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Tag Archives: Heart

We Must Never Forget

16 Friday Nov 2018

Posted by Lesley Irene Shore in Healing

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Awareness, Change, Death, Faith, Family, Growth, Harmony, Healing, Heart, Holocaust, Hope, Journey, Learning, Lost, Love, Memorial, Memory, Prejudice, Prevention, Racism, Remember, Survivor, Witness

1993

I enter the recently opened Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., join a crowd of strangers and begin travelling through time. Our group moves from one historical moment to the next. We observe Kristallnacht, the burning of books, mass murders, rape, and other Nazi atrocities. Each event brings us closer to Hitler’s “final solution.”

Passing beneath an arching sign, ARBEIT MACHT FREI (work sets you free), I enter Auschwitz—following the trail of my grandparents, my aunts and uncles, cousins, children, countless members of the human family. First, the selection: to the left or to the right, to gas showers or living hell.

To The Left

A scale model of Auschwitz’s Crematorium II depicts the journey too many were condemned to take: down a stairway to an undressing room, and from there to an underground gas chamber. Naked bodies massed together, each struggling to survive. Gold teeth and fillings pulled from corpses as they lay on the ground. Hair shaved from their heads. And, then, their final destination. Ovens.

Wanting to control my emotions while bearing witness, I take a deep breath and steel my innards. The next exhibit displays empty canisters of Zyklon B. (The insecticide that gassed my Grandmother.)

I enter a room of shoes. These shoes survived, but not their owners. A stale musty smell pervades the room, for the shoes carry a stench from the past, reminding me of the horrors they witnessed. (Could one have belonged to Grandmother?)

To The Right

After selection came tattoos. No longer a name, now a number. At least Grandmother was spared this indignity. But like others entering Auschwitz, Grandfather would have been branded on his left arm. And then he would have been shaved.

I stand staring at a display filled with human hair—swatches in shades of black, brown, yellow, white, and grey.

Unable to look at the hair any longer, I read the accompanying placard and learn that the Nazis found a use for everything. They sold their victims’ hair. When soldiers liberated Auschwitz, they discovered 15,000 pounds of human hair in bales averaging 40 pounds each. (Was Grandfather’s hair in one of those bales, or was it sold to make felt slippers or stuffing for a mattress?)

Continuing my journey through time, I view photographs of death marches and learn that on January 18, 1945 about 60,000 prisoners were removed from Auschwitz. About 15,000 died during that march. (Each life precious, one my Grandfather’s.) I stare at a photograph of prisoners with grey camp blankets draped over their shoulders, each barely surviving, yet struggling to continue. (Is Grandfather among them? Which one might he be?)

Moving on to Liberation, I wait my turn to watch a display of film clippings. The first is of Auschwitz and Dachau. I look at haggard faces and emaciated bodies stuck atop toothpick legs. Some survivors are too weak to walk; soldiers carry these skeletons to shelter. (Could one be Aunt Friedl?)

I stand transfixed before one person’s eyes: wide open eyes, haunted, staring. They gaze at me and through me—as if perpetually drowning in an internal sea of horror. Rescuers help and support his body, but his mind appears frozen in time, stuck inside the terrors of his past.

I stare at piles of decomposing dead bodies. A fly moves in and out of one person’s nostrils.

At Liberation, I lose control over my emotions. Pent up feelings erupt, tears stream from my eyes, and my chest heaves with inner sobs. Moving away from the exhibit, I search for a place where I can pull myself together. Luckily I find a bathroom nearby, where I hide inside a stall. My face twitches as tears roll down my cheeks. I struggle for composure, trying to contain my raging emotions and quell my tears.

When my chest eventually stops heaving, I blow my nose and resume my journey. After passing exhibits describing the plight of survivors and their search for a homeland, I walk into an area where a movie is being shown.

The movie consists of interviews with survivors. I sit mesmerized by their stories—poignant moments of hope, bravery, courage, rebellion, anger, faith, and love. Many cared for each other despite deplorable living conditions, reminding me of humanity’s decency. Tears fall from my eyes with each testimony. I wipe the tears away, but am unable to locate a tissue in my backpack and sit sniffling through the movie.

A woman speaks from the screen, saying, “One should never give up. Giving up is a final solution to a temporary problem.” Another man says, “The future—there was none. But we didn’t give up.”

The movie ends with a female survivor asking us all to bear witness, to stand up to every form of persecution, to make sure such atrocities can never happen again. Not to anyone. Not ever!

People around me start leaving the area. Many quietly wipe tears from their eyes. I continue to sit, still sniffling away. The woman next to me leans over and asks, “Are you alright?”

I am initially taken by surprise. (My grandparents were murdered along with millions of other good people. Such suffering! And courage! How can anyone be alright with that?)

Appreciating her expression of caring concern, I smile reassuringly and say, “Thank you. I’m fine.”

A voice announces that the museum will soon close. It is time to leave, but I have trouble pulling myself away from the exhibits.

Finally following the crowd, I drag myself into a hallway, pass beneath a sign that says “Hall of Remembrance,” and enter a spacious place. A flame burns on a coffin-shaped grey slab of granite at the far end of the sky-lit room.

Walking around this six-sided space, I sense six million ghosts swirling above me, behind me, and around me. They are here to remind us of human nature’s dark side. They are here to protect us from ourselves.

WE MUST NEVER FORGET!

 

The Power of Place

14 Monday Nov 2016

Posted by Lesley Irene Shore in Nature, Spiritual, Whole

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Tags

Attune, Awareness, Community, Connection, Earth, Emotional, Energy, Environments, Flow, Harmony, Harmony Farm, Haven, Healing, Heart, Holistic, Intuition, Land, Light, Medfield MA, Moss, Nature, Place, Pond, Retreat Center, Sacred, Sensation, Sense, Senses, Settings, Sounds, Spiritual, Trails, Vibrations, Water, Wellbeing, Woods, Yoga

Harmony Farm

In Medfield, a small suburban town 45 minutes from Boston, you spot the Harmony Farm sign hanging from a tree and know you have arrived.  Turning into the driveway, you hear the wheels humming a different tune as they move from harsh black macadam to gentle gravel. The sound of cars fades into the distance.

The car slows its pace as you travel along the gently winding road. You unconsciously let down your guard, breathing out a sigh, letting anxiety dissipate, worry and stress gently release.

Harmony Farm - Shore, Tragakis family reunion, August 2005

Looking to your right, you watch a few sheep and a donkey contentedly grazing in the verdant green meadow. After a while you cross a bubbling stream and begin to notice a profound shift happening inside you. A change in energy, something magical is happening. As if you’re journeying to another time, a sacred space.

You continue following the road, passing a barn, then what looks to be a residence on your right. The road leads ahead, then bends to the right and you chance upon a building nestled inside a circle of tall pine trees.

This must be it, you think, as you park your car and enter the building. You’re here for a workshop sponsored by the non-profit, Harmony Center. Upon entering the building, you notice herbs hanging from beams above, then stop and stare ahead, awed by a high ceilinged octagonal room, three sides of which are glass.

Resuming your slow pace, you move toward the windows and breathe in the scene outside. Woods slope gently down ahead, a pond to the right and stunning flowers demand your attention.

You open to the peace and tranquility of this place.Foxglove outside Harmony Center

Attunement

Wherever we are, we attune to our surroundings. The energy of place seeps inside us. This happens beneath the surface, outside conscious awareness. The vibrations around us affect every level of our being – physical, mental, emotional and spiritual.

Where we live and where we work affects us more than we may realize. It happens very gradually, almost imperceptibly.

Natural environments affect us differently from citified ones. We know this intuitively. If we live and / or work confined by concrete, we yearn for the healing energy of natural settings.

Tuning In

Your Harmony Center workshop includes experiential exercises held outside. The group walks slowly down a grassy path, arriving at a pristine pond. You watch sparkles of light dance upon the water as sunbeams play on its gently rippling surface. Birdsong fills the air and winged beings flit here and there.  You absorb the sound of water cascading over rocks below and open to sense water flowing through your veins, enlivening every cell in your body.

10

A reflection floats through your mind, “This land soothes my soul and pulls on my heart strings.

After crossing the dam, you walk along trails through untamed woods. Your feet feel earth moving up to greet each and every step. The softness of moss, smell of earth, vibrant colors of trees – your senses awaken and absorb sensation.

25

When the workshop ends, your car wends its way back along the driveway. Reflecting on your experience, you realize that something has shifted deep inside. You feel peaceful and serene, more connected to yourself and at one with the world. “How could this happen,” you wonder, “Is it this place?”

Turning onto the black-topped road, you enter the flow of traffic. You hold onto your sense of wellbeing, storing it deep within your heart.

Such is the power of place.

 

Note: All the above photos were taken on Harmony Farm, Medfield, MA.

Giving Thanks

26 Wednesday Nov 2014

Posted by Lesley Irene Shore in Spiritual

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Blessings, Gratitude, Habit, Heart, Joy, Love, Opening, Perspective, Practice, Practicing, Prayer, Spiritual, Thanks, Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving Day invites us to focus on gratitude and to give thanks for all that we have in our lives.  It reminds us to practice gratitude, not merely this one day of the year, but each and every day of our lives.

Opening to gratitude shifts our perspective and brings joy into our hears.  Spiritual traditions teach us to practice gratitude by devoting time each day to give thanks for the blessings in our lives.  It’s useful to do this after waking each morning and also later in the evening before going to sleep.  Practicing gratitude not only changes our individual lives, this attitude radiates to others, shifts their experience, and continues reverberating outward.

And so I invite you to cultivate the habit of gratitude.  Start on Thanksgiving day, then bring this practice into your daily life.  We’ll be practicing together.

 

Doe

07 Thursday Feb 2013

Posted by Lesley Irene Shore in Nature, Spiritual

≈ 11 Comments

Tags

Commune, Deer, Doe, Energy, Gentle, Healing, Heart, Kindhearted, Love, medicine, Nature, Prayer, Presence, Sacred, Sensed, Spirit, Spiritual, Thoughts, Walk

The other day I received an e-mail from a friend.  After informing me that her husband had been hospitalized with pneumonia shortly after contracting the flu, she asked that I hold him in my thoughts and pray for his recovery.  

Later that morning I took my usual walk in the woods, which includes visiting a special area on a small hill where I say daily prayers.  I stood for a while in this sacred area, holding Paul in my heart and sending him love and healing energy.  I then vocalized a prayer out loud, asking Spirit to help my both friend and her husband.

Upon finishing my prayers, I immediately sensed a presence on my left.  Looking over, I spotted a beautiful doe looking at me intently.  Again I spoke aloud, though this time I spoke with her and asked her not to be afraid. 

Usually deer run the minute they hear my voice or the sound of my footsteps.  Instead, she remained standing while I moved slowly to another rocky area nearby where I usually say a few more prayers.

Doe on Hill

Looking at Doe, I thanked her for her gentle energy and asked her to send love and healing to my friend and her husband.

Doe and I continued to commune with one another.  I felt her radiating kindhearted gentleness.  She even appeared to pose while I took her photograph. 

When our time together was up, we slowly moved in different directions.  I felt Doe’s gentle energy reverberating inside me throughout the remainder of my walk.

Paul returned home from the hospital and continues to recover.  While allopathic antibiotics helped kill the bugs., Doe’s gentle, loving energy assisted his healing process. 

Thank you dear Doe!  

Alignment

20 Thursday Dec 2012

Posted by Lesley Irene Shore in Spiritual

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Align, Centered, Consciousness, Earth, Energy, Galactic Alignment, Harmony, Heart, Intention, Mayan, Soul, Vibration, Wholeness, Winter Solstice

At this year’s Winter Solstice, our sun will align with the middle of the galactic birth canal, the dark rift very close to the center of our Milky Way Galaxy.  Much has been written about this galactic event, and its initiation of a new era.

The Mayans predicted that this year’s Winter Solstice would end a 26,000 year planetary cycle.  A decaying, corrupted cycle of human activity would end.  Some understand that this ending could initiate a world where people live in harmony with each other and all of Earth.

Galactic AlignmentAccording to some teachings, the Galactic Alignment will open the door to a higher vibrational energy, enabling a shift of consciousness into a heart-centered way of being.  But there are no guarantees of what will happen.  The time is now, and it is up to us.

I believe that we incarnated at this important time because we each have a mission, a soul’s purpose for being here.  We are here to help birth this time of wholeness and living in harmony.  Each of us brings talents and gifts that will contribute to this process in some way.

On December 21st, at 6:12am, E.S.T. – the exact time of the Winter Solstice – our sun will align with the center of our galaxy.  Let us align with this energy by opening our hearts and setting our communal intention to help birth the time of wholeness and harmony for all beings.

The time is now.  It depends on us.

St. J’s

30 Thursday Aug 2012

Posted by Lesley Irene Shore in Nature

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Gifts, Gratitude, Harmony Center, Healing, Heart, Herbal Oil, Herbs, Love, Nature, Plants, Tincture

After waiting for the dew to dry, I walk over to Harmony Center  where one of my two Hypericum perforatum plants continues to flower.  My friends and I refer to this plant as St. J’s, staying out of the herbal controversy over whether it should be known by its more common name, St. John’s Wort, or the feminist alternative St. Joan’s Wort.  

St. J’s has a reputation for helping to alleviate depression.  While looking at its bright, cheerful yellow flowers, would lift anyone’s spirits, St. J’s offers many other healing gifts to us humans.  In addition to having anti-viral properties, this beautiful plant is anti-inflammatory, anti-spasmodic and anti-bacterial.  I’ve given infused St. J’s oil to people with shingles to apply externally for alleviating the neuralgia and use it myself when my hip or muscles yell in pain.[1]

I was initially taught to gather the top flowering parts of St. J’s, including some leaves.  Like other herbs, I harvested no more than 1/3 of the top.  As St. J’s isn’t plentiful on my land, after harvesting the one or two plants growing here, I drove around scanning the landscape, searching for more. 

My relationship with St. J’s changed after I became friends with salve maker Gretchen Gould.  Her oil won an herbal competition for having the deepest, richest, reddest color, thereby being the most medicinal.  She shared her secret with me.  She only harvests the newly opened flowers.   

I now follow her example.  In doing so, I’ve experienced another St. J’s gift. 

St. J’s begins blooming around the Summer Solstice (June 20th this year).   More than two months later, she continues to offer newly opened blossoms each morning.  Perennials, like St. J’s, usually don’t behave this way.  In contrast to annuals, they have a short flowering season. 

Over these months, I’ve filled jar after jar with St. J’s flowers.  First I made the oil by adding olive oil to the jars and placing them in a sunny spot.  I watched the bright yellow flowers magically transform the yellowish oil into a brilliant red color.  As the plants kept producing, I made tincture by adding 100 proof vodka to a jar of flowers.  The initially clear vodka similarly transformed into a crimson red color.  Then I dried some flowers to use in teas. 

As I walk over to St. J’s this morning, my heart feels full of gratitude.  Arriving beside her, I pick her offerings of the day and place them in my basket saying, “Dear, dear St. J’s, thank you for all you have given me this summer.  You kept giving, and giving, and giving.  It’s time for you to rest and renew.  Though I’ll keep visiting, I’m going to stop picking.”

I stand back, wondering what I can give back to St. J’s.  Looking at her, I focus on my full heart, open wide, and send her my love.  Then I find the hose, and sprinkle her roots with water. 

No wonder St. J’s helps alleviate depression.   She fills our hearts with love. 


[1] St.  J’s oil is generally only applied externally

Summer Soul-stice

20 Wednesday Jun 2012

Posted by Lesley Irene Shore in Spiritual

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Cycles, Gratitude, Heart, Interconnection, Nature, Seasons, Soul, Summer

Today, the summer solstice, is the longest day and shortest night of the year.  Summer blossoms forth from this day forward.  After today, daylight will shorten and night-time will lengthen until the winter solstice, when daylight will lengthen once again.

Thinking about celebrating the day, I wander over to Harmony Center. Sunlight filters through trees and dances along the ground, guiding me down the path. 

When I reach my destination, I stop … in awe of the sight before my eyes.

A sea of foxglove beckons me on.  Waves of white and hot pink spread before me, and envelop me.  Majestic spires of delight reach up and draw in. 

My heart expands – filled with wonder, full of love.

One spire calls me closer.  Pulled into her embrace, I reach out to touch.  My fingers explore her silky soft skin.

Enthralled, I move in for more.  A wide open blossom invites me to enter.  My eyes follow the dotted pathway, travel into her mouth and down her throat.  I enter her center, the core of her being. 

Her place of inner stillness resonates deep inside me.  For a timeless moment, we share this space, the inner sanctum of soul. 

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