love is not. Running the Light is an acknowledgement of this Divine Presence being here constantly - in every cell, every atom, in every sub-atomic particle of us and everything else. This kind of surrendering to the Presence, which is our own innate healing ability, is the perfect antidote to the relentless, wearying and often destructive distractions of our daily lives. It's time to bless ourselves regularly with this Light - to remember and rejoice that It is ever-present with us - that we are one with It.

It goes without saying, that every time we engage this Light, we're raising the energy all around us and inadvertently blessing others. The next logical step then is to very consciously Run the Light to our beloveds, to anyone or any circumstance that is currently challenging us, to all beings on this planet, to Mother Earth and, ultimately, to the Universe. See all embraced in the Light - being soothed and healed by glorious Light.

As the New Year begins, let's make Run the Light a daily practice for ourselves. We can do it anywhere, anytime, though it's particularly delicious when we can sit or lie down and embrace stillness at the same time. It occurs to me now that maybe the yellow light morphing into red has real symbolic resonance here. Maybe, as 2009 commences, it's time to embrace Barack Obama's "audacity of hope" and move through whatever cautiousness stops us in our lives, and regularly Run the Light to the freedom, joy, fulfillment and vibrant well-being that are our birthright. Let's do that! Let's Run the Light!

Waiting Room

2008-12-18T08:53:00.000-08:00

Last week I accompanied a friend to the hospital. She was to have surgery that day, and I'm a great believer in people having a loved one with them when they embark on this particular journey. All the pre-surgery agenda seemed to be handled smoothly, and she went off to the operating room 10 minutes ahead of schedule. I took myself out for some lunch and then joined a large, diverse group of 'the anxious' in the Family Waiting Room. I'm always so touched by the way we humans interact when sharing a common drama. Surgery's a biggie and the impact on everyone involved is enormous. I was acutely and gratefully aware of the communal compassion alive in the room that day.

It turns out that it was an extremely busy day at this major Manhattan facility, and, though my friend's surgery was completed in two and a half hours, all the recovery rooms were full. She had to wait in the operating room until a slot opened up in Recovery. Everyone on my side of these happenings was in the same boat. As all these patients remained stacked up somewhere in the vast labyrinth of this gigantic edifice, we were assigned to waiting mode for hours. The room was furnished with comfy sofas and chairs and coffee tables thoughtfully arranged in seating patterns to accommodate family groups or little niches where one could be more private. It was slightly overheated and airless, but everyone hung in quietly chatting or reading, with an occasional furtive dash to the restroom or Starbucks so as not to miss the surgeon's anxiously anticipated arrival. One by one they all came to inform us of the surgical outcome, though just when we could actually see our person was unknown. So we waited. There were lovely, dedicated volunteers attempting to keep us posted, but even they didn't know exactly where some of our people were. So we waited.

Through all this, I was greatly assisted by having inadvertently brought my very own support system. That morning I'd put on my iPod the Pre Surgery and Post Surgery Healing Support Programs from the Better & Better Series we'd produced a few years ago. I'd taken them to relax and inspire my friend as she waited for her procedure and subsequently to assist her in the healing process thereafter. She listened to most of the Pre before being whisked away, and seemed to be very touched by it. Then later, as I sat in this emotion-packed room, iPod in backpack, I was prompted to play the programs for myself. Since the post-production phase of the Better & Better project, I hadn't listened to them, and though my MO is to be highly critical of my own work, they really got to me. Despite all the upset in the air, I was able to succumb to the beach sounds, music and meditation (Pre) and the joyful, renewing ambiance of a waterfall in Spring, music and meditation (Post). It created my feeling so great that I found myself wanting to stand on my chair and proclaim to all the worry-wearied beings assembled before me that there's a better way. We can take a few moments, close our eyes and go to the beach in our minds. We can be comforted by soothing music, calming, inspiring words and the uplifting sounds of nature. We can take ourselves out of the tension and pain of this room. We can relax and de-stress ourselves. It's so wonderful and healing for us. This surgery thing is an arduous journey but taking care of ourselves in the process is mandatory and priceless. Clearly, we can't be the caregiver to anyone else if we're so exhausted and emotionally shot that we become ill ourselves.

Through my own health crisis (six surgeries in four year, then three years of chemotherapy), I was guided to, and subsequently gifted with, life transforming/saving insights. For the last twenty years it's been my joy to share these gifts with others. It's no news flash that stress creates most of our illnesses. Our bodies are simply not designed to be contracted and tight and harbor upset in them. Anything we can do then to get back to breathing and relaxing and connecting to the Peace within - and it is always within - always! - is our responsiblility to embrace. Life does not provide a wise counsellor at our side at all times, so it behooves us to awaken to the fact that there's boundless wise counselling to be had within. And there are myriad ways to guide us to this wisdom.

Having experienced this day, it's more clear to me than ever, that caregivers need healing tools as much as patients do. And they're ubiquitous. Of course, I'm partial to the Better & Better Series, which is for both patient and caregiver - but there are many others. Furthermore, even without crisis mode, do yourself a favor and discover the delights of your own inner self. It's the gift that keeps on giving. The Love, Joy and Peace of the ages are there for everyone. Day by day, let us become our own best caregiver and enjoy an ever-expanding experience of life lived from within-out. It's time!

Let's Start Getting Serious About JOY!

2008-11-11T11:18:00.000-08:00

JOY!

On November 4, 2008 at 11PM EST the pilot light of joy was ignited within the hearts of many beings in the USA and around the world. This was more than the incredible high of a World Series win or moving into the house of our dreams. This was a much deeper, substantial and potentially life-transforming plunge into the infinite well of joy, love, hope, faith, compassion and peace that ever-dwells in us patiently awaiting our acknowledgment.

Many of us have long felt disheartened (Webster's definition - "a weakening of spirit" could describe us for sure) about our great country. The unjust and immoral policies that had been implemented by our government were so far off our personal radar, that we were stunned, incredulous and dumbfounded. At the same time, on some level, we had to feel that, wittingly or unwittingly, we had aided in the creation of this toxic scenario in the first place.

But a new day is dawning. And now each one of us has the opportunity to be very consciously responsible for getting our country (and ourselves) out of the proverbial ditch - for resuscitating it - breathing wondrous new life into its currently compromised state.

We were all gifted with an infusion of joy and hope and such love in the late evening of November 4th. We were gratified by Senator McCain's concession speech and then profoundly touched by President-Elect Barack Obama's purposeful and determined acceptance of this grand honor and awesome responsibility. We were delighted to tears by the adorable Malia and Shasha and by being witness to the genuine love and caring that flows between Barack and Michelle and their beautiful girls.

There remains great joy and hope in our air. Let us revel in them at this time, and let us commit to sustaining this deliciousness within ourselves that it may become our daily expression to the world. When the going gets rough and challenging, as it surely will with the rebuilding tasks ahead, let us be like exquisitely trained actors and call forth the sense memory of that November evening. Let us remember it - remember where we were, with whom we were celebrating - re-live the joy. Breathe it in. Breathe it out to the world. Be re-inspired. Let us refuse to let negativity highjack our country or us ever again. Refuse! Let us stand firm and tall and determined in that decision.

Joy is our birthright. It is within us every second of every day, regardless of the outward appearances of our lives. It wants to be acknowledged, embraced and become our constant companion. Let us, finally, and not a moment too soon, start getting serious about JOY!

Listen to Elizabeth's Most Recent Podcast

2007-11-14T14:25:00.000-08:00

Trust

To listen to a podcast of this posting, please go to http://elizabethhepburn.podbean.com

Often, since the numbing shock of September 11, 2001, I’ve found myself dancing with the word “trust,” and within its resonance there has been great solace. To me there’s something much larger going on here than even the entire world being in the grips of imminent danger. And that has to do with the reaction/response that each and every one of us has to this potential threat to our very existence.

We, truly, are the world. Our collective consciousness, or perhaps more accurately, our collective unconsciousness, has been creating the scenarios on our Earth for millennia. And now, with our backs literally to the wall, we face our greatest challenge and, potentially, our finest hour. It’s time for each of us to step up to the plate and play our part in raising the consciousness of the entire planet.

“But what can we do?” we cry out. We’re only human, with all those incumbent frailties and shortcomings. And to that I say, “No!” It’s time to get off that one, and admit, acknowledge and claim that we are also, and most importantly, divine. We are spirit beings as well as human beings, and have immediate access to The Power, The Source, God — however we wish to label the Divine Presence — every second of every day. It dwells very peacefully within us.

Ralph Waldo Emerson has said:”There is a principle which is the basis of all things — which all speech aims to say and all action to evolve — a simple undescribed, undescribable Presence dwelling very peacefully in us, our Rightful Lord. We are not to do, but to let do; not to work, but to be worked upon; and to this homage there is a consent of all thoughtful and just men of all ages and conditions.

“To me this dark and difficult “night” is the grandest opportunity ever presented to the human race to — once and for all — embrace and be willing to embody Who We Really Are. We’re in the midst of a major earth drama to be sure, but the more we can expand into the larger context, the infinite, sacred context which is pregnant with both the mysterious and the miraculous, the less that anxiety and fear will incapacitate us.

We can choose to hold the perspective that the enormous upset and dis-ease currently raging throughout our world has as its purpose to cleanse and uplift humanity to an awesomely beautiful level of love and understanding and brotherhood. And here is where trust comes in. We need to allow ourselves to trust this arduous process. We need to relax into that trust — to breathe, to let go, to trust.

Every day, even for only five or ten minutes, lie down on your bed, on your office floor — whatever — and make yourself as comfortable as possible:

Place your arms away from the body, palms upturned, legs uncrossed, a real ‘let go’ position. (If lying down is not an option, do this in a comfortable sitting position.)

Close your eyes and take a slow deep breath in and release it with a sigh.

Sigh out any angst, letting a smile come to your face.

Let the sigh be audible, if possible — letting yourself “let go,” sinking into the bed or floor, really relaxing.

Do this three times, letting yourself become more and more relaxed with each exhalation.

Now breathe naturally, and slowly begin to notice your breathing: how miraculous, how mysterious is this ever-constant breathing.

Say thank you for being breathed.Then notice your beating heart: how miraculous, how mysterious is this beating heart.

Say thank you to the Source of this wonder.

Now notice the energy pulsing through your entire body. Feel that you are claiming your oneness with Life itself and say thank you to the Source of this energy that permeates the Universe — the miracle, the mystery, the majesty of which we are all an intrinsic part.

Now, simply and innocently, trust. Trust that you are one with the Infinite Presence. Trust that It is guiding you to be at the right place at the right time. Trust that we are all giving birth to a new and most glorious way of being in this world. Trust that there will be joy for all, and that boundless creativity will be available for manifestations that will thrill us beyond our wildest dreams. Trust that the Innate Intelligence within your heart and mind will act through you with great courage and integrity in the face of any challenge. And always, in all ways, trust that you are never alone.

Whenever in doubt, Come Home to you Heart Elizabeth Hepburn

To learn more about Elizabeth Hepburn, please visit her website at http://www.elizabethhepburn.com/

To purchase the, “Better & Better Series”, please go here.

At The Same Time

2007-11-05T13:43:00.000-08:00

At The Same Time

I woke up this morning musing on my life's relentlessly blessed theme - the heart and the magnificent energy available to us there. 'Whenever in doubt, come home to your heart' is the signature on all my emails. I feel there's nothing more important for the health and well-being of each of us and our world than this heart energy.

And it's so accessible - the heart energy and the myriad aspects of love ever-present within us. Our physical heart is beating unceasingly, from approximately 22 days after conception until we shed this physical vehicle. When acknowledged it can be a constant reminder to us of our Oneness with all of Life. The energy is pulsing in trees and flowers and grasses and oceans and stars and animals and in each of us - in all things. Everything in the Universe is energy.

Ann Hampton Callaway's fabulous song At The Same Time, which is featured on Barbra Streisand's CD Higher Ground, embraces this theme. Just a few of her lyrics are:

Think of all our hearts beating in this world at the same time.

Think of all the love pouring from our hearts at the same time.

Think of all the Light our Love can shine around this world at the same time.

And the very last lyric:

There's a healing music in our hearts, beating in this world at the same time.

Just think and feel how much beauty and truth are in these words. Thank you, Ann. Yes, there is a healing music in the hearts beating within us. The healing ensues from the innate connection we have with each other and with the Spirit dancing within us and in and around all of Life. Let us give thanks to our beating hearts and the healing music flowing from them. Let us feel that these pulsations are flooding our body/mind/spirit system with Light and an ease to vanquish all dis-ease. Let our beating hearts constantly remind us of Who We Really Are.

Take Responsiblity and LOA Shows Up!

2007-08-03T08:12:00.000-07:00

Take Responsibility and LOA Shows Up!

Clearly the Law of Attraction has been in full swing throughout my entire life - throughout all of our lives. But my consciously becoming aware of it began one day in the '70s, when I had what was for me, at the time, a revolutionary thought. I was four years into a bout with cancer. I’d had six surgeries and was beginning a chemotherapy regimen that ended up lasting for three years. I was a working singer/actor, and was tap dancing as fast as I could to keep my illness quiet so I’d still get hired in theatre. Neither my doctors nor the few people I’d taken into my confidence could explain why this was happening. I took better care of myself than anyone they knew, so why was I in the hospital every 20 minutes? My medical team was terrific, and they were doing all they could to restore my health, but I began to feel that it wasn’t enough. I knew that something inside of me had to shift. And then out of the blue came this insight: I must take full responsibility for my own well-being. Unbeknownst to me, this was one of the axioms of the then-emerging human potential movement, and the energy was in the air. From that moment on I was fully committed to being responsible for my own wellness.

This famous Goethe quote always rings so true: “Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.”

I began! And what we now refer to as the Law of Attraction became a palpable presence in my life. I opened up and the Universe moved in. I was guided to books and seminars and health care professionals. Modalities that I hadn't even known existed were thrown across my life path. I got rolfed, rebirthed, acupunctured, acupressured, shiatsued. It was so exciting and I was so grateful. Ultimately I was led to a spiritual teacher and healer, Hilda Charlton, and after receiving her teachings and healing energy for a year, I removed myself from chemotherapy. I just knew I didn’t need the drug anymore, and with my doctors fainting all around, I promised to come more frequently for check-ups. I did, and thankfully my intuition was correct; I’ve been fine ever since. (Please know that I never recommend that cancer patients do this.)

For 12 years I studied with Hilda. I knew that her wisdom and the blessings from her magnificent spirit had helped save my life, and I wanted to learn all I could from her. Her teachings were based in ancient metaphysical/spiritual traditions. It’s the same quantum mechanics material now being espoused by our scientific community and many of our doctors. It's all about the Law of Attraction. To summarize Hilda’s teachings very succinctly, here are three points that were life changing/saving for me

1. The universe, and everything in it (including every cell of our bodies), is made up of whirling atoms of energy or subatomic particles. (Regarding our bodies, Deepak Chopra says it this way, “Our bodies are rivers of energy.”)

2. Thoughts are “things”. They are constantly impacting our bodies, either uplifting them or disempowering them. “You are what you think about all day long.” Emerson

3. Disease is literally that ”dis-ease”, a lack of ease and harmony in the body/mind system.

My life was never the same again. Though I loved being in theatre, my passion for the healing arts took over. I longed to share all this wondrous material that had healed and touched me so and found myself dancing into what continues to be the most creative period of my life. I began presenting what we called Healing Concerts, in which I sang everything from Puccini to John Denver, punctuating the songs with inspiring information. And when the market would bear it, I’d lead a meditation. As I wanted to thank all my doctors and the people who had assisted in saving my life, we produced a recording of songs entitled Gratitude. It went onto the market, as did Beautiful Dreamer Awake, music and meditation to help people relax into delicious sleep at night, and to invigorate their awakening process each morning. This project was particularly auspicious for me in that I wrote the “wake-up” song. Amazing! It had never occurred to me that I could do anything but interpret someone else’s words and music, and suddenly ideas were coming to me straight out of the air. I was thrilled.

The Law of Attraction kept expanding in my every day experience. Taking responsibility for my own well-being had not only been the catalyst for my healing, it had opened wide a path of creativity that stretches before me as far as my mind can think and heart can feel. It’s true that in the past 10 years there have been many difficult and painful times. My beloved mother passed away, as did my beautiful Collie dog, and my husband and I endured a lengthy separation. We’re now happily re-united and surprisingly grateful for that estranged time. Everything happens for a reason!) However, through it all, the training I received from Hilda sustained me. My working knowledge of LOA and the profound connection to spirit that had been born and honed in me at that time relentlessly supported my well-being.

Of course, I've needed to take responsibility for the fact that the Law of Attraction was very much in play before my epiphany in the '70's. It was then frequently fueling a negative side of me. Though there are myriad reasons why we host serious disease, one of the huge contributing factors to my illness was not loving and respecting myself enough (though I ate right and got enough sleep, etc.). I was always an intelligent and gifted person, but I beat myself up all the time. Nothing I did was ever good enough. My MO was trying too hard to be what others thought I was or what they wanted me to be. Therefore, though it was usually couched in humor, there was a lot of self-denial and self-denigration. This lack of harmony within myself led to stuffing much sadness and frustration into this body. It's clear to me that these negative thoughts, and the feelings they engendered, helped set the stage for my illness. I attracted it. However, in retrospect, this most arduous time in my life was a blessing in disguise, a life chapter that taught me so much and opened me to wonders I probably would never have known. I think of it as an initiation, a rite of passage. I feel all our crises are just that. Everything is grist for the mill, part of the journey - in many instances, a journey of remarkable creative gifts.

Shortly after leaving my husband, I was walking in Central Park and these thoughts flooded my consciousness: sing these two sacred songs, put a meditation in between them, here's the cover art and you can produce this yourself (my husband had always produced my products). It was that clear. Within 24 hours I had contacted my friend Jeff Olmsted, a terrific musician who has a sound studio in my neighborhood, and we began working on the project. The fee for his services was the exact amount I'd just received for selling my Aunt Mary's bequeathed china. Hmmm. Talk about LOA. The project is called Come Home To Your Heart and, like all my other recordings, I feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude. Creative inspiration is deliciously uplifting and humbling at the same time. It is so precious.

Over ten years ago I wrote on my projects-to-be-done list: Pre and Post Surgery Videos for Patients and their Caregivers. In 2004 Eric Brown, a retired lawyer, came into my life, loved the idea, most generously produced it and the Better & Better Series was born. It's so clear that the Universe wanted this project done and brought everything together at the perfect time to accomplish it. Hilda always reminded us that "God has perfect timing". The How is always up to the Universe - the What is up to us.

And now The Secret emerges. At this most critical/perfect time on our planet the Law of Attraction is introduced to the masses. What better timing than now to awaken people to their responsibility for the health and well-being of their own lives and for that of our beautiful Earth. My gratitude to all who participated in the making of this life-transforming video and book. My gratitude to Esther and Jerry Hicks and Abraham who have been teaching LOA for years. My gratitude to my beloved teacher, Hilda, and all the spiritual teachers who have been imparting these universal principles for millennia. My gratitude to Oprah for ensuring that millions all over our planet received this most significant and very urgent information. May it seep so profoundly into the mass consciousness that we and our world become steeped in gratitude, integrity and compassionate caring that, true to the Law of Attraction, keeps creating more and more of the same. Thank you. Thank you. Gratitude reigns.

Friends in Deed

2007-06-22T12:55:00.000-07:00

Friends In Deed

Tuesday night I had the honor to attend a Big Group at Friends In Deed. This is an organization which provides a gloriously peace filled environment for the emotional support of those currently hosting critical illness, for their loved ones and caregivers, and for anyone in the throes of grief and bereavement. Located in lower Manhattan (Soho), the Friends In Deed home is spacious and wonderfully well organized to accommodate the many services and programs offered there. All are welcome; all is free of charge.

Co-founders Cynthia O'Neal and Mike Nichols opened its doors in 1991 in response to the HIV/AIDS crisis. Since that time, Friends has expanded tremendously and helped transform many thousands of lives. The Big Group, which is considered to be the heart and soul of the work at Friends, was facilitated last evening by Cynthia. Her warm, compassionate, wise presence easefully guided the group in a most fulfilling manner. I'm sure everyone in the room was touched and uplifted by the truthful, heartfelt interactions.

I could go on and on, I was so impressed by Friends, but their website will inform you better than I. Please check out www.friendsindeed.org. and tell anyone you feel could benefit from these most precious gifts Friends In Deed is offering to run not walk to this sanctuary in the midst of the ever-bustling Big Apple.

Radio Interview

2007-06-13T13:55:00.000-07:00

Elizabeth Hepburn will be interviewed by Linda Padgurskis of Chicago's WJJG 1530 AM Radio on Thursday, June 14th, 2007 from Noon - 1:00pm (CST).

Call 708-493-1530 during the show to ask her a question and get on the air!

Aloha!

2007-05-15T14:20:00.000-07:00

Aloha!

The breath of God is in our presence! That's what aloha means. The breath of God is in our presence. Is that not wonderful? Aloha!

Recently my friend, Garnette Arledge, gifted me with "Wise Secrets of Aloha", a book she'd just co-authored with Kahuna Harry Uhane Jim. It has been resonating in my heart and soul ever since. For one thing, about two pages into the book, I wanted to go to Hawaii! Yesterday! I never had that pull before. Garnette's very sensitive writing allowed me to feel the energy of these sacred islands - the fragrant breezes, the lush beauty of the flowers and plant life, the dazzling sunlight, the shimmering blue sea, and the warm, gracious, loving energy that permeates the air there. And her spiritual sensitivity made her the perfect author to bring Kahuna Harry's work to the world. These teachings were so touching to me and so in sync with my spirit that I knew I had to experience this man in person. Last weekend in Buffalo, NY I did just that.

According to Hawaiian traditions, a kahuna is the calm servant of those seeking higher evolution emotionally - "a keeper of the wise secrets" - an accomplished healer. There are several different paths of kahunas. Harry's lineage is the healing kahunas of Lomilomi - touch medicine. This medicine, which is all about comfort, sanctity and safety, comes by direct grace. So beautiful. So loving.

Kahuna Harry is a wondrous man - a large presence in every way - physically, emotionally, spiritually. His heart totally embraces one person or a whole room of people. His laughter is wildly spontaneous - his deep caring and integrity, never in question for a second - the healings attributed to his spirit, too numerous to be told. He teaches people to float in the Universe, trusting the ever-present Higher Self, that part of us that is one with all of life.

And I could go on and on! How laughter is so healing - how humility is great power and essential in healing work - how healing is all about emotional maturity - how gratitude is the most important prayer. Harry says that in Hawaiian traditions people don't beg and plead and supplicate in their prayers. They are so unquestioning of Spirit's constant presence in their lives, they simply say 'thank you'.

Of course, all is suffused with love. How delicious. How relaxed and easeful is this way of being and healing. My heart is full of gratitude for being graced with these de-light-full and sacred teachings. I intend that they become more and more integrated into my own work. As I'm always talking about 'setting the stage' for the body to heal, Kahuna Harry's terminology is 'creating a comfort zone' for healing.

I strongly encourage you to experience "Wise Secrets of Aloha" for yourself. It's currently available at B&N and Amazon. Aloha!

Say Yes!

2007-05-07T11:41:00.000-07:00

Say Yes

In the country a few weeks ago, my friends and I popped into a Kmart for a few things and to giggle together as we always do. And there were my pillows - perfect slate blue color - right size - not as elegant as I might have wished, but they'd definitely do for now. So back to NYC they came and, as has been the case with all the other cushions I've purchased and returned in the past six months, they didn't work. That meant one thing - this return involved a trip on the subway with three enormous puffy plastic bags of pillows. Not fun! I really didn't want to do this and put it off for weeks. But big puffy bags cluttering up closet space in a New York aparment is not fun either, so this morning I was determined to bite the bullet and take my cumbersome presence downtown.

As per my oft quoted Goethe quote on commitment, I committed to the task at hand and the Universe showed up in gracious support. An uncrowded subway came immediately and both me and my overly stuffed baggage had plenty of room to sit. I exited at 34th St. It was a crystal clear day, not a cloud in the beautiful blue sky, and brilliant light was crashing off the glass windows of the Kmart store which was right there - about 50 feet in front of me! (I hadn't known exactly where the store was.) The return counter was the first thing I came to in the store, the woman who helped me was lovely, and I was out of there with my paper work and no more pillows within three minutes. The subway uptown came immediately - an express train yet - and I was back home in less than 35 minutes. For you non New Yorkers out there, this was remarkable. And what I remember thinking and saying to myself, as I got off the train at 34th St. and noticed what a gorgeous day it was, was "Say yes to life." It never ceases to amaze me how supported we are when we stop resisting and are willing to flow with the energy. It's always there. Say yes to life!

A Cancer Healing Story: Full Responsiblity

2007-04-04T11:49:00.000-07:00

A Cancer Healing Story: Full Responsibility

One day, in the 1970s, I had what was—for me, at the time—a revolutionary thought. I was about four years into a bout with cancer. I’d had six surgeries and was beginning a chemotherapy regimen that, unbeknownst to me, would last for three years. I was a working singer/actor, and was tap dancing as fast as I could to keep my illness quiet so I’d still get hired in theatre. Neither my doctors nor the few people I’d taken into my confidence could explain why this was happening. I took better care of myself than anyone they knew, so why was I in the hospital every 20 minutes? My medical team was terrific, and they were doing all they could to restore my health, but I began to feel that it wasn’t enough. I knew that something inside of me had to shift. And then out of the blue came this insight: I must take full responsibility for my own well-being. Although I was unaware of it, this was one of the axioms of the then-emerging human potential movement, and the energy was in the air. From that moment on I was fully committed to being responsible for my own wellness.

There is a famous Goethe quote that rings so true for me: “Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.”

I began, and Providence did indeed move in. I was guided to books and seminars and health care professionals. I got rolfed, rebirthed, acupunctured, acupressured, shiatsued—I was willing to do almost anything. Ultimately I was led to a spiritual teacher and healer, Hilda Charlton, and after receiving her teachings and healing energy for a year, I removed myself from chemotherapy. I just knew I didn’t need the drug anymore, and with my doctors fainting all around, I promised to come more frequently for check-ups. I did, and thankfully my intuition was correct; I’ve been fine ever since. (Please know that I never recommend that cancer patients do this.)

For 12 years I studied with Hilda. I knew that her wisdom and the blessings from her magnificent spirit had helped save my life, and I wanted to learn all I could from her. Her teachings were based in ancient metaphysical/spiritual traditions. It’s the same quantum mechanics material now being espoused by our scientific community and many of our doctors. To summarize Hilda’s teachings very succinctly, here are three points that were life changing for me:
1. The universe, and everything in it (including every cell of our bodies), is made up of whirling atoms of energy or subatomic particles. (Regarding our bodies, Deepak Chopra says it this way: “Our bodies are rivers of energy.”)
2. Thoughts are “things.” They are constantly impacting our bodies, either uplifting them or disempowering them. “You are what you think about all day long.” —Emerson
3. Disease is literally that—dis-ease—a lack of ease and harmony in the body/mind system.

My life was never the same again. Though I loved being in theatre, my passion for the healing arts took over. I longed to share all this wondrous material that had healed and touched me so, and I found myself dancing into what continues to be the most creative period of my life. I began presenting what we called Healing Concerts, in which I sang everything from Puccini to John Denver, punctuating the songs with inspiring information. And when the market would bear it, I’d lead a meditation. As I wanted to thank all my doctors and the people who had assisted in saving my life, we produced a recording of songs entitled Gratitude. It went onto the market, as did Beautiful Dreamer Awake, music and meditation to help people relax into delicious sleep at night, and to invigorate their awakening process each morning. This project was particularly auspicious for me in that I wrote the “wake-up” song. Amazing! It had never occurred to me that I could do anything but interpret someone else’s words and music, and suddenly ideas were coming to me straight out of the air. I was thrilled.

So “taking responsibility for my own well-being” had not only been the catalyst for my healing, it had opened wide a path of creativity that stretches before me as far as my mind can think and heart can feel. It’s true that in the past 10 years there have been many difficult and painful times. My beloved mother passed away, as did my beautiful collie dog, and my husband and I endured a lengthy separation. (We’re now happily re-united and surprisingly grateful for that estranged time. Everything happens for a reason!) However, through it all, the training I received from Hilda sustained me. My new sense of well-being was based on love and the profound connection to spirit that had been born and honed in me at that time.

A lyric from a song called “Lessons to be Learned” (by Allan Rich, Dorothy Sea Gazeley and Marsha Malumet on Streisand’s Higher Ground CD) says: “No matter how many times you stumble or fall, the greatest lesson is loving yourself through it all.” And in retrospect this was Hilda’s greatest lesson to me and all to whom she ministered—Love yourself.

As I was growing up, truly loving myself had never been part of the equation. I was quite naturally a “good” girl and was taught to be kind and loving to others, but love myself? I don’t remember being taught that one. And I know now that loving oneself is mandatory for a healthy, well-balanced and fulfilling life experience.

These days, I’m often counseling caregivers —those accompanying a loved one through the maze of critical illness. And the advice I give is: you must take care of yourself so that you can really be there for the patient. I feel we all need to be, and think of ourselves as, our own best caregiver. This is not being selfish! We know what we need and what we love, and as we begin to care for and love ourselves, our lives begin to blossom, and joy shows up. Then we’re a blessing to ourselves and everyone we encounter.

Though there are myriad reasons why one hosts serious disease, surely, one of the huge contributing factors to my illness was not loving and respecting myself enough (though I ate right and got enough sleep). I was always an intelligent and gifted person, but I beat myself up all the time. Nothing I did was ever good enough. My MO was trying too hard to be what others thought I was or what they wanted me to be. Therefore, though it was usually couched in humor, there was a lot of self-denial and self-denigration. This lack of harmony within myself led to stuffing much sadness and frustration into this body. I’ve come to realize that these negative thoughts, and the feelings they engendered, helped set the stage for my illness.

Come Home to your Heart is a CD that I was inspired to make during the separation from my husband. And “come home to your heart” has become my signature phrase. No matter what’s going on in our lives, I know, from very personal experience, that there’s a well-spring of peace and love and infinite wellness in what is metaphysically referred to as the heart center—the whole chest cavity that houses our physical heart. This is truly “home.” In my work, I encourage people to relax deeply into their heart centers and be soothed and nourished there.

This is what taking full responsibility for my own well-being looks like now. It’s coming home to my heart. It’s loving and respecting myself and others and all of life, and living my life from that context. Gratitude reigns!

______________________________________________________________

This article was published in print in Well Being Journal, May/June 2007, V. 16, #3. See "Back Issues" for full issue purchase information.

Elizabeth Hepburn’s victory over cancer shifted her career from musical theatre to the healing arts. She is now a Wellness Facilitator, and through her programs, CDs and the Better & Better Series she sets the stage to invigorate the magnificent healing power within us all. For more information:
~ ~ ~
To read this published article in the Well Being Journal, please follow the link below:
www.wellbeingjournal.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=72&Itemid=68

The Inspiring Elizabeth Edwards

2007-03-30T09:08:00.000-07:00

I was so touched by Elizabeth Edwards Sunday night on 60 Minutes. To me, this beautiful woman is the embodiment of courage and wisdom. In the midst of her current health challenge, she's glowing. I'm very grateful that she's so visible and feel she's being a terrific role model for many.

Having traveled this path myself, I feel that we must do whatever needs to be done to care for our precious bodies when they're hosting critical disease, while, simultaneously, honoring our lives and all that we love and cherish. It seems that Elizabeth is doing just that. Obviously she'll receive the best of care at all times, but the most valuable course she's taking, in my opinion, is that she's embracing her life with passion and purpose. We are ultimately spirit beings running around in these physical bodies, and Elizabeth Edwards' spirit seems vibrantly alive and very well to me. This radiance and zest for life could very well propel her into being triumphant over any disease in her body. This is my prayer for her.

Elizabeth Hepburn's victory over cancer shifted her career from musical theatre to the healing arts. She is now a Wellness Facilitator and through her programs and recordings she sets the stage to invigorate the magnificent healing power within us all.

A Way Out

2007-03-22T15:08:00.000-07:00

A Way Out

The first verse of Jacques Brel's song "If We Only Have Love" ends with this lyric:
"If we only have love for the hymn that we shout,
for the song that we sing,
then we'll have a way out."*

A way out! A way out of what? How about a way out of life-leaching fear – the mass hypnosis that has gripped our minds and hearts and bodies and souls for millennia; the 'born in sin' factor; the resignation to the inevitability of illness and violence and suffering and pain; the on-going ache weaving through the human condition that in the 21st Century has culminated in the proliferation of technologically sophisticated communication systems that bombard us relentlessly with fear of everything from the flu season to terrorist attacks. The spin holds us all within its sway, until we feel a way out. And it's here – always. A way out.

To quote Marianne Williamson's inspiring words: "We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us. It's in everyone. "And as we're making it our business to manifest this glory, this divine spirit within us, the fear dissipates. As we're accepting as Truth Jesus' words: "Even greater things than I do, shall you do", we are donning a mantel that transports us beyond fear. We're all here for a purpose, and, very basically, that is to love and care and share joy each in our own way. From there our unique creativity gushes forth. This is Truth. This is Love. This is a way out.

*Mort Shuman and Eric Blau provided the English translations of Brel's songs for the extraordinary musical "Jacques Brel Is Alive And Well And Living In Paris".

Meditations at Equinox Fitness

2007-03-03T12:31:00.000-08:00

From time to time I have the honor of leading meditation groups at Equinox Fitness Centers in Manhattan. Here in the midst of this bustling city that never sleeps, at state-of-the-art facilities dedicated to the beauty, strength, power, and total well-being of the physical form, groups gather in quiet, darkened rooms to relax deeply into what they've come to realize is the most significant aspect of their well-being - Spirit. They make themselves as comfortable as possible with mats and blankets so they can lie peacefully for an hour. They close their eyes and let go of the day, the week, the year - whatever. They allow themselves to be guided to a place of profound serenity within and they open with great acceptance to the innate healing energy that pulses through all of our bodies 24/7. It is so beautiful! I'm very grateful.

http://www.equinoxfitness.com/

Be - Do - Have

2007-02-13T14:20:00.000-08:00

Be - Do - Have

These three little words took on a life of their own during the Human Potential Movement of the 70's. Completely oblivious of the Movement, I was in the throes of my illness/healing challenge - six surgeries in 4 years followed by 3 years of chemotherapy. Then, just as I was coming into the "try everything and anything that might get me well" period, I heard about est. I signed up and found myself sitting in the company of two hundred and forty-nine other bewildered individuals in a huge midtown hotel ballroom for two excruciatingly long weekends.

Because I was on chemotherapy, I was assigned to the back row, which was reserved for the "special cases" who could actually leave the room to go to the bathroom if necessary. I never left the room; I barely moved. I was spellbound, fascinated, frightened, excited, confused, and speechless. Never once did I get up to share any one of the myriad experiences I was having, despite the fact that I was a professional singer/actress accustomed to being in front of large crowds. I was too intimidated and shy, and, on some level, felt that nothing I could possibly say would be the least bit intelligent or worthy of being articulated.

I actually did arise on the final day to thank everyone who had shared (we learn from everyone) and to apologize for not contributing by sharing myself. As I sat down I remember realizing, “Yup, that’s what I do - I say I’m sorry a lot”. The old "pardon me for living" syndrome. That was a biggie! That was a life long (till that point) state of being for me. How inhibiting. How strangling of the Life Force.

The only place I ever felt 100% alive was when I was steeped in a character on stage and could fully express my emotions and embody all the colors of my psyche with abandon. I feel that if this inhibited little Catholic school girl from PA hadn’t had the innate gifts that propelled her into the extraordinary and often outrageous scenarios of the theatre in NYC, she’d have left the planet a long time ago. On stage I had license to "be" - to truly express myself. So, I've come to appreciate that my theatrical experience, along with my disease/healing process, taught me a lot and probably helped save my life. We don’t get to stuff and stifle our Life Force. Life is to be lived in full color everyday in every way, keeping in mind Shakespeare's brilliant words: “All the world is a stage and all the men and women merely players.”

At which point the question arises: “As a player upon this world stage, what’s my role? Who am I really?” “What/how am I to be?” ("or not to be?") And BE is the crux of the matter. The Human Potential Movement illuminated this most invaluable life teaching: our BEing precedes and makes appropriate the DOing that leads us to our most bountiful HAVEing.

For four months following the est experience, which blew copious holes in my very well-structured defense system, I sat and read. My husband didn’t know who he was married to all of a sudden. The whirling dervish, the constantly doing person had her feet up, reading. And it was all metaphysics - my biggest hero at that time being Ralph Waldo Emerson. That’s who I was reading on the commercial set when I first heard about Hilda, the spiritual teacher of whom I’ve spoken so often. The rest, as they say, is history. The journey inward to BEing began in earnest and was so lovingly guided by this masterful soul. And the infinite journey continues to this day and surely for the rest of my life, ever inward and simultaneously outward. Oh, mysterious, sacred, wondrous Life. The journey of BE - DO - HAVE.

My personal path is that of the Heart with its unceasingly expanding experiences and expressions of Love. And I know for sure - (as per Oprah's final essay in her magazine each month, “What I Know For Sure”) - that surrendering to, and trusting in, the love in our hearts is the ultimate answer for our lives. As Wayne Dyer’s book title states: There’s A Spiritual Solution To Every Problem. I know this is truth. And the heart is the gateway to that Spiritual Solution. That's where BE -DO - HAVE begins. As we are BEing love and DOing out of love, the HAVEing of beauty, joy, love and abundance will be beyond our wildest dreams.
Elizabeth Hepburn

Radio Broadcast Schedule

2007-01-30T11:08:00.000-08:00

Radio Broadcast Schedule

KRMB Radio/Super Talk 1340 (concluded)

Host: David McMillan
Listen to the podcast from my radio interview on "Strategies for Living"
http://www.strategiesforliving.com/showuserpodcasts.php?podcastuserid=316&ui=316&podcast_id=109&gid2=0

Beating Heart Meditation

2007-01-25T09:20:00.000-08:00

Say Thank You To Your Beating Heart

For years I've been inviting people to Come Home to their Hearts. From my own healing experience, I know that the wealth of the ages is there - the love, peace, joy, gratitude, passion, courage - all the aspects of life that make it delicious abide in an infinite well-spring within us.

Though my current "knowing" is rooted in richly metaphysical concepts, which, by the way, are now the bedrock of scientific thought, there is a simple path to accessing the marvels of the heart. Acknowledge it! Say hello to it! Say thank you to your beating heart!

The physical heart is housed in the chest cavity, which is metaphysically referred to as the heart center. But, metaphysics aside, I simply invite people to become aware of their beating hearts. Read the rest of the article and then try this. Feel it as you read it. Pretend you're doing it.

Sit or lie down in a very comfortable position - and gently close your eyes, sighing out your breath as if you were sinking into a fragrant warm bath after a long, tiring day. Let stillness embrace you. Feel as though you're listening to silence. Despite the relentless stimulation of our lives, peace and serenity are always present and they are an overwhelmingly sumptuous place in which to relax. Just breathe as easefully and comfortably as possible allowing your sighing exhale to release your tensions and relax you more and more deeply.

Now just notice your beating heart. Listen to it. Acknowledge that you¹e not consciously beating your heart anymore than you¹e consciously breathing all day long. We are ever-pulsing energy systems - ever alive with the same Energy that¹ moving the tides in the oceans and blooming the flowers in Spring. Say thank you to the Source of your breathing; thank you to the Source of your beating heart. Allow yourself to feel the pulsations all through your body as the result of your beating heart. Awake or asleep this Energy is flowing unceasingly. Feel It.

Decide to name this energy God or Love (God is Love). And decide that this divine Love energy is bathing and soothing and healing every cell, every atom of you. Feel It. Allow It. Allow all resistance to It to melt away.

Feel loved and cared for. You are! Feel your Oneness with the very Spirit of Life. Say thank you to your beating heart for being your ever-constant reminder of this Spirit connection.. Say thank you to the loving Source of your life. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
by Elizabeth Hepburn

The Heart Is Where Home Is

2007-01-11T12:33:00.000-08:00

The Heart Is Where Home Is

1) the inmost part of something and
2) the most important part.

In the framework of my orientation, this leads me to conclude that the very core of us is our heart, the inmost -- the most important part. So as a paradigm shift from the adage "Home is where the heart is," I hereby offer, "The heart is where home is." It seems to me that until our life is aligned with our heart, we're a house divided against itself.

Strictly from a physical point of view, the incessant beating of our heart plays an inestimable role in the overall well-being of the body. And clearly, it's where we feel the experience of love -- romantic love, mother love, the bond we feel for a beloved pet. Now, to my great delight, research scientists at The Institute of Heart Math in Boulder Creek, CA, are telling us that the heart generates the strongest electromagnetic field produced by the body. Moreover, this field becomes even more coherent as the individual shifts to a loving or caring state. This data corroborates what metaphysicians have been telling us for millenia.

The physical heart is housed in an energy center referred to as the heart center. This center is considered our gateway to spirit and to the most powerful and creative energy in the Universe: Love . It's here that we connect with our Source. This is home.

Several years ago at a Dr. Brugh Joy lecture I received an exquisite gift. His theme that evening had been expanding our awareness of the heart energy. At one point, he had us sitting with our right hand on our heart center (the very center of the chest cavity), feeling the subtle variances in the energies of love there. Slowly, one at a time, he had us tune into Compassion. Tenderness. Gratitude. Joy. Each elicited a slightly different feeling. The next morning I was recapturing this glorious meditation process, and prompted, I'm sure, by this familiar "pledge" pose, these words came to me: "I pledge allegiance to the love in my heart -- to the wonder of wonders within me -- and to the divinity in all life -- One God, One Truth, One Love -- Now and forevermore."* I was so moved by the simplicity of this statement, I repeated it to myself several times and, before I entered into my daily routine, wrote it down.

It's my contention that this pledge is what we're up to now. What could possibly be more worthy of our allegiance than love and the deep caring and compassion that love engenders? It will enhance our lives; it will heal our planet. It's time we make a covenant with that intrinsic part of ourselves.

The Indian master, Sri Nisargardatta Maharaj says: "If we are serious about the sufferings of mankind, we must perfect the only means of help we have, ourselves." In this tiny village of a world we inhabit, all of creation is beckoning us to be a blessing to each other and to our earthly home each day -- to pledge our allegiance first and foremost to Love, the Love in our own hearts. Love is the power. Love is the healer. Love is the answer. Come Home to your Heart.

The pledge entitled "A Pledge to Love" is now a beautiful Post Card available at Elizabeth's website - http://www.elizabethhepburn.com/A_Pledge_to_Love.htm

Love is the power. Love is the healer. Love is the answer. Come Home to your Heart.
Elizabeth Hepburn

Be Here Now

2007-01-04T12:23:00.000-08:00

Be Here Now

As a veteran of six surgeries in four years during a challenging tussle with cancer many years ago, I know from whence I speak when I recently proffered the concept of Surgery as a Rite of Passage. The ritualistic aspects of surgery- being plucked out of our familiar environment, being coerced into ingesting, or being injected with, mind and body-altering substances and not being in control of our current circumstances - are obvious similarities of both 'rites' and the surgery process. And it occurred to me that holding what is otherwise a very difficult and often painful experience in this light could be an extremely useful perspective. Rites of Passage take us through an uncomfortable period with the built-in outcome being transformation and the expansion of our consciousness into a better, wiser, stronger place. It seems to me a very worthwhile viewpoint from which to prepare for surgery.

Now I suddenly have a deeper understanding of why this is such a meaningful insight for me. In the past week, I've rescued 2 spiders from the bathtub as I was about to shower. This rescue mode is the result of a harmlessness attitude that I've been incorporating into my life - a respect for the life of all living things. Being a New Yorker I'm still wrestling with the roach population in this regard, but the spiders got my attention and I assisted them up and out to nearby plants. What I noticed when they 'saw' me coming was that they would roll themselves up in a tight little ball - like they really weren't there and if they made themselves tiny enough, I wouldn't notice them and I'd leave them alone.

This is often our very natural and instinctive MO when we're faced with a fearful prospect like surgery. There are few things more traumatizing than the anticipation of this ordeal, and our fear often takes us into such denial that we roll up into a tiny ball, figuratively speaking. Our bodies get tight and contracted and the body/mind system is being flooded by the anxiety producing chemicals that are so valuable when the fight or flight mode needs to kick in. However, in this situation, there's no dinasour chasing us. We're face to face with a date for surgery and, short of divine intervention, we're going to be a major player in this drama.

Here's where the Rite of Passage idea comes in to play. We let go and own the moment. OK here I am - I don't understand why this is here or what I've done to deserve this onerous ordeal in my life, but here I am. And really getting "here I am" is the start of being-here-now. When we're physically or emotionally running rapidly in the other direction from the hand life is dealing us we're totally disempowered. When we stand our ground and surrender to the situation and subsequent process, we open ourselves to the invisible energies that are an intrinsic part of every breath we breathe. A section of this very famous Goethe quote seems appropriate here:
"…….the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way…….." Obvioiusly this quote is all about commitment - embracing the here and now. I say, as challenging as this situation might seem, commit to the surgery experience. Be bold and honor it for exactly what it is - the next chapter.in your life.

Clearly, it's human nature to be terrified in certain circumstances. Not being fearful when presented with the prospect of impending surgery would border on the aberrant. Being heroic and brave is not about being fearless, it's about moving through the process, regardless of the fear, trusting, perhaps for the very first time in our lives, the essence of ourselves. We are body, mind and most importantly, spirit. Think Lance Armstrong. As I write this I see him so clearly winning the Tour de France over and over again, when he had been so desperately ill that his very life was in question to say nothing of his ever participating in a race again. Be very still for a few moments. Listen and feel the energy within you which is beating your heart, breathing within your lungs, digesting your latest meal, to mention just a few of its never-ceasing tasks. The spirit - the energy that championed Lance is available to all of us - at all times. And the more quiet we become, the more subtle and delicious is our experience of this ever-present energy.

Regardless of the challenges before you, be-here-now in the present and trust in this spirit, this energy that sustains us from the very first beat of our hearts throughout our entire lives. You are now acknowledging your connection to the Life Force of the Universe - God, The Source, The Force - however you chose to identify It. We are all intrinsically connected to It. Embrace that connection. Let It empower you. Be-here-now.

Joy to the World

2006-12-12T10:41:00.000-08:00

Joy to the World

On WQXR this morning I was listening to an orchestral version of Oh Holy Night -- Cantique de Noel as it's formally known. This sacred song has been a staple in my repertoire for years and I've sung it in all seasons, feeling that it's appropriate to acknowledge that every night (and day for that matter) is a "night divine" (the last lyric of the song). This rendition began with cellos playing the melody and I had a feeling that the musical director was going for a very solemn, sacred interpretation. It lightened up a bit as the piece unfolded, but, to my ear, its overall impression was quite lugubrious. And it got me to thinking about how the sacred is so often portrayed as solemn, which often feels very dark to me. And I think it should be the opposite. I think the sacred is sublime and suffused with light, and that it's here in our cultures to ignite our hearts and souls and evoke pure joy.

Joy, joy, joy -- there was a time in my life when I remember telling people I was on a quest to find joy. Where the heck was it? I didn't see it in churches for the most part. I didn't see it at social gatherings/parties. I didn't see it in the faces of people on the street. Where is joy?

Well, I had a joy-ful experience during my healing process, that, I see in retrospect, paved the way for my meeting Hilda Charlton. I had been on my joy quest for a few years and had participated in several "consciousness raising" events. I was reading a lot of metaphysics -- my hero at the time being Ralph Waldo Emerson. And I remember lying on the living room rug one Saturday afternoon and imagining that I had light shooting out of every pore of me in every direction, reaching way up into space and deep into the Earth, (somewhere I must have read about a meditation like this); and when I came back from this imaging, I felt a joy inside me, the likes of which I had never felt before. This extraordinary state lasted for about 2 weeks. I was so open and feeling so wonderful and loving, and everything in my life was delicious, and not one thing had changed in my external circumstances. It was truly a time of grace for which I'm profoundly grateful. And I know it was a carrot that the Universe allowed me to munch for a while so that I'd "get" what the "goal" was -- that completely anchored and safe inner space of joy and peace.

It truly does surpass all understanding. It's a wow!

There was a magical voice teacher at one point in my career. He was a wonderfully insightful and playful man/musician and a world-class teacher of Carl Jung's work. He had the most eminent Jungians in town coming to sit and counsel with him. Our times together each week were astounding, I would be with him for about an hour and a half and sing for maybe 25 minutes. The rest of the time we were delving into my psyche and exploring my dream worlds. It was fabulous. These sessions seemed so out of time and space for me, that I once had the thought that if I went back to his apartment, having left my gloves or something, that he wouldn't even be there -- the apartment would look totally different and a complete stranger would answer the door.

Anyway, this is all preamble to his encouraging me one day to attend a prestigious Jungian event that was being held on the upper east side of Manhattan. I was thrilled to be in the presence of these outstanding therapists and to hear them discussing the works of the brilliant Carl Jung. And I could barely stay awake -- and I'm never bored! Talk about sacred and solemn and grindingly intellectual. Arg! Jung's work was transcendent/translucent -- he was talking about spirit most of the time. And somehow that got, and often gets, translated into solemn and heavy. And the joy is missing -- the light is missing. I feel that this has happened in many of our religious traditions also.

Whenever we sing "Let There Be Peace On Earth" at our peace meetings, I always loudly, as if to eventually turn the tide, insert the word joyful for solemn -- the lyrics of the second half of the hymn being:
Let there be peace on earth, let this be the moment now
With every step I take, let this be my solemn (joyful) vow
To take each moment and live each moment in peace eternally
Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.

I think joyful vows are much more "hearty" than solemn vows and much more liable to be honored. So I propose that we take all the furrowed brows out of our vows and other "serious" areas of our lives. There's no getting away from the chaos and darkness that seem to be prevailing in our world at this time, but our getting gloomy and heavy about it doesn't help one iota.

As Martin Luther King said: "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." I say: "Solemn cannot drive out solemn; only joy can do that." Think about it: Wouldn't we all rather be joyful than solemn? I do believe that we can "take life seriously" and live with great integrity and purpose and still be in joy. It's our birthright. To unleash it, we sincerely need to acknowledge its presence deep within us and allow it to bubble up. Surely, it'll take some practice and a commitment from us, but we can do it. And the rewards will be stunning. Let's all be Joy to each other and our World!

Whenever in Doubt, Come Home to your Heart,

Elizabeth Hepburn

Before, After, Forevermore

2006-11-29T11:30:00.000-08:00

Before, After, Forevermore

The three products inaugurating Elizabeth Hepburn’s Better & Better Series, are filling a unique and valuable niche. The first two volumes of this DVD/CD series, which feature inspiring music, gorgeous scenery and guided meditations, are designed to promote the optimal results from surgical procedures and the subsequent recuperation period. Volume 3, In the Lap of Luxury, was created for anyone desiring to sustain good health throughout life. ~ ~ ~
Volume 1) Pre-Surgery Healing Support Programs - DVDs & CDs (audio version) Two Better & Better Guidebooks* For Patient and Caregiver

Volume 2) Post-Surgery Healing Support Programs - DVDs & CDs Two Better & Better Guidebooks For Patient and Caregiver

Volume 3) In the Lap of Luxury - DVD and CD Program to sustain radiant health, In The Lap Of Luxury Better & Better Guidebook For Anyone and Everyone*The Better & Better Series Guidebooks contain information designed to support and enhance the experience of the programs.

One of the things that makes Volumes 1 & 2 truly special is that the caregivers have their very own product with the same visuals and music as the patients, but with guided meditations designed to address their specific needs. Clearly during this stressful time, caregivers need healing too. Also, due to the physical separation and the restrictions inherent in hospital protocol, loved ones often feel isolated from each other. The sharing of their individual responses to this inspiriing Better & Better Series material is intended to create a warm and loving bond between them whenever they’re together.

Because the beauty of Nature is such a natural healer, the Pre-Surgery program utilizes the healing, soothing magnificence of the ocean, beach and sky; Post-Surgery, the vibrant and powerful energy of a waterfall in Springtime; and, In the Lap of Luxury, the profound serenity of a beautiful lake.

Multiple Emmy Award-Winning Cinematographer, Bob Collins, is the Director of Photography and Elizabeth’s guided meditations are exquisitely enhanced by the original music of composer, Rick Baitz. Film/Video veteran, Ben Bryant has directed and edited the series, and Eric Brown of Creative Entertainment, Inc. has brought his business acumen, inspiring insights and wondrously enthusiastic spirit to the project.

The products will be distributed through hospitals, health organizations and doctors initially as well as to the end users through traditional retail distribution channels. If as Ralph Waldo Emerson said over a hundred years ago "The first wealth is health", it behooves us all to employ every tool available to restore, when it is challenged, and maintain and ever-expand, when it is present, our experience of vibrant aliveness and well-being. The Better & Better Series is such a resource.

Surgery as a Rite of Passage

2006-11-27T13:44:00.000-08:00

Surgery as a Rite of Passage

Every moment in life is precious. Every single one. Even the difficult ones. Even the one when your doctor says: "We have to operate". Never good news yet an important moment in our lives. I've been there - several times. A bout with cancer necessitated my having six surgeries in four years and then three years of chemotherapy. Admittedly, this was a rough road. However, this journey through the labyrinth of critical illness and multiple surgeries truly transformed my life. It turns out that it was a great blessing to me. It was precious time. Therefore, I'm proffering a re- framing of this dreaded fate - surgery.

It's not a walk in the park, that's for sure. It's going to involve discomfort and probably pain, to say nothing of an abrupt interruption in life as usual. We're going to be weakened and not up to snuff. The anticipation of surgery is so daunting, that we almost always succumb to major resistance. There's fear - anger - sadness - "Why me?" - "Why now?" "What did I do to deserve this?"

We're aching for the answers to these questions. Nevertheless, once we've acknowledged all this upset, it behooves us to understand that resistance creates tension and a lot of suffering within the body/mind system. That's the last thing we need right now. There's a Zen teaching that says: "in this life pain is inevitable– suffering is optional". So if we choose to have this situation be as easeful as possible, we have to let go of the suffering -- to let go of the resistance and surrender to the process. As hard as it is to fathom it, this surgery experience is here for a reason. This is not an accident. And, believe me, it's not simply here to adjust something in our bodies. It's a very well disguised gift with the potential to take us on a journey to the very essence of ourselves -- a journey for which we will be eternally grateful.

It seems to me that by the time our immune systems are sufficiently compromised to require someone taking a knife to our bodies, the Universe has surely been shouting to get our attention for a long time. Our lives for many and varied reasons have gotten unbalanced and we need to regroup in a major way. I find it very interesting in these days of miracle drugs, that we can be extremely unwell but kept going by super pills or injections that mask our symptoms and allow us to continue our relentless pace. How ridiculous. Our magnificent body/mind system is giving us the message to lie down and rest deeply, and we keep truckin’. Sooner or later the condition becomes so acute we're brought to our knees. And here we are in the hospital in this silly little cotton dress anticipating surgery.

And this is where my new perspective comes into play. I'm suggesting that we consider surgery a rite of passage . Furthermore, I'm advocating that it (and all crises) be acknowledged as such. In this light, what is commonly considered an onerous situation can be acknowledged as a catalyst for wondrous transformation.

A definition of rite of passage is: a ritual or ceremony signifying an event in a person's life indicative of a transition from one stage to another. As in rituals of old, there's an interesting parallel to the surgical event in that it plucks us out of our daily routine; takes us to a foreign space where we have very little control of our comings and goings; introduces us to strange substances that alter the way our bodies feel and our minds perceive; and, compels us to surrender our fate to the prevailing leadership.

I contend that instead of grinding through all that the surgical process entails, kicking and screaming until the big drugs take over, that we relax and surrender to this arduous ritual, trusting its mysterious, sacred purpose in our lives and opening up to the magnificent transition that can provide us with entry into a whole new way of being. Even if we think our lives are just fine, I assure you, our capacity for feeling fabulous is boundless. It's all about love.

Our bodies are truly magnificent. They are marvels. They are healing machines. They are constantly renewing themselves, though admittedly not so effectively when we've gotten too far out of balance. And all they want is to be appropriately cared for. They want delicious and nutritious food and drink. They want fresh air and exercise. They want rewarding work and delightful play. They want deeply satisfying rest and relaxation. And they want to be loved. Not just by our parents, friends, colleagues and significant others - they want to be loved by us!

I understand that when our bodies are hurting and giving us a lot of grief, we're not feeling all that loving toward them. But this downtime is the perfect opportunity to begin a life-long loving relationship with our body. It's time! It's imperative!

Even if you're having problems with your physical heart right now – acknowledge it – the constant, vital service it provides to your body throughout your entire life. How fantastic! Say "thank you" to your miraculous beating heart. Say "thank you" to your breathing – even if it may be hampered at this time – say "thank you" for this totally natural function within your body/mind system – relax and let it be as easeful as the tides in the ocean. Every organ in our bodies is unceasingly performing its specific function to sustain our well-being. It's time to say, "thank you" – "I love you" – "I'm so grateful for all you do". Yes. Smile. Breathe. Your body is feeling better already.

Right this moment decide that this surgery is your personal, sacred "Rite of Passage". Decide that this challenging passage is here to totally enhance your life, ultimately providing you with a glorious sense of wholeness and connection and vibrant aliveness. Decide that this "Rite of Passage" is going to deliver you to a path of such great caring and love and gratitude for yourself and others and all of life that you and your life will bloom beyond your wildest dreams. Feel the gratitude. Life – it's all about Love. Every moment is precious.

* * *

Whenever in doubt, Come Home to your Heart,

Elizabeth Hepburn
See this article published in The New Sun Newspaper - http://www.newsun.com/riteofpassage.html

Beautiful Bears

2006-11-17T09:58:00.000-08:00

Beautiful Bears

I was riffling through a Wildlife Preservation Magazine. This particular issue had award-winning photographs of various creatures in their natural habitat. They were all spectacular, but there was one that was irresistible to me. I was totally captivated by the picture of
a polar bear and her pup in a snowy mountain landscape framed with feathery evergreen boughs. I found myself returning so often to gaze at it, that I decided to order a print. I called the magazine and they gave me the email address of the photographer and within a few days, I had my print. I was thrilled.

With a very long lens, Thomas Cooper has captured a mother polar bear sound asleep with her tiny pup, who looks like a small ball of super white fur. Its black eyes are wide open, and it's nestled between the mother's huge head and an enormous front paw. There seem to be no ears on the pup, and the nose and mouth are hidden in the mighty embrace. There's just this tiny white fur ball with big black eyes gazing out at the magnificent world with such an innocence and wonder. Completely adorable.

As the days go by, I continue to be grateful that I ordered this picture and keep asking myself why I did. I see terrific photographs in magazines all the time but I've never before felt compelled to call the magazine and email the photographer in quest of a print. What is it
here that touches me so?

The mother is obviously completely at home in her natural environment (-25̊ F). She's at peace. She's connected. And the pup seems blissfully happy in its safe, cozy haven. The picture seems to be whispering, "God's in his heaven and all's right with the world." And maybe that's it. Maybe my body/mind/spirit are so yearning to remember this all the
time -- to feel safe and cozy and at peace and connected in the midst of the churning upset energy that permeates our living space on planet earth at this time. And this picture came to live with me as a constant reminder, in a most endearing way, that despite the most challenging atmosphere, the "peace and safe and cozy and connected" are always here -- now, the instant I acknowledge my inner life.

And I find myself revisiting my favorite theme: going within -- coming home to the heart -- connecting with the kingdom of Heaven ever present there -- stopping the relentless mind chatter -- relaxing, embracing, delighting in the feelings of silence deep within the energy
of my body. There is the true vitality -- there is the peace that surpasses all understanding.

Do it right now as you read these words. Be conscious of the energy inside your body. Be conscious that you're reading. Be conscious that you're breathing.

Stop reading for a few moments and just be here now, totally in the present. Feel the stillness.

The authenticity and serenity of the bears, so at peace on their snowy mountain in Manitoba, Canada (may this scenario remain so), bless and inspire me every time I look at them. They invite me to hear the silence, to feel the exhilarating crisp, clear air -- to sense their
ease. They remind me of the lyrics of the Bernstein/Sondheim song Somewhere: "Peace and quiet and open air wait for us, somewhere." They remind me that that place is deep within me and they make me grateful that that Kingdom of Heaven is still reflected in certain parts of our world. They remind me of the sacredness of these pristine wildernesses and their many life forms. They remind me that we are to be the stewards of this earth and her creatures, and not despoil them with our shortsightedness and greed.

How can we even begin to imagine that we can rape and poison the very earth that feeds us, gives us air to breathe and water to drink, and continue to live? The bears remind me to pray without ceasing that our collective consciousness will wake up in time to save Mother Earth and all the life manifesting upon her. May we embrace and honor our role as nurturer to the Nurturer. Thank you, glorious bears. Thank you, Thomas. Thank you, Beloved Earth.

To contact Thomas Cooper: www.thomas@coopersimages.com or
http://thomas@coopersimages.com

Whenever in doubt, Come Home to your Heart
Elizabeth Hepburn

Get better & better - Healthwise Magazine

2006-10-30T08:50:00.000-08:00

"Elizabeth Hepburn believes her bout with cancer was a blessing. She learned to take responsibility for her own health, and is now a Wellness Facilitator assisiting others. Her Better & Better series on DVD provides solace and healing for both patients and caregivers during a very painful period of life. Visit www.elizabethhepburn.com "

I Have A Dream

2006-10-26T08:36:00.000-07:00

I Have A Dream

I have a dream. And I had a dream. Let me tell you about the "had" first.

In late January, I dreamt I was flying/hovering/gliding inside the Grand Canyon in a sort of futuristic helicopter, like a glass bubble. I could see in every direction -- even below me. I was completely engulfed in the grandeur. It was totally mind-boggling and exhilarating, and I awakened feeling both excited and frustrated. Frustrated that despite having been geographically close on several occasions, I'd never had the time to get there, and excited about finally going. I knew it would be soon.

On March 1st, I flew to Phoenix and joined my dear friend, Joanie, who was already in the southwest visiting our mutual friends, Jennifer and Andy and Jen's mother, Florence. Their most kind and generous hospitality embraced us on either side of our sojourn to the Canyon. Thank you, beautiful people.

The drive through the red rock country, especially Sedona and Oak Creek Canyon, was as spectacular as I'd remembered it, and within a half hour of reaching our destination, Joanie and I were walking the South Rim of the Grand Canyon!

It was a brilliantly clear, cold day and we hiked along the, sometimes quite precarious, path for about four hours into the setting sun. I had come equipped with notepad and pen, and tape recorder with empty cassette prepared to record all the inspiration that would surely come to me at this awesome world-wonder. And the only words that came that day and the entire next day were: "Oh my God. Oh, my God." Every few feet, every time I'd look away for a moment and then back at the Canyon again, it was different.

The sunlight bathing the walls is slightly different -- the colors subtly change; the shapes reconfigure. "Oh my God." I'm practically weeping in joy and overwhelm. There are no words to describe this.

The day we had to leave, Joanie insisted we stop on the way out of the park at the Kaibab Trail, where she and Jen and Andy had descended to the Canyon floor a few years before. Being that it was off season and quite chilly, we were completely alone and I stood mesmerized for about 30 minutes. I didn't ever want to leave. (Thinking about it now, it reminds me of when I saw Michelangelo's David in Florence. My sense is I'd still be standing there if I hadn't had a plane to catch.)

As I stood alone in the magnificence, I began to feel that the profound peace and stillness I was experiencing was unceasingly being poured forth into the ethers from the very bowels of the Canyon -- from every nook and cranny, from every rock face, from every craggy little plant, from every 80 foot tree growing out of sheer rock! It felt like this most sacred place was a gigantic prayer bowl constantly breathing peace into the atmosphere of our Planet. "Oh, my God."

Which brings me to the dream I'm "having." This is a waking dream. My Peace dream.

Long before the Canyon "call," I had a very moving experience in the theatre one evening, I became acutely aware of the enormous energy that's generated in live performance. In the midst of this epiphany I got how totally wonderful and valuable it would be to dedicate this stupendous power to World Peace. And to that end, I've been contacting everyone I can think of in theatre and the arts in NYC with this proposal:

The powerful energy that's created in live performance is undeniable. I propose that this energy, generated hundreds of times a week in theatres all over the city, be dedicated to World Peace.

At this most crucial time on our earth, I feel that it could have an enormous impact on the collective consciousness.

It would simply be a matter of having a sign back stage (and perhaps in the lobby) in all our theatres stating: This Performance Is Dedicated To World Peace, in addition to including this statement in the pre-show, "turn off your beepers" announcement.

That's it! Nothing else to do. This would give every performance another dimension and a focus of deep caring and compassion. We can't even begin to imagine the positive repercussions that could result from this subtle, recurring message.

I see this being implemented in our Broadway and Off- Broadway theatres, at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall, in Stadiums and ultimately all over our country and the world. Why not? With violence escalating at a dizzying pace, we must start giving Peace some major PR. And with the eyes of the world on NYC since 9/11, this is surely the place to begin. It would serve as yet another expression of, and tribute to, the generous and indomitable spirit of both our great city and the theatre community. It's also a natural tie-in to the "I Love New York" campaign.

I wrote this in April, 2002 and our world was writhing in anguish. It seems to still be so. And although this idea has not taken root yet, I'll never give up on it. And as I strive to make This Performance Is Dedicated to World Peace a happening in the Big Apple, I'm sharing it here hoping that the concept will catch on and start popping up all over the country -- performances/gatherings in community theatres, universities, high schools -- wherever this powerful focus of energy is created -- all being dedicated to World Peace. I repeat: Why not?

Let us decide that we've had enough of the horror. Let us, please, not sit back and passively accept that for at least the next 20 years our world will be at war, and our beloved country will be relentlessly building more and more sophisticated instruments of destruction. What an aberrant use of our divine creative energy. We know that violence begets violence. How could this possibly be the answer?

Shifting the consciousness in our world is the answer. Shifting the focus of our minds and hearts, which influences the actions we take, to peace and love and beauty and brotherhood is the answer. Shortly after 9/11, Ryan Kelly of the NYC Ballet wrote: "I'm trying to breathe peace more than ever this year - like rain forests that oxygenate the earth, peace- breathers might pacify the planet ..." Let us all become peace-breathers and dedicate our very breath and all the energies that we create in communion with each other to World Peace. The world needs us. If the Grand Canyon can do it, so can we.

In 1963, in his legendary I Have A Dream speech, Martin Luther King said: "We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force." Oh, Yes! Thank you, Dr. King.

Whenever in doubt, Come Home to your Heart
Elizabeth Hepburn

Let Peace Begin

2006-10-17T11:58:00.000-07:00

Let Peace Begin

"An open heart, an open mind, just being kind -- and peace begins" are the opening lyrics to And Peace Begins, a song by Paul Trueblood, a fabulous musician who every Sunday morning for years played piano at the Unity service at Avery Fisher Hall in NYC. I love this song because its message tells us that peace begins right here, right now in our own hearts and minds and in everything we do. World Peace begins at home.

Several years ago, on two separate occasions within the space of about ten days, people shared with me that they thought that world peace would be boring. I was initially stunned and then jostled to an awakening that this was indeed a very prevalent thought: that somehow many of us needed the titillation of frightening scenarios and upheaval and chaos, albeit usually second hand, to make us feel alive. I felt that this concept created an insidiously powerful energy field that unwittingly fueled the upset and cycle of violence all over this planet.

I remember sharing my concern with my spiritual teacher, Hilda Charlton, and she said: "You're absolutely right, dear - you must talk about this at our next peace meeting." (Hilda had created a Meditation Evening for World Peace which met -- and still does -- on the equinoxes and solstices of the year.) I immediately reminded her that I "sing," I don't "talk," to which she replied: "It's about time you spoke up, dear." Her words ring in my ears to this day. So with great trepidation, at the next peace meeting, I actually "spoke up," and I've been speaking up ever since. Thank you, Hilda.

On that auspicious night (for me), I shared what I'd told Hilda. World Peace would be boring?! I went on to explain that I understood that many feel that peace is boring because of its relentless identification with death ("may they rest in peace"), or the images of the serenity and otherworldliness of the monastic life, which the word often evokes. But these many have never experienced the adventures of inner space and the peace, to say nothing of the love, joy, ecstasy -- I could go on and on -- that become available when one is willing to be quiet and dive deeply within. There's nothing like it. Here one discovers that peace is far from boring. Peace is thrilling. Peace is not the absence of violence or upset, it is a vital state that combines an infinite sense of ease with a heightened awareness of aliveness. It is a deep well spring within us from which profound creativity emerges. It is a state that is unceasingly available to us.

So the trick is dismantling the mass consciousness that contends that violence, incessant activity and excitement-seeking are what make life worth living. In my opinion, this franticness serves as a smoke screen, preventing us from ever dealing with Who We Really Are.

I'm reminded of Nelson Mandela quoting Marianne Williamson's words in his 1994 Inaugural Speech: "Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate; our greatest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us..."

The reality that we are powerful beings is scary to us. We don't want to assume that kind of responsibility. However, the time has come -- big time -- for us to march right through that fear. And even though it takes guts and a sense of daring to explore the depths of ourselves, the rewards that flow spontaneously, as the space within us expands, are boundlessly exhilarating.

Our addiction to the excitement of violence can't hold a candle to the energy that accompanies our acceptance of the light that we are. The personal power and mastery available as our lives unfold as expressions of peace and kindness and compassion are awesome and genuinely thrilling.

The world needs us now. We are collectively hosting disastrous events with potentially catastrophic consequences. It behooves each of us to own our place in this unfolding drama, and, in our unique way, be willing to be instruments of peace. To quote Paul Trueblood again: "Don't look for peace in foreign lands; it happens here where we are living. And all it takes is our forgiving; it has to start with you and me." In addition to "It's time to stand up and be counted," I recommend "It's time to sit down, be quiet and listen." Thousands of years ago, Pythagorus advised us: "Learn to be silent. Let your quiet mind listen and absorb." And to this I say, "Amen!"

The stakes are very high now. So for our beloveds, for our world, for future generations, let us do whatever we need to do to dive into and enthusiastically embrace peace in all its guises and spread its healing everywhere we go. Let Peace Begin. Right here. Right now.

Whenever in doubt, Come Home to you Heart
Elizabeth Hepburn

Imagine

2006-10-12T10:33:00.000-07:00

Imagine

The plane crash in Manhattan yesterday certainly did not recapture the horror of five years ago, but at first impact, it was a stunning reminder. The sentiments in the following article continue to be useful, and I feel that ground zero and all that occurred there and all the lives that were shattered at that time still deserve our compassionate concern. This is what I wrote at that time:

I had earmarked Tuesday morning, September 11th, to complete this column. For weeks I'd been jotting down thoughts and this was to be the time to collate them. At the top of the page I had scrolled the word "Imagine," and my first musings had been some of the key words in John Lennon's song:
Imagine all the people living for today
Imagine all the people living life in peace
Imagine all the people sharing all the world

There were other notes all aimed at using our brilliant imaginations to create more beauty and fulfillment in our personal lives and ever expanding love and peace in our world.

And then it happened!

In certain circles John's song wasn't, and still isn't, well received. His lyrics speak of imagining no countries -- no religions -- the very source of identity for many of us. But John's whole thrust here, it seems to me, is encouraging us to be here now -- today -- with peace in our hearts and love in our minds. To share this world openly, freely, and with great delight. No more separation -- no more arrogance that declares, "I'm better than you because I belong to this religion or live in this country.

"The truth is that we are family on this tiny, precious planet and he knew that. He knew that "we are all one." And anything that obscures, denies, or defiles that innate connection and brotherhood is counterproductive to the natural flow of life.

If you're reading this column it's no accident, and you've got work to do. We all do. This is why we're here now. Certainly we have to search our hearts for ways in which we can be helpful to our fellow beings and move forth to do that. But most of all, we need to Imagine.

On Friday evening, Sept. 14th, 2001 all over this country and in many parts of our world, candles were lit in an outpouring of spirit that sent light forth into the darkness. We can be doing that with our thoughts constantly. Light literally emanates from us when we think upon love and peace and all the positive energies.

So begin today to imagine that you are a bearer and beacon of light. See and feel that light is emanating from the center of your chest, what is metaphysically referred to as your heart center. Imagine it like a gigantic search light, and focus it wherever you choose. (You can do this anywhere, anytime -- walking down the street, sitting on the bus, doing the dishes, making the bed, etc. You don't have to be at a prayer meeting or in meditation.)

Also imagine that the light of compassion is pouring from your eyes everywhere you look and that light flows from your hands healing everything you touch. Imagine your "heart search light" flowing into those who are grieving the loss of loved ones and profoundly comforting them. See it descending upon ground zero, assisting the courageous beings who are working there with such relentless determination. See it blessing and releasing the suffering of those who so abruptly lost their lives. See it bringing hope and new vision to those whose lives have been so drastically shattered. See it filling the hearts and minds of all our world leaders with inspiration and great wisdom at this most critical hour.

Imagine that you are sending forth light to encircle our earth and rain down a soothing balm that, now and forevermore, heals the anger and hatred that source such egregious acts. Imagine.

Imagine that this time we finally wake up; we get it. Imagine that this time we recognize and claim that the love, the beauty, the deep compassionate caring that become our modus operandi in times of great crisis is who we really are. Imagine that this time we shift into that way of being, always.

Imagine that this is the catalyst that transforms the consciousness of the entire planet. "Imagine all the people sharing all the world" in love, harmony and understanding.

Albert Einstein said that imagination is more important than information. Imagine that your mind and heart and every fiber of your being is a healing instrument. It is when you say so. Be the Light. Imagine.

Whenever in doubt, Come Home to you Heart
Elizabeth Hepburn

See this article published here - http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=307407

Thank You Deepak and Hilda

2006-10-09T13:38:00.000-07:00

"Thank You Deepak and Hilda"

Dr. Deepak Chopra is one of my heroes. With his medical education and practice based firmly in the West and his deeply spiritual insights rooted in Eastern philosophies, his mark on alternative/complementary medicine has been stunning. Through his "Quantum Healing" work, bolstered by the breakthrough science of Quantum Mechanics, he has brought to the masses the same information I received from spiritual teachings thousands of years old. Information that saved my life.

I was sitting on a commercial set waiting for the next shot when another actor sat down and started talking to me about metaphysics. I was completely enthralled. At the end of the day he encouraged me to attend Hilda Charleton's meditation class which was held every Thursday evening at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. That very week, I walked into this exquisite edifice and felt immediately that I was going to find joy here. I felt a sigh of relief flow through my entire system, as if I'd finally "come home."

After one year of being with the extraordinary Hilda, receiving the teachings and the glorious energy she lavished upon everyone she encountered, I removed myself from a chemotherapy program I'd been on for three years. I felt strongly that I no longer needed it and assured my fainting doctors I'd come more frequently for check-ups. My intuition was accurate and, thank God, I've been fine ever since.

Hilda's religion was love, and her teachings were grounded in the ancient spiritual concepts of the East. All is Spirit – there is no "matter" – everything in the Universe is energy. Our bodies, as dense as they may seem, are whirling atoms of energy, our cells responding constantly to our thoughts and the feelings engendered by them. Dark, negative thoughts – anger, jealousy, fear, etc. -- impede the natural harmonious flow in our bodies creating a lack of ease – eventually dis-ease. Choosing to hang out with positive thoughts, regardless of the current circumstances, keeps the energy moving. Our state of being is not as dependent on what is happening in our lives, as it is on our perceptions and thoughts and feelings about those happenings. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said: "We are what we think about all day long."

It thrills me that respected members of our scientific community are now giving us the same picture of the Universe as did the ancient spiritual Masters. Everything is energy -- pulsating energy. And it's my experience that our conscious awareness and grateful acknowledgement of this infinite energy, unceasingly moving through our bodies, can save our lives. It did mine. (Thank you, Hilda. Thank you, Dr. Chopra.)

On 60 Minutes, when the wonderful Ed Bradley greeted Dr. Andrew Weill's explanation of the body/mind connection with a skepticism bordering on disdain, I was simultaneously shocked, saddened and filled with gratitude. I realized that I don't believe in the body/mind connection. I know it.

Elizabeth Hepburn

Trust

2006-09-30T12:29:00.000-07:00

Trust

Often, since the numbing shock of September 11, 2001, I've found myself dancing with the word "trust," and within its resonance there has been great solace. To me there's something much larger going on here than even the entire world being in the grips of imminent danger. And that has to do with the reaction/response that each and every one of us has to this potential threat to our very existence.

We, truly, are the world. Our collective consciousness, or perhaps more accurately, our collective unconsciousness, has been creating the scenarios on our Earth for millennia. And now, with our backs literally to the wall, we face our greatest challenge and, potentially, our finest hour. It's time for each of us to step up to the plate and play our part in raising the consciousness of the entire planet.

"But what can we do?" we cry out. We're only human, with all those incumbent frailties and shortcomings. And to that I say, "No!" It's time to get off that one, and admit, acknowledge and claim that we are also, and most importantly, divine. We are spirit beings as well as human beings, and have immediate access to The Power, The Source, God -- however we wish to label the Divine Presence -- every second of every day. It dwells very peacefully within us.

Ralph Waldo Emerson has said:"There is a principle which is the basis of all things -- which all speech aims to say and all action to evolve -- a simple undescribed, undescribable Presence dwelling very peacefully in us, our Rightful Lord. We are not to do, but to let do; not to work, but to be worked upon; and to this homage there is a consent of all thoughtful and just men of all ages and conditions.

"To me this dark and difficult "night" is the grandest opportunity ever presented to the human race to -- once and for all -- embrace and be willing to embody Who We Really Are. We're in the midst of a major earth drama to be sure, but the more we can expand into the larger context, the infinite, sacred context which is pregnant with both the mysterious and the miraculous, the less that anxiety and fear will incapacitate us.

We can choose to hold the perspective that the enormous upset and dis-ease currently raging throughout our world has as its purpose to cleanse and uplift humanity to an awesomely beautiful level of love and understanding and brotherhood. And here is where trust comes in. We need to allow ourselves to trust this arduous process. We need to relax into that trust -- to breathe, to let go, to trust.

Every day, even for only five or ten minutes, lie down on your bed, on your office floor -- whatever -- and make yourself as comfortable as possible:

Place your arms away from the body,palms upturned, legs uncrossed, a real 'let go' position. (If lying down is not an option, do this in a comfortable sitting position.)

Close your eyes and take a slow deep breath in and release it with a sigh.

Sigh out any angst, letting a smile come to your face.

Let the sigh be audible, if possible -- letting yourself "let go," sinking into the bed or floor, really relaxing.

Do this three times, letting yourself become more and more relaxed with each exhalation.

Now breathe naturally, and slowly begin to notice your breathing: how miraculous, how mysterious is this ever-constant breathing.

Say thank you for being breathed.Then notice your beating heart: how miraculous, how mysterious is this beating heart.

Say thank you to the Source of this wonder.

Now notice the energy pulsing through your entire body.

Feel that you are claiming your oneness with Life itself and say thank you to the Source of this energy that permeates the Universe -- the miracle, the mystery, the majesty of which we are all an intrinsic part.

Now, simply and innocently, trust. Trust that you are one with the Infinite Presence. Trust that It is guiding you to be at the right place at the right time. Trust that we are all giving birth to a new and most glorious way of being in this world. Trust that there will be joy for all, and that boundless creativity will be available for manifestations that will thrill us beyond our wildest dreams. Trust that the Innate Intelligence within your heart and mind will act through you with great courage and integrity in the face of any challenge. And always, in all ways, trust that you are never alone.

Whenever in doubt, Come Home to you Heart
Elizabeth Hepburn

Tough

2006-09-28T13:16:00.000-07:00

Tough

"You've got to be tough, kid."

These were the last words that Hilda, my spiritual teacher, ever said to me. (Hilda Charlton called everyone "kid"' whether you were three or a hundred and three.)

Two years later on the set of a TV show, I discovered that one of the cameramen had worked on the Mother Teresa documentary that so many of us have seen on PBS. When I queried him about his impressions of this iconic spiritual being, his first words were, "She's tough."

Then there was Oprah interviewing Will Smith, who was sharing his experiences preparing for, and shooting the film Ali. He was radiant in both mind and body -- at the very peak of his form, he felt. He spoke of the arduousness of his process -- not only the relentless physical training necessary to portray this legendary athlete but equally, if not more challenging, getting inside the psyche of the awesome, much-bigger-than-life, Mohammed Ali. He recounted times when he was so totally exhausted he felt that he could not continue another second. He'd find himself repeatedly saying deep inside: "Do you want to be champ?" And the answer came: "Yes!" "Do you want to be champ?" "Yes!"

The answer was always "yes" and he'd keep on truckin'. Tough! (I'm not sure whether this motivating technique was Ali's or Will's. In any event, tough!)

And finally, I came across a Time magazine dated June 18, 2001. I'd archived it because of the cover story which was of Eric Weihenmayer's Mt. Everest climb. Eric was 33 years old at the time and he'd been blind since he was 13. To me, there are no words to even begin to describe the unmerciful trials inherent in scaling Mt. Everest under the best of circumstances. But sightless? Mind boggling! He made it to the summit. Tough. One of the sentences in the article stated, "On Everest, toughness is perhaps the most important trait a climber can have."

There seemed to be a theme here.

The first dictionary definition my eyes fell upon defined tough as, "so strong and resilient as to withstand great strain without tearing or breaking." I liked that. Strong and resilient make the word tough much more palatable.

I, for one, was not raised to be "tough." My mother and father would not be amused at all. But strong and resilient -- now that's totally appropriate; and in our current circumstances on the planet, a must for the life scenario into which we were so brashly thrust on September 11, 2001. As a race of people, I feel that all of us are now being called upon to toughen up and roll with the political and economic punches that are assailing our peace of mind.

And there's the pertinent word. No matter how physically strong we are, or well-trained and fed and nurtured our bodies are, it's our minds that are running the show. And fear and depression and worry, and all those negatives that hover so near these days, cannot be allowed "air time" in our precious minds. They're destroyers -- they disempower us. Certainly we have to acknowledge that they're there and not stuff them. But the trick is then to focus our minds on the positive and the creative. Do you want to be champ? Oh yes. Whatever that equivalent is in our own lives, we need to fly with that -- giving our all to whatever we're involved in at the moment -- having a sense of our own being and becoming, and making decisions about our priorities and dreams.

"More than doers we are deciders," says The Book of Runes, the oracular writings that many refer to as the Celtic I Ching. So let us decide this moment that, whatever travail may present itself, we'll take a few deep breaths -- breathing in all the power and courage the Universe has to offer us, exhaling the fear, anxiety and upset -- and then respond to the situation from a place of wisdom, strength and resiliency. Our tuning into the energies of Gandhi and Nelson Mandela and, the aforementioned, Mother Teresa would be most helpful. And let me not exclude Joan of Arc from that list. Invoking the courage of St. Joan is extraordinarily powerful.

One of the characters in Victor Villaseñor's brilliant book, Rain of Gold says, "Some people think that the things of the heart are so delicate that they must be handled with care. I say that the heart is tough and vigorous, overflowing with life's juices, so we must be tough and decisive and get to the heart of the matter or we lose everything."

To me, the heart is the higher intelligence. In coming home to our hearts at this time on this Earth, I feel it's imperative that we act with a heightened sense of alertness and vitality so as not to "lose everything". Let's have a divine toughness join the repertoire of love, tenderness, caring and compassion deep in our hearts. Let's all decide to be of good cheer, of clear and decisive mind and, most of all, of courageous and strong heart. Let's be "champ". Let's be tough!

Whenever in doubt, Come Home to you Heart
Elizabeth Hepburn

I Am Therefore I Love

2006-09-26T11:27:00.000-07:00

I Am Therefore I Love
"I am therefore I love" came to me while walking in the park one day. So many "hits" come to me in the park -- Central Park, that is. I love this park, smack in the middle of Manhattan, and feel that its preciousness -- (how its exquisite natural beauty incessantly serves the city) -- is incalculable.

So there I was briskly walking along, breathing in the trees and grasses, listening to the many bird songs, and I hear the words: "I think therefore I am; I am therefore I love." What was that? "I think therefore I am; I am therefore I love." Oooh, I like that, thank you. And I've been living with this phrase ever since, particularly the "I am therefore I love" part.

It's clear to me that we've all got "I think" down pretty well. We know that we are conscious beings, perceptive to the world which we inhabit and able to choose and, in many cases, manipulate certain aspects of our lives. It's also very clear to me that it's time to raise the bar.

"I think" is not nearly enough, "I love" is what we're up to now. And this can make life as wonderful as it gets.

I'm not talking about romantic love here, though that's a beautiful expression of this energy. I'm talking about our living in the context of this "glue of the Universe" love -- the energy that we're intrinsically connected to, couldn't get away from if we wanted to, that pulses through every cell of our bodies, vibrates in everything that exists everywhere, energy.

Just for a moment, stop, be very still, as if you were deep in a forest listening to the silence there, and notice your beating heart. Really stop reading for a moment, just let your vision go soft and be ultra alert to these pulsations. Allow yourself to be overwhelmed with gratitude for this most pivotal organ in your body and the invaluable contribution it makes to your aliveness. I perceive it as such a miracle, this physical heart. And now with my training, I daily acknowledge and let my consciousness come to rest within its housing -- the entire chest cavity, metaphysically referred to as the heart center.

My email signature quite spontaneously became "Whenever in doubt, Come Home to your Heart" probably because I know that the love and spirit indwelling our hearts is the ultimate panacea. And what coming home to your heart feels like is abandoning all the buzz in the brain and just sinking into the heart center as if the entire chest cavity were this cradle of tender love energy ever available to embrace and renew us. It is!

Sometimes, when I close my eyes to do this, I imagine myself on a dock on Lake George (Lake George is right up there with Central Park for me -- it was responsible for my first spiritual opening). It's a balmy summer evening, the moon is casting a path of shimmering light on the still waters, the fragrance of pine trees in the delicious clear air refreshes my body with every gentle breath I breathe, and I'm completely relaxed into a chaise lounge made of soft pink down. This scenario of beauty plays out within my heart center, and I'm enfolded in its love for a time. So renewing and healing. Try it. Or create your own "relax into love" scene.

As far as I'm concerned there's nothing more important than love. And regardless of our personal vocations in life, I feel that our core purpose is discovering what a force this love is and expressing it everyday, everywhere to everyone and everything. It's a choice, it's a gift, it's the healing balm for our earth. In the musical comedy Plain and Fancy there's a song called "Follow Your Heart." As a singer I was very drawn to this song -- the wisdom in these lyrics by Arnold Horwitt touched me so.

The heart has reasons the mind cannot know
Follow your heart wherever it wants you to go
Lost in the night you wonder what path to take
Till a whisper comes through Come out of the darkness into the day
Your heart knows the way -- Follow your heart.

Because of my own healing experience, I know the heart is the way. I feel that it's our higher intelligence and totally subscribe to our learning to think with our hearts and love with our minds. When we follow our hearts we're being guided by love, the Universal Force, and not by our societal conditioning and knee-jerk reactions to life. The wisdom of the ages is available to us the more we listen here; and regardless of the prevailing winds in our lives, we find ourselves responding with care and compassion to the relentless flood of stimuli present in our everyday encounters.

The truth is we already are Love. We just don't know it. So the trick is deciding every morning to be a lover, an anonymous lover. No proselytizing, no placards -- quite unassumingly having our modus operandi be love and kindness and excellence, and giving and living from our hearts each day. Winston Churchill words ring so true: "We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give." For me, giving love is the only way back to sanity and wholeness. And the best news of all is that as we give, we receive. Love is its own reward.

Imagine what a fund of love we will amass for our lives and our world when we invest in our loving hearts each morning by embodying the resolve that:
Each and everyday I am giving and receiving more love. Here I am, world, and I am here to love. Simply because I Am -- I Love.

Whenever in doubt, Come Home to you Heart
Elizabeth Hepburn

Originally published in The New Sun Newspaper - http://www.newsun.com/

The Heart Is Where Home Is

2006-09-25T09:25:00.000-07:00

The Heart Is Where Home Is

In all of my work, I encourage, invite, and cajole people to come home to their hearts -- to the love in their hearts. Ultimately, I feel it's the most valuable journey one will ever take.

It's no accident to me that in the romance languages the word for heart is cor, core, coeur, and that Webster's definitions of the English word "core" include:
1) the inmost part of something and
2) the most important part.

In the framework of my orientation, this leads me to conclude that the very core of us is our heart, the inmost -- the most important part. So as a paradigm shift from the adage "Home is where the heart is," I hereby offer, "The heart is where home is." It seems to me that until our life is aligned with our heart, we're a house divided against itself.

Strictly from a physical point of view, the incessant beating of our heart plays an inestimable role in the overall well-being of the body. And clearly, it's where we feel the experience of love -- romantic love, mother love, the bond we feel for a beloved pet. Now, to my great delight, research scientists at The Institute of Heart Math in Boulder Creek, CA, are telling us that the heart generates the strongest electromagnetic field produced by the body. Moreover, this field becomes even more coherent as the individual shifts to a loving or caring state. This data corroborates what metaphysicians have been telling us forever.

The physical heart is housed in an energy center referred to as the heart center. This center is considered our gateway to spirit and to the most powerful and creative energy in the Universe: Love . It's here that we connect with our Source. This is home.

Several years ago at a Dr. Brugh Joy lecture I received an exquisite gift. His theme that evening had been expanding our awareness of the heart energy. At one point, he had us sitting with our right hand on our heart center (the very center of the chest cavity), feeling the subtle variances in the energies of love there. Slowly, one at a time, he had us tune into Compassion. Tenderness. Gratitude. Joy. Each elicited a slightly different feeling. The next morning I was recapturing this glorious meditation process, and prompted, I'm sure, by this familiar "pledge" pose, these words came to me: "I pledge allegiance to the love in my heart -- to the wonder of wonders within me -- and to the divinity in all life -- One God, One Truth, One Love -- Now and forevermore."* I was so moved by the simplicity of this statement, I repeated it to myself several times and before I entered into my daily routine, wrote it down.

It's my contention that this pledge is what we're up to now. What could possibly be more worthy of our allegiance than love and the deep caring and compassion that love engenders? It will save our lives; it will heal our planet. We sing "Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me" and my prayer is for us to finally embody that phrase -- to truly claim our connectedness to all of life through the spirit of love that beats our hearts, and breathes us, and moves the tides, and blooms the flowers. It's all the same energy -- the essential energy of the Universe. God, The Force, The Source, Spirit -- whatever we wish to call it. It's time we make a covenant with that intrinsic part of ourselves.

The Indian master, Sri Nisargardatta Maharaj says: "If we are serious about the sufferings of mankind, we must perfect the only means of help we have, ourselves." In this tiny village of a world we inhabit, all of creation is beckoning us to be a blessing to each other and to our earthly home each day -- to pledge our allegiance first and foremost to Love, the Love in our own hearts. Love is the power. Love is the healer. Love is the answer. Come Home to your Heart.

Whenever in doubt, Come Home to you Heart
Elizabeth Hepburn

Originally published in the New Sun Newspaper http://www.newsun.com